# articles

feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=166160
title: Doxxing Pirates or Even Anti-Pirates is No Way to Solve Disputes
uri: Doxxing-Pirates-or-Even-Anti-Pirates-is-No-Way-to-Solve-Disputes
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/hWk3Cw7lXB8/
content:
<p><a href="media/b8e9109a.dark-man-e1545826268958.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/dark-man-e1545826268958.png"><img src="media/b8e9109a.dark-man-e1545826268958.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/dark-man-e1545826268958.png" alt="" width="220" height="195" class="alignright size-full wp-image-166170"></a>On December 22, famous cracking group CPY released a &#8216;cracked&#8217; copy of City Patrol: Police online. While there doesn&#8217;t seem to be much to be excited about gaming-wise, the controversy around the release itself is quite extraordinary.</p>
<p>When release groups &#8216;crack&#8217; a game, they release the title with an NFO (info) file. These text offerings contain information about the game itself and further details about the &#8216;pirate&#8217; release, such as the protection defeated &#8211; Denuvo, for example.</p>
<p>The NFO released with City Patrol: Police is extremely special. Written by CPY, it contains a wall of text the group appears to have found embedded in the game&#8217;s files. CPY suggests the message was put there by anti-piracy outfit <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/new-valeroa-anti-piracy-system-cracked-by-pirate-in-20-minutes-181203/">Valeroa</a>.</p>
<p><center><strong>The previously-hidden message</strong><br></br></center><center><a href="media/4424fd9a.valeroa-nfo-e1545821814663.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/valeroa-nfo-e1545821814663.png"><img src="media/4424fd9a.valeroa-nfo-e1545821814663.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/valeroa-nfo-e1545821814663.png" alt="" width="600" height="683" class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-166161"></a></center></p>
<p>There is plenty of speculation as to what the above means but it seems likely that the partially-redacted names in the message allegedly placed there by Valeroa identify people in The Scene. That being said, CPY seemed fairly happy to re-publish the details, knowing full well that the information would be made public.</p>
<p>If we begin on the basis that the information and the assumptions about who put what where are even remotely accurate, it raises the question where the information was obtained from. If one adds two and two, the most likely explanation is that Valeroa either has connections with current Scene members or might even be active themselves, if only in an observational capacity.</p>
<p>Again, working on the basis that the speculation has some truth, absolutely no-one should be surprised that an anti-piracy company has pirate connections.</p>
<p>Nobody on this planet knows pirates better than pirates so it should be flat-out expected that some Scene members, past or present, will have crossed to &#8216;the other side&#8217; to make some proper money from what are undoubtedly great skills.</p>
<p>And, one has to remember, this shift of personnel can have a big effect. Not only does a coder get to legitimize his or her skills while earning a decent living for their family, the process also drains some of the brains from the competition, a valuable tool in the overall war.</p>
<p>Indeed, TF is informed that prominent Scene members involved in software cracking were coaxed away to develop an anti-piracy technology for physical media in the 2000s. Even after changes in company identities and the passing of many years, they still appear to be working in similar business areas. Surprising? Not at all.</p>
<p>But it&#8217;s not just former pirates that are targeted by these kinds of companies. Just this week, the topic of discussion on the site Tuts4You was the &#8216;<a href="https://forum.tuts4you.com/topic/41012-congratulations-mr-exodia/">revelation</a>&#8216; that a respected reverse-engineer had gone to work for Denuvo. While some people might find that objectionable, who better to recruit than someone who has the perfect skills for the job?</p>
<p>With all that said, the kind of behavior and posturing suggested in the CPY NFO is not conducive to peaceful co-existence. People&#8217;s identities in The Scene are (or perhaps should be) closely guarded secrets but even Sceners are human. Many have let their guards down because they&#8217;re super-comfortable with other members, have a close connection with them outside of The Scene, or have made a mistake or two along the way.</p>
<p>By suggesting identities are known in this fashion, it&#8217;s a bit like saying: &#8220;We know who you are &#8211; your move.&#8221; Trouble is, that&#8217;s what often happens. Someone makes a move, which prompts another one, which invariably leads to disaster. One only has to look at the <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/goodolddownloads-calls-it-quits-publishes-source-on-github-181202/">GOD / IGG-Games fiasco</a> for a recent example.</p>
<p>Even partially &#8216;doxxing&#8217; people can have catastrophic results, particularly when it&#8217;s done in a malicious way. The scope for retaliation is very high indeed and as such nobody truly wins. Mutual destruction is not a successful outcome in any war, no matter how bitter. </p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/">TF</a>, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/top-10-most-popular-torrent-sites-of-2018-180107/">torrent sites</a> and more. We also have <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-services-keep-anonymous-2018/">VPN reviews, </a><a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-discount-coupon-offer-torguard-nordvpn-expressvpn-pia/">discounts, offers and coupons</a>.</p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=166180
title: Bryan Adams: Longer Copyright Term Enriches Intermediaries, Not Creators
uri: Bryan-Adams-Longer-Copyright-Term-Enriches-Intermediaries-Not-Creato
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/i-lag0fWagU/
content:
<p><img src="media/db7b975c.copyright-branded.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/copyright-branded.jpg" alt="" width="250" height="164" class="alignright size-full wp-image-56211">After long negotiations, the Canadian Government agreed earlier this year that the country’s current copyright term will be <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/nafta-replacement-extends-canadas-copyright-term-to-life-70-years-181001/">extended by 20 years</a>. </p>
<p>This change was part of the trade deal negotiations with the US and Mexico. By extending copyright protection to life plus 70 years, &#8216;rightsholders&#8217; will be able to generate more profit, the argument goes.</p>
<p>While that may work in theory, Canadian singer Bryan Adams believes that large intermediaries such as the major record labels will benefit the most. Creators often sign away their rights early on, which means that they don&#8217;t benefit from any extensions. </p>
<p>In a brief to the Standing Committee on Canadian Heritage, Adams notes that copyright law is out of balance. As such, large companies stand to benefit more from a copyright extension than individual creators. </p>
<p>One of the problems, according to Adams, is the fact that intermediaries hold the bigger bargaining chip. Creators who want to earn a living may sign away their rights in their first deal, something they may regret later on.</p>
<p>&#8220;Creators deal with one or few intermediaries; they sign up creators all the time. Creators striking a first deal sign anything that is presented to them; an intermediary rarely needs to sign up this creator,&#8221; Adams writes.</p>
<p>&#8220;Copyright law is about balance, a balance which was and remains at risk between creators and intermediaries. Copyright law works not so much for creators as for intermediaries; extending the duration of copyright will benefit them, not creators.&#8221;</p>
<p>The imbalance can be easily addressed, according to Adams. While it may be too late to revert the agreed copyright extension, there&#8217;s a change that will put more power in the hands of creators. And it only requires changing one word in the Copyright Act. </p>
<p>Right now, Canadian copyright reverts to a creator’s heirs 25 years after &#8220;death.&#8221; By changing the word &#8220;death&#8221; to &#8220;assignment&#8221;, creators terminate a copyright assignment while they&#8217;re still alive. </p>
<p>This means that the starting artists who signed away their rights to an album to a major label at 20 years of age, can get those rights back at 45. It&#8217;s a major change, but not unprecedented, as the US has a similar copyright-termination policy after 35 years.</p>
<p><center><strong>Adams&#8217; recommendation</strong><br></br></center><center><img src="media/c4773227.adamsrecomm.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/adamsrecomm.png" alt="" width="591" height="105" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-166192"></center></p>
<p>Adams already discussed the proposal earlier this year when he appeared before the Standing Committee on Canadian Heritage, but the brief he submitted discusses the advantages in great detail. </p>
<p>Among other things, he stresses that the change in termination policy would empower creators, which will also be good in light of the planned copyright extension. </p>
<p>&#8220;Including a termination right in Canadian copyright law would help to ensure that real world copyright law works more in favor of creators. It would also help reduce some of the unintended effects of the upcoming extension of copyright.</p>
<p>&#8220;Canada is now more or less duty-bound to increase copyright protection by 20 years, to &#8216;life + 70&#8217;. Extending the duration of copyright essentially enriches large firms of intermediaries. It does not put money in the pockets of most creators,&#8221; Adams notes.</p>
<p>By granting a copyright termination right the expected benefits of an extension don&#8217;t go to the intermediaries. At the same time, creators will be able to profit more from their work. It&#8217;s a giant step forward and only requires changing a single word in the Copyright Act.</p>
<p><em>&#8212;</p>
<p>A full copy of Adams&#8217; brief, first highlighted by professor <a href="http://www.michaelgeist.ca/2018/12/bryan-adamscopyrightwarning/">Michael Geist</a>, is available <a href="media/0b5ffee6.AdamsBryan-e.pdf" data-original-source="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/images/AdamsBryan-e.pdf">here (pdf)</a>.</em></p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/">TF</a>, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/top-10-most-popular-torrent-sites-of-2018-180107/">torrent sites</a> and more. We also have <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-services-keep-anonymous-2018/">VPN reviews, </a><a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-discount-coupon-offer-torguard-nordvpn-expressvpn-pia/">discounts, offers and coupons</a>.</p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=166277
title: Philippines Could Revoke Licenses of ISPs That Help to Facilitate Piracy
uri: Philippines-Could-Revoke-Licenses-of-ISPs-That-Help-to-Facilitate-Pira
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/s1VyBGbGBf8/
content:
<p><a href="media/5ceed422.stop-blocked.jpg" data-original-source="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/images/stop-blocked.jpg"><img src="media/07db73b3.stop-blocked.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/stop-blocked.jpg" alt="" width="200" height="168" class="alignright size-full wp-image-72076"></a>Many countries around the world have site-blocking regulations or laws in place or are considering implementing them. The Philippines sits in the latter category and is attacking the issue with gusto.</p>
<p>A new bill introduced by <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tito_Sotto">Senator Vicente &#8220;Tito&#8221; Castelo Sotto III</a> highlights the thorny issue of online piracy and the reputation of the Philippines as a supposed &#8220;safe haven&#8221; for such activities.</p>
<p>&#8220;The Philippines is, unfortunately, one of the countries described by Internet pirates as &#8216;safe&#8217; for uploading, downloading, linking, torrenting, and stream infringing content without fear of prosecution. The Philippines continues to be a haven for cyber criminals who illegally make content available on the Internet,&#8221; the bill begins.</p>
<p>&#8220;Years ago, the Intellectual Property Office (IPO) was able to disrupt the notorious pirate torrent site, KickAssTorrents (kat.ph), <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/kickasstorrents-domain-seized-after-music-industry-complaint-130614/">by seizing the .ph domain</a> &#8211; the country’s code domain. However, these prolific pirates simply changed their domain to that of another country &#8211; to .to for Tonga <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/kickasstorrents-moves-kickass-so-domain-name-141117/">or .so for Somalia</a>, just to cite an example.&#8221;</p>
<p>The bill seeks to &#8220;empower&#8221; the country&#8217;s Intellectual Property Office (IPO) while forcing local Internet Service Providers to take &#8220;reasonable steps to disable access to sites whenever these sites are reported to be infringing copyright or facilitating copyright infringement.&#8221;</p>
<p>In broad terms, copyright holders will be expected to file a complaint against sites with the IPO which will then consider various aspects of their infringing, including the &#8220;flagrancy&#8221; of sites, whether operators demonstrate a &#8220;disregard&#8221; for copyright, whether sites have been blocked by courts elsewhere, and if blocking would be proportionate.</p>
<p>Within 15 days of an application, the IPO will have to produce a report and distribute it to copyright holders and ISPs. A Review Committee should then consider the case and if it agrees with the IPO, will issue a Notice of Approval within 10 days. Just five days after that, the IPO will be required to hand down an order requiring ISPs to take &#8220;reasonable steps&#8221; (URL, IP address, domain blocking) to disable access to the &#8220;infringing online location&#8221; listed in the complaint.</p>
<p>While ISPs will be able to file an objection if they disagree with the findings of the IPO, non-compliance with a finalized blocking order could have serious consequences.</p>
<p>&#8220;If the recommendation of the IPO to cancel the license of the ISP is proper and meritorious, the Commission shall facilitate the prompt cancellation of the license of the ISP,&#8221; the bill reads.</p>
<p>While site-blocking in other regions is usually carried out under the authority of a court order or injunction, this appears to be the first time that ISPs will find themselves under a direct threat to either block sites or go out of business.</p>
<p><em>The full bill can be found here (<a href="media/c664e958.2902825597.pdf" data-original-source="http://www.senate.gov.ph/lisdata/2902825597!.pdf">pdf</a>)</em></p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/">TF</a>, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/top-10-most-popular-torrent-sites-of-2018-180107/">torrent sites</a> and more. We also have <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-services-keep-anonymous-2018/">VPN reviews, </a><a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-discount-coupon-offer-torguard-nordvpn-expressvpn-pia/">discounts, offers and coupons</a>.</p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=166297
title: Metal Band Bans Photographer After Copyright Clash
uri: Metal-Band-Bans-Photographer-After-Copyright-Clash
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/-q1m5xr7rHs/
content:
<p><img src="media/50fb18c6.facepalm.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/facepalm.jpg" alt="" width="250" height="158" class="alignright size-full wp-image-127813">When piracy hits the mainstream news, it’s often in relation to books, games, music, TV-shows and movies.</p>
<p>These industries grab headlines because of the major players that are involved, but they are not the only ones dealing with piracy.</p>
<p>In the age of social media, photographers are arguably the most pirated creators of all. Many people don&#8217;t even consider &#8216;copyright&#8217; when sharing an image they find online. </p>
<p>That can be quite frustrating for people whose livelihoods depend on selling photos, especially when commercial outlets use their work for free. This issue was highlighted again this week by photographer <a href="https://www.metalblast.net/author/jtheamazing/">J. Salmeron</a>. </p>
<p>This summer he took a great shot of Alissa White-Gluz of the metal band Arch Enemy at the Fortarock festival. The photographer posted it on Instagram where it was well received. Even by the singer herself, who re-posted it on her account. </p>
<p>Technically, nobody is allowed to repost photos without permission but Salmeron generally doesn&#8217;t object to fans sharing his work. When it&#8217;s used for commercial purposes, however, it becomes a problem. </p>
<p>So, when the photographer, who also happens to be a lawyer, noticed that &#8220;Thunderball Clothing&#8221; used the photo to promote their goods &#8211; which the singer was wearing &#8211; he decided to take action. </p>
<p><center><strong>Thunderball Clothing&#8217;s instagram post</strong><br></br></center><center><img src="media/d476a9ca.arch.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/arch.png" alt="" width="600" height="291" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-166305"></center></p>
<p>In an email to the company, Salmeron pointed out that he would generally request a licensing fee of at least €500. However, in this case, he would be happy if the company donated €100 to the Dutch Cancer Foundation.</p>
<p>At this point, the issue could have been resolved without any fuss, but things quickly got out of hand. Thunderball Clothing wasn&#8217;t planning to pay and reached out to the band, accusing the photographer of making threats. </p>
<p>The band and the singer sided with the clothing company and sponsor, arguing that a payment is not required.</p>
<p>Apparently, the band&#8217;s management is under the impression that the band, fans, and sponsors can use the work of photographers free of charge. In return, they get exposure.</p>
<p>&#8220;I would like to ask why you are sending discontent emails to people sharing the photo of Alissa?  Alissa’s sponsors and fan clubs are authorized to share photos of her. Thunderball Clothing is a sponsor of Alissa and Arch Enemy,&#8221; they replied. </p>
<p>&#8220;Generally speaking, photographers appreciate having their work shown as much as possible and we are thankful for the great photos concert photographers provide,&#8221; the band&#8217;s management added.</p>
<p>The account, which obviously only tells one side of the story, can be read in full at <a href="https://www.metalblast.net/blog/how-i-got-banned-from-photographing-arch-enemy/">Metalblast</a> and <a href="https://petapixel.com/2018/12/26/how-i-got-banned-from-photographing-the-band-arch-enemy/">Petapixel</a>. </p>
<p>After some messages back and forth, the photo was eventually removed, but the band also made it very clear that Salmeron is no longer welcome at any future gigs.</p>
<p>&#8220;By the way, we are sure you don’t mind that you are not welcome anymore to take pictures of Arch Enemy performances in the future, at festivals or solo performances,&#8221; the reply read. </p>
<p>&#8220;I have copied in the label reps and booking agent who will inform promoters –  no band wants to have photographers on site who later send such threatening correspondence to monetize on their images.&#8221;</p>
<p>The irony of the situation is that the band itself is no stranger to copyright. It obviously doesn&#8217;t want people to grab their latest album illegally, even though that means more exposure. </p>
<p>The copyright clash itself also generated plenty of exposure for the band, but not the type they&#8217;re looking for. A <a href="https://twitter.com/archenemymetal/status/1077941605200527360">tweet</a> about the upcoming album triggered a wave of sarcastic responses.</p>
<p><img src="media/c27e86ea.archbackfire.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/archbackfire.png" alt="" width="600" height="443" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-166304"> </p>
<p>While this example is rather extreme, photographers all around the world face similar issues. In this case, Salmeron attempted to resolve it directly, but many of his colleagues are going to court.</p>
<p>This year alone, hundreds of lawsuits have been filed by photographers over the unauthorized use of their work by various news outlets or other commercial outfits. The majority of these end in confidential settlements.</p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/">TF</a>, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/top-10-most-popular-torrent-sites-of-2018-180107/">torrent sites</a> and more. We also have <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-services-keep-anonymous-2018/">VPN reviews, </a><a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-discount-coupon-offer-torguard-nordvpn-expressvpn-pia/">discounts, offers and coupons</a>.</p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=165983
title: Movie ‘Pirates’ Let Down by Lack of Screener Releases Around Christmas
uri: Movie-Pirates-Let-Down-by-Lack-of-Screener-Releases-Around-Chris
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/xVPgx9WERYQ/
content:
<p><img src="media/358c8671.deadtreechristmas.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/deadtreechristmas.jpg" alt="" width="256" height="208" class="alignright size-full wp-image-166221">At the end of the year, movie industry insiders traditionally receive their screener copies, which they use to vote on the Oscars and other awards.</p>
<p>As is tradition, quite a few of these advance screeners copies will leak onto various pirate sites. </p>
<p>In recent years release group Hive-CM8 has drawn quite a bit of attention, due to both the timing and volume of their releases.</p>
<p>Movie pirates were particularly well-served <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/the-hateful-eight-and-the-revenant-leaked-online-151221/">three years ago</a>. On and before Christmas, high-quality copies of some of the hottest Hollywood productions appeared online, with some titles even beating their official theatrical release.</p>
<p>Following massive outrage from Hollywood, release group Hive-CM8 <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/hive-cm8-apologizes-for-leaking-hateful-eight-dvd-screener-151230/">offered an apology</a>, promising not to release any movies too early in the future. And indeed, in the two years that followed the bulk of the screener copies leaked after the new year.</p>
<p>This season, no screeners have been sighted at all. That&#8217;s not a record yet, which goes to 2016/2017 when it took until January 3rd, but it&#8217;s clear that pirates are growing impatient. </p>
<p>A quick scan through various pirate sites, and even on social media, shows that the hopes of some were dashed this Christmas. As always, the anticipation already started days before the festivities kicked off.</p>
<p><center><strong>Where&#8217;s Hive-CM8</strong><br></br></center><center><img src="media/ae4e9c58.whereat.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/whereat.png" alt="" width="578" height="61" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-166227"></center></p>
<p>Apparently, some people associate Christmas with screener leaks, or the other way around. </p>
<p><center><strong>Not Christmas&#8230;</strong><br></br></center><center><img src="media/8889efcf.notchristmas.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/notchristmas.png" alt="" width="581" height="76" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-166228"></center></p>
<p>Then there are those who push their luck even further by putting several titles of screener leaks on their wishlist for Santa. In this case, it includes The Favourite and Suspiria.</p>
<p><center><strong>The Wishlist</strong><br></br></center><center><img src="media/eb622741.wishlist.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/wishlist.png" alt="" width="579" height="92" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-166226"></center></p>
<p>Some more words of encouragement followed on Christmas day, but it soon became clear that neither strategy paid off. </p>
<p>No word has come from Hive-CM8 or any other release group this year. The question that remains is whether they are holding back, or if there&#8217;s simply nothing to release, yet. </p>
<p><center><strong>Sorry</strong><br></br></center><center><img src="media/441cad53.belike.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/belike.png" alt="" width="578" height="326" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-166229"><br>
</center></p>
<p>At TorrentFreak we have no further details on the matter. However, what we can say is that for well over a decade multiple screener copies have ended up online. So a season without screener leaks would be truly unprecedented. </p>
<p>The most likely scenario is that the groups aren&#8217;t ready yet, or they&#8217;re delaying releases intentionally, something Hive-CM8 hinted at in the past. </p>
<p>Whatever the reason is, after Christmas the disappointment slowly started to turn into more impatience and anger on social media.</p>
<p><center><strong>Where?</strong><br></br></center><center><img src="media/63ece5a4.wherearethey.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/wherearethey.png" alt="" width="578" height="320" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-166224"></center></p>
<p>Others are handing this round to Hollywood&#8230; </p>
<p>Who will be the &#8216;winner&#8217; at the end of the screener season has yet to be determined though. </p>
<p><center><strong>Hollywood won..</strong><br></br></center><center><img src="media/730ebbc9.hollywon.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/hollywon.png" alt="" width="577" height="72" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-166223"></center></p>
<p>After the 2016/2017 season, this has been the longest screener draught in recent history. However, in that year well over a dozen screener copies eventually leaked online.</p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/">TF</a>, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/top-10-most-popular-torrent-sites-of-2018-180107/">torrent sites</a> and more. We also have <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-services-keep-anonymous-2018/">VPN reviews, </a><a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-discount-coupon-offer-torguard-nordvpn-expressvpn-pia/">discounts, offers and coupons</a>.</p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=165985
title: UK Police Arrest Man Over ‘Nintendo Switch’ Modding, Warn Game Pirates
uri: UK-Police-Arrest-Man-Over-Nintendo-Switch-Modding-Warn-Game-Pir
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/U_PE6k0_9cc/
content:
<p><img src="media/6cdaf4ee.switchnintendo.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/switchnintendo.png" alt="" width="255" height="221" class="alignright size-full wp-image-165556">As one of the most iconic game manufacturers in the world, Nintendo has been fighting piracy for many years. </p>
<p>Most action is taken by the company&#8217;s in-house anti-piracy division or through trade groups such as the ESA. </p>
<p>However, this month the City of London Police also offered a helping hand. </p>
<p>The dedicated Police Intellectual Property Crime Unit (PIPCU) arrested a 43-year-old man at a residence in Lowestoft, accusing him of being a prominent ‘modder’ of Nintendo Switch consoles.</p>
<p>&#8220;PIPCU officers arrested and cautioned a 43 year old man at an address on Rotterdam Road, Lowestoft in relation to copyright offenses. Hard drives, microchips and computer equipment were seized at the same address,&#8221; PIPCU announced.</p>
<p>The police note that &#8220;modders&#8221; are criminals. However, in this case, the suspect was cautioned and no further action was taken.</p>
<p>According to PIPCU, piracy is not a victimless crime. Not only are the games companies impacted directly, but people who sell modded consoles are at risk as well. </p>
<p>Some games may not work on modded consoles, PIPCU warns, and downloading pirated files is a risky endeavor as well, since people may run into malware and viruses.</p>
<p>“If you’re looking to buy a Nintendo console as a Christmas gift, make sure you know who you are buying from, otherwise you could get more than you bargained for,&#8221; PIPCU&#8217;s Detective Constable Daryl Fryatt says.</p>
<p>“If you buy a gaming console that gives illegal access to pirated content, you could be exposed to malware and identity crime,&#8221; he adds, urging consumers to &#8220;Play safe&#8221; and &#8220;play fair.”</p>
<p>The <a href="http://news.cityoflondon.police.uk/r/1159/police_combat_video_game_piracy_ahead_of_christmas">announcement</a> specifically mentions Christmas, which is a popular time of year for the video game industry. As such, Nintendo will be happy with the police assistance.</p>
<p>That said, Nintendo itself is also taking action against &#8220;modders.&#8221; Earlier this month the company <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/nintendo-targets-sellers-of-pirated-switch-games-in-court-181213/">filed a lawsuit</a> against alleged sellers of modded consoles and pirated games in the US. This case remains pending.</p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/">TF</a>, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/top-10-most-popular-torrent-sites-of-2018-180107/">torrent sites</a> and more. We also have <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-services-keep-anonymous-2018/">VPN reviews, </a><a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-discount-coupon-offer-torguard-nordvpn-expressvpn-pia/">discounts, offers and coupons</a>.</p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=166337
title: First Pirated DVD Screeners of the Season Leak Online
uri: First-Pirated-DVD-Screeners-of-the-Season-Leak-Online
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/k0GXUdHviyg/
content:
<p><img src="media/4fe5f1b8.greenbook.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/greenbook.jpg" alt="" width="300" height="177" class="alignright size-full wp-image-166339" srcset="https://torrentfreak.com/images/greenbook.jpg 300w, https://torrentfreak.com/images/greenbook-220x130.jpg 220w" sizes="(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px">Towards the end of the year, movie screeners are sent out to industry insiders who cast their votes for the Oscars and other awards.</p>
<p>It’s a highly anticipated time for pirates who hope to get copies of the latest blockbusters early, which is traditionally what happens.</p>
<p>This year the wait <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/movie-pirates-let-down-by-lack-of-screener-releases-around-christmas-181228/">was fairly long</a>, but today screener season has officially started. Release group Hive-CM8 often has good sources and they came out with the first release, <a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt6966692/">Green Book</a>, which is still playing in theaters.</p>
<p>&#8220;Well, one year has passed and it&#8217;s that time of the year that everyone is waiting for. SCREENER Time. As usual we love to share with friends all over the world,&#8221; the group notes. </p>
<p>After a <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/hive-cm8-apologizes-for-leaking-hateful-eight-dvd-screener-151230/">massive backlash</a> three years ago, when the group released some prominent titles before their theatrical release, the group is now paying more attention to the timing. In this case, Green Book was selected because it has already grossed more than its budget.</p>
<p>It&#8217;s unclear how many screeners Hive-CM8 has access to. The group apparently lost access to its mail and website, which means that many important contacts are gone as well. </p>
<p>&#8220;Since we lost our site/mail with no backup and with it all contacts gone, it&#8217;s quite complicated to get things going this year. We want to get things back as they were, but it will take time,&#8221; they add.</p>
<p>Hive-CM8 is particularly interested in getting in touch with their &#8220;friend on the street,&#8221; but it falls to others to reach out as well. </p>
<p>&#8220;We need your help this year more than ever, so plz come forward if you have a scr or access to it. We like to have all scr-titles if possible, but it has to be secure for everyone, we want to get them out safely as every year.&#8221;</p>
<p><center><strong>Green.Book.2018.DVDScr.Xvid.AC3.HQ.Hive-CM8</strong><br></br></center><center><img src="media/ab0cd439.green.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/green.png" alt="" width="720" height="368" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-166345"></center></p>
<p>While Hive-CM8 may have trouble releasing as many titles as they did in previous years, it&#8217;s not the only group that leaks screeners. </p>
<p>Shortly after Green Book, EVO released a pirated DVD screener of <a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt5848272/">Ralph Breaks the Internet</a>. According to EVO, they got their hands on a copy two weeks ago and planned to have it out by Christmas, but it was delayed due to technical issues. </p>
<p>It usually remains a mystery where the screeners come from. Every now and then the FBI tracks down the source. This is also what happened with a former movie studio employee who <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/man-leaked-revenant-online-fined-1-1m-160930/">leaked</a> a copy of The Revenant in 2015.</p>
<p>EVO is obviously keeping its sources anonymous, but it openly thanks &#8220;MrSpy&#8221; for &#8220;risking his balls.&#8221; </p>
<p>The group further stresses that leaking screeners is not about hurting Hollywood. It&#8217;s to give everyone a chance to watch and enjoy movies that may not be available through other means. </p>
<p>&#8220;The DVDSCR season is not about leaking and hurting the studios itself, it&#8217;s about giving a chance for everyone to watch and enjoy some of the movies that arent even showing on their local theaters.&#8221;</p>
<p>We&#8217;re pretty sure that Hollywood disagrees, but movie studios will have a hard time putting the genie back in the bottle now that Green Book and Ralph Breaks the Internet are out.</p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/">TF</a>, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/top-10-most-popular-torrent-sites-of-2018-180107/">torrent sites</a> and more. We also have <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-services-keep-anonymous-2018/">VPN reviews, </a><a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-discount-coupon-offer-torguard-nordvpn-expressvpn-pia/">discounts, offers and coupons</a>.</p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=166174
title: Pirate IPTV Services Will Be Blocked Says Set-Top Box Manufacturer
uri: Pirate-IPTV-Services-Will-Be-Blocked-Says-Set-Top-Box-Manufacturer
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/HDOIuNNDRWA/
content:
<p><a href="media/c6d79219.iptv.jpg" data-original-source="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/images/iptv.jpg"><img src="media/8a86db31.iptv.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/iptv.jpg" alt="" width="234" height="155" class="alignright size-full wp-image-135034"></a>Over the past couple of years, unauthorized IPTV services have been making their presence known in the &#8216;pirate&#8217; TV space.</p>
<p>As recently <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/pirate-iptv-subscriptions-remain-rampant-in-north-america-181223/">reported</a>, pirate IPTV services are accessed by 5.5% of US and Canadian households. The range of content is phenomenal, with few &#8211; if any &#8211; official entertainment companies in a position to compete.</p>
<p>Such services are typically accessed via set-top boxes, from ubiquitous Android-based platforms through to dedicated IPTV hardware. None of these devices are designed to be infringing but with the addition of third-party services, they can be transformed into piracy powerhouses.</p>
<p>For those looking for a premium IPTV experience, the MAG box range from Ukraine-based Infomir are the tools of choice. The compact devices are used by thousands of consumers to access legitimate content via a beautiful interface but like any such hardware, these boxes can also be used to access infringing streams.</p>
<p>Infomir has understandably distanced itself from this kind of illicit consumption but until now doesn&#8217;t appear to have interfered with the choices of its customers. Moving forward, however, it&#8217;s clear that will change.</p>
<p>&#8220;Infomir is an international company operating in over 150 countries globally. As a manufacturer of multimedia devices, we are subject to copyright and related rights legislation, which we respect and adhere to,&#8221; the company says.</p>
<p>&#8220;Upon receiving complaints from a copyright holder, Infomir is obliged to restrict access from its devices to any portal suspected of copyright infringement. The restriction will be maintained until the issue with the copyright holder is resolved.&#8221;</p>
<p>IPTV services (both legal and less so) often supply a URL which enables MAG and similar devices to access their &#8216;portal&#8217;. These are entered into the device&#8217;s setup page, with the box typically being authorized at the provider&#8217;s end by verifying its MAC address against a pre-registered one.</p>
<p>However, Infomir appears able to prevent certain portal URLs from being accessed via its set-top devices and there are some unconfirmed reports online which indicate this may be happening already.</p>
<p>TorrentFreak spoke with Infomir to find out more about this development. Will the company block portals following straightforward copyright complaints, for example, or is a court order required?</p>
<p>&#8220;The complaints need not be necessarily backed up by a court order. The form and contents of a copyright complaint must conform to the DMCA requirements,&#8221; Infomir Legal Counsel Vladislav Larionov informs TF.</p>
<p>&#8220;Our policy is to comply with the EU and US legislation on copyright and take into account best practices in the area of handling of copyright infringement reports. In particular, we only process the reports of copyright infringement that contain all the elements of notification envisaged by the DMCA.&#8221;</p>
<p>Some IPTV providers not only provide access to &#8216;pirate&#8217; streams but also other content that has the potential to be non-infringing, depending on a users&#8217; circumstances. For instance, there could be questions raised over legality when the holder of a UK TV license only accesses BBC One and similar channels via an IPTV service.</p>
<p>Speaking in more general terms, TF asked Infomir if over-blocking is a concern. The company told us that they require detailed complaints from rightsholders to block portals and they give services that are blocked the right to file a counter-complaint.</p>
<p>&#8220;We respect the rights of legitimate service providers, and we are concerned that such service providers might be reported by mistake or due to misidentification. That is why we request that copyright infringement reports submitted to us comply with the DMCA and contain a statement under penalty of perjury that the report is true and accurate,&#8221; Larionov explains.</p>
<p>&#8220;We also review each copyright infringement report to prevent false or abusive ones. Finally, we provide every service provider with a possibility to oppose a copyright infringement report. In case there is a dispute between a copyright holder and a service provider, we will request a court order to maintain access restriction to a portal.&#8221; </p>
<p>While copyright holders who file for blocking injunctions in court can be identified fairly easily, discovering who has filed a complaint with Infomir is less straightforward. The company told TF that it cannot provide information on who has requested a block other than to say it is mostly &#8220;big copyright holders, anti-piracy associations, and companies that provide copyright management and protection services.&#8221;</p>
<p>Finally, it&#8217;s not entirely clear how MAG devices are prevented from accessing portal URLs and Infomir informs TF that it won&#8217;t provide that information as it might &#8220;downgrade&#8221; its &#8220;access restriction system&#8221;. There is already some speculation on specialist forums that firmware updates may be responsible but no clear confirmation is currently available.</p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/">TF</a>, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/top-10-most-popular-torrent-sites-of-2018-180107/">torrent sites</a> and more. We also have <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-services-keep-anonymous-2018/">VPN reviews, </a><a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-discount-coupon-offer-torguard-nordvpn-expressvpn-pia/">discounts, offers and coupons</a>.</p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=165707
title: Anti-Piracy Companies Continually Report IMDb as a Pirate Site
uri: Anti-Piracy-Companies-Continually-Report-IMDb-as-a-Pirate-Site
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/GpIiOGdmU-s/
content:
<p><a href="media/729747e2.facepalm.jpg" data-original-source="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/images/facepalm.jpg"><img src="media/50fb18c6.facepalm.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/facepalm.jpg" alt="" width="250" height="158" class="alignright size-full wp-image-127813"></a>Anyone even remotely interested in movies and the Internet will have likely stumbled across the Internet Movie Database, or IMDb for short.</p>
<p>The site is an absolute goldmine of information on every imaginable movie, listing everything from cast and crew to user reviews, trailers and trivia, with dozens of additional data points to allow the consumer to research and invest in content.</p>
<p>IMDb is an entirely legal venture but for reasons best known to dozens of content and anti-piracy companies, it is regularly subjected to takedown notices who claim that the service is a pirate site.</p>
<p>For example, early December an anti-piracy outfit working to protect the movie &#8216;The Wedding Ringer&#8217; for Sony Pictures Entertainment targeted a range of URLs in a <a href="https://lumendatabase.org/notices/17746704">notice</a> to Google. Unfortunately, the notice also listed an IMDb URL that offers the legal trailer for the movie.</p>
<p>Even more bizarrely, a company working on behalf of TV company RCN TV filed a strongly-worded notice aiming to protect the TV show &#8220;<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/La_ley_del_coraz%C3%B3n">The Law of the Heart</a>&#8220;.</p>
<p>&#8220;[The URLs contains] an illegal pirated copy of RCN’s copyrighted episodic series La ley del corazon episode/s 01-130. RCN TV has not in any capacity, authorized https://www.imdb.com to distribute its content,&#8221; the notice reads.</p>
<p>&#8220;RCN hereby requests that based on the DMCA and Google’s own copyright infringement rules, that said portal be removed from its system in order to prevent further abuse and financial losses to our brand as copyright owners.&#8221; </p>
<p>The <a href="https://lumendatabase.org/notices/17741344">notice</a> lists 132 IMDb URLs, all of which promote and inform the public on the show with none offering any episode for free. Google did the right thing and removed none of them.</p>
<p>But it&#8217;s not just foreign companies targeting IMDb with wrongful takedowns. On December 8, an anti-piracy company working for Home Box Office tried to &#8216;<a href="https://lumendatabase.org/notices/17722832">protect</a>&#8216; the TV show Rellik by removing its IMDb page.</p>
<p>A few days earlier, the same company (this time working for MGM Studios) <a href="https://lumendatabase.org/notices/17686208">tried to remove</a> the IMDb page for Get Shorty, while throwing in its Wikipedia page for good measure.</p>
<p>A takedown <a href="https://lumendatabase.org/notices/17187380">notice </a>sent on behalf of Columbia Pictures to protect The Amazing Spider-Man 2 didn&#8217;t achieve much either. </p>
<p><center><strong>No, that&#8217;s not right&#8230;</strong><br></br></center><center><a href="media/536cc3d6.spid-dmca-e1545037239345.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/spid-dmca-e1545037239345.png"><img src="media/536cc3d6.spid-dmca-e1545037239345.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/spid-dmca-e1545037239345.png" alt="" width="600" height="136" class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-165712"></a></center></p>
<p>While most if not all notices that target IMDb are sent in error, there appears to be a common mistake made by some anti-piracy companies.</p>
<p>When sending notices to Google, instead of listing IMDb URLs as the source of the content (it isn&#8217;t, but many companies list it as such), they accidentally put IMDb as the infringing URL. <a href="https://lumendatabase.org/notices/17186234">This notice</a> sent on behalf of National Geographic lists several such examples.</p>
<p>Google&#8217;s Transparency Report <a href="https://transparencyreport.google.com/copyright/domains/imdb.com?hl=en&#038;request_by_org=size:10;domain:imdb.com;p:MjppbWRiLmNvbToxMDowOjEw&#038;lu=request_by_org">lists more than 170 largely bogus DMCA complaints</a> against IMDb, which is something easily prevented with a simple whitelisting of the site&#8217;s URL.</p>
<p>What makes things even more ridiculous is that IMDb is owned by Amazon and on every page where legal consumption is possible, the company provides a link where visitors can watch legally using Prime Video. Given that, at the time of writing, the complaints covered more than 4,600 URLs, that&#8217;s potentially a lot of lost business via Google search. </p>
<p>Thankfully, as the image below shows, Google&#8217;s diligence when reviewing DMCA complaints prevents most notice senders from shooting themselves in the foot. However, it doesn&#8217;t take a genius to work out what delisting from IMDb could do for a movie&#8217;s sales. Is it really too much effort to whitelist the site?</p>
<p><center><strong>Google saves the day for hundreds of movies</strong><br></br></center><center><a href="media/1910be3f.imdb-google.png" data-original-source="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/images/imdb-google.png"><img src="media/9627450d.imdb-google.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/imdb-google.png" alt="" width="447" height="429" class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-165717"></a></center></p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/">TF</a>, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/top-10-most-popular-torrent-sites-of-2018-180107/">torrent sites</a> and more. We also have <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-services-keep-anonymous-2018/">VPN reviews, </a><a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-discount-coupon-offer-torguard-nordvpn-expressvpn-pia/">discounts, offers and coupons</a>.</p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=166076
title: TorrentFreak’s 18 Most Read Articles of 2018
uri: TorrentFreak-s-18-Most-Read-Articles-of-2018
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/RniBPYmmnkc/
content:
<p><img src="media/6b16d833.2017.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/2017.jpg" alt="" width="300" height="198" class="alignright size-full wp-image-132865">Every year we write roughly 900 articles here at TorrentFreak, and some are more popular than others. </p>
<p>On the brink of the new year, we look back at 2018 by going over the 18 most read news items of the year.  </p>
<p>All in all, it was quite a controversial year once again. Troubles at various torrent sites were frequently mentioned, as well as the inevitable legal issues. </p>
<p>But what will 2019 bring?</p>
<h3>1. <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/limetorrents-fights-blocking-efforts-with-new-domain-and-homepage-180722/">LimeTorrents Fights Blocking Efforts With New Domain and Homepage</a></h3>
<p>In July, LimeTorrents changed domain names and updated its homepage in response to various blocking efforts. The site hoped to bypass ISP blockades, at least temporarily, but also to counter a Google ban. While the changes helped temporarily, the new limetorrents.info remains hard to find in the search engine. </p>
<h3>2. <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/pirate-bay-suffers-downtime-tor-domain-is-up-180828/">Pirate Bay Suffers Downtime, Tor Domain is Up</a></h3>
<p>The Pirate Bay has suffered weeks of downtime over the past year. There were several related articles that qualified for this list, but we limited it to this one entry from August. The <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/the-pirate-bay-remains-mysteriously-inaccessible-to-many-181101/">mysterious issues</a> continued for weeks and some still have trouble accessing the site through its regular .org domain.</p>
<h3>3. <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/terrarium-tv-one-of-the-best-loved-pirate-apps-shuts-down-180911/">Terrarium TV: One of the Best-Loved Pirate Apps Shuts Down</a></h3>
<p>In September,  Terrarium TV &#8211; one of the most-loved &#8216;pirate&#8217; applications for Android &#8211; ceased operating for good. Developer NitroXenon announced that the software, known for its slick interface and huge content selection, would stop working at the end of the month. </p>
<h4>4. <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/demonoid-goes-down-while-owner-remains-missing-180924/">Demonoid Goes Down While Owner Remains ‘Missing’</a></h4>
<p>Demonoid has a reputation for disappearing, sometimes for months. This became painfully apparent again this year. During the summer the site started to suffer downtime and later on it vanished completely. The site&#8217;s owner also went missing around the same time. While he reached out to staff weeks later, the site remains offline today. The issues at Demonoid were discussed in several popular news posts but we limited them to one entry in this list.</p>
<h4>5. <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/seventorrents-shuts-down-transfers-database-to-new-torrent-site-180814/">SevenTorrents Shuts Down, Transfers Database to New Torrent Site</a></h4>
<p>In August, torrent site SevenTorrents closed its doors. The site&#8217;s operator announced that the user database was transferred to the brand new torrent site Watchsomuch, so the community can live on. This site remains online today. </p>
<h4>6. <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/offlinebay-saves-the-day-when-pirate-bay-goes-down-180303/">OfflineBay ‘Saves The Day’ When Pirate Bay Goes Down</a></h4>
<p>With all the Pirate Bay downtime an &#8216;offline&#8217; copy of the site&#8217;s torrent database sounded like a good idea to software developer TechTac. Based on the number of people who read the article, many people agreed. </p>
<h4>7. <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/torrent-links-return-torrentz2-mystery-disappearance-180112/">Torrent Links Return to Torrentz2 After Mystery Disappearance</a></h4>
<p>All links to torrents <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/torrent-links-disappear-from-torrentz2-171223/">disappeared</a> from Torrentz2 December 2017. The site remained without links for roughly three weeks, after which the site, just as surprisingly, returned to its former glory. Two weeks later a similar issue appeared, but that <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/torrent-links-disappear-from-torrentz2-adblock-180126/">only affected ad-block users</a>.</p>
<h4>8. <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/extratorrent-replacement-displays-warning-on-predecessors-shutdown-anniversary-180518/">ExtraTorrent Replacement Displays Warning On Predecessor’s Shutdown Anniversary</a></h4>
<p>ExtraTorrent.ag, the unofficial successor of ExtraTorrent, started to point to a security warning a year after the original site shut down. The warning was only short-lived as everything went back to normal after a few days.</p>
<h4>9. <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/ip-address-is-not-enough-to-identify-pirate-us-court-of-appeals-rules-180828/">IP Address is Not Enough to Identify Pirate, US Court of Appeals Rules</a></h4>
<p>This summer the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals reached a verdict in Cobbler Nevada v. Gonzales. The Court ruled that identifying the registered subscriber of an IP-address by itself is not enough to argue that this person is also the infringer. The order also affected <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/courts-want-something-more-than-an-ip-address-to-catch-pirates-181217/">several other cases</a>. </p>
<h4>10. <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/thor-ragnarok-furiously-pirated-after-itunes-pre-order-blunder-180122/">Thor Ragnarok Furiously Pirated After iTunes Pre-Order Blunder</a></h4>
<p>Following a massive blunder, Thor Ragnarok was made available on iTunes weeks before its official release. Soon after, copies started to spread all over the Internet, which were pirated at a furious rate.</p>
<h4>11. <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/flixtor-offline-following-mysterious-domain-updates-181122/">Flixtor Offline Following Mysterious Domain Updates</a></h4>
<p>Late November, pirate streaming site Flixtor became unreachable. After a week it returned without content. According to a message posted on the site, Flixtor must be rebuilt from scratch. It&#8217;s unknown how long this will take.</p>
<h4>12. <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/top-10-torrent-site-idope-goes-down-with-domain-issues-180815/">Top 10 Torrent Site iDope Goes Down With Domain Issues</a></h4>
<p>In August, iDope &#8211; one of the largest torrent sites on the Internet &#8211; went offline. The site’s operator informed us normal service would be resumed in a few days, through new domain names. However, at the end of the year the original iDope site is nowhere to be found.</p>
<h4>13. <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/nintendo-sues-console-rom-sites-for-mass-copyright-infringement-180720/">Nintendo Sues Console ROM Sites For ‘Mass’ Copyright Infringement</a> </h4>
<p>In July, Nintendo filed a complaint at a federal court in Arizona, accusing LoveROMS.com and LoveRETRO.co of massive copyright and trademark infringement. The operators, a married couple, eventually agreed to a <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/nintendo-wins-12-million-from-pirate-rom-site-operators-181112/">$12 million settlement</a> in favor of the game developer.</p>
<h4>14. <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/tamilrockers-arrests-police-parade-alleged-movie-pirates-on-tv-180315/">Tamilrockers Arrests: Police Parade Alleged Movie Pirates on TV</a></h4>
<p>Three men said to be behind notorious India-focused pirate site Tamilrockers were reportedly arrested in March. Two other men, allegedly linked to partner site DVD Rockers, were also detained.</p>
<h4>15. <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/skytorrents-dumps-massive-torrent-database-and-shuts-down180221/">SkyTorrents Dumps Massive Torrent Database and Shuts Down</a></h4>
<p>The ad-free and privacy-focused torrent site &#8220;SkyTorrents&#8221; became a victim of its own success. With millions of pageviews per day, the site was too expensive to manage, leaving the operator with no other option than to shut it down. </p>
<h4>16. <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/google-wont-take-down-pirate-vlc-with-five-million-downloads-180206/">Google Won’t Take Down ‘Pirate’ VLC With Five Million Downloads</a></h4>
<p>An ad-supported VLC clone on Google Play amassed a staggering five to ten million downloads while breaching VLC&#8217;s GPL license. Google initially didn&#8217;t take it down, but that changed soon after the article was published.</p>
<h4>17. <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/terrarium-tv-dev-says-he-could-hand-user-info-to-authorities-180917/">Terrarium TV Dev Says He Could Hand User Info to Authorities</a></h4>
<p>After shutting down the &#8216;pirate&#8217; app Terrarium TV, the developer released some worrying news for former users. He informed TorrentFreak that if required, he&#8217;ll give up user data to the authorities.</p>
<h4>18. <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/pubg-files-copyright-lawsuit-to-shut-down-competition-180405/">PUBG Files Copyright Lawsuit to Shut Down Competition</a></h4>
<p>In April, PlayerUnknown&#8217;s Battlegrounds filed a copyright infringement lawsuit against the developer of the mobile games &#8220;Rules of Survival&#8221; and &#8220;Knives Out.&#8221; The company argued that the games copied specific elements as well as the overall look and feel from PUBG. This case remains ongoing. </p>
<p>&#8212;</p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/">TF</a>, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/top-10-most-popular-torrent-sites-of-2018-180107/">torrent sites</a> and more. We also have <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-services-keep-anonymous-2018/">VPN reviews, </a><a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-discount-coupon-offer-torguard-nordvpn-expressvpn-pia/">discounts, offers and coupons</a>.</p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=166365
title: Top 10 Most Pirated Movies of The Week on BitTorrent – 12/31/18
uri: Top-10-Most-Pirated-Movies-of-The-Week-on-BitTorrent-12-31-18
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/XAAY-Ltc8pY/
content:
<p><img src="media/3a288ea1.jengl.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/jengl.jpg" alt="" width="300" height="180" class="alignright size-full wp-image-166095">This week we have three newcomers in our chart.</p>
<p>Johnny English Strikes Again is the most downloaded movie.</p>
<p>The data for our weekly download chart is estimated by TorrentFreak, and is for informational and educational reference only. All the movies in the list are Web-DL/Webrip/HDRip/BDrip/DVDrip unless stated otherwise.</p>
<p><a href="http://TorrentFreak.com/category/dvdrip/feed/"><strong>RSS feed</strong></a> for the articles of the recent weekly movie download charts.</p>
<h5>This week&#8217;s most downloaded movies are:</h5>
<table class="css hover">
<thead>
<tr>
<th width="12%"><strong>Movie Rank</strong></th>
<th width="15%"><strong>Rank <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/top-10-pirated-movies-week-bittorrent-12-17-18/">last week</a></strong></th>
<th><strong>Movie name</strong></th>
<th width="18%"><strong>IMDb Rating / Trailer</strong></th>
</tr>
</thead>
<tfoot>
<tr>
<td colspan="4">Most downloaded movies via torrents</td>
</tr>
</tfoot>
<tbody>
<tr>
<td><strong>1</strong></td>
<td>(1)</td>
<td><a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt6921996/">Johnny English Strikes Again</a> </td>
<td><a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt6921996/">6.4</a> / <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Qv6p6pTz5I">trailer</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><strong>2</strong></td>
<td>(&#8230;)</td>
<td><a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt2737304/">Bird Box</a> </td>
<td><a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt2737304/">7.7</a> / <a href="https://youtu.be/MPWMBITCudM">trailer</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><strong>3</strong></td>
<td>(2)</td>
<td><a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1477834/">Aquaman</a> (HDTC)</td>
<td><a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1477834/">7.7</a> / <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZmqJJqFX_CU">trailer</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><strong>4</strong></td>
<td>(4)</td>
<td><a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1270797/">Venom</a> </td>
<td><a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1270797/">7.0</a> / <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xLCn88bfW1o&#038;t=3s">trailer</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><strong>5</strong></td>
<td>(8)</td>
<td><a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt4123430/">Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald</a> </td>
<td><a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt4123430/">6.9</a> / <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8bYBOVWLNIs">trailer</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><strong>6</strong></td>
<td>(3)</td>
<td><a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1213641/">First Man</a> </td>
<td><a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1213641/">7.6</a> / <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PSoRx87OO6k">trailer</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><strong>7</strong></td>
<td>(&#8230;)</td>
<td><a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt5848272/">Ralph Breaks The Internet</a> (Dvdscr) </td>
<td><a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt5848272/">5.5</a> / <a href="https://youtu.be/_BcYBFC6zfY">trailer</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><strong>8</strong></td>
<td>(5)</td>
<td><a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt7040874/">A Simple Favor</a> </td>
<td><a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt7040874/">7.0</a> / <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rAqMlh0b2HU">trailer</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><strong>9</strong></td>
<td>(&#8230;)</td>
<td><a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt6966692/">Green Book</a> (Dvdscr) </td>
<td><a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt6966692/">5.5</a> / <a href="https://youtu.be/uC-_Gon2p9M">trailer</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><strong>10</strong></td>
<td>(6)</td>
<td><a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1502407/">Halloween</a> </td>
<td><a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1502407/">6.9</a> / <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ek1ePFp-nBI">trailer</a></td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/">TF</a>, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/top-10-most-popular-torrent-sites-of-2018-180107/">torrent sites</a> and more. We also have <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-services-keep-anonymous-2018/">VPN reviews, </a><a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-discount-coupon-offer-torguard-nordvpn-expressvpn-pia/">discounts, offers and coupons</a>.</p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=166121
title: BitTorrent Blocklists Are Even Less Effective Than Pirate Site Blocking
uri: BitTorrent-Blocklists-Are-Even-Less-Effective-Than-Pirate-Site-Blockin
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/mubSARSWFuM/
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 18 years, ever since P2P clients made their run into the big time, users have been trying to figure out a way to avoid expensive lawsuits.</p>
<p>At the beginning, no real solutions were available, so it was a roll of the dice from start to finish. People either got lucky, or they didn&#8217;t. The majority did but a significant number didn&#8217;t feel like taking so many chances.</p>
<p>Somewhere along the way, so-called &#8216;peer-blocking&#8217; applications raised their head. These pieces of software act like a firewall on a user&#8217;s computer, with the aim of preventing &#8216;hostile&#8217; IP addresses from connecting to a torrent client, for example, thus preventing lawsuits.</p>
<p>Over the years, millions of users installed these programs (along with the blocklists containing the supposed IP addresses of anti-piracy groups) believing that no &#8216;bad players&#8217; could access their machines. Unfortunately for those using them, these blocklists were completely ineffective and remain so today.</p>
<p>Peer-blocking applications should have died a death more than a decade ago but for some inexplicable reason, torrent users on many public forums continue to post about them, asking whether they&#8217;re doing the job they&#8217;re supposed to and if additional precautions are needed.</p>
<p>Despite plenty of information to the contrary, some still swear by these lists and a few stubbornly believe they are &#8220;better than nothing&#8221;. If locking every window on a house but leaving the front door open is &#8220;better than nothing&#8221; to prevent burglars, then it&#8217;s difficult to disagree. If making sure is the aim, blocklists should be thrown in the trash can marked &#8216;placebo&#8217;.</p>
<p>The problem is the way these things work. Peer-blocking applications use lists of IP addresses (generally compiled by volunteers) which are thought to be connected to anti-piracy, copyright trolls, government bodies, and others interested in stopping piracy. The aim is that if all of these IP addresses can be blocked, the problem can be solved.</p>
<p>Years ago, when people had less understanding of these matters, blocklists seemed like the tool everyone needed. However, blocklists are massively incomplete, woefully out-of-date, and cannot ever hope to &#8216;know&#8217; every IP address used by every anti-P2P group. For those that still aren&#8217;t convinced, let&#8217;s take site-blocking as an example.</p>
<p>When ISPs block &#8216;pirate&#8217; websites, they prevent users from accessing either their domain names, IP addresses, or DNS. When customers try to access any or all of these things, a firewall on the ISP&#8217;s end prevents the connection. No further explanation is necessary because after a decade of blocking, most proficient users generally understand how these things work.</p>
<p>Now think for a moment how easily these blocks are defeated. As soon as an order is handed down, sites can grab a new domain, a new IP address, or have their traffic funneled through any number of proxies and mirrors. Users, for their part, can evade bans by using these modified services or utilizing tools like VPNs. Blocking is very easily bypassed.</p>
<p>Now for the big non-surprise: anti-piracy groups can deploy just as many and more techniques to ensure that their entries on blocklists are out-of-date or completely irrelevant. Their tracking machines can be shifted around IP addresses in the blink of an eye, through datacenters or even residential ISPs, if there is a real need for stealth.</p>
<p>No one anywhere on the planet &#8211; no matter how clever or resourceful &#8211; has the skill or resources to keep up with these changes and/or make a blocklist that deals with them all. A hundred people couldn&#8217;t manage it, nor could a thousand. The information required simply isn&#8217;t made public and the result is the publication of blocklists that massively overblock legitimate resources while letting through who-knows-what.</p>
<p>The only real way to ensure that your IP address is never connected to &#8216;bad players&#8217; while using torrents is to use something <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-services-keep-anonymous-2018/">like a VPN</a>. Or, of course, don&#8217;t share copyrighted content in the first place.</p>
<p>Blocklists have never worked to the extent required and will never work in the future. Anyone who trusts them may as well use a fishing net as a rain hat. It&#8217;ll still catch some fish but don&#8217;t expect it to keep you dry.</p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/">TF</a>, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/top-10-most-popular-torrent-sites-of-2018-180107/">torrent sites</a> and more. We also have <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-services-keep-anonymous-2018/">VPN reviews, </a><a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-discount-coupon-offer-torguard-nordvpn-expressvpn-pia/">discounts, offers and coupons</a>.</p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=165981
title: Five ‘Piracy’ Predictions For 2019
uri: Five-Piracy-Predictions-For-2019
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/TnNo3miOzaA/
content:
<p><img src="media/a8203d09.2019-1.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/2019-1.jpg" alt="" width="277" height="175" class="alignright size-full wp-image-166269">Following the latest trends is one of the main tasks at the TorrentFreak newsroom and this job continues in the New Year.</p>
<p>While predicting the future isn&#8217;t in our job description, we&#8217;re not too shy to take a guess or two. After the poor results last year, we might just have a shot in 2019.</p>
<h4>Demonoid Makes a Comeback</h4>
<p>The first one&#8217;s easy, but far from guaranteed. The popular semi-private BitTorrent tracker Demonoid vanished again last year. But it will return. </p>
<p>The site&#8217;s owner has been missing in action for a while. However, over the years he has shown to be dedicated to the site and its userbase. The site has made several comebacks in the past and we predict that the same will happen in 2019. </p>
<p>Whether Demonoid will ever return to its glory days, with millions of visitors per week, is doubtful though. </p>
<h4>Site Blocking Comes to The US</h4>
<p>US-based movie studios have lobbied and litigated for site blocking measures all over the world. This has been quite successful, but on their home turf, all pirate sites remain readily available. </p>
<p>This is particularly &#8216;problematic&#8217; because US visitors are driving the most traffic to many torrent and streaming portals. </p>
<p>Copyright holders have long feared a SOPA-like backlash if they called on US Internet providers to block sites. However, the tide is slowly turning. </p>
<p>In 2019 we&#8217;ll see the start of a broader campaign to bring site-blocking to the US. This is not expected to go easily, but it&#8217;s an inevitable move.</p>
<h4>The Pirate Bay Goes Underground</h4>
<p>For more than a decade, The Pirate Bay has been a thorn in the side of the entertainment industries. This won&#8217;t change in the new year, but the pressure will clearly increase.</p>
<p>At the moment, Pirate Bay&#8217;s .org domain is safe and Cloudflare is still working with the notorious torrent site as well. </p>
<p>This won&#8217;t last. The Pirate Bay will eventually be forced to move &#8216;underground.&#8217; Instead of operating as a public-facing website, it will serve torrents from the Dark Web, with an .onion domain that can&#8217;t be seized.</p>
<h4>Game of Thrones Leaks Early</h4>
<p>The hit series Game of Thrones will air its final season in 2019. As the most-pirated TV-show in history, it is bound to attract the attention of millions of downloaders. </p>
<p>The makers of the series have taken extreme measures to prevent any storylines from being spoiled but it only requires a small mishap to ruin it all. </p>
<p>This will become apparent again in 2019. At least one episode of the new Game of Thrones&#8217; final season will leak before it airs. This won&#8217;t be due to some sophisticated hacking attempt, but rather through a mishap somewhere in the distribution process.</p>
<h4>Google Starts Issuing Piracy Warnings</h4>
<p>Google has taken countless anti-piracy measures in recent years. However, many rightsholders are still not content. </p>
<p>Ideally, they would like the search engine to remove pirate sites from search results altogether. Google has made it clear that this would be a step too far, but there is something else they can do. </p>
<p>In the next year, Google will add &#8220;infringement&#8221; alerts to the search engine as well as the Chrome browser. As a result, users will see a warning message when they attempt to visit a site for which Google has received thousands of takedown requests. </p>
<p>The measure will be similar to the warnings Google displays for sites that serve &#8220;malware&#8221; or other potentially unwanted software.</p>
<p>&#8212;-</p>
<p><strong>Happy New Year!</strong></p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/">TF</a>, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/top-10-most-popular-torrent-sites-of-2018-180107/">torrent sites</a> and more. We also have <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-services-keep-anonymous-2018/">VPN reviews, </a><a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-discount-coupon-offer-torguard-nordvpn-expressvpn-pia/">discounts, offers and coupons</a>.</p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=166099
title: Reporting When Pirate Releases Hit The Internet is Apparently Illegal Now
uri: Reporting-When-Pirate-Releases-Hit-The-Internet-is-Apparently-Illegal
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/EOS4TIXXSPg/
content:
<p><a href="media/88430947.news-small.jpg" data-original-source="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/images/news-small.jpg"><img src="media/aaff7a10.news-small.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/news-small.jpg" alt="" width="240" height="146" class="alignright size-full wp-image-125354"></a>While the vast majority of BitTorrent users will simply visit their favorite pirate site for a list of what is available, very often content hasn&#8217;t been released online yet. From simply trying to soon to waiting for a delayed release, checking sites can be a bit hit and miss.</p>
<p>For those looking for more information on whether content has hit the Internet yet, it&#8217;s possible to use a so-called PRE Database, or PreDb for short. These sites, which can be automatically or manually maintained, contain lists which detail release names, when they became available online, and other relevant information.</p>
<p>While some PreDb sites sometimes contain links to torrents or NZB files, for example, most toe the line from a copyright perspective. They are simple archives of information that cannot be claimed by copyright holders. That, however, doesn&#8217;t stop them from trying.</p>
<p>Recently, TorrentFreak had a discussion with the operator of SweTracker, a PreDb/tracer service that focuses on providing information for Nordic releases.</p>
<p>&#8220;As a Nordic user I wanted to see where all the Nordic releases are, where to find them, and who had them first,&#8221; he explained.</p>
<p>&#8220;Swenews.info [another release tracking site] still existed back then, but it didn&#8217;t say in plain text which specific tracker had the content, so you had to visit all the possible trackers. So then I decided to create my own version of Swenews but detailing the specific tracker. This was about two years ago.&#8221;</p>
<p>While many PreDb-style sites monitor for &#8216;Scene&#8217; releases using information culled from IRC, <a href="https://swetracker.org/releases">SweTracker</a> monitors BitTorrent trackers and publishes information on who won the &#8216;race&#8217; to put content online first. It does not link to any pirate content whatsoever but anti-piracy companies regularly report the site to Google.</p>
<p><center><strong>No infrining content but the complaints flood in</strong><br></br></center><center><a href="media/f1b5fcf0.swetracker-predb1.png" data-original-source="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/images/swetracker-predb1.png"><img src="media/13da6833.swetracker-predb1.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/swetracker-predb1.png" alt="" width="600" height="307" class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-166106"></a></center></p>
<p>As the image above shows, SweTracker has been reported to Google many hundreds of times this year alone by anti-piracy companies who clearly cannot tell the difference between reporting news and offering pirate releases for download. SweTracker&#8217;s operator says he&#8217;s become used to the problem.</p>
<p>&#8220;My personal experience with [anti-piracy companies] is that they don&#8217;t really know how stuff works. They often state that users can download or stream movies directly from SweTracker, but that&#8217;s simply not true,&#8221; he explains.</p>
<p>&#8220;But, I try to make life easy and do remove the releases they ask me to remove.<br>
They have contacted me via email several times.&#8221;</p>
<p>As far as we can tell, this level of cooperation really isn&#8217;t needed. However, SweTracker&#8217;s operator says that he&#8217;s had serious problems in the past when loose-cannon companies erroneously targeted his site.</p>
<p>He reveals that one company took its complaints about his site to Cloudflare and then to his own web-host, which responded by taking down his entire site until all of the files on it could be checked for infringement. This effort took almost a day during which the site was rendered completely inaccessible.</p>
<p>The problems facing SweTracker are not unique, however. There are perhaps a dozen similar sites online currently, with PreDb.org, PreDb.pw, and Pre.Corrupt-Net.org being among the most respected and visited.</p>
<p><a href="https://predb.org">PreDb.org</a> states clearly on its main page that &#8220;There are absolutely NO downloads of copyright-protected works, hyperlinks to downloads, torrent files, magnet links, nzb files or similar content on any part of this web site&#8221; but that doesn&#8217;t prevent complaints.</p>
<p>Google&#8217;s Transparency Report <a href="https://transparencyreport.google.com/copyright/domains/predb.org?hl=en">indicates</a> that at the time of writing, PreDb.org has had 2,204 URLs reported by content and anti-piracy companies, with Google removing the links from its indexes approximately 65% of the time.</p>
<p>A similar situation is faced by PreDb.pw, which has had 1,103 of its URLs reported to Google with requests that the company removes them from its search indexes. At the time of writing, Google has cooperated almost 85% of the time.</p>
<p>Quite why these sites are aggressively targeted isn&#8217;t clear, but it seems likely that simply having a release name on the site is enough to classify it as a full-on piracy resource. As we&#8217;ve pointed out dozens of times in the past, a simple whitelist could provide a very simple solution to this problem.</p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/">TF</a>, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/top-10-most-popular-torrent-sites-of-2018-180107/">torrent sites</a> and more. We also have <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-services-keep-anonymous-2018/">VPN reviews, </a><a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-discount-coupon-offer-torguard-nordvpn-expressvpn-pia/">discounts, offers and coupons</a>.</p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=166289
title: New Law Will See Pirate TV Services Blocked By ISPs in Latvia
uri: New-Law-Will-See-Pirate-TV-Services-Blocked-By-ISPs-in-Latvia
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/OqwO_1riFxo/
content:
<p><a href="media/c6d79219.iptv.jpg" data-original-source="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/images/iptv.jpg"><img src="media/8a86db31.iptv.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/iptv.jpg" alt="" width="234" height="155" class="alignright size-full wp-image-135034"></a>Consumers wishing to access TV content are spoilt for choice these days. Masses of content is available via antennas, satellite dishes, cable, and &#8211; of course &#8211; the Internet.</p>
<p>The explosion of the latter has provided huge growth in access to legitimate platforms but alongside there are many thousands of unauthorized services, each looking to take a share of the massive pirate audience.</p>
<p>With no clear answer to stemming this consumption, many countries are turning to web-blocking, utilizing local ISPs as somewhat porous barriers to pirate content. The latest country to take this course of action is Latvia, which introduced <a href="https://likumi.lv/ta/id/214039-elektronisko-plassazinas-lidzeklu-likums?version_date=01.01.2019#p-660434">new laws</a> on January 1, 2019, in an effort to reduce unauthorized consumption.</p>
<p>Sites and services that rebroadcast &#8220;audiovisual programs&#8221; in the country without an appropriate license now face blocking by local ISPs. While the process will be carried out extrajudicially, it will be largely similar to regimes in other countries that practice blocking to counter infringement.</p>
<p>The National Electronic Media Council, which will administer the blocks, will first send out cease-and-desist notices to sites and services that are retransmitting TV and similar content without permission. They will be given 15 days to stop their activities or face their sites being placed on a national blacklist which will be actioned by local Internet service providers.</p>
<p>According to an investigation by <a href="https://rus.delfi.lv/techlife/detali/s-nachala-2019-goda-v-latvii-nachnut-blokirovat-piratskoe-internet-tv-chto-ob-etom-nado-znat.d?id=50684555">Delfi</a>, the state will be picking up the bill for administering the blockades, spending more than 333,000 euros in 2019 and around 280,000 euros each in 2020 and 2021.</p>
<p>Most of the money will be spent on the salaries of 10 new officials with the remainder being spent on other aspects of the regime including new software for monitoring the activities of &#8216;pirate&#8217; sites.</p>
<p>The names and domains of all blocked sites will be published on a government website and will remain on the national blocklist for six months. It appears the authorities are preparing for the inevitable game of whac-a-mole by looking for new branches of similar services and quickly sending notifications for them to shut down.</p>
<p>The news that Latvia will crack down on &#8216;pirate&#8217; TV streams comes after Ukraine-based set-top box manufacturer Infomir said it will do what it can to prevent infringement.</p>
<p>The company <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/pirate-iptv-services-will-be-blocked-says-set-top-box-manufacturer-181230/">told</a> TorrentFreak that it will begin blocking access to suspected infringing portals following complaints from “big copyright holders, anti-piracy associations, and companies that provide copyright management and protection services.”</p>
<p>Meanwhile, in the UK, a <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/new-uk-live-sports-injunction-will-target-pirate-streams-until-2020-181224/">second High Court injunction</a> has been granted in an effort to prevent Internet users from accessing illegal boxing streams. Obtained by Queensbury Promotions, the home of the legendary promoter and manager Frank Warren, it will remain in effect until 2020.</p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/">TF</a>, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/top-10-most-popular-torrent-sites-of-2018-180107/">torrent sites</a> and more. We also have <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-services-keep-anonymous-2018/">VPN reviews, </a><a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-discount-coupon-offer-torguard-nordvpn-expressvpn-pia/">discounts, offers and coupons</a>.</p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=166374
title: Movie Companies Sue Popcorn Time Operator in US Court
uri: Movie-Companies-Sue-Popcorn-Time-Operator-in-US-Court
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/q_hGgSCiG-8/
content:
<p><img src="media/3b9dbdf1.popcornt.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/popcornt.png" alt="" width="237" height="106" class="alignright size-full wp-image-101106">Five years ago Popcorn Time took the Internet by storm as the next major piracy trend.</p>
<p>The software amassed millions of users by offering BitTorrent-powered streaming in an easy-to-use Netflix-style interface.</p>
<p>While the original developers shut down their project after a few months following pressure from Hollywood, others forked the application and took over. Several of these forks were shut down as well, but some remained. </p>
<p>Popcorn-Time.to, originally operating from Popcorn-Time.se, is one of the longest standing forks. The application has been around sine 2014 and is still operational today. Over the years it continued development and even launched its <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/popcorn-time-launches-new-bittorrent-tracker-fight-copyright-monopolies-161230/">own torrent tracker</a>.</p>
<p>With the major Hollywood studios switching their enforcement efforts to pirate streaming boxes, Popcorn Time appeared to be out the spotlight, but it remained on the radar of a group of smaller film companies. </p>
<p>Venice PI, Millennium Funding, and Bodyguard Productions, which own the rights to prominent film titles such as &#8220;The Hitman&#8217;s Bodyguard,&#8221; &#8220;London Has Fallen,&#8221; and &#8220;Once Upon a Time in Venice&#8221; are working hard to shut down the site through a federal court in Hawaii.</p>
<p>The case in question was originally filed over a year ago, but in an amended complaint filed a few days ago, the movie companies now identify the alleged mastermind behind the Popcorn Time fork. </p>
<p>The filmmakers believe that Ukranian resident Stanislav Amelychyts is behind the operation. They obtained this name through a former hosting provider, BlackHOST, which served the Popcorn-Time.to website last year.</p>
<p>&#8220;Plaintiffs bring this action to stop the massive piracy of their motion pictures brought on by the BitTorrent protocol software application Popcorn Time,&#8221; the movie companies write in their complaint.</p>
<p>&#8220;Defendant STANISLAV AMELYCHYTS distributes copies of Popcorn time and promotes it for the infringing purpose of &#8216;watch torrent movies instantly&#8217;, including Plaintiffs’ copyright protected Works, via various distribution channels.&#8221;</p>
<p><center><strong>From the complaint</strong><br></br></center><center><img src="media/51ef6e17.blackhost.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/blackhost.png" alt="" width="599" height="222" class="alignnone size-medium wp-image-166381"></center></p>
<p>The defendant in question is seen as responsible for pretty much the entire operation, including copies of the software that were distributed through the Google Play store and the uptodown.com website. On the latter site, Popcorn Time was also advertised as a &#8216;pirate&#8217; tool.</p>
<p>&#8220;Here, once again Defendant makes no secret of Popcorn Time’s illegitimate purpose – infringing Copyright protected content by stating &#8216;Popcorn Time is an app that enables you to watch tons of streaming movies – from classics to new releases…&#8217;,&#8221; the movie companies write. </p>
<p>Uptodown.com proved to be a pretty popular source too, as the movie companies found out that the Windows and Android versions were downloaded more than 4 million and 12 million times respectively.</p>
<p>What&#8217;s interesting about the lawsuit is that it originally started as a case against several anonymous BitTorrent pirates. All but one have been dismissed now. The remaining &#8216;user&#8217; is Hawaiian resident Clinton Bovee, who is accused of using Popcorn Time and downloading several movies without permission. </p>
<p>The movie companies accuse Bovee of direct copyright infringement and the Ukranian mastermind behind Popcorn Time of contributory copyright infringement. </p>
<p>Through the lawsuit they demand damages, which can go up to $150,000 per pirated film. In addition, the companies request an injunction to shut down Popcorn-Time.to and have the domain transferred to an account under their control.</p>
<p>At the time of writing the court has yet to rule on the request. </p>
<p>While the allegations against Popcorn Time are quite detailed, the only information linking it to the Ukranian defendant comes from hosting company BlackHOST. This could be accurate, but since &#8216;pirate&#8217; operations rely on fake account info at times, it&#8217;s not foolproof. </p>
<p>The Popcorn-Time.to website remains operational at the time of writing. TorrentFreak reached out to the Popcorn Time team for a comment on the allegations, but we haven&#8217;t heard back yet.</p>
<p>The attorney for the movie studios has filed similar actions against other alleged pirates and pirate services in the past, including <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/movie-studios-sue-founder-and-distributors-of-popular-pirate-app-showbox-180524/">Showbox</a> and <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/filmmakers-settle-piracy-lawsuit-with-dragon-box-180703/">Dragon Box</a>.</p>
<p><em>&#8212;</p>
<p>A copy of the complaint referenced in this article is <a href="media/7ed1866b.popcorntime.pdf" data-original-source="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/images/popcorntime.pdf">available here (pdf)</a></em></p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/">TF</a>, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/top-10-most-popular-torrent-sites-of-2018-180107/">torrent sites</a> and more. We also have <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-services-keep-anonymous-2018/">VPN reviews, </a><a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-discount-coupon-offer-torguard-nordvpn-expressvpn-pia/">discounts, offers and coupons</a>.</p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=166400
title: Mitch Glazier Becomes New Chairman and CEO of the RIAA
uri: Mitch-Glazier-Becomes-New-Chairman-and-CEO-of-the-RIAA
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/SA4SPVtJlkA/
content:
<p><a href="media/8400c316.riaa.png" data-original-source="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/images/riaa.png"><img src="media/3ca10933.riaa.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/riaa.png" alt="" width="250" height="134" class="alignright size-full wp-image-108672"></a>Back in April 2017, the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) announced that Cary Sherman, the industry group&#8217;s Chairman and CEO, would be retiring at the end of 2018 after a 40-plus year career in music.</p>
<p>In tandem it was revealed that Mitch Glazier, then Senior Executive Vice President of the RIAA, would be promoted to President of the world-famous music industry group. The plan was for Glazier, who formerly acted as Chief Counsel for intellectual property to the Judiciary Committee of the U.S. House of Representatives, to take the top job in January 2019.</p>
<p>The announcement was met with enthusiasm by a number of industry executives, including the top brass at Universal Music, Warner Music, and Sony Music Entertainment who all celebrated his 19-plus years with the RIAA. During his tenure, Glazier played a key role in some of the RIAA&#8217;s most-prominent anti-piracy actions.</p>
<p>&#8220;He helped the music community collaborate on multiple issues, from antipiracy and technology initiatives to landmark litigations such as MGM Studios, Inc. v. Grokster in 2005,&#8221; the industry group said.</p>
<p>&#8220;At a time when piracy was rampant and the authorized music marketplace was in its infancy, that case reshaped the legal landscape for actions against pirate sites and helped level the playing field for licensed music services.&#8221;</p>
<p>As envisioned back in 2017, Glazier has now become the Chairman and CEO of the RIAA, representing a &#8220;new leadership for a new era&#8221;, according to the industry group. </p>
<p>“Music matters. It shapes our culture. It inspires generations young and young at heart. It makes us who we are and binds diverse communities together,&#8221; Glazier said in a statement.</p>
<p>&#8220;I am honored to lead the RIAA during these exciting times as we fight for a music ecosystem that works for everybody – from artists and fans to labels and publishers and songwriters and music services alike.</p>
<p>&#8220;That will require that we both embrace digital music innovations, and protect what has always made music great – keeping the dream alive for the next generation of artists and music creators,” Glazier added.</p>
<p>Also moving onwards and upwards is Michele Ballantyne, who with immediate effect has been promoted to Chief Operating Officer of the RIAA.</p>
<p>A former Special Assistant to President Bill Clinton, Special Counsel to then-White House Chief of Staff John Podesta, and as General Counsel for Senator Tom Daschle, Ballantyne also played key roles in copyright protection.</p>
<p>&#8220;As COO, Ballantyne manages the day-to-day operations of the RIAA,&#8221; her <a href="https://www.riaa.com/about-riaa/board-executives/">bio</a> now reads.</p>
<p>&#8220;A driving force for updating intellectual property laws for the digital age, she has played an instrumental role in advocating for congressional reforms including the Music Modernization Act, the PRO-IP Act that established the nation’s first Intellectual Property Enforcement Coordinator in the Executive Office of the President, and the Higher Education Opportunity Act of 2008 that provided colleges and universities with meaningful tools to reduce the illegal downloading of copyrighted works on campuses.&#8221;</p>
<p>Glazier is full of praise for Ballantyne&#8217;s achievements, declaring that &#8220;there is no one better suited to help lead the RIAA and no one I would rather have at my side than Michele.&#8221;</p>
<p><center></p>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-cards="hidden" data-lang="en">
<p lang="en" dir="ltr">I am honored to lead the RIAA during these exciting times as we fight for a music ecosystem that works for everybody – from artists and fans to labels and publishers and songwriters and music services alike.  <a href="https://t.co/3KaY9YRoo1">https://t.co/3KaY9YRoo1</a></p>
<p>&mdash; Mitch Glazier (@mitch_glazier) <a href="https://twitter.com/mitch_glazier/status/1080509390590042112?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 2, 2019</a></p></blockquote>
<p><script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script><br>
</center></p>
<p>While the RIAA became synonymous with aggressive anti-piracy enforcement during the last decade, action against traditional pirate sites during the past few years has been <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/riaa-starts-going-after-bittorrent-sites-110708/">sporadic at best</a>. </p>
<p>Instead, the industry group has tackled the thorny issue of stream-ripping, <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/youtube-mp3-settles-with-riaa-site-will-shut-down-170904/">shutting down YouTube-MP3 in 2017</a> and following up against <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/major-labels-sue-more-youtube-ripper-sites-180806/">similar platforms in 2018</a>.</p>
<p>The industry group still has torrent sites and cyberlockers <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/bulletproof-hosting-is-an-emerging-piracy-threat-riaa-warns-181004/">on its radar</a> (and at times <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/riaa-cloudflare-shields-pirates-and-frustrates-blocking-efforts-161013/">even Cloudflare</a>) but at least for now seems more interested in generating better revenues from sites like YouTube while preventing unauthorized downloads from similar platforms.</p>
<p>That&#8217;s when it&#8217;s not trying to undermine ISPs&#8217; copyright &#8216;safe harbors&#8217; in repeat infringer cases (<a href="https://torrentfreak.com/riaa-sues-isp-grande-communications-for-failing-to-disconnect-pirates-170422/">1</a>,<a href="https://torrentfreak.com/isp-has-no-safe-harbor-defense-in-piracy-case-record-labels-argue-180816/">2</a>,<a href="https://torrentfreak.com/riaa-isp-profited-from-keeping-pirating-customers-aboard-180508/">3</a>).</p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/">TF</a>, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/top-10-most-popular-torrent-sites-of-2018-180107/">torrent sites</a> and more. We also have <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-services-keep-anonymous-2018/">VPN reviews, </a><a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-discount-coupon-offer-torguard-nordvpn-expressvpn-pia/">discounts, offers and coupons</a>.</p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=166424
title: BitTorrent Unveils New Token to Pay for Faster Downloads
uri: BitTorrent-Unveils-New-Token-to-Pay-for-Faster-Downloads
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/TQt5dZGllWg/
content:
<p><img src="media/63ae51b5.bittorrent.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/bittorrent.png" alt="" width="263" height="126" class="alignright size-full wp-image-156117"> Last year <a href="https://www.bittorrent.com/">BitTorrent Inc.</a> was officially acquired by <a href="https://tron.network/about?lng=en">TRON</a>, a cryptocurrency startup that aims to establish a truly decentralized Internet.</p>
<p>This means that uTorrent and BitTorrent mainline, two of the most used torrent clients, now have a strong foothold in the crypto world. </p>
<p>Thus far not much has changed, but BitTorrent and TRON have already made it clear that they plan to use cryptocurrency to complement the BitTorrent protocol. In the near future, torrent users will be financially rewarded for seeding. At the same time, they can pay to speed up transfers. </p>
<p>Today, BitTorrent Inc. CEO and TRON founder Justin Sun announced that the payments for faster downloads will happen through a new token called BitTorrent (BTT). </p>
<p>The token, which has native TRC-10 compatibility, will be issued by the BitTorrent Foundation and is exclusively available through <a href="https://www.binance.com/en/blog/287512671268392960">Binance Launchpad</a>, a token sale platform for cryptocurrency startups. </p>
<p>“BitTorrent token is the first in a series of steps to support a decentralized internet,” Sun commented on the news. </p>
<p>“In one giant leap, the BitTorrent client can introduce blockchain to hundreds of millions of users around the world and empower a new generation of content creators with the tools to distribute their content directly to others on the web.”</p>
<p>Whether torrent users will be eager to queue up for the token sale is doubtful. There&#8217;s no working product yet and even the TRON acquisition itself is not being discussed in the <a href="https://forum.utorrent.com/">uTorrent forums</a>.</p>
<p>Most interest for the BTT token will likely come from speculative investors. How much money the foundation expects to raise is unclear to us.</p>
<p><center><strong>BTT token coming soon</strong><br></br></center><center><img src="media/b32b88da.btt.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/btt.png" alt="" width="600" height="256" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-166430"></center></p>
<p>According to BitTorrent, BTT tokens will &#8220;enable users to exchange tokens to improve network speed.&#8221; This is part of &#8220;Project Atlas&#8221; which also promises financial rewards for users who share a lot of bandwidth.</p>
<p>As reported earlier, Project Atlas will be <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/bittorrent-and-tron-hope-other-clients-will-embrace-paid-seeding-180928/">open for other clients</a> to use and will be backwards compatible. This means that it can handle all existing torrents and talk to clients that choose not to implement it.</p>
<p>The &#8216;currency&#8217; feature will first be implemented in the uTorrent client for Windows. This will be entirely optional, so users who prefer not to take part can disable it in their client. </p>
<p>While BitTorrent already functions very well, TRON hopes to make it even faster with the cryptocurrency extensions. Ideally, the rewards should also ensure that files are seeded for a longer period, which increases overall availability.</p>
<p>Whether this will actually work in practice has yet to be seen. BitTorrent CEO Justin Sun previously told us that the first features of Project Atlas will be available early this year. </p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/">TF</a>, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/top-10-most-popular-torrent-sites-of-2018-180107/">torrent sites</a> and more. We also have <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-services-keep-anonymous-2018/">VPN reviews, </a><a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-discount-coupon-offer-torguard-nordvpn-expressvpn-pia/">discounts, offers and coupons</a>.</p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=166423
title: Operator of China’s Former Leading Torrent Site Jailed For Three Years
uri: Operator-of-China-s-Former-Leading-Torrent-Site-Jailed-For-Three-Yea
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/CGnV_Ln0uxY/
content:
<p><a href="media/38c76fe8.smallclaimsfinepenaltycourt.jpg" data-original-source="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/images/smallclaimsfinepenaltycourt.jpg"><img src="media/82334688.smallclaimsfinepenaltycourt.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/smallclaimsfinepenaltycourt.jpg" alt="" width="250" height="176" class="alignright size-full wp-image-148048"></a>While most Western torrent site users are familiar with giants such as The Pirate Bay and RARBG, there&#8217;s also a thriving BitTorrent scene in the Far East.</p>
<p>Millions of Internet users in countries like China, South Korea, Philippines, Thailand, and Vietnam rely on the protocol for their content fix but largely due to language barriers, their activities go largely unreported in North America and Europe. </p>
<p>Also contributing to the shortage of news are the relatively lax copyright regimes associated with some of these regions. Prosecutions are fairly scarce so it&#8217;s interesting to read that a court in China has just sentenced a former leading player in the eastern torrent scene.</p>
<p>On January 2, 2019, the Huai&#8217;an Intermediate People&#8217;s Court of Jiangsu Province sentenced the operator and owner of BT Paradise (aka BT Heaven) to three years in prison for copyright infringement offenses. </p>
<p>According to local <a href="http://www.xinhuanet.com/legal/2019-01/03/c_1123943056.htm">media</a>, authorities began investigating Yuan Moumou back in 2016, following reports that his site was involved in the unauthorized distribution of large volumes of copyrighted works, including movies and TV shows.</p>
<p>In September 2016, Mr Yuan was arrested by police, accused of generating advertising revenues alongside the provision of torrent files and so-called magnet links.</p>
<p>Authorities said that BT Paradise had around 600,000 visitors per day who together generated around three million page views, making it the largest domestic torrent site at the time.</p>
<p>The Court heard that between May 2015 and July 2016, Mr Yuan&#8217;s site made around 1.4 million yuan (US$204,000) after offering in excess of 24,700 links to more than 10,870 movies and TV shows.</p>
<p>An image <a href="http://news.na.wang/idcnews/1531.html">circulated</a> by authorities following the arrest more than two years ago didn&#8217;t suggest a particularly lavish lifestyle, however.</p>
<p><center><strong>BTtiantang &#8216;raid&#8217; in 2016</strong><em> (via: news.na.wang)</em><br></br></center><center><a href="media/06b7ec9d.bt-arrest-china.png" data-original-source="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/images/bt-arrest-china.png"><img src="media/e7658ae5.bt-arrest-china.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/bt-arrest-china.png" alt="" width="600" height="479" class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-166432"></a></center></p>
<p>BT Paradise previously operated from the domain BTtiantang.com but despite its size, attracted relatively little attention from copyright holders, at least in the West.</p>
<p>As data obtained from Google&#8217;s Transparency Report shows, takedown notices were extremely thin on the ground for a site of this size, despite companies including Paramount Pictures, FOX, Lionsgate, Home Box Office, and Columbia Pictures taking a passing interest.</p>
<p><center><strong>BTtiantang takedown notices</strong><br></br></center><center><a href="media/decb1d02.bttiantang.png" data-original-source="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/images/bttiantang.png"><img src="media/5a23ddb3.bttiantang.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/bttiantang.png" alt="" width="600" height="388" class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-166429"></a></center></p>
<p>In addition to his three-year sentence, the former BT Paradise operator is also required to pay a fine of 800,000 yuan (US$116,000).</p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/">TF</a>, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/top-10-most-popular-torrent-sites-of-2018-180107/">torrent sites</a> and more. We also have <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-services-keep-anonymous-2018/">VPN reviews, </a><a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-discount-coupon-offer-torguard-nordvpn-expressvpn-pia/">discounts, offers and coupons</a>.</p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=165310
title: US Online Piracy Lawsuits Hit a Record High Last Year
uri: US-Online-Piracy-Lawsuits-Hit-a-Record-High-Last-Year
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/fSGygJqS3eI/
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">Since the turn of the last decade, numerous people have been accused in US courts of illegal file-sharing.</p>
<p>Initially, these lawsuits targeted hundreds or thousands of BitTorrent users per case, but this practice has since been rooted out. Now, most file-sharing cases target a single person, up to a dozen or two at most.</p>
<p>This means that the number of &#8220;Doe&#8221; defendants have gone down, but the same can&#8217;t be said for the number of cases that are on the dockets. In fact, the number of file-sharing cases filed last year was higher than ever. </p>
<p>Data collected by TorrentFreak from court records all over the country show that in the first half of the year, more than 3,300 separate lawsuits were filed. The majority of these cases list a single ‘John Doe’ defendant.</p>
<p>This is more than triple the number of lawsuits in the year before, when 1,019 file-sharing cases were filed <a href="https://lexmachina.com/lex-machina-q4-litigation-update/">according</a> to Lex Machina. And it&#8217;s also more than the old 2,887 record that was set in 2015. </p>
<p>Pretty much all of this activity can be attributed to two adult industry companies &#8211; Malibu Media and Strike 3 Holdings. </p>
<p>Malibu Media, the Los Angeles based company behind the ‘X-Art’ adult movies, has been one of the most active copyright trolls for years. According to data from court records, it filed 1,231 cases in 2017. </p>
<p>The most active filer last year, Strike 3 Holdings, is a relative newcomer. The company, which distributes its adult videos via the Blacked, Tushy, and Vixen websites, has filed 2,092 cases over the past twelve months.</p>
<p><center><strong>Some of Strike 3&#8217;s recent cases</strong><br></br></center><center><img src="media/6231e192.strike3.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/strike3.png" alt="" width="600" height="353" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-166502" srcset="https://torrentfreak.com/images/strike3.png 600w, https://torrentfreak.com/images/strike3-220x130.png 220w" sizes="(max-width: 600px) 100vw, 600px"></center></p>
<p>Strike 3&#8217;s cases are similar to those filed by Malibu Media. This is no surprise since they are handled by former Malibu lawyer Emilie Kennedy, who now works as in-house counsel at Strike 3.</p>
<p>Together, both companies are good for more than 3,300 new cases last year. In terms of numbers, there&#8217;s a gaping hole behind these two, with Bodyguard Productions coming in third place with 70 cases. </p>
<p>To the best of our knowledge, those three are the only filers of lawsuits that targeted alleged BitTorrent pirates last year. </p>
<p>With thousands of new cases, these companies are good for more than half of all copyright lawsuits in the US. According to <a href="https://dockets.justia.com/">Justia</a>, there were a little over 6,000 cases in total.</p>
<p>This wave of file-sharing legal action is something that hasn&#8217;t gone unnoticed to courts around the country, some of which have become more skeptical. </p>
<p>A high-profile order at the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals a few months ago proves to be a particularly significant roadblock. Referencing the decision, federal courts in districts across the US are now demanding &#8220;<a href="https://torrentfreak.com/courts-want-something-more-than-an-ip-address-to-catch-pirates-181217/">something more</a>&#8221; than an IP-address alone.</p>
<p>For now, however, new lawsuits continue to be filed, also in 2019. In the months to come the wider impact of the appeal court ruling will be felt and whether this will affect the number of new cases this year.</p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/">TF</a>, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/top-10-most-popular-torrent-sites-of-2018-180107/">torrent sites</a> and more. We also have <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-services-keep-anonymous-2018/">VPN reviews, </a><a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-discount-coupon-offer-torguard-nordvpn-expressvpn-pia/">discounts, offers and coupons</a>.</p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=165350
title: Japan Planning Up to Two Years in Prison For Manga Pirates
uri: Japan-Planning-Up-to-Two-Years-in-Prison-For-Manga-Pirates
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/VBc_ov5PXn0/
content:
<p><a href="media/05028357.anime-pirate.jpg" data-original-source="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/images/anime-pirate.jpg"><img src="media/476e6f15.anime-pirate.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/anime-pirate.jpg" alt="" width="222" height="159" class="alignright size-full wp-image-31311"></a>While uploading infringing content is generally considered illegal in many countries around the world, downloading and streaming can be different matters.</p>
<p>Specifically outlawed in the EU, laws on streaming are less obvious in other regions due to a lack of clarification and relevant test cases. In some countries, downloading is often considered to sit in a legal gray area due to private copying exceptions and blank media levies. In Japan, there&#8217;s a significant loophole for some content.</p>
<p>While downloading music and movies is illegal, Japan&#8217;s Copyright Act doesn&#8217;t offer the same protection for still images, meaning that photographs and the country&#8217;s treasured manga material can be obtained at will.</p>
<p>However, according to <a href="https://mainichi.jp/english/articles/20181210/p2a/00m/0na/012000c">Mainichi</a> sources familiar with government planning, changes are already in the pipeline. The <a href="http://www.bunka.go.jp/english/policy/copyright/index.html">Agency for Cultural Affairs</a> is reportedly mulling the criminalization of copyrighted image downloading, when the downloader knows that the content they&#8217;re obtaining is pirated.</p>
<p>In common with a <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/anti-downloading-law-hits-japan-up-to-2-years-in-prison-from-today-121001/">law introduced in 2012</a>, penalties for downloading manga and other static images could be as steep as two years in prison with fines of up to two million yen (US$17,729) plus the potential for damages awards.</p>
<p>Interestingly, it&#8217;s claimed that the new rules will apply to people who download images to their devices but not to those who simply view images on piracy sites. The complication here is that for images to be viewed on a device, they have to be downloaded, so even people who view sites are technically downloading pirated images.</p>
<p>There are similar arguments made for and against the legality of streaming video in some regions, with some believing that streaming is different to downloading since a copy isn&#8217;t retained. However, content still has to be presented to a device in order for it to be viewed, so it could be argued that a copy is being downloaded.</p>
<p>According to the unnamed sources, the new restrictions are being incorporated into draft revisions of the Copyright Act by a panel of the copyright subcommittee of the Council for Cultural Affairs. Indications suggest that the draft will be made available for public comments.</p>
<p>Laws that attempt to criminalize downloading are often seen as somewhat ineffective. While there is always the message of deterrence, proving that someone has downloaded copyright-infringing manga, for example, is a difficult task.</p>
<p>While illegal uploads (using BitTorrent, for example) are very easy to track, downloads from the kinds of hosting or linking sites that tend to offer manga are not, so it&#8217;s far from clear how anyone could be prosecuted, without gaining access to private machines and pirated content collections.</p>
<p>That being said, Japan intends to criminalize platforms too. In October 2018 it was <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/japan-plans-to-criminalize-pirate-link-sites-up-to-five-years-in-jail-for-operators-181015/">revealed</a> that operators of sites that link to copyright-infringing content could face prison terms of up to five years if they knowingly link to pirated content and refuse to respond to takedowns requests.</p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/">TF</a>, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/top-10-most-popular-torrent-sites-of-2018-180107/">torrent sites</a> and more. We also have <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-services-keep-anonymous-2018/">VPN reviews, </a><a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-discount-coupon-offer-torguard-nordvpn-expressvpn-pia/">discounts, offers and coupons</a>.</p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=166301
title: Luminati, the Company Behind Hola, Sues GeoSurf Owner in US Court
uri: Luminati-the-Company-Behind-Hola-Sues-GeoSurf-Owner-in-US-Court
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/4hXvKoLGJUY/
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>Hola is a very well-known brand in the VPN and proxy space but the company has been roundly criticized for the manner in which its free core product operates.</p>
<p>While traditional VPN services use encrypted servers to relay customer traffic and tend to focus on privacy, Hola&#8217;s free model is based on utilizing the resources and bandwidth of its users. During December, Trend Micro published a <a href="https://www.trendmicro.com/vinfo/hk-en/security/news/cybercrime-and-digital-threats/shining-a-light-on-the-risks-of-holavpn-and-luminati">scathing report</a>, describing Hola as an &#8220;unsafe VPN&#8221;.</p>
<p>Hola <a href="https://www.zdnet.com/article/researchers-slam-hola-vpn-over-absent-encryption-user-ip-leaks/">fired back</a>, stating that its free service isn&#8217;t designed for privacy or anonymity but agreeing that users&#8217; bandwidth is utilized by Luminati Networks, the company behind Hola. But while controversial, it&#8217;s clear that Luminati is keen to protect its business model.</p>
<p>In a patent infringement lawsuit filed in the Eastern District of Texas which has largely flown under the radar, Luminati Networks Ltd is suing BI Science Inc., the company behind another so-called &#8220;residential proxy network&#8221; known as <a href="https://www.biscience.com/solutions/geosurf/">GeoSurf</a>.</p>
<p>Both parties are based in Israel but Luminati claims the Court has jurisdiction, in part due to some GeoSurf users having residential IP addresses in Texas.</p>
<p>Luminati claims ownership over a number of patents, as <a href="https://luminati.io/patent-marking#system-and-method-for-streaming-content-from-multiple-servers">listed on its website</a>, which protect methods for &#8220;fetching content over the Internet through the use of intermediary tunneling devices.&#8221;</p>
<p>&#8220;Luminati permits its business customers to utilize its residential proxy network to access data over the Internet using residential IP addresses from various localities as required by the customers,&#8221; the suit reads.</p>
<p>&#8220;These residential IP addresses provide businesses with a number of advantages. For example, Luminati’s customers may use this network to anonymously compare prices leading to more transparency and lower prices for consumers. Luminati’s customers may also use residential proxy addresses to test their web sites from any city in the world.&#8221;</p>
<p>The lawsuit provides details of Luminati&#8217;s investor shareholders, whose representatives were given access to confidential information about the service in May 2015, including &#8220;trade secrets and know how.&#8221;</p>
<p>It&#8217;s claimed that these representatives, who previously founded BI Science in 2009, went on to introduce their own residential proxy service under the GeoSurf brand in July 2017, &#8220;having estimated that switching to a residential proxy service from a server-based service could dramatically reduce BI Science’s ongoing server costs and provide BI Science with new revenue streams from this capability.&#8221;</p>
<p>It&#8217;s further alleged that three former Luminati employees, who were under confidentiality and non-compete agreements with the company, went on to join BI Science &#8220;within months&#8221; of leaving Luminati.</p>
<p>&#8220;Upon information and belief, BI Science hired these former Luminati salespeople for the purposes of selling BI Science’s competing &#8216;Geosurf&#8217; residential proxy service,&#8221; the suit notes, adding that Luminati lost customers as a result.</p>
<p>&#8220;Luminati has suffered damage because of the infringing activities of BI Science, its officers, agents, servants, employees, associates, partners, and other persons who are in active concert or participation therewith, and Luminati will continue to suffer irreparable harm for which there is no adequate remedy at law unless BI Science’s infringing activities are preliminarily and permanently enjoined by this Court,&#8221; Luminati adds.</p>
<p>The two patents allegedly being infringed upon by GeoSurf are also the subject of dispute in another suit filed in July against UAB Tesonet, the company behind residential proxy service <a href="https://oxylabs.io/">Oxylabs</a>.</p>
<p>While fairly complex from a technical perspective, the Luminati v BI Science lawsuit <em> <a href="media/c9f46713.Luminati-Networks-Ltd.-v.-BI-Science-Inc-Complaint.pdf" data-original-source="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/images/Luminati-Networks-Ltd.-v.-BI-Science-Inc-Complaint.pdf">here</a> (pdf)</em> provides a broad yet useful overview of how so-called &#8220;residential&#8221; or &#8220;community&#8221; type proxy services operate.</p>
<p>The take-home for the privacy-aware is that these peer-to-peer proxy-based products should never be confused with what most people consider to be a strong, encrypted, <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-services-keep-anonymous-2018/">privacy-focused VPN service</a>.</p>
<p>There is a very good reason why Hola-style &#8220;community&#8221; services are mostly free to the home user, so consumers are strongly advised to study the small print before signing up to any service, to be absolutely sure of what they&#8217;re getting into.</p>
<p>If becoming part of a network that utilizes and monetizes your Internet connection behind the scenes sounds attractive, then &#8220;community&#8221; services are perfect for you. If not, a few dollars, euros, or pounds per month spent with a reputable company is a far superior option.</p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/">TF</a>, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/top-10-most-popular-torrent-sites-of-2018-180107/">torrent sites</a> and more. We also have <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-services-keep-anonymous-2018/">VPN reviews, </a><a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-discount-coupon-offer-torguard-nordvpn-expressvpn-pia/">discounts, offers and coupons</a>.</p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=164603
title: Will BitTorrent’s Paid ‘Fast Lane’ Violate Net Neutrality?
uri: Will-BitTorrent-s-Paid-Fast-Lane-Violate-Net-Neutrality
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/OK7dXe-8mMk/
content:
<p><img src="media/f7996f8a.prohectatlas.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/prohectatlas.png" alt="" width="277" height="181" class="alignright size-full wp-image-161994">A few month ago, BitTorrent and its <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/bittorrent-inc-confirms-acquisition-by-tron-foundation-180724/">new owner TRON</a> announced a novel plan to extend the BitTorrent protocol with an &#8220;in-client token economy.&#8221;</p>
<p>The idea behind Project Atlas, as it’s named, is to add ‘currency’ to the BitTorrent protocol through a series of extensions. This makes it possible to financially <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/tron-wants-to-give-bittorrent-users-financial-incentives-to-seed-180731/">reward seeders</a>, or to speed up torrents by paying for faster access.</p>
<p>Earlier this week BitTorrent CEO Justin Sun confirmed the ambition when he announced the new <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/bittorrent-unveils-new-token-to-pay-for-faster-downloads-190103/">BitTorrent token (BTT)</a> that will be used to pay &#8220;to improve network speed.&#8221; </p>
<p>While it&#8217;s hard to review a product that has yet to be released, the descriptions we&#8217;ve seen so far do raise a crucial question. Is the &#8216;token-economy&#8217; proposed by Project Atlas compatible with Net Neutrality?</p>
<p>We ask this question because BitTorrent has been a fierce proponent of an open Internet. It has been a frontrunner in advocating for Net Neutrality, repeatedly criticizing paid traffic prioritization and so-called &#8220;fast lanes&#8221;.</p>
<p>BitTorrent went as far as creating the dedicated &#8220;<a href="http://internetbetter.com/">Internetbetter</a>&#8221; website, avenging FCC&#8217;s plans to meddle with the &#8216;Open Internet,&#8217; advertising its campaign on a massive billboard.</p>
<p>&#8220;The FCC’s proposed changes to Net Neutrality would create a preferential fast lane for designated traffic,&#8221; BitTorrent wrote at the time. </p>
<p>&#8220;Those with the deep pockets to pay for this fast lane will have the ability to access and distribute content at higher speeds. Those who lack the purchasing power will be disadvantaged. This moves us towards an Internet of discrimination.&#8221;</p>
<p><center><strong>Internetbetter</strong><br></br></center><center><img src="media/4af9bc02.internetbetter1.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/internetbetter1.jpg" alt="" width="600" height="403" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-164899"></center></p>
<p>In FCC&#8217;s case, the fast lanes often refer to companies that pay for improved access to consumers, while others are relegated to the slow lane. In other words, those who pay get better access. </p>
<p>This brings us back to Project Atlas, which promises to pay seeders for their bandwidth. While that may sound great to many, there&#8217;s also an input side to this token economy; people who pay for faster access or other features. </p>
<p>While details are scarce, it&#8217;s clear that with the BTT token users will be able to pay to speed up their downloads. It&#8217;s not clear how this will work, but it&#8217;s likely that a paying downloader will get priority over others.</p>
<p>That sounds a bit like a &#8220;fast lane&#8221; and paid &#8220;prioritization,&#8221; albeit on a different scale. Large companies are not paying for faster access in this case, but &#8216;wealthy&#8217; BitTorrent users are.</p>
<p>TorrentFreak asked both TRON and BitTorrent about their thoughts on this Net Neutrality argument and if it presents a problem. The TRON team said that it couldn&#8217;t comment on the matter, while BitTorrent didn&#8217;t respond at all. </p>
<p>How much of an issue this Net Neutrality angle will depend on the eventual implementation. There&#8217;s a reason for concern if BitTorrent users can indeed get a bigger chunk of the available bandwidth in a swarm, as that means that others will receive files slower. </p>
<p>That said, the payment incentives may also increase the overall speed of the swarm as people will seed more. That could benefit everyone, which is less of a problem, of course. </p>
<p>Perhaps it&#8217;s fitting to end with two cautioning quotes from BitTorrent itself, again taken from the Internetbetter site. They referred to the FCC&#8217;s then-looming Net Neutrality repeal, but they may help the Project Atlas team as well.</p>
<p>&#8220;We are at a crossroads, and the decisions made in the upcoming months will set a precedent for decades to come. We want to be on the right side of history,&#8221; BitTorrent cautioned.</p>
<p>&#8220;This is the generation that will decide if tomorrow’s Internet will be a platform for freedom and opportunity, or a tool for control and monetization,&#8221; the company added</p>
<p>Wise words&#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-2018-180107/">torrent sites</a> and more. We also have <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-services-keep-anonymous-2018/">VPN reviews, </a><a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-discount-coupon-offer-torguard-nordvpn-expressvpn-pia/">discounts, offers and coupons</a>.</p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=166492
title: Bandersnatch is a Pirate Hit Without Interactivity, But They’re Missing Out
uri: Bandersnatch-is-a-Pirate-Hit-Without-Interactivity-But-They-re-Miss
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/7o2s7HMyrJY/
content:
<p><a href="media/83f55a1c.bandersnatch-small.png" data-original-source="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/images/bandersnatch-small.png"><img src="media/d4a32901.bandersnatch-small.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/bandersnatch-small.png" alt="" width="250" height="263" class="alignright size-full wp-image-166494"></a><em>Warning: This may contain spoilers.</em></p>
<p>As a huge Black Mirror fan, I was excited &#8211; extremely excited &#8211; to learn that Netflix would be presenting the latest installment of the series at the end of December.</p>
<p>Right on cue, Bandersnatch hit the streaming service and within minutes I&#8217;d left the office for the comfort of the living room. Firing it up on my four-year-old LG smart TV I was immediately frustrated. According to the video that began to play, my TV is too old and outdated to play the promised interactive feast.</p>
<p>This, I initially thought, was part of the usual mind games Black Mirror likes to play with its viewers. I was wrong. My TV really was incapable of playing Bandersnatch. Undeterred, I grabbed an Amazon Firestick and within 15 minutes had set up Netflix and was watching the show. Minor setup irritations aside, I was in the game &#8211; literally, and in more ways than one.</p>
<p>The story behind Bandersnatch is important to me and as a former ZX Spectrum programmer, the nostalgia was fantastic. The title was immediately exciting too.</p>
<p>Bandersnatch &#8211; along with Psyclapse &#8211; were two &#8216;megagames&#8217; planned by long-defunct UK developer Imagine in the 1980s, neither of which came to fruition. Only adding to the fun was that the main character in Bandersnatch, young programmer Stefan Butler, shared the same surname as Imagine founder Mark Butler. No coincidence, of course.</p>
<p>From here, however, things went downhill &#8211; for me at least.</p>
<p>&#8216;Playing&#8217; Bandersnatch (or effectively choosing &#8216;yes&#8217; or &#8216;no&#8217; at various points) felt archaic. Aside from much better &#8216;graphics&#8217;, these choices felt little more advanced than those presented in early interactive video games such as Night Trap and Sewer Shark on the Sega CD / Mega-CD in the early 90s. Or (fans of Bandersnatch, please forgive me) the 1980s laserdisc game Dragon&#8217;s Lair, which admittedly only had one ending (Bandersnatch has five).</p>
<p>Nevertheless, desperate not to miss out on better things to come, my partner and I continued &#8216;playing&#8217; Bandersnatch but sadly (and this is just my opinion) things didn&#8217;t improve.</p>
<p>While still fascinated by the details (even down to the ancient dk&#8217;Tronics addon Spectrum keyboard hidden away in one of the scenes), this didn&#8217;t feel like the groundbreaking adventure we&#8217;d been promised.</p>
<p>Ultimately, i&#8217;m desperately sad to say, the key emotion that developed in me while watching Bandersnatch was one of frustration, especially the seemingly endless looping back after &#8216;bad&#8217; decisions. This felt like interactivity for the sake of it but the online hype meant that this movie was always going to be popular and, of course, a target for pirates.</p>
<p>But the big question remains: how it could be replicated outside Netflix?</p>
<p>Initially, several torrents appeared online featuring the default run through of the show, i.e the version of Bandersnatch that viewers would get if they didn&#8217;t make any decisions at all in the movie.</p>
<p>According to statistics gathered by TorrentFreak, this version is doing pretty &#8216;well&#8217; on most torrent sites, even without any form of interactivity. There&#8217;s also a &#8216;full&#8217; version containing in excess of five hours of footage &#8211; good luck enduring or making sense of that.</p>
<p>However, pirates always want something more &#8211; they want the full Netflix experience, probably without paying for the streaming service, if possible.</p>
<p>Notably though, there is still no &#8216;pirate&#8217; fully-interactive version of Bandersnatch available publicly. This is interesting on a number of fronts. Firstly, pretty much everything gets pirated these days but apparently, perhaps for technical reasons, this is proving more difficult. In 2019, that is somewhat strange.</p>
<p>We&#8217;ve had the technology to do this &#8211; albeit <em>much</em> less seamlessly &#8211; since DVD chapters were invented. Interactive porn movies have been available for years and, albeit in a more primitive form, CD ROM-based titles dating back decades could&#8217;ve achieved something passably similar. </p>
<p>Pirates can decrypt DVDs, Blu-rays, defeat most DRM &#8211; including cracking the fiendish Denuvo &#8211; yet preparing a system to play through a few video clips in a user-selected order is either too difficult or, more likely, too time-consuming for the pirates at the top of the pyramid.</p>
<p>This has led to many interesting comments on torrent and discussion sites, many centered on how this problem can be solved. But perhaps more interestingly, there are others advising another course of action.</p>
<p>&#8220;For this one in particular, YOU NEED to experience it on Netflix,&#8221; the top commenter on a RARBG torrent writes.</p>
<p>&#8220;It&#8217;s not just a movie&#8230; You can even get the character to go crazy and start a kung-fu fight with his therapist and father, or even get the actual actor to have a mental breakdown during shooting&#8230; Amazing idea. It feels like you&#8217;re inside an old-school adventure game.&#8221;</p>
<p>Just to reiterate, this is a user of one of the most popular torrent sites, that indexes the majority of mainstream stuff that anyone could ever need (and has all of the Bandersnatch torrents available), advising people that they need to enjoy this on Netflix. A subscription service, no less.</p>
<p>Although one swallow does not a summer make, as Aristotle once said, the commenter is absolutely correct. If the viewer wants to have the full Bandersnatch experience right now, he or she is going to have to dig deep and give Netflix a few dollars for the privilege. For a big movie title, this is pretty much unprecedented.</p>
<p>While I&#8217;ve not been particularly complimentary about Bandersnatch as a package, one has to admire Netflix and Charlie Brooker and his team for having the guts to put something like this together. Not only have they produced something that seemingly the whole world is talking about (even if some didn&#8217;t enjoy it), they&#8217;ve created a <em>movie experience</em> that is currently unavailable for free.</p>
<p>And, let&#8217;s not forget, this is just the beginning. The Verge has a <a href="https://www.theverge.com/2019/1/2/18165182/black-mirror-bandersnatch-netflix-interactive-strategy-marketing">great article</a> on other potential uses for a title like Bandersnatch, particularly that the &#8216;adventure&#8217; choices made by viewers could be further leveraged to generate additional revenue streams.</p>
<p>I enjoyed chopping &#8216;my&#8217; dad up, but it would be a shame for Netflix to do the same to this format. It&#8217;s only just beginning and the next few iterations, when they inevitably arrive, will surely be a lot better. And, indeed, even more difficult to pirate. For now at least.</p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/">TF</a>, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/top-10-most-popular-torrent-sites-of-2018-180107/">torrent sites</a> and more. We also have <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-services-keep-anonymous-2018/">VPN reviews, </a><a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-discount-coupon-offer-torguard-nordvpn-expressvpn-pia/">discounts, offers and coupons</a>.</p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=166477
title: Top 10 Most Popular Torrent Sites of 2019
uri: Top-10-Most-Popular-Torrent-Sites-of-2019
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/4LzGLgYzhXg/
content:
<p><img src="media/a8203d09.2019-1.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/2019-1.jpg" alt="" width="277" height="175" class="alignright size-full wp-image-166269">While streaming is all the rage nowadays, torrent sites still remain popular. </p>
<p>The Pirate Bay has long been the undisputed leader in terms of traffic, but if we look at the most visited domains at the start of this year, it&#8217;s now surpassed by YTS and 1337x. </p>
<p>TPB&#8217;s dip can be attributed to the frequent downtime and connectivity issues over the past months. It remains the go-to torrent site for many when it&#8217;s accessible, so it wouldn&#8217;t be a surprise if the site regains the lead in the coming months.</p>
<p>This year&#8217;s list includes one newcomer. TorrentDownloads is back after a year of absence. The site takes the place of iDope which disappeared from the scene last year.</p>
<p>We traditionally limit our overview to typical torrent sites that are targeted primarily at an English or international audience. This means that  <a href="https://rutracker.org/forum/index.php">RuTracker</a>, <a href="https://dytt8.net">Dytt8</a>, <a href="https://www.elitetorrent.biz/">EliteTorrent</a>, and <a href="https://www.torrent9.uno/">Torrent9</a> aren&#8217;t included even though they would qualify in terms of traffic. </p>
<p>Below is the full list of the ten most-visited torrent sites at the start of the new year. The list is based on various traffic reports and we display the Alexa rank for each. In addition, we include last year’s ranking. </p>
<h2>Most Popular Torrent Sites</h2>
<h4>1. <a href="http://yts.am/">YTS.am</a></h4>
<p><a href="https://torrentfreak.com/yts/">YTS.am</a> is the unofficial successor of the defunct YTS or YIFY group. The site typically rebrands third-party releases of popular movies. While these were banned by several other torrent sites, YTS is now more popular than ever.</p>
<div align="right">
<h5>Alexa Rank: 205 / Last year #5</h5>
</div>
<h4>2. <a href="http://1337x.to">1337x</a></h4>
<p>1337x has been a stable presence in this list for many years. It has as a dedicated group of uploaders that provide fresh content. Despite ISP blockades in several countries it continues to grow.</p>
<div align="right">
<h5>Alexa Rank: 248 / Last year #3</h5>
</div>
<h4>3. <a href="http://thepiratebay.org/">The Pirate Bay</a></h4>
<p>The Pirate Bay turned 15-years-old last year and is the oldest site in this list. If we counted all traffic from proxy domains it would likely still be on top, but due to frequent downtime and connectivity problems it&#8217;s now in third position.</p>
<div align="right">
<h5>Alexa Rank: 288/ Last year #1</h5>
</div>
<h4>4. <a href="http://rarbg.to/">RARBG</a></h4>
<p><a href="https://torrentfreak.com/rarbg-to-in-org/">RARBG</a> has dropped two places compared to last year. The site operates several domain names, but only the one with the most traffic counts for this list. RARBG was founded in 2008 and specializes in high quality video releases.</p>
<div align="right">
<h5>Alexa Rank: 325 / Last year #2</h5>
</div>
<h4>5. <a href="https://torrentz2.eu/">Torrentz2</a></h4>
<p>Torrentz2 launched as a stand-in for the original Torrentz.eu site, which voluntarily closed its doors in 2016. Despite some issues with disappearing torrent links early last year, it&#8217;s still going strong.</p>
<div align="right">
<h5>Alexa Rank: 498 / Last year #4</h5>
</div>
<h4>6. <a href="https://nyaa.si/">NYAA.si</a></h4>
<p>NYAA.si is a popular resurrection of the anime torrent site NYAA. The site was <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/cloudflare-kicks-out-torrent-site-for-abuse-reporting-interference-180420/">suspended by Cloudflare</a> last year but found a suitable alternative soon after.</p>
<div align="right">
<h5>Alexa Rank: 549 / Last year #8</h5>
</div>
<h4>7. <a href="https://www.limetorrents.info/">LimeTorrents</a></h4>
<p>LimeTorrents has been around for more than half a decade. A few month ago the site&#8217;s operator changed LimeTorrents&#8217; domain name and updated its homepage in response to various blocking efforts.</p>
<div align="right">
<h5>Alexa Rank: 962 / Last year #7</h5>
</div>
<h4>8. <a href="https://zooqle.com/">Zooqle</a></h4>
<p>Zooqle, which boasts more than 3.8  million verified torrents, kept its spot in the top 10. The site was openly advertised as an alternative to Bitsnoop, which <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/torrent-site-bitsnoop-shuts-down-170331/">shut down</a> in 2017. </p>
<div align="right">
<h5>Alexa Rank: 1,753 / Last year #10</h5>
</div>
<h4>9. <a href="http://eztv.ag/">EZTV.ag</a></h4>
<p>The original TV-torrent distribution group EZTV shut down after a hostile takeover in 2015, with new owners claiming ownership of the brand. The group remains active, albeit not without controversy. Just a few month ago <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/ettv-feeds-eztv-fake-torrents-stop-ridding-our-releases-180922/">ETTV accused the group</a> of &#8216;stealing&#8217; its releases.</p>
<div align="right">
<h5>Alexa Rank: 1.950 / Last year #6</h5>
</div>
<h4>10. <a href="http://torrentdownloads.me/">TorrentDownloads</a></h4>
<p>TorrentDownloads has been around for several years. The torrent site regained a spot in the top 10 this year after a year of absence. It&#8217;s a no-nonsense index that provides torrents to millions of users each month.</p>
<div align="right">
<h5>Alexa Rank: 2,018 / Last year #NA</h5>
</div>
<p>&#8212;</p>
<p><em>Disclaimer: Yes, we know that Alexa isn&#8217;t perfect, but it helps to compare sites that operate in a similar niche. We also used other traffic metrics to compile the top ten. Please keep in mind that many sites have mirrors or alternative domains, which are not taken into account here. We don&#8217;t encourage the use of any of these sites, the yearly list is published as an informational / news resource.</em></p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/">TF</a>, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/top-10-most-popular-torrent-sites-of-2018-180107/">torrent sites</a> and more. We also have <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-services-keep-anonymous-2018/">VPN reviews, </a><a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-discount-coupon-offer-torguard-nordvpn-expressvpn-pia/">discounts, offers and coupons</a>.</p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=166535
title: First Sony Promotes Kodi, Then Allegedly Blocks it on Newer Android TVs
uri: First-Sony-Promotes-Kodi-Then-Allegedly-Blocks-it-on-Newer-Android-TV
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/akKdm7ic9is/
content:
<p><a href="media/13c1e1a2.kodi-1.png" data-original-source="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/images/kodi-1.png"><img src="media/8aa05985.kodi-1.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/kodi-1.png" alt="" width="256" height="256" class="alignright size-full wp-image-144339"></a>With millions of users around the world, Kodi is one of the most popular media players. Available on a number of hardware formats, the open source player has also proven one of the most durable.</p>
<p>As most people will be aware by now, Kodi can also be augmented with third-party addons, some of which are able to turn the player into a formidable piracy tool. This behavior isn&#8217;t condoned by the official development team, of course, but that doesn&#8217;t stop Kodi from stumbling into seemingly endless controversies.</p>
<p>The latest issue came to light during the past few weeks, with owners of some of Sony&#8217;s latest Android-based TVs complaining of installation issues when attempting to deploy Kodi on their hardware. </p>
<p>&#8220;I&#8217;m trying to install Kodi on my SONY AF9 w/ Oreo via Play Store, but the installation fails with error -506. Interestingly enough, if I then restart the TV, Kodi appears under &#8216;Apps&#8217;, but can&#8217;t be started,&#8221; a <a href="https://forum.kodi.tv/showthread.php?tid=336272&#038;pid=2780989#pid2780989">post</a> on the official Kodi forums reads.</p>
<p>&#8220;I&#8217;ve tried a complete Factory Reset and then install[ed] Kodi 17.6 immediately after OOBE, but fails with the same error code. I also tried installing the current nightlies, but these failed as well.&#8221;</p>
<p>While incompatibility issues between hardware and software is hardly a new phenomenon, subsequent posts revealed various points of interest. Firstly, the issue of Kodi being incompatible with Oreo in general was dismissed by a member of Team Kodi.</p>
<p>&#8220;Kodi works on an NVIDIA SHIELD which is also Oreo. If Kodi doesn&#8217;t work on a Sony TV then Sony fucked it up. Android remains Android on whatever device it runs. It&#8217;s just the driver layer underneath that&#8217;s different,&#8221; Martijn responded.</p>
<p>So what could be the issue &#8211; screw up or deliberate &#8216;sabotage&#8217;?</p>
<p>As usual, creative minds got to work in an effort to find some kind of workaround. One wasn&#8217;t long in coming. A user called &#8216;chrisyu&#8217; said that he&#8217;d found a solution after noting Sony may be blocking the Kodi application&#8217;s package ID. After switching it for a less controversial one, things came back to life.</p>
<p>&#8220;I think Sony blocked Kodi&#8217;s package id. Me and some users tested, both Kodi 18 64bit and 32bit cannot be installed. I compiled Kodo 32bit, changed its package id to com.amazon.aiv.eu. Kodi [got] installed and runs just fine,&#8221; he <a href="https://forum.kodi.tv/showthread.php?tid=336272&#038;pid=2785675#pid2785675">wrote</a>.</p>
<p>With other Kodi users reporting that this fix helped them get around the Sony TV installation issues, it does seem possible that Sony is attempting to prevent Kodi from running on newer firmware. With Sony TV users reporting similar issues on <a href="https://community.sony.co.uk/t5/android-tv/kodi-banned-on-updated-tv-s-with-oreo/m-p/2556497">Sony&#8217;s forum</a> and elsewhere, Team Kodi has now taken to Twitter to berate the electronics company for its actions.</p>
<p>&#8220;Well done @SonyElectronics for actively preventing users from installing Kodi on their newer Android TVs. How grown up of you. Even their firmware in the TVs is broken. Guess we will suggest users to just buy something else that does work,&#8221; Team Kodi wrote.</p>
<p><center></p>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
<p lang="en" dir="ltr">Well done <a href="https://twitter.com/SonyElectronics?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@SonyElectronics</a> for actively preventing users from installing Kodi on their newer Android TVs. How grown up of you. Even their firmware in the TVs is broken. Guess we will suggest users to just buy something else that does work.</p>
<p>&mdash; Kodi (@KodiTV) <a href="https://twitter.com/KodiTV/status/1081158140551413761?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 4, 2019</a></p></blockquote>
<p> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script></center></p>
<p>TorrentFreak has requested comment from Sony on the allegations but in the meantime, it does appear that Sony is treating Kodi differently from other Android-based applications.</p>
<p>Back in October 2018, we <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/sony-promotes-kodi-streaming-add-ons-as-ideal-for-its-android-tvs-181021/">reported</a> how Sony was actively promoting Kodi on its website. In the screenshot below, published in the original article, we can see the company placing Kodi in the number one spot for Android TV apps while highlighting that “community-created addons” can be used to “provide access to popular internet streaming media services.”</p>
<p><center><b>The original screenshot from Sony&#8217;s website (October 2018)</b><a href="media/a07344c8.kodi-sony-e1539612916768.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/kodi-sony-e1539612916768.png"><img src="media/a07344c8.kodi-sony-e1539612916768.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/kodi-sony-e1539612916768.png" alt="" width="600" height="313" class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-162754"></a></center></p>
<p>Now, however, we can see that Sony has removed Kodi from its list of recommended apps. The screenshot below shows how the page has been edited, promoting Plex and VLC to the top of the list in place of the controversial media player which is now completely absent.</p>
<p><center><strong>And there it was&#8230;.gone</strong><br></br></center><center><a href="media/9e06d914.sony-deletes-kodi.png" data-original-source="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/images/sony-deletes-kodi.png"><img src="media/a183db37.sony-deletes-kodi.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/sony-deletes-kodi.png" alt="" width="600" height="332" class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-166547"></a></center></p>
<p>We&#8217;ll update this article should we get a response from Sony but in the meantime users can plug any number of Android dongles and devices into their Sony TVs in order to use Kodi. Of course, many would prefer not to do that but given Sony&#8217;s track record of <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sony_BMG_copy_protection_rootkit_scandal">restrictive behavior</a>, it may be the only solution moving forward.</p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/">TF</a>, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/top-10-most-popular-torrent-sites-of-2018-180107/">torrent sites</a> and more. We also have <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-services-keep-anonymous-2018/">VPN reviews, </a><a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-discount-coupon-offer-torguard-nordvpn-expressvpn-pia/">discounts, offers and coupons</a>.</p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=166556
title: Top 10 Most Pirated Movies of The Week on BitTorrent – 01/07/19
uri: Top-10-Most-Pirated-Movies-of-The-Week-on-BitTorrent-01-07-19
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/95LHNy_rhgA/
content:
<p><img src="media/ebf24d99.vanish.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/vanish.png" alt="" width="300" height="164" class="alignright size-full wp-image-166558">This week we have three newcomers in our chart.</p>
<p>The Vanishing is the most downloaded movie.</p>
<p>The data for our weekly download chart is estimated by TorrentFreak, and is for informational and educational reference only. All the movies in the list are Web-DL/Webrip/HDRip/BDrip/DVDrip unless stated otherwise.</p>
<p><a href="http://TorrentFreak.com/category/dvdrip/feed/"><strong>RSS feed</strong></a> for the articles of the recent weekly movie download charts.</p>
<h5>This week&#8217;s most downloaded movies are:</h5>
<table class="css hover">
<thead>
<tr>
<th width="12%"><strong>Movie Rank</strong></th>
<th width="15%"><strong>Rank <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/top-10-pirated-movies-week-bittorrent-12-31-18/">last week</a></strong></th>
<th><strong>Movie name</strong></th>
<th width="18%"><strong>IMDb Rating / Trailer</strong></th>
</tr>
</thead>
<tfoot>
<tr>
<td colspan="4">Most downloaded movies via torrents</td>
</tr>
</tfoot>
<tbody>
<tr>
<td><strong>1</strong></td>
<td>(&#8230;)</td>
<td><a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt4131496/">The Vanishing</a> </td>
<td><a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt4131496/">6.0</a> / <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BMwG9-GfcJI">trailer</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><strong>2</strong></td>
<td>(&#8230;)</td>
<td><a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt5083738/">The Favourite</a> (DVDScr)</td>
<td><a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt5083738/">8.1</a> / <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SYb-wkehT1g">trailer</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><strong>3</strong></td>
<td>(7)</td>
<td><a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt5848272/">Ralph Breaks The Internet</a> (Dvdscr) </td>
<td><a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt5848272/">5.5</a> / <a href="https://youtu.be/_BcYBFC6zfY">trailer</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><strong>4</strong></td>
<td>(1)</td>
<td><a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt6921996/">Johnny English Strikes Again</a> </td>
<td><a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt6921996/">6.4</a> / <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Qv6p6pTz5I">trailer</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><strong>5</strong></td>
<td>(2)</td>
<td><a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt2737304/">Bird Box</a> </td>
<td><a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt2737304/">7.7</a> / <a href="https://youtu.be/MPWMBITCudM">trailer</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><strong>6</strong></td>
<td>(3)</td>
<td><a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1477834/">Aquaman</a> (HDTC)</td>
<td><a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1477834/">7.7</a> / <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZmqJJqFX_CU">trailer</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><strong>7</strong></td>
<td>(4)</td>
<td><a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1270797/">Venom</a> </td>
<td><a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1270797/">7.0</a> / <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xLCn88bfW1o&#038;t=3s">trailer</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><strong>8</strong></td>
<td>(&#8230;)</td>
<td><a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt6266538/">Vice</a> (DVDScr)</td>
<td><a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt6266538/">7.2</a> / <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jO3GsRQO0dM">trailer</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><strong>9</strong></td>
<td>(9)</td>
<td><a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt6966692/">Green Book</a> (Dvdscr) </td>
<td><a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt6966692/">5.5</a> / <a href="https://youtu.be/uC-_Gon2p9M">trailer</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><strong>10</strong></td>
<td>(5)</td>
<td><a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt4123430/">Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald</a> </td>
<td><a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt4123430/">6.9</a> / <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8bYBOVWLNIs">trailer</a></td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/">TF</a>, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/top-10-most-popular-torrent-sites-of-2018-180107/">torrent sites</a> and more. We also have <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-services-keep-anonymous-2018/">VPN reviews, </a><a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-discount-coupon-offer-torguard-nordvpn-expressvpn-pia/">discounts, offers and coupons</a>.</p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=166529
title: Pirate Streaming Site Flixtor Rises From The Ashes
uri: Pirate-Streaming-Site-Flixtor-Rises-From-The-Ashes
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/JLlp-9gRr_A/
content:
<p><img src="media/edba6e38.flixtor.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/flixtor.png" alt="" width="222" height="176" class="alignright size-full wp-image-166561">By offering access to high quality movies and TV-shows, streaming site Flixtor.to has become the go-to site for many pirates.</p>
<p>Everything went relatively smoothly until Last November, when the popular site <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/flixtor-offline-following-mysterious-domain-updates-181122/">suddenly disappeared</a> from the web.</p>
<p>Initially, it was unknown what caused the downtime but after a week the Flixtor team announced that the site had been taken out by an unexplained catastrophe.</p>
<p>This was a major disappointment to the platform&#8217;s users, especially those who just paid for VIP access. However, it was not the end. According to a temporary message posted on the site, everything would be <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/flixtor-promises-to-come-back-more-resilient-and-better-than-ever-181130/">rebuilt from scratch</a>.</p>
<p>After more than a month had passed, the promised comeback arrived last weekend. Flixtor.to resurfaced and, at first glance, it looks pretty much the same as before. However, all the backend code had to be rewritten.</p>
<p>&#8220;Sorry it took so long but it was a lot of work to recover. The outside looks the same but everything under the hood had to be rewritten,&#8221; the Flixtor team writes in a public announcement.</p>
<p><center><strong>Flixtor&#8217;s back</strong></p>
<p></center><center><img src="media/0e138b5f.flixtorback.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/flixtorback.jpg" alt="" width="600" height="358" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-166568" srcset="https://torrentfreak.com/images/flixtorback.jpg 600w, https://torrentfreak.com/images/flixtorback-220x130.jpg 220w" sizes="(max-width: 600px) 100vw, 600px"></center></p>
<p>There&#8217;s still a lot of work yet to be done but a Beta version of the site is functional.</p>
<p>&#8220;We&#8217;re in BETA for the next few days. This means that we&#8217;re in the middle of updating and fixing things so expect some downtime every now and then,&#8221; the Flixtor team notes.</p>
<p>During the coming days and weeks, the site will be optimized. This includes adding to the content library, which isn&#8217;t complete just yet. According to Flixtor, the prime focus will be on rebuilding the TV-show library first.</p>
<p>VIP users are also reassured by the Flixtor team. They will all receive new login credentials which give them access to the same perks as before, including all videos in 1080p quality.</p>
<p>It&#8217;s still unclear what happened to the site last November. Flixtor is certainly one of the prime targets of the Hollywood studios, but there are no signs that the outage was caused by a coordinated enforcement effort.</p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/">TF</a>, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/top-10-most-popular-torrent-sites-of-2018-180107/">torrent sites</a> and more. We also have <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-services-keep-anonymous-2018/">VPN reviews, </a><a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-discount-coupon-offer-torguard-nordvpn-expressvpn-pia/">discounts, offers and coupons</a>.</p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=166616
title: UK Govt. Says Police Anti-Piracy Unit Will Be Funded Beyond June 2019
uri: UK-Govt-Says-Police-Anti-Piracy-Unit-Will-Be-Funded-Beyond-June-2019
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/MBHHY6mq2-o/
content:
<div class="wp-block-image"><figure class="alignright"><img src="media/57ab39a0.city-pipcu.png" data-original-source="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/images/city-pipcu.png" alt="" class="wp-image-133985"/></figure></div>



<p>First announced in the summer of 2013, the City of London Police Intellectual Property Crime Unit (PIPCU) quickly declared its mission to tackle IP crime both at home and overseas.</p>



<p>In the more than five years since, PIPCU has tackled all kinds of infringement, closely aligning itself with the needs of the music, movie, and publishing industries. As a result, the unit has often been in the headlines tackling torrent and streaming piracy, as well as dealing with organized criminals who flood the market with counterfeit consumer electronics and clothing.</p>



<p>PIPCU&#8217;s 2013 launch was facilitated with £2.56 million in funding from the UK government’s Intellectual Property Office (IPO), funding that has continued since. During August 2017, for example, PIPCU <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/police-intellectual-property-crime-unit-secures-funding-until-2019-170823/">said</a> it had received an additional £3.32 million, to safeguard the unit until June 30, 2019. </p>



<p>However, in a <a href="https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/8130003/fake-websites-cyber-crime-rockets/">report</a> from UK tabloid The Sun yesterday, the publication suggested that PIPCU&#8217;s funding could be in question.</p>



<p>&#8220;[P]lans for industry stakeholders to fund the Police Intellectual Property Crime Unit have fallen through and&nbsp;government funding&nbsp;runs out in June,&#8221; the paper claimed.</p>



<p>This was enough for Shadow policing minister Louise Haigh to weigh-in on the issue, openly criticizing the government for not doing enough to protect the public on the Internet.</p>



<p>&#8220;It’s about time ministers stopped short-changing the police and gave them the resources they need to keep people safe online,&#8221; she said.</p>



<p>To the best of our knowledge, PIPCU has always been funded by the government, so the suggestion that there were recent discussions for the creative industries to contribute financially comes as news to us. Speaking with <a href="https://www.worldtrademarkreview.com/anti-counterfeiting/reports-pipcus-demise-greatly-exaggerated-ukipo-commits-future-funding">WTR</a>, PIPCU itself poured cold water on the industry-funding claim.</p>



<p>&#8220;PIPCU has always received <g class="gr_ gr_6 gr-alert gr_spell gr_inline_cards gr_run_anim ContextualSpelling multiReplace" id="6" data-gr-id="6">two year</g> rolling funding from the IPO,&#8221; PIPCU Detective Chief Inspector Teresa Russell told the publication. </p>



<p>&#8220;While PIPCU’s funding does expire in June, the funding will be extended by the IPO. There have been no recent plans for PIPCU to be funded directly by industry.&#8221;</p>



<p>The intention for the government to continue funding PIPCU was confirmed by <g class="gr_ gr_11 gr-alert gr_gramm gr_inline_cards gr_disable_anim_appear Punctuation only-ins replaceWithoutSep" id="11" data-gr-id="11">Dr</g> Ros Lynch at the Intellectual Property Office.</p>



<p>&#8220;We are committed to funding the Police Intellectual Property Crime Unit beyond June 2019 when the current funding runs out,&#8221; Lynch said.</p>



<p>&#8220;The unit provides a positive impact on this type of crime and discussions with the City of London Police on future funding is already very advanced.&#8221;</p>



<p>The news that PIPCU will be funded beyond June 2019 comes on the heels of the unit receiving praise during the U.S. Chamber of Commerce Global Innovation Policy Center’s (GIPC) 6th annual IP Champions event in Washington <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/pipcu-wins-piracy-enforcement-award-from-us-chamber-of-commerce-180919/">last year</a>.</p>



<p>Two key players from PIPCU were handed the IP Champion for Excellence in Enforcement award. Detective Chief Superintendent Pete O’Doherty was recognized for his leadership at PIPCU while Nick Court, PIPCU’s former Acting Detective Chief Inspector, was credited for combating illegal online streaming and other digital piracy.</p>



<p>   </p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/">TF</a>, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/top-10-most-popular-torrent-sites-of-2018-180107/">torrent sites</a> and more. We also have <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-services-keep-anonymous-2018/">VPN reviews, </a><a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-discount-coupon-offer-torguard-nordvpn-expressvpn-pia/">discounts, offers and coupons</a>.</p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=166578
title: ARIN Wants Mantadory IP-address Whois Registry to Police Piracy
uri: ARIN-Wants-Mantadory-IP-address-Whois-Registry-to-Police-Piracy
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/HjJVf9KTvr8/
content:
<p><img class="alignright size-full wp-image-166581" src="media/eec9fcef.arin.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/arin.png" alt="" width="288" height="109"><a href="https://www.arin.net/">ARIN</a> may not be well known to the wider public, but it provides a crucial service which affects the Internet at large.</p>
<p>One of the main tasks of the non-profit organization is to distribute crucial Internet number resources, including IPv4 addresses, IPv6 addresses, and AS numbers.</p>
<p>These numbers are not directly allocated to individual end-users. They typically go to large companies including Google and Amazon, Internet registrars, as well as ISPs such as AT&amp;T, Comcast, Bell, and Rogers.</p>
<p>For several decades these companies have maintained a voluntary Whois database, keeping track of customers assigned a large block of IP-numbers. Not the average Joe&#8217;s Internet connection, but a large university, or a hosting provider, for example.</p>
<p>In a letter sent to the Canadian Government as part of the Statutory Review of the Copyright Act, ARIN stresses that the Whois database is an important copyright enforcement tool.</p>
<p>&#8220;When copyright infringing material or other illicit content is found online, Whois is often the first point of investigation of the source,&#8221; ARIN writes.</p>
<p>&#8220;Law enforcement agencies and private parties with a legal interest can access the Whois database either in accordance with the registrar’s policies, or under judicial order.&#8221;</p>
<p>Until recently, this Whois database was kept in place by ARIN through a &#8220;carrot&#8221; and &#8220;stick&#8221; approach. Companies would regularly come back to request new IP-addresses (carrot), and ARIN would only allocate this if the Whois database was properly maintained (stick).</p>
<p>This has worked fine for over thirty years, but the American non-profit fears that their &#8220;stick&#8221; may no longer be as effective now things are moving to IPv6.</p>
<p>Since the IPv4 address pool is exhausted, companies are moving to IPv6 addresses, which are widely available. This means that these companies may not have to return to ARIN for years.</p>
<p>Without this pressure, these companies may neglect the Whois database, the organization fears.</p>
<p>&#8220;ISPs and others will be able to request large blocks IPv6 numbers and may not need to return to ARIN for replenishment for several years. As a result, ARIN will no longer have a mechanism to require compliance with maintaining up to date records of IP dispersals,&#8221; the organization writes.</p>
<p>&#8220;As no other regulatory or other mechanisms exist that would require this information be updated and preserved, it is likely that many organizations will rarely or never do so.&#8221;</p>
<p>ARIN fears that without a proper Whois database, rogue players could &#8220;wreak havoc.&#8221; That will make it harder to investigate and stop copyright infringement, as well as other illegal activity.</p>
<p>As such, the organization is asking the Canadian Government to &#8220;require&#8221; companies and ISPs that receive large blocks of numbers to &#8220;maintain an up-to-date registry of the assignment of internet numbers.&#8221;</p>
<p>In addition, the Government shoulds take legislative or regulatory action to ensure that companies which can assign internet numbers to third parties have a legal duty to keep the Whois database up to date.</p>
<p><center><strong>ARIN recommendations</strong></p>
<p></center><center><img class="alignnone size-full wp-image-166589" src="media/4c7c7752.reccomendationarin.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/reccomendationarin.png" alt="" width="600" height="214"></center></p>
<p>This is the first time we&#8217;ve seen ARIN getting involved in copyright enforcement discussions at this level. It will be interesting to see how their request will be received.</p>
<p>Whether all 5,896 ARIN members stand behind the request is doubtful. Milton Mueller, a professor at the Georgia Institute of Technology School of Public Policy and a former ARIN advisory committee member, believes that it&#8217;s a bad idea to fragment these kinds of policies on a country-to-country basis.</p>
<p>Mueller also questions whether most ARIN members stand behind the submission, which was apparently sent in without consulting the organization&#8217;s broader base.</p>
<p>“I think ARIN’s community would be shocked to see its staff inviting national governments to regulate them without any discussion or vetting of this idea within the community,” he informed <a href="https://thewirereport.ca/">The Wire Report</a>.</p>
<p>Copyright holders in the United States and abroad will likely welcome the proposal though. For them, Whois data has been a hot topic over the past several months.</p>
<p>In addition to the IP-address allocation data, rightsholders are <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/whois-limits-under-gdpr-will-make-pirates-harder-to-catch-groups-fear-180413/">also concerned about the domain name Whois data</a>, which many companies obscured following the implementation of the GDPR, the EU&#8217;s new privacy regulation.</p>
<p><em>&#8212;-</em></p>
<p><em>A copy of the American Registry for Internet Numbers (ARIN) Submission to the House of Commons Standing Committee on Industry, Science and Technology can be found <a href="media/d153dd32.AmericanRegistryOfInternetNumbers-V2-e.pdf" data-original-source="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/images/AmericanRegistryOfInternetNumbers-V2-e.pdf">here (pdf)</a>. </em></p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/">TF</a>, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/top-10-most-popular-torrent-sites-of-2018-180107/">torrent sites</a> and more. We also have <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-services-keep-anonymous-2018/">VPN reviews, </a><a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-discount-coupon-offer-torguard-nordvpn-expressvpn-pia/">discounts, offers and coupons</a>.</p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=166669
title: India Proposes Prison Sentences for ‘Cam’ Piracy
uri: India-Proposes-Prison-Sentences-for-Cam-Piracy
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/KzQlJw7btGM/
content:
<p><img class="alignright size-full wp-image-142135" src="media/86342ead.theater-movie-cinema.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/theater-movie-cinema.png" alt="" width="275" height="164" srcset="https://torrentfreak.com/images/theater-movie-cinema.png 275w, https://torrentfreak.com/images/theater-movie-cinema-220x130.png 220w" sizes="(max-width: 275px) 100vw, 275px"></p>
<p>Tens years ago India only had about five million broadband subscribers. Today, there are close to half a billion.</p>
<p>This massive increase has left its mark on society, and as we <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/india-huge-growth-market-for-bittorrent-sites-081119/">envisioned at the time</a>, it proved to be a growth market for pirates as well.</p>
<p>The high online piracy rates are a problem, but offline there are issues too. As it turns out, many of the camcorded movie leaks that appear on pirate sites originate from Indian movie theaters.</p>
<p>This presents a problem for both Bollywood and Hollywood, both of which have repeatedly argued that current copyright legislation is not properly equipped to deal with the problem.</p>
<p><span class="fontstyle0">&#8220;The Indian Government should swiftly enact legislative amendments to outlaw unauthorized recording of all or part of an audiovisual work in a cinema,&#8221; MPAA noted just recently.&nbsp;</span></p>
<p>The US Trade Representative also <a href="media/865dd9ff.2018-Special-301.pdf" data-original-source="https://torrentfreak.com/images/2018-Special-301.pdf">highlighted</a> this issue in its most recent Special 301 Report, noting that proposed amendments to the Cinematograph Act have stalled for several years.</p>
<p>Whether this outside pressure had an effect or not, the Indian Government is now proposing a new amendment to the&nbsp;Cinematograph Act to target unauthorized copying in theaters. As a result, camcording pirates may soon face jail time and hefty fines.</p>
<p>The proposal suggests putting a maximum prison sentence of three years on unauthorized recording audio or video footage at a movie theater. In addition, there&#8217;s a maximum fine of&nbsp;Rs.10 Lakhs, which is roughly $14,000.</p>
<p>The amendment in question reads as follows:</p>
<blockquote class="pullquote"><p>“Notwithstanding any law for the time being in force including any provision of the Copyright Act, 1957, any person who, during the exhibition of an audiovisual work, cinematographic in an exhibition facility used to exhibit cinematograph films or audiovisual recordings and without the written authorization of the copyright owner, uses any audiovisual recording device to knowingly make or transmit or attempt to make or transmit or abet the making or transmission of a copy or visual recording or sound recording embodying a cinematograph film or audiovisual recording or any part thereof or a copy of sound recording accompanying such cinematograph film or audiovisual recording or any part thereof during subsistence of copyright in such cinematograph film or sound recording, shall be punishable with imprisonment not exceeding three years and shall also be liable to fine not exceeding Rs.10 Lakhs, or to a term of imprisonment for a term not exceeding three years or both.”</p></blockquote>
<p>The draft legislation has yet to pass but major players in the movie industry are happy with the announcement.</p>
<p>Uday Singh,&nbsp;managing director of the MPA&#8217;s Motion Picture Distributors Association (<a href="http://www.mpaa-india.org/">MPAA-India</a>),&nbsp; says that the camcording amendment will put India on par with other countries that already have similar measures.</p>
<p>“Most countries in the world either have a law or some kind of a provision that covers camcording. It is a welcome move. We used to see a lot of leaks in the supply chain in this area. I think that this is one more step towards plugging that leak,”&nbsp;Singh notes, <a href="https://www.televisionpost.com/stakeholders-welcome-mib-move-to-amend-cinematograph-act-to-prevent-film-piracy/">quoted</a> by Television Post.</p>
<p>While there is not yet a fully-fledged anti-camcording law, there&nbsp;hasn&#8217;t been a shortage of arrests. Indian law enforcement has taken steps against unauthorized recording in theaters on several occasions.</p>
<p>This even led to the arrests of several, presumably innocent, theater owners. The Indian Film Exhibitors Association recently <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/film-group-asks-court-to-stop-arrests-of-theater-owners-over-piracy-181115/">called on&nbsp;the Madras High Court</a> to put a halt to these overbroad crackdowns.</p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/">TF</a>, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/top-10-most-popular-torrent-sites-of-2018-180107/">torrent sites</a> and more. We also have <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-services-keep-anonymous-2018/">VPN reviews, </a><a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-discount-coupon-offer-torguard-nordvpn-expressvpn-pia/">discounts, offers and coupons</a>.</p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=166714
title: Sony Says it Will ‘Fix’ Kodi Problem in Next Update
uri: Sony-Says-it-Will-Fix-Kodi-Problem-in-Next-Update
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/uaLdjHFoocU/
content:
<div class="wp-block-image"><figure class="alignright is-resized"><img src="media/13c1e1a2.kodi-1.png" data-original-source="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/images/kodi-1.png" alt="" class="wp-image-144339" width="186" height="186"/></figure></div>



<p>Millions of Internet video consumers favor the open source media player Kodi for its long history and unparalleled flexibility.  </p>



<p>While perfectly at home playing legitimate content, the tool can also be configured, via third-party addons, to act as a powerful piracy tool.</p>



<p>This has led to Kodi being dragged into all kinds of controversies, none of which the official development team <g class="gr_ gr_8 gr-alert gr_gramm gr_inline_cards gr_run_anim Grammar multiReplace" id="8" data-gr-id="8">encourage</g> or relish. Nevertheless, when a headline features the word &#8216;Kodi&#8217; these days, trouble is rarely far behind.</p>



<p>The latest installment raised its head during the past few days, when the official Kodi team took to Twitter to berate electronics giant Sony.  Owners of some of Sony’s latest Android-based TVs had complained of installation issues when attempting to deploy Kodi on their hardware and the feeling was that<a href="https://torrentfreak.com/first-sony-promotes-kodi-then-allegedly-blocks-it-on-newer-android-tvs-190107/"> Sony wasn&#8217;t playing fai</a>r.</p>



<p>After various tests, the Kodi team felt that Android Oreo wasn&#8217;t playing a part, since the NVIDIA SHIELD runs on the same Android variant. Only adding to the suspicions were tests carried out by Kodi enthusiasts that suggested that Sony might be blocking Kodi&#8217;s Package ID.</p>



<p>Indeed, more <a href="https://forum.kodi.tv/showthread.php?tid=336272&amp;pid=2806533#pid2806533">detailed testing</a> this week seemed to back up that claim, after members of the Kodi team &#8216;faked&#8217; their Package ID and found that overcame the problem on Sony&#8217;s hardware.</p>



<p>TorrentFreak originally contacted Sony for an explanation but the company would only tell us that they do not curate apps and does not have the ability to block them. Since the statement was fairly vague we followed up with more questions and although they still weren&#8217;t directly addressed, the company has now provided an explanation.</p>



<p>“Thank you for bringing this to our attention,&#8221; Sony Electronics told TF.</p>



<p>&#8220;After looking into the issue further, we’ve discovered a software issue on our end that is incorrectly classifying Kodi as a <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kernel_(operating_system)">kernel object</a> (&#8216;ko&#8217;). We are  working on a fix for this issue to include in our next software update,&#8221; the company added.</p>



<p>TorrentFreak shared the comments with the Kodi development team who appear skeptical of Sony&#8217;s explanation and have asked for additional details on the company&#8217;s &#8220;classification&#8221; algorithm.</p>



<p>&#8220;The real fun thing is: Just changing the PACKAGE_ID is proven to be enough [to solve the issue], so that this &#8216;classification&#8217; won&#8217;t happen anymore,&#8221; says <a href="https://twitter.com/fritsch_xbmc">Peter Frühberger.</a></p>



<p>&#8220;Furthermore, the Fun-Fact: As we have shown, creating a different APK, not Kodi-related, but with the very same PACKAGE_ID Kodi had, causes the same issue.</p>



<p>&#8220;To be honest &#8211; as someone that did <g class="gr_ gr_5 gr-alert gr_spell gr_inline_cards gr_disable_anim_appear ContextualSpelling ins-del multiReplace" id="5" data-gr-id="5">PHD</g> studies with pattern classifications and data mining, this sounds really, really odd. I doubt this explanation, but if it&#8217;s true &#8211; their <g class="gr_ gr_7 gr-alert gr_spell gr_inline_cards gr_disable_anim_appear ContextualSpelling ins-del multiReplace" id="7" data-gr-id="7">classificator</g> most likely sucks,&#8221; Frühberger added.</p>



<p>While there will probably be much additional debate over Sony&#8217;s explanation, it does appear that Kodi won&#8217;t be blocked forever on the company&#8217;s smart TVs, which is probably the end result both the Kodi team and its users had hoped for.</p>



<p>TorrentFreak&#8217;s additional questions, concerning <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/sony-promotes-kodi-streaming-add-ons-as-ideal-for-its-android-tvs-181021/">Sony&#8217;s promotion of Kodi</a> on its website last year (which was later removed), remain unanswered.</p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/">TF</a>, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/top-10-most-popular-torrent-sites-of-2018-180107/">torrent sites</a> and more. We also have <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-services-keep-anonymous-2018/">VPN reviews, </a><a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-discount-coupon-offer-torguard-nordvpn-expressvpn-pia/">discounts, offers and coupons</a>.</p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=166731
title: New Aussie Blocking Applications Targets 79 ‘Pirate’ Sites Plus 4 Stream-Ripping Platforms
uri: New-Aussie-Blocking-Applications-Targets-79-Pirate-Sites-Plus-4
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/5RB2ZvTiz-o/
content:
<div class="wp-block-image"><figure class="alignright"><img src="media/c5e87d4f.aus.jpg" data-original-source="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/images/aus.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-96798"/></figure></div>



<p>Section 115a of Australia’s Copyright Act allows copyright holders to apply for injunctions to force ISPs to prevent subscribers from accessing ‘pirate’ sites.</p>



<p>The legislation has been used on many occasions, mainly by movie industry players, to have &#8220;overseas locations&#8221; (aka &#8216;pirate&#8217; sites) blocked by local Internet service providers. </p>



<p>Last year it was <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/australian-parliament-passes-tough-new-anti-piracy-law-181128/">significantly upgraded</a> to tackle mirrors and proxies more effectively, restrict the appearance of blocked sites in Google search, and introduce the possibility of blocking &#8216;dual-use&#8217; cyberlocker-type sites.</p>



<p>The idea is that making such sites more difficult to access will cause pirates to spend more on legitimate content. While clear evidence of that rarely figures in industry statements in favor of blocking, it is abundantly clear that such restriction is viewed as a valuable anti-piracy tool.</p>



<p>In December, Australia&#8217;s Federal Court <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/australian-court-orders-isps-to-block-181-pirate-domains-including-subtitle-sites-181220/">issued an injunction</a> in favor of Village Roadshow, Disney, Twentieth Century Fox, Paramount, Columbia, Universal, and Warner, requiring local ISPs to block 181 pirate domains linked to 78 &#8216;sites&#8217;, including several dedicated to subtitles.</p>



<p>Soon after, it now transpires, the same companies (plus Australian distributor Madman) were back again with a new application to block 79 &#8220;online locations&#8221; associated with 99 domains. A full list, as obtained by <a href="https://www.computerworld.com.au/article/656058/film-studios-continue-waging-war-piracy/">ComputerWorld</a>, which first reported the news, is detailed at the end of this article.</p>



<p>Should the injunction be granted (and there&#8217;s no indication there will be any objections based on the sites and their modus operandi) Telstra, Optus, Vocus, TPG, Vodafone, plus their subsidiaries, will be required to prevent their subscribers from accessing the platforms.</p>



<p>After <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/kickasstorrents-next-target-for-aussie-piracy-blocklist-180416/">targeting</a> KickassTorrents and various mirrors and proxies for blocking back in 2016, Australian music companies have also filed a new injunction application with the Federal Court. </p>



<p>Music Rights Australia, backed by the Australasian Performing Right Association (APRA), Sony Music, Universal Music, and Warner Music, are requesting a block of several stream-ripping services. The list of sites is not yet publicly available. <em>(Update: CW has obtained the list, it&#8217;s detailed at the bottom of this article)</em></p>



<p>These platforms, which are often web-based affairs, allow users to &#8216;rip&#8217; (download) music from streaming sites such as YouTube, in order to store tracks on their own machines. This practice is considered copyright infringement by the labels and one of the main threats to their business models.</p>



<p>&#8220;These <g class="gr_ gr_3 gr-alert gr_spell gr_inline_cards gr_run_anim ContextualSpelling ins-del multiReplace" id="3" data-gr-id="3">no fault</g> injunctions are used to block the worst of the illegal sites which undermine the local and international music industry,” a spokesperson from Music Rights Australia told <a href="https://www.computerworld.com.au/article/656069/australian-music-industry-wants-isps-block-stream-ripping-sites/">Computerworld</a>.</p>



<p>&#8220;We use this effective and efficient <g class="gr_ gr_3 gr-alert gr_spell gr_inline_cards gr_run_anim ContextualSpelling ins-del multiReplace" id="3" data-gr-id="3">no fault</g> remedy to block the illegal sites which undermine the many licensed online services which give music fans the music they love where, when and how they want to hear it.&#8221;</p>



<p>This first-of-its-kind action in Australia against overseas-based stream-ripping services is perhaps inevitable given the attention these platforms are attracting in other regions.</p>



<p>In July 2018, following legal action carried out by Rights Alliance on behalf of music industry group IFPI, Convert2MP3 was <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/in-world-first-danish-court-rules-stream-ripping-site-illegal-180710/">declared unlawful</a> by a Danish court, with local ISPs ordered to block the platform.</p>



<p>While this was the first time anywhere in the world that a so-called stream-ripping site had been declared illegal, the music industry has successfully targeted similar platforms in the past.</p>



<p>Back in 2016, YouTube-MP3, at the time the world’s largest YouTube-ripping site, was&nbsp;<a href="https://torrentfreak.com/youtube-mp3-ripping-site-sued-by-ifpi-riaa-and-bpi-160926/">sued</a>&nbsp;in the United States by IFPI, RIAA, and BPI. However, that ended in a&nbsp;<a href="https://torrentfreak.com/youtube-mp3-settles-with-riaa-site-will-shut-down-170904/">settlement agreement</a>&nbsp;rather than a full trial, so the case was never decided on the merits. </p>



<p>More recently, a case filed in Germany by Sony Music against MusicMonster.fm <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/court-rules-musicmonster-stream-ripping-service-illegal-181126/">ended</a> with a declaration that the service cannot rely on the private copying exception so is both unlicensed and illegal. Nevertheless, the site is still available today.</p>



<p>Meanwhile, major labels including Universal, Warner Bros, and Sony, are embroiled in <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/major-labels-sue-more-youtube-ripper-sites-180806/">legal action</a> in the US against Russia-based stream-ripping sites FLVTO.biz and 2conv.com. The operator of those sites has already indicated a desire to <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/youtube-ripper-slams-record-labels-over-absurdity-and-amnesia-181027/">fight back</a>.</p>


<p><em>The list of domains in the Australian movie studio application, via CW, is as follows:</em></p>
<p><em>01torrent.net</em><br><em>1movies.nl</em><br><em>1movies.biz</em><br><em>1movies.pl</em><br><em>1movies.ch</em><br><em>1movies.is</em><br><em>300mbfilms.co</em><br><em>9putlocker.io</em><br><em>afdah.info</em><br><em>afdah.to</em><br><em>arawatch.video</em><br><em>cafehulu.com</em><br><em>cartoonson.tv</em><br><em>cartoonsons.com</em><br><em>dafreetv.net</em><br><em>tvdafree.com</em><br><em>filmlinks4u.is</em><br><em>gamatotv.co</em><br><em>gamatotv.me</em><br><em>gostream.site</em><br><em>greekmovies.com</em><br><em>iomovies.to</em><br><em>kat.tv</em><br><em>monova.to</em><br><em>2movierulz.com</em><br><em>movierulz.ht</em><br><em>movierulz.gd</em><br><em>movierulz.pl</em><br><em>movierulzfree.me</em><br><em>moviewatcher.is</em><br><em>moviewatcher.io</em><br><em>o2tvseries.com</em><br><em>onlinemoviewatch.org</em><br><em>onlinemoviewatch.to</em><br><em>openloadmovies.net</em><br><em>otorrents.com</em><br><em>putlocker0.com</em><br><em>putlockerr.is</em><br><em>putlockers.co</em><br><em>putlockers.movie</em><br><em>putlockers.net</em><br><em>putlockers.tf</em><br><em>putlockers.id</em><br><em>putlockers.tv</em><br><em>putlockertv.ac</em><br><em>putlockerstv.se</em><br><em>putlockertv.ist</em><br><em>putlockertv.to</em><br><em>rainierland.is</em><br><em>scr.cr</em><br><em>seehd.pl</em><br><em>series9.io</em><br><em>solarmoviex.to</em><br><em>speed.cd</em><br><em>seriestop.online</em><br><em>srstop.online</em><br><em>streamlord.com</em><br><em>swatchseries.to</em><br><em>tamilyogi.nu</em><br><em>tamilyogi.fm</em><br><em>tamilyogi.cc</em><br><em>toonova.net</em><br><em>toptvshows.co</em><br><em>torrenting.com</em><br><em>tt.smallfoot.me</em><br><em>torrentking.eu</em><br><em>torrentking.to</em><br><em>torrentking.site</em><br><em>torrentleech.org</em><br><em>torrentwal.net</em><br><em>torrentyeah.com</em><br><em>twomovies.name</em><br><em>uwatchfree.online</em><br><em>uwatchfree.se</em><br><em>uwatchfree.tv</em><br><em>watchcartoonsonline.la</em><br><em>vtv16.com</em><br><em>watchonline.red</em><br><em>woohay.com</em><br><em>xpau.se</em><br><em>yify.is</em><br><em>yifyhdtorrent.com</em><br><em>ymovies.tv</em><br><em>anime1.com</em><br><em>animedao.com</em><br><em>Animeheaven.eu</em><br><em>animehub.ac</em><br><em>animeland.us</em><br><em>animeland.cc</em><br><em>animepahe.com</em><br><em>animerush.tv</em><br><em>chia-anime.tv</em><br><em>dubbedanime.net</em><br><em>horriblesubs.info</em><br><em>hotanime.me</em><br><em>justdubs.org</em><br><em>justdubsanime.net</em><br><em>kickassanime.io</em><br><em>nwanime.tv</em><br><em>toonget.net</em></p>
<p><em>The list of domains in the Australian music companies&#8217; application, via CW, is detailed below. It dovetails perfectly with platforms already subject to legal action or blocking in other regions, as detailed in the above article.</em></p>
<p><em> <span class="fontstyle0">2conv.com<br>Flv2mp3.by<br>Flv2mp3.com<br>Flv2mp3.org<br>Convert2mp3.net<br>Flvto.biz<br>Flvto.com</span> </em></p>


<p></p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/">TF</a>, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/top-10-most-popular-torrent-sites-of-2018-180107/">torrent sites</a> and more. We also have <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-services-keep-anonymous-2018/">VPN reviews, </a><a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-discount-coupon-offer-torguard-nordvpn-expressvpn-pia/">discounts, offers and coupons</a>.</p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=166602
title: Retired Police Officer Fires Back at ‘Copyright Troll’
uri: Retired-Police-Officer-Fires-Back-at-Copyright-Troll
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/lB3DSIuEGJ8/
content:
<p><img class="alignright size-full wp-image-108977" src="media/17a592c8.trollsign.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/trollsign.jpg" alt="" width="250" height="167">As mentioned <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/us-online-piracy-lawsuits-hit-a-record-high-last-year-190104/">a few days ago</a>, every year thousands of people are sued in the United States for online file-sharing, mostly through BitTorrent.</p>
<p>The bulk of these cases are filed by two adult content producers, which are often referred to as “copyright trolls” or &#8220;porno trolls,&#8221; specifying the nature of their works.</p>
<p>These companies target people whose connections were allegedly used to download and share infringing videos, in the hope of obtaining a significant financial settlement.</p>
<p>While many of the defendants may have done the deed, quite a few of the accused Internet subscribers have done nothing wrong. This is also what a John Doe, known by the IP-address 73.225.38.130, argued in a recent court filing in a federal court in Seattle, Washington.</p>
<p>The defendant in question was sued over a year ago by Strike 3 Holdings,&nbsp; but he isn&#8217;t planning on settling. Instead, as the case progressed, the still unnamed man went on the offensive, helped by major law firm&nbsp;<a href="https://www.foxrothschild.com/">Fox Rothschild</a>.</p>
<p>As it turns out, the adult company picked a fight with a 70+-year-old retired police officer. Following some initial pushback in court, Strike 3 Holdings was ready to let the case go. The company filed a motion to voluntarily dismiss all claims in August, but the &#8220;ex-cop&#8221; wasn&#8217;t willing to let them.</p>
<p>There were still several counterclaims pending and the defendant has built up a significant legal bill, which he doesn&#8217;t plan on paying himself. Instead, he wants to be found innocent and accuses the copyright holder of abuse of process. These counterclaims could go all the way up to trial.</p>
<p>With the tables turned, the retired policeman submitted amended counterclaims to the court last week, accusing the rightsholder of being engaged in a &#8220;perverse litigation campaign&#8221; against hundreds of defendants.</p>
<p>Strike 3 accused him of sharing dozens of copyrighted videos, but the man argues that he has never even heard of them.</p>
<p>&#8220;John Doe is a retired police officer in his 70’s. He has been married for over 40 years. Until he was sued by S3H, John Doe had never heard of the pornographic websites: &#8216;Blacked&#8217;, &#8216;Vixen&#8217;, or &#8216;Tushy&#8217;. John Doe does not know who downloaded these movies,&#8221; the document reads.</p>
<p>The man seeks a declaration of non-infringement, but also accuses the adult content producer of copyright misuse and abuse of process.</p>
<p>“John Doe, an ex-cop, seeks affirmative relief that he did not infringe the works at issue, that the works are unenforceable under the doctrine of copyright misuse, and that litigation model itself is actionable under the common law of abuse of process,“ the filing reads.</p>
<p>“What is clear is that the S3H litigation model is not what it claims, to protect itself from copyright infringement, rather S3H has a business model to use the court system to extract income using &#8216;sue and settle&#8217; without resorting to the far less costly provisions provided under the DMCA.”</p>
<h5 style="text-align: center;">From the filing</h5>
<p><center><img class="aligncenter wp-image-166642 size-full" src="media/291d1a39.excop.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/excop.png" alt="" width="600" height="234"></center></p>
<p>The copyright misuse claims were dismissed previously, but Judge&nbsp;Thomas Zilly kept the <span class="fontstyle0">counterclaims for a declaration of non-infringement and abuse of process alive.&nbsp;</span></p>
<p>According to the attorneys of the former policeman, there is no real legal dispute with Strike 3&#8217;s lawsuits, but &#8220;only a scheme to extort.&#8221;</p>
<p>The accused file-sharer argues that Strike 3 has filed hundreds of lawsuits, but if it was really interested in enforcing its rights, it would also use DMCA notices to alert ISPs and their customers of any infringing activity.</p>
<p>&#8220;S3H’s intentional failure to send DMCA notices to the ISP addresses of alleged John Doe defendants evidences an ulterior purpose to accomplish an object not within the proper scope of the process: extortion through sham litigation,&#8221; the filing reads.</p>
<p>&#8220;<span class="fontstyle0">Filing a lawsuit with no intention of litigating evidences an ulterior purpose to accomplish an object not within the proper scope of process: extortion through sham litigation,&#8221; it adds.</span></p>
<p>Based on these and other arguments, the former policeman wants the adult production company to be held accountable for abuse of process. In addition, it also requests the declaration of non-infringement, with all fees and legal costs being compensated.</p>
<p>The court has yet to rule on the requests but it appears that the retired policeman has the upper hand, as Strike 3 previously indicated that they are willing to let the case go.</p>
<p>Whether the court will grant summary judgment, or if the case will be resolved through an alternative route, possibly a trial, has yet to be seen.</p>
<p>This case is not the only setback for the adult content producer either. In several recent cases the company was requested to provide &#8220;something more&#8221; than an IP-address as evidence of alleged infringement.</p>
<p>In addition, the IP-address geo-location tools which are crucial in these cases remain controversial as well. Just last month, a California federal court dismissed a request for an ISP subpoena, as there <a href="media/89137c80.gov.uscourts.casd.605312.6.0.pdf" data-original-source="https://www.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.casd.605312/gov.uscourts.casd.605312.6.0.pdf">wasn&#8217;t sufficient evidence</a> that an IP-address was tied to the court&#8217;s jurisdiction.</p>
<hr>
<p>A<em> copy of the second amended counterclaims is available <a href="media/b6569ae0.retiredpolice.pdf" data-original-source="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/images/retiredpolice.pdf">here (pdf)</a>.</em></p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/">TF</a>, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/top-10-most-popular-torrent-sites-of-2018-180107/">torrent sites</a> and more. We also have <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-services-keep-anonymous-2018/">VPN reviews, </a><a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-discount-coupon-offer-torguard-nordvpn-expressvpn-pia/">discounts, offers and coupons</a>.</p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=166818
title: Sky Complaint Shuts Down KodiTips’ Facebook Page
uri: Sky-Complaint-Shuts-Down-KodiTips-Facebook-Page
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/IKvh3mDfkpY/
content:
<div class="wp-block-image"><figure class="alignright"><img src="media/2e54f309.koditips.png" data-original-source="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/images/koditips.png" alt="" class="wp-image-166842"/></figure></div>



<p>With tens of millions of active Kodi media player users around the globe, there is a thirst for information on how to utilize the open source software.</p>



<p>As a result, dozens of websites and blogs have appeared to fill this niche, many of them dedicated to tips, tutorials, and news on the latest add-ons and developments.</p>



<p>Founded in 2015, KodiTips.com is one of the most popular, with more than a million visitors every month. The site was created to fill a gap in the market, its operator informs TorrentFreak.</p>



<p>&#8220;At the time, there wasn’t a lot of tutorials and how-to guides for Kodi add-ons and hardware. The site&#8217;s original and continuing message is to offer guides on how to understand and setup Kodi, and to clarify what Kodi is vs what it isn’t (doesn’t host content, <g class="gr_ gr_8 gr-alert gr_spell gr_inline_cards gr_run_anim ContextualSpelling ins-del" id="8" data-gr-id="8">addons</g> only scrape content hosted by others, etc), &#8221; he explains.</p>



<p><a href="https://koditips.com">KodiTips</a> is certainly comprehensive, regularly publishing details on all the major add-ons while posting changelogs to keep visitors informed. On Thursday, however, the site lost access to its Facebook page following a copyright infringement complaint.</p>



<p>&#8220;We removed or disabled access to the following content you posted on Facebook because we received a notice from a third party that the content infringes their copyright(s),&#8221; a message from Facebook declared.</p>



<p>What is a little surprising about Facebook&#8217;s notice is that it does not detail any specific infringing content, listing only &#8220;Page: Kodi Tips &#8211; Android TV, Amazon Fire Help&#8221; and &#8220;Copyrighted Work: Other&#8221; as the allegedly infringing content.</p>



<p>Predicatably, the platform doesn&#8217;t seem keen to get involved in the argument either.</p>



<p>&#8220;Facebook isn&#8217;t in a position to adjudicate disputes between third parties. If you believe this content shouldn&#8217;t have been removed from Facebook, you can contact the complaining party directly to resolve your issue,&#8221; the notice reads.</p>



<p>The takedown notice, reviewed by TF, lists the &#8220;rights owner&#8221; as Sky while offering an email address often used by the company to deal with infringement disputes. We aren&#8217;t publishing it in full but the address has been in use for years, often in complaints filed against allegedly-infringing users of eBay.</p>



<p>This isn&#8217;t the first time that KodiTips has had its Facebook page taken down following an infringement complaint. Back in July 2018, the site lost its original page following a similar complaint, losing 80,000 subscribers in the process. Luckily, it still has more than <a href="https://twitter.com/koditips">70,000 followers on Twitter</a>.</p>



<p>The operator of KodiTips informs TF that he doesn&#8217;t intend to contest the takedown, branding it a waste of &#8220;time and energy&#8221;. He also confirms that Sky has never contacted him before, with the same being true for other anti-piracy groups such as the <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/inside-the-mpaa-netflix-amazon-global-anti-piracy-alliance-170918/">Alliance for Creativity and Entertainment</a>.</p>



<p>Given the controversial nature of some third-party Kodi add-ons, copyright complaints in connection with them certainly don&#8217;t come as a surprise. However, to the best of KodiTips&#8217; operator&#8217;s knowledge, he has never infringed Sky&#8217;s copyrights via his tutorials and know-how.</p>



<p><g class="gr_ gr_81 gr-alert gr_gramm gr_inline_cards gr_run_anim Style replaceWithoutSep" id="81" data-gr-id="81">Thanks</g> to the super-vague notice from Facebook, he remains in the dark.</p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/">TF</a>, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/top-10-most-popular-torrent-sites-of-2018-180107/">torrent sites</a> and more. We also have <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-services-keep-anonymous-2018/">VPN reviews, </a><a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-discount-coupon-offer-torguard-nordvpn-expressvpn-pia/">discounts, offers and coupons</a>.</p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=166857
title: CBS Targets ‘Copyright Infringing’ Kodi Addons
uri: CBS-Targets-Copyright-Infringing-Kodi-Addons
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/6uAtIu_wCVY/
content:
<p><img class="alignright size-full wp-image-145066" src="media/b1019d68.tvaddonsnew.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/tvaddonsnew.png" alt="" width="277" height="119">The major entertainment industry companies are waging a war against illicit streaming devices, with Kodi add-ons at the center of attention.</p>
<p>The <a href="https://kodi.tv/">Kodi software</a> itself is perfectly legal, but many&nbsp;third-party add-ons&nbsp;complement it to offer access to pirated movies, TV-shows, and live-streaming.</p>
<p>The addons in question can be found of a variety of sites and repositories. Some are blatantly offering pirated content, but it&#8217;s not always clear what&#8217;s permitted and what&#8217;s not.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.tvaddons.co/">TVAddons</a>, a popular repository of third-party Kodi addons, used to offer many problematic add-ons. This lead to lawsuits in both the US and Canada, after which the company cleaned up its site and tightened&nbsp;its policies.</p>
<p>However, that doesn&#8217;t mean that rightsholders are happy with all content on the site. This week <a href="https://www.cbs.com/">CBS</a> sent a takedown notice to TVAddons through Incorporate Now, requesting the site to remove three allegedly infringing addons.</p>
<p>The addons in&nbsp;question, developed by&nbsp;<a href="https://www.tvaddons.co/kodi-addons/author/mhancoc7/">mhancoc7</a>, offered access to live streams of CBS programming such as CBS News, CBS Sports, and Entertainment Tonight, without permission.</p>
<p><center><strong>One of the CBS Addons</strong></center><center><img class="alignnone size-full wp-image-166861" src="media/2cc1f28b.cbslive.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/cbslive.jpg" alt="" width="600" height="363"></center>TVAddons never saw these Kodi&nbsp;addons as copyright infringements. However, CBS clearly disagrees.</p>
<p>&#8220;We have a good faith belief that this material is not authorized by CBS, its agents or the law. Such copying and use of this material constitutes clear&nbsp;infringement of the CBS’s copyrights under the Copyright Act and its counterpart laws around the world,&#8221; the takedown notice reads.</p>
<p>In addition, CBS also requested to count the infringements&nbsp;as strikes under TVAddons&#8217; repeat infringer policy, and disable the developer&#8217;s account if appropriate.</p>
<p><center><strong>CBS&#8217;s takedown notice</strong></center><center><img class="alignnone size-full wp-image-166866" src="media/4d89bad4.cbsnotice.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/cbsnotice.jpg" alt="" width="600" height="514"></center></p>
<p>While TVAddons says that it doesn&#8217;t see the addons in question as infringing, it doesn&#8217;t want to pick a fight with CBS, so it complied with the removal request within an hour. Striking the developer goes a step too far though, TVAddons informed CBS.</p>
<p>&#8220;However, do not feel that this merits any strikes on our repeat-infringer policy, as it was not copyright infringement. The script was simply scraping content from your own public web site,&#8221; a TVAddons representative replied.</p>
<p><center><strong>TVAddons reply</strong></center><center><img class="alignnone size-full wp-image-166865" src="media/747ac3a9.tvareply.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/tvareply.png" alt="" width="600" height="245"></center>TorrentFreak spoke to a TVAddons representative who notes that the add-ons accessed content that was made freely available by CBS through its official website. Therefore they don&#8217;t see it as infringing.</p>
<p>&#8220;The only difference is that the user wouldn’t be exposed to 50 nonconsensual privacy violating trackers while using Kodi,&#8221; the TVAddons representative says.</p>
<p>Whether these kinds of addons are copyright infringing is up to a court to decide. We expect that CBS wants to control where their content appears. Ideally, that&#8217;s through their official website, where they can monetize it.</p>
<p>TVAddons has enough <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/tvaddons-decimated-without-trial-heres-a-view-of-the-damage-170820/">legal worries</a> already, so it chose to comply despite its objections. The developer also removed the addons from GitHub.</p>
<p>&#8220;We can’t afford to fight more lawsuits right now, so we had no choice but to comply even though we don’t necessarily agree with their assessment that it’s copyright infringement. It’s at most a trademark violation for using the CBS name in the add-on title,&#8221;&nbsp;TVAddons&#8217; representative notes.</p>
<p>This is the second takedown notice which resulted in add-ons being removed after the site relaunched two years ago. The first complaint came from Plex, which requested the removal of&nbsp;&nbsp;MK Plex, an unofficial Plex interface.</p>
<p>TVAddons further banned more than a dozen addons and developers <a href="https://www.tvaddons.co/kodi-addons-transparency/">pre-emptively</a>.</p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/">TF</a>, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/top-10-most-popular-torrent-sites-of-2018-180107/">torrent sites</a> and more. We also have <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-services-keep-anonymous-2018/">VPN reviews, </a><a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-discount-coupon-offer-torguard-nordvpn-expressvpn-pia/">discounts, offers and coupons</a>.</p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=166729
title: ISPs Call For Piracy Notice Standard to Deal With Millions of Warnings
uri: ISPs-Call-For-Piracy-Notice-Standard-to-Deal-With-Millions-of-Warnings
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/6uXDASU22Ig/
content:
<p><img class="alignright size-full wp-image-135510" src="media/a585da8e.piratemusiccasset.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/piratemusiccasset.png" alt="" width="234" height="152"></p>
<p>The Business Coalition for Balanced Copyright (BCBC) is a <a href="https://lobbycanada.gc.ca/app/secure/ocl/lrs/do/clntSmmry?clientOrgCorpNumber=17047&amp;sMdKy=1405478231052&amp;lang=eng">lobbying&nbsp;group</a> which includes Canada&#8217;s largest ISPs <span class="fontstyle0">Bell, Rogers, and Shaw, as well as Google.</span></p>
<p>The coalition doesn&#8217;t have a web presence but, behind the scenes, it&#8217;s making sure that the interests of its members are shared when major legislative changes are on the agenda.</p>
<p>This is currently the case. Canada is working on a<span class="fontstyle0"> Statutory Review of the&nbsp;</span><span class="fontstyle2">Copyright Act, and together with more than a hundred other stakeholders,&nbsp;<span class="fontstyle0">BCBC submitted several recommendations.</span></span></p>
<p>One of the items high on the agenda are the copyright notices which rightsholders send to ISPs. Millions of these are processed by ISPs every month, and they are obliged to forward them to their customers.</p>
<p>This notice-and-notice system caused quite a controversy, as some companies abused the system to send threatening settlement demands. This practice <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/canada-prohibits-piracy-settlement-demands-in-isp-copyright-notices-181218/">was outlawed</a> with the recent passing of C-86 but BCBC believes that additional changes are required.</p>
<p>Under BCBC&#8217;s umbrella,&nbsp;the ISPs state that they are happy with the update, but they note that there&#8217;s no deterrent to stop rightsholders from sending settlement requests. Instead, the burden of excluding settlement demands rests with them, they argue.</p>
<p><span class="fontstyle0">&#8220;Bill C-86 makes it clear that ISPs will not be required to forward settlement demands to subscribers. However, the amendments contain no useful deterrent to dissuade rights holders or claimants from including settlement demands in their copyright notices.</span></p>
<p><span class="fontstyle0">&#8220;The onus for excluding settlement demands from copyright notices must rest solely with rights owners,&#8221; BCBC&#8217;s submission adds.</span></p>
<p>The group doesn&#8217;t give any concrete pointers on how to address the situation, but a fine or other punishment for those who continue to send settlement requests seems most logical.</p>
<p>The ISPs also highlight another problem. They are currently receiving millions of piracy notices per month, in many different formats. To process these requests more easily, they call for a notice standard so they can be processed automatically.</p>
<p><span class="fontstyle0">&#8220;ISPs are currently receiving millions of notices per month and<br>
there is no way for these notices to be manually processed. Large ISPs have to adopt automated systems to process and forward the volume of notices they are receiving,&#8221; the submission reads.</span></p>
<p>The idea for a standardized notice template is not new. ISPs and members of the movie industry previously agreed on a standard computer readable format, ACNS, <a href="http://acns.net/index.html">which is publicly available</a>.</p>
<p>BCBC hopes that the Canadian Government will embrace this standard, not only to lower the costs for ISPs, but also to shield Internet users from receiving non-compliant piracy warnings.</p>
<p><span class="fontstyle0">&#8220;The Government should use its existing authority to enact regulations requiring that notices be submitted electronically in a form that is based on the ACNS 2.0. Mandating the use of these standards will eliminate the risk of ISPs forwarding non-compliant notices,&#8221; BCBC recommends.&nbsp;</span></p>
<p>Aside from piracy notices, BCBC also touches on pirate site blocking. It is no surprise that the major ISPs are not against such measures, as last year&#8217;s <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/bell-and-rogers-ask-government-to-simplify-site-blocking-and-criminalize-streaming-181018/">site-blocking push</a> revealed.</p>
<p>In their current recommendation, they don&#8217;t call for site blocking without a court order. However, they do stress that, if a court issues a blocking order, the CRTC should not be able to stop it from being implemented.</p>
<p><span class="fontstyle0">&#8220;The BCBC finds it unacceptable that an ISP could be ordered by a Court to block access to an infringing internet service and prohibited by the CRTC from complying with that Court Order.</span></p>
<p><span class="fontstyle0">&#8220;A telecommunications services provider should never have to choose between complying with a lawful Court Order and complying with the</span><span class="fontstyle2">Telecommunications Act</span><span class="fontstyle0">. This conflict must be resolved in favor of the Court Order,&#8221; the group adds.</span></p>
<hr>
<p><em>A copy of the&nbsp;Business Coalition for Balanced Copyright&#8217;s&nbsp; <span class="fontstyle0">Submission to the Standing Committee on Industry, Science and Technology regarding the Statutory Review of the&nbsp;</span><span class="fontstyle2">Copyright Act</span>&nbsp;is <a href="media/b29f9ddc.BusinessCoalitionForBalancedCopyright-e.pdf" data-original-source="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/images/BusinessCoalitionForBalancedCopyright-e.pdf">available here (pdf)</a>.</em></p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/">TF</a>, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/top-10-most-popular-torrent-sites-of-2018-180107/">torrent sites</a> and more. We also have <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-services-keep-anonymous-2018/">VPN reviews, </a><a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-discount-coupon-offer-torguard-nordvpn-expressvpn-pia/">discounts, offers and coupons</a>.</p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=166738
title: Controversial Streaming Site Kinox Offered For Sale on eBay
uri: Controversial-Streaming-Site-Kinox-Offered-For-Sale-on-eBay
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/4WnbBw5PULw/
content:
<div class="wp-block-image"><figure class="alignright"><img src="media/e701f613.kinox.png" data-original-source="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/images/kinox.png" alt="" class="wp-image-115141"/></figure></div>



<p>Pirate sites come in all shapes and sizes but streaming site KinoX is perhaps one of the most controversial.</p>



<p>Born as a replacement to Kino.to, a site that was targeted as part of a <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/kino-to-raided-in-massive-police-operation-admins-arrested-110608/">massive EU-wide raid</a> in 2011, KinoX quickly grew to become a streaming giant in its own right. As recently as July 2018, the site was pulling in around 13 million visits per month, according to SimilarWeb stats.</p>



<p>Since then, traffic has tanked, to the point in December where the site&#8217;s main domain had less than three million visits per month, up from &#8216;just&#8217; a million a month earlier. That being said, the site does have a huge <g class="gr_ gr_114 gr-alert gr_gramm gr_inline_cards gr_run_anim Grammar only-ins replaceWithoutSep" id="114" data-gr-id="114">number</g> of alternative domains, so it&#8217;s certainly possible much more traffic is being diverted through those.</p>



<p>This week, in a surprise turn of events, KinoX was put up for sale on eBay. The sale, spotted by <a href="https://tarnkappe.info/ebay-verkauf-von-kinox-to-nur-abzocke/">Tarnkappe</a> on the auction platform&#8217;s German-facing page, indicated that the seller was trying to offload the project due to time constraints.</p>



<p>&#8220;I am selling my project (Kinox.to) + website, server &amp; other domains. Since I have no time left for the project,&#8221; the auction listing read.</p>



<p>&#8220;The project will be sent by e-mail with all access data to the web space, login panel, server, domains etc.&#8221;</p>



<p>The attempted sale raises a number of important questions, not least whether the seller is actually the owner of KinoX and does indeed have access to the &#8216;goods&#8217; he claimed to be selling.</p>



<p>The listing indicated that potential buyers can complete the transaction &#8220;anonymously via Bitcoins&#8221; but interestingly the seller also said he would accept PayPal.</p>



<p>While the crypto option might sound attractive, buyers wouldn&#8217;t get the same protections offered by PayPal. Whether the US-based payment processor would be keen to mediate a dispute over an incorrectly described/supplied &#8216;pirate&#8217; site is seriously open to debate, however.</p>



<div class="wp-block-image"><figure class="aligncenter is-resized"><img src="media/0dc70234.kinox-to-ebay.png" data-original-source="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/images/kinox-to-ebay.png" alt="Image from KinoX.to eBay auction" class="wp-image-166747" width="600"/><figcaption>Image from KinoX.to Auction on eBay</figcaption></figure></div>



<p>While the listing now appears to have been removed from eBay, possibly following an industry complaint, it wouldn&#8217;t be a stretch to state that KinoX has one of the most controversial histories of any &#8216;pirate&#8217; site.</p>



<p>In October 2014, police in Germany announced they had <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/manhunt-underway-for-possibly-armed-kinox-bitshare-and-freakshare-operators-141031/">launched a manhunt</a> for two brothers said to be responsible for founding the site, accusing them of being potentially armed and dangerous. </p>



<p>In 2015, a former operator of the platform was <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/kinox-to-operator-sentenced-to-40-months-in-prison-151217/">sentenced</a> to 40 months in prison but more recently, the site &#8211; which is still functioning &#8211; has been targeted in other ways.</p>



<p>Following a complaint from a German movie distribution company, in 2018 Internet provider Vodafone <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/pirate-site-blockades-enter-germany-with-kinox-to-as-first-target-180213/">was ordered</a> to block its subscribers from accessing Kinox.to. This was the first pirate site blocking order of its kind in Germany and will have affected direct traffic to the streaming portal.</p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/">TF</a>, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/top-10-most-popular-torrent-sites-of-2018-180107/">torrent sites</a> and more. We also have <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-services-keep-anonymous-2018/">VPN reviews, </a><a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-discount-coupon-offer-torguard-nordvpn-expressvpn-pia/">discounts, offers and coupons</a>.</p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=166825
title: Major ISP Backs Plan to Strip ISP of Licenses For Piracy Failures
uri: Major-ISP-Backs-Plan-to-Strip-ISP-of-Licenses-For-Piracy-Failures
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/RqMdXj90xg8/
content:
<div class="wp-block-image"><figure class="alignright"><img src="media/5ceed422.stop-blocked.jpg" data-original-source="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/images/stop-blocked.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-72076"/></figure></div>



<p>Late 2018, authorities in the Philippines <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/philippines-could-revoke-licenses-of-isps-that-help-to-facilitate-piracy-181229/">announced</a> a new bill that, if passed, will attempt to tackle the ongoing piracy problem in the region.</p>



<p>In common with many other countries around the world,  the Philippines is considering the introduction of site-blocking measures which would compel local Internet service providers to prevent access to named &#8216;pirate&#8217; sites.</p>



<p>In most jurisdictions, where site-blocking is already underway, ISPs are compelled by court order/injunction to block sites following a legal process. However, the Philippines has a more aggressive mechanism in mind.</p>



<p>The bill,  introduced by&nbsp;<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tito_Sotto">Senator Vicente “Tito” Castelo Sotto III</a> , would &#8220;empower&#8221; the country’s Intellectual Property Office (IPO) to force local ISPs to take “reasonable steps to disable access to sites whenever these sites are reported to be infringing copyright or facilitating copyright infringement.”</p>



<p>However, should they not comply, they could be put out of business.</p>



<p>&#8220;If the recommendation of the IPO to cancel the license of the ISP is proper and meritorious, the Commission shall facilitate the prompt cancellation of the license of the ISP,” the bill reads. </p>



<p>While this kind of threat wouldn&#8217;t normally be welcomed by providers, Globe Telecom, one of the Philippines&#8217;  largest operators of mobile, fixed line, and broadband Internet, is giving the bill its full backing.</p>



<p>&#8220;The economic and social impact of online piracy is profound,&#8221; Globe President and CEO Ernest Cu said in a statement.</p>



<p>&#8220;Revenue loss <g class="gr_ gr_3 gr-alert gr_gramm gr_inline_cards gr_run_anim Grammar multiReplace" id="3" data-gr-id="3">are</g> in millions and thousands of jobs are affected due to a myriad of illegal streaming websites and illicit streaming devices or ISDs [llicit Streaming Devices].</p>



<p>&#8220;More importantly, these illegal sites and devices put customers at risk not only because of its content but specifically, malware. Globe will continue to support efforts that will help stop online piracy,” he added.</p>



<p>While ISPs coming out against piracy is a growing trend (take Canada, <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/new-anti-piracy-coalition-calls-for-canadian-website-blocking-180130/">for example</a>), baking harsh punishments against them into law is new. However, since Cu recently joined the Board of Directors of the Asia Video Industry Association (AVIA), which is a hub for anti-piracy enforcement, the move shouldn&#8217;t come as too much of a surprise.</p>



<p>Neil Gane, General Manager of AVIA’s Coalition Against Piracy, is also a supporter of the proposed legislation, which centers on the blocking of pirate sites through an administrative process and tackling the growing problem of piracy-configured set-top devices.</p>



<p>&#8220;There is no silver bullet to deterring online piracy,&#8221; Gane said in a statement.</p>



<p>&#8220;What is required is a holistic solution to include consumer outreach, cooperation with technology platforms and other intermediaries, enforcement, and critically, capability to disable access to egregious piracy websites through effective site blocking.</p>



<p>&#8220;AVIA’s Coalition Against Piracy welcomes the Philippine Online Infringement Bill, which, if passed, will provide an important building block for the Philippine content industry to tackle online piracy,&#8221; he added.</p>



<p>Back in 2013, the Philippines found itself at the center of a high-profile copyright dispute when it <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/kickasstorrents-domain-seized-after-music-industry-complaint-130614/">ordered the seizure</a> of a .ph registered domain belonging to the now-defunct torrent giant KickassTorrents.</p>



<p>In response, however, the site simply changed to another domain, a tactic that is clearly still remembered <g class="gr_ gr_44 gr-alert gr_spell gr_inline_cards gr_run_anim ContextualSpelling ins-del multiReplace" id="44" data-gr-id="44">by</g> the architects of this new site-blocking bill.</p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/">TF</a>, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/top-10-most-popular-torrent-sites-of-2018-180107/">torrent sites</a> and more. We also have <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-services-keep-anonymous-2018/">VPN reviews, </a><a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-discount-coupon-offer-torguard-nordvpn-expressvpn-pia/">discounts, offers and coupons</a>.</p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=166902
title: Paul Schrader Used Torrents to Share His Own “Dying Of The Light” Cut
uri: Paul-Schrader-Used-Torrents-to-Share-His-Own-Dying-Of-The-Light
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/v-NgzYtMz_4/
content:
<p><img class="alignright size-full wp-image-166907" src="media/8b3c6a0a.schader.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/schader.jpg" alt="" width="250" height="206"><a href="https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0001707/">Paul Schrader</a> is a big name in Hollywood, known for  classics such as &#8220;Taxi Driver,&#8221; &#8220;Raging Bull,&#8221; and &#8220;American Gigolo.&#8221;</p>
<p>The writer-director&#8217;s more recent movies haven&#8217;t been all a success and Schrader suffered setbacks on other fronts as well.</p>
<p>In 2014  he lost control over the movie “Dying Of The Light.&#8221; The film was taken over by others after the first cut and was re-edited and released without his input.</p>
<p>This caused quite a stir at the time. When Lionsgate subsidiary Grindstone <a href="https://www.indiewire.com/2014/10/paul-schrader-nicolas-winding-refn-nicolas-cage-campaign-against-their-film-dying-of-the-light-271206/">released the poster and trailer</a> the director and others were not happy. However, because of a “non-disparagement” clause, they had to stay silent.</p>
<p>&#8220;Here we are, Nick Cage, Anton Yelchin, Nic Refn and myself, wearing our &#8216;non-disparagement&#8217; T shirts,&#8221; Schrader wrote at the time.</p>
<p>Although it was not an option to burn the film to the ground, verbally, the director didn&#8217;t let the project go completely. Instead, he decided to go rogue and create his own cut, on his own terms.</p>
<p>With help from  Benjamin Rodriguez Jr., who also edited the movie “Dog Eat Dog,” he pulled original footage from workprint DVDs. Eventually, this resulted in a brand new cut titled &#8220;Dark.&#8221;</p>
<p><center><img class="alignnone wp-image-166906 size-full" src="media/0317ed5a.dark.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/dark.png" alt="" width="600" height="359"></center></p>
<p>Early last year the director gave a &#8216;making off&#8217; masterclass at the Rotterdam Film Festival, which is available on <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lcM8UU07cuY&amp;t=2199s">YouTube</a>, and a detailed writeup on Indiewire shows how much of a challenge the project was.</p>
<p>The latter article also has an interesting comment section where someone suggested putting a copy of &#8220;Dark&#8221; on torrent sites.</p>
<p>&#8220;If it can’t be released in a commercial way, why don’t they use a torrent site to distribute &#8216;Dark&#8217; worldwide? You’ll reach a much bigger audience &amp; it would be a perfect fit for this subversive enterprise,&#8221; Carter wrote.</p>
<p>Whether Schrader saw this comment or not, he did indeed release a &#8216;torrent&#8217; of the movie. This was revealed in an interview<a href="https://www.vulture.com/2019/01/paul-schrader-in-conversation.html"> with Vulture</a> this week.</p>
<p>“I made ‘Dog Eat Dog’ to redeem myself from the humiliation of ‘Dying of the Light,’ which was taken away from me. Nic [Cage] and I disowned it, I subsequently did my own edit, put it on torrent,&#8230;&#8221; he said.</p>
<p>The article itself doesn&#8217;t go into more detail, but we were rather intrigued and started digging. This search eventually led us to a torrent that was uploaded <a href="https://thepiratebay.asia/torrent/22899440/2018-Paul.Schrader.Dark-Dir.Cut.Dying.of.the.Light">to The Pirate Bay</a> a few months ago.</p>
<p>The torrent in question is titled <em>2018-Paul.Schrader.Dark-Dir.Cut.Dying.of.the.Light</em> and comes with a personal message from the director. Most of the message is taken from Schader&#8217;s website with the following addition:</p>
<p>&#8220;Dark was not created for exhibition or personal gain. It is for historical record.- Paul Schrader&#8221;</p>
<p><center><img class="alignnone size-full wp-image-166905" src="media/228a8c4e.darktpb.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/darktpb.png" alt="" width="600" height="378"></center></p>
<p>TorrentFreak reached out to Schrader to confirm that this is indeed the copy he uploaded, but we haven&#8217;t heard back yet. This is, however, the earliest upload of &#8220;Dark&#8221; we could find.</p>
<p>What we also know is that the user in question tried to upload the torrent to The Pirate Bay several times, up to the point where the account was banned. A month later, another version was uploaded to the site which is still well-seeded.</p>
<p>Schrader doesn&#8217;t go into detail why he chose to share the film on The Pirate Bay, but we assume that it&#8217;s a defiant move to make it available worldwide, as was suggested.</p>
<p>Since he doesn&#8217;t own the exclusive rights to the footage, this may lead to potential copyright troubles, but we doubt that the rightsholders want to rattle this case.</p>
<p>For those who prefer to see the movie without venturing into the tricky waters of The Pirate Bay, Schrader also has some<a href="http://paulschrader.org/movies_dark.html"> offline options</a>.</p>
<p>&#8220;A digital file of the film can be seen by prior request at the UCLA Film Archives in Los Angeles, the Harry Ransom Center at the University of Texas, Austin and the Museum of Modern Art film department in New York City,&#8221; he writes.</p>
<p>The Pirate Bay team, meanwhile, informs TorrentFreak that Schrader can have his account reinstated if he wishes.</p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/">TF</a>, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/top-10-most-popular-torrent-sites-of-2018-180107/">torrent sites</a> and more. We also have <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-services-keep-anonymous-2018/">VPN reviews, </a><a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-discount-coupon-offer-torguard-nordvpn-expressvpn-pia/">discounts, offers and coupons</a>.</p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=166939
title: Steal This Show S04E10: ‘Rebuilding Our Cultural OS?’
uri: Steal-This-Show-S04E10-Rebuilding-Our-Cultural-OS
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/n92o_ajKsUY/
content:
<p><img class="alignright size-full wp-image-113928" src="media/d01749d9.stslogo180.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/stslogo180.png" alt="" width="180" height="180"><a href="https://www.loomio.org/">Loomio</a> has already come up a few times on this show. It’s an open-source civic platform designed to help people make decisions collaboratively, and it’s been used by everyone from Pirate Parties to City Councils.</p>
<p>In this episode I met up with with Loomio’s Rich Bartlett to discuss the relationship of software to social change — how platforms like Facebook and Slack embed coded ideas about how people should relate to and interact with each other, and how Loomio is trying to design for new modes of interaction and consensus springing up in and around the social movements.</p>
<p>We discuss how a truly decentralised, horizontally organized society might look and talk through Loomio’s attempts to build the software to power it. Finally, we talk about how to upgrade what Rich calls our ‘cultural operating system’. Where does change really start: with our social organization, with our software or with ourselves?</p>
<p>&#8212;</p>
<p><a href="https://stealthisshow.com">Steal This Show</a> aims to release bi-weekly episodes featuring insiders discussing crypto, privacy, copyright and file-sharing developments. It complements our regular reporting by adding more room for opinion, commentary, and analysis.</p>
<p><strong>Host:</strong> Jamie King</p>
<p><strong>Guest:</strong> <a href="https://twitter.com/richdecibels?lang=en">Rich Bartlett</a></p>
<p><center><iframe src="//stealthisshow.com/?lpe-frame=1&amp;lpe-season=4&amp;lpe-episode=10" width="100%" height="180px" frameborder="0"></iframe></center></p>
<p><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 fantastic benefits!</em></sup></strong></p>
<p><strong>Produced </strong> <em>by </em>Jamie King<br>
<strong>Edited &amp; Mixed</strong> <em>by</em> Lucas Marston<br>
<strong>Original Music</strong> <em>by</em> David Triana<br>
<strong>Web Production</strong> <em>by</em> Eric Barch</p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/">TF</a>, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/top-10-most-popular-torrent-sites-of-2018-180107/">torrent sites</a> and more. We also have <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-services-keep-anonymous-2018/">VPN reviews, </a><a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-discount-coupon-offer-torguard-nordvpn-expressvpn-pia/">discounts, offers and coupons</a>.</p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=166694
title: South Korea Promises New Crackdown on Pirate Sites
uri: South-Korea-Promises-New-Crackdown-on-Pirate-Sites
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/wBpE9beJkAk/
content:
<div class="wp-block-image"><figure class="alignright"><img src="media/3bdfeafa.piratemusiccasset.png" data-original-source="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/images/piratemusiccasset.png" alt="" class="wp-image-135510"/></figure></div>



<p>South Korea has long been associated with some of the fastest average Internet connection speeds available anywhere in the world. The country topped the list in 2017 and is still a key player today.</p>



<p>While fast Internet speeds are great for average users, Internet pirates are always particularly grateful for speedy transfers and those in South Korea are no different. As a result, authorities in the country have been under pressure to do something about piracy rates.</p>



<p>In an announcement this week, the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism revealed that specialist Intellectual Property Rights police shut down 25 pirate sites in 2018, adding that the operators of 13 had been arrested. Some will face criminal proceedings alongside claims for civil damages, reports suggest.</p>



<p>One of the largest targets appears to have been Marumaru,  a local site that specialized in Japanese manga content. After being founded in 2013, Marumaru grew at an impressive rate, allegedly earning around a million dollars in advertising revenue while offering an estimated 42,000 copyrighted manga works.</p>



<p>Last November, however, the show came to an end after the platform was <a href="https://japanese.joins.com/article/336/247336.html">shut down</a>. A month later, two alleged operators of the site were charged with copyright infringement offenses.</p>



<p>South Korea&#8217;s commitment to tackling piracy appears to be hardening. This week the <a href="http://m.kocsc.or.kr/eng/mainPage.do">Korea Communications Standards Commission</a> said it had launched a special unit (Copyright Infringement Response Team) to tackle pirate sites in order to protect local industries.</p>



<p>In common with similar initiatives in other regions, the aim is to target platforms based overseas that are claimed to be out of local authorities&#8217; reach. It&#8217;s no surprise that web-blocking is considered part of the solution.</p>



<p>The KCSC said that it blocked around 50 websites to 2014 but last year that total had risen to 2,338. A 2018 report from the MPA <em>(<a href="media/bb38697f.MPAA_Impact_of_Site_Blocking_in_South_Korea_2016.pdf" data-original-source="https://www.mpa-i.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/01/MPAA_Impact_of_Site_Blocking_in_South_Korea_2016.pdf">pdf</a>)</em>, that studied South Korea&#8217;s blocking regime, declared that the practice meant that &#8220;total visits to piracy sites declined following each wave of site blocking.&#8221;</p>



<p>It now appears that even more stringent steps will be taken to prevent direct visits to pirate sites. The &#8216;Response Team&#8217; has been tasked with monitoring pirate sites &#8220;round the clock&#8221; in order to provide a &#8220;rapid and strong response&#8221; to infringement and evasive action by site operators.</p>



<p>Sites that spring up to facilitate access to previously-blocked sites, such as mirrors and proxies, will be dealt with within four days, with complaints from rightsholders actioned within the same time-frame.</p>



<p>The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism <g class="gr_ gr_3 gr-alert gr_gramm gr_inline_cards gr_run_anim Grammar multiReplace" id="3" data-gr-id="3">is</g> promising to continue the crackdown for years to come and indicates it will work also with foreign authorities to tackle all types of pirate sites.</p>



<p> </p>



<p></p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/">TF</a>, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/top-10-most-popular-torrent-sites-of-2018-180107/">torrent sites</a> and more. We also have <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-services-keep-anonymous-2018/">VPN reviews, </a><a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-discount-coupon-offer-torguard-nordvpn-expressvpn-pia/">discounts, offers and coupons</a>.</p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=166778
title: ISP Wants Trial to Decide if it Failed to Terminate Repeat Infringers
uri: ISP-Wants-Trial-to-Decide-if-it-Failed-to-Terminate-Repeat-Infringers
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/Bl5dL7Hgt8Y/
content:
<p><img class="alignright size-full wp-image-166803" src="media/1be49ad9.grandehere.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/grandehere.png" alt="" width="277" height="108">The “repeat infringer” issue remains a hot topic in US Courts, leading to much uncertainty among various Internet services.</p>
<p>Under the DMCA, companies are required to implement a reasonable policy to deal with frequent offenders. This requirement applies to hosting services as well as commercial Internet providers.</p>
<p>Previously, Internet provider Cox <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/cox-is-liable-for-pirating-subscribers-ordered-to-pay-25-million-151217/">lost a legal battle</a> over this very issue, and major record labels are currently <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/riaa-sues-isp-grande-communications-for-failing-to-disconnect-pirates-170422/">going after the Texan ISP Grande</a>.&nbsp;</p>
<p>In order to enjoy safe harbor protection, the DMCA requires ISPs to adopt and reasonably implement a policy for terminating the accounts of repeat copyright infringers<span class="fontstyle0">.</span> According to the labels, it is clear that Grande failed to do so. As such, the company should be held directly liable.</p>
<p>Last month, US Magistrate Judge Andrew Austin sided with the labels. In his <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/judge-recommends-dropping-isp-grandes-dmca-safe-harbor-defense-181219/">report and recommendation</a>, he concluded that Grande had a policy that allowed it to terminate repeat infringers. However, the ISP failed to act on this for years. As such, the policy was not &#8216;adopted&#8217; and &#8216;reasonably implemented&#8217;.</p>
<p>If the court adopts this recommendation, the ISP won&#8217;t have a have harbor defense at trial, which would be an enormous setback. However, in an objection filed this week, Grande hopes to convince the court to have the matter decided during trial.&nbsp;</p>
<p>According to the ISP,&nbsp; t<span class="fontstyle0">here is more than enough evidence that would lead a jury to conclude that Grande qualifies for a safe harbor defense. While Grande doesn&#8217;t deny that it initially didn&#8217;t disconnect any repeat infringers based on Rightscorp&#8217;s notices, it doesn&#8217;t believe this was wrong. </span></p>
<p><span class="fontstyle0">First of all, Grande points out that the DMCA&#8217;s text is rather vague on what a repeat infringer is and when disconnections are appropriate. This issue has also been <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/appeals-court-grills-cox-and-bmg-in-piracy-liability-case-171027/">brought up</a> in the past in other cases, including Cox&#8217;s lawsuit.</span></p>
<p></p>
<p></p>
<p></p><center><img class="alignnone size-full wp-image-166821" src="media/c1a4d34b.grandeden.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/grandeden.png" alt="" width="600" height="319"></center><p></p>
<p></p>
<p></p>
<p>In addition, the ISP has serious concerns about the reliability of Rightscorp&#8217;s piracy notices, which also contain settlement demands.</p>
<p>Grande notes that there are&nbsp;<span class="fontstyle0">critical flaws in the Rightscorp system. These create factual disputes as to whether Grande should have terminated the Internet access of&nbsp;</span><span class="fontstyle2">any&nbsp;</span><span class="fontstyle0">subscriber, which it would like to present during trial.</span></p>
<p><span class="fontstyle0">&#8220;For instance, Rightscorp’s notices do not identify the name of a copyrighted work or a U.S. copyright registration, and they contain no explanation or evidence of the factual&nbsp;basis of the allegation,&#8221; Grande writes.</span></p>
<p><span class="fontstyle0">&#8220;Rightscorp also does not attempt to download any portion of an allegedly infringing file before sending a notice of copyright infringement, and does not obtain true copies of copyrighted songs to compare against allegedly infringing copies.&#8221;</span></p>
<p>&nbsp;The ISP believes that during trial, a jury could come to the decision that Grande didn&#8217;t have to act on Rightscorp&#8217;s notices to keep its safe harbor.&nbsp;</p>
<p><span class="fontstyle0">&#8220;Given this evidence, a fair-minded jury could conclude that Grande reasonably implemented its termination policies by choosing&nbsp;</span><span class="fontstyle2">not </span><span class="fontstyle0">to terminate subscribers in response to</span> <span class="fontstyle0">Rightscorp’s facially-deficient and otherwise unreliable notices.&#8221;<br></span></p>
<p>The argument boils down to what ISPs are required to do when they receive notices of alleged infringement. Are third-party accusations good enough to classify someone as a repeat infringer?</p>
<p>Judge Austin concluded in his report and recommendations that Rightscorp&#8217;s notices should be acted on, adding that Grande initially didn&#8217;t terminate any subscribers based on other notices either.&nbsp;</p>
<p>However, in the past, many ISPs had a similar policy to Grande&#8217;s, with some even arguing that only a court can declare someone an infringer, not a simply piracy notice.&nbsp;</p>
<p>While Cox failed to convince the court with similar arguments in the past, Grande stresses that its case is different. It, therefore, calls on the court to reject&nbsp;Judge Austin&#8217;s recommendation and jet a jury decide what&#8217;s appropriate.&nbsp;</p>
<p><span class="fontstyle0">&#8220;In sum, it is axiomatic that determining whether Grande failed to implement a policy for</span> <span class="fontstyle0">terminating repeat infringers &#8216;in appropriate circumstances&#8217; requires considering the evidence of the actual circumstances.</span></p>
<p><span class="fontstyle0">&#8220;That evidence includes the extensive evidence that Rightscorp’s system is simply incapable of reliably identifying and giving notice of actual copyright infringement. At a minimum, this evidence gives rise to a genuine issue of material fact for trial,</span>&#8221; Grande concludes.</p>
<p>&nbsp;&#8212;</p>
<p><em>A copy of Grande&#8217;s objections to the report and recommendation regarding the DMCA Safe Harbor defense is available <a href="media/1ac1aeda.grandeobj2.pdf" data-original-source="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/images/grandeobj2.pdf">here (pdf)</a>.</em></p>
<p><em>In a separate<a href="media/15de9587.grandeobj1.pdf" data-original-source="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/images/grandeobj1.pdf"> filing (pdf)</a>, Grande objects to Judge Austin&#8217;s recommendation to deny summary judgment in the ISPs&#8217; favor on a variety of liability issues, including direct infringement, willfulness, damages, and ownership of copyright.&nbsp;&nbsp;These are all under recommendation to be denied, except for two limited issues regarding the alleged violation of reproduction or public performance rights. </em></p>
<p><em>The record labels, for their part, also object to the recommendation but ask the court to deny summary judgment for reproduction <a href="media/2ace820a.labelsobj.pdf" data-original-source="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/images/labelsobj.pdf">as well (pdf)</a>.</em></p>


<p></p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/">TF</a>, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/top-10-most-popular-torrent-sites-of-2018-180107/">torrent sites</a> and more. We also have <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-services-keep-anonymous-2018/">VPN reviews, </a><a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-discount-coupon-offer-torguard-nordvpn-expressvpn-pia/">discounts, offers and coupons</a>.</p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=166953
title: Top 10 Most Pirated Movies of The Week on BitTorrent – 01/14/19
uri: Top-10-Most-Pirated-Movies-of-The-Week-on-BitTorrent-01-14-19
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/BlKun9QZivo/
content:
<p><img class="alignright size-full wp-image-165706" src="media/2489c15d.first-man.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/first-man.jpg" alt="" width="300" height="205">This week we have two newcomers in our chart.</p>
<p>First Man is the most downloaded movie.</p>
<p>The data for our weekly download chart is estimated by TorrentFreak, and is for informational and educational reference only. All the movies in the list are Web-DL/Webrip/HDRip/BDrip/DVDrip unless stated otherwise.</p>
<p><a href="http://TorrentFreak.com/category/dvdrip/feed/"><strong>RSS feed</strong></a> for the articles of the recent weekly movie download charts.</p>
<h5>This week&#8217;s most downloaded movies are:</h5>
<table class="css hover">
<thead>
<tr>
<th width="12%"><strong>Movie Rank</strong></th>
<th width="15%"><strong>Rank <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/top-10-most-pirated-movies-of-the-week-on-bittorrent-01-07-19/">last week</a></strong></th>
<th><strong>Movie name</strong></th>
<th width="18%"><strong>IMDb Rating / Trailer</strong></th>
</tr>
</thead>
<tfoot>
<tr>
<td colspan="4">Most downloaded movies via torrents</td>
</tr>
</tfoot>
<tbody>
<tr>
<td><strong>1</strong></td>
<td>(&#8230;)</td>
<td><a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1213641/">First Man</a></td>
<td><a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1213641/">7.5</a> / <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PSoRx87OO6k&amp;t=43s">trailer</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><strong>2</strong></td>
<td>(6)</td>
<td><a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1477834/">Aquaman</a> (HDTC)</td>
<td><a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1477834/">7.7</a> / <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZmqJJqFX_CU">trailer</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><strong>3</strong></td>
<td>(7)</td>
<td><a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1270797/">Venom</a></td>
<td><a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1270797/">7.0</a> / <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xLCn88bfW1o&amp;t=3s">trailer</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><strong>4</strong></td>
<td>(1)</td>
<td><a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt4131496/">The Vanishing</a></td>
<td><a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt4131496/">6.0</a> / <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BMwG9-GfcJI">trailer</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><strong>5</strong></td>
<td>(4)</td>
<td><a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt6921996/">Johnny English Strikes Again</a></td>
<td><a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt6921996/">6.4</a> / <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Qv6p6pTz5I">trailer</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><strong>6</strong></td>
<td>(3)</td>
<td><a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt5848272/">Ralph Breaks The Internet</a> (Dvdscr)</td>
<td><a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt5848272/">5.5</a> / <a href="https://youtu.be/_BcYBFC6zfY">trailer</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><strong>7</strong></td>
<td>(2)</td>
<td><a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt5083738/">The Favourite</a> (DVDScr)</td>
<td><a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt5083738/">8.1</a> / <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SYb-wkehT1g">trailer</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><strong>8</strong></td>
<td>(10)</td>
<td><a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt4123430/">Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald</a></td>
<td><a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt4123430/">6.9</a> / <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8bYBOVWLNIs">trailer</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><strong>9</strong></td>
<td>(5)</td>
<td><a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt2737304/">Bird Box</a></td>
<td><a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt2737304/">7.7</a> / <a href="https://youtu.be/MPWMBITCudM">trailer</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><strong>10</strong></td>
<td>(&#8230;)</td>
<td><a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt3759298/">Ashes in the Snow</a></td>
<td><a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt3759298/">7.3</a> / <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sZNbA6L8hvc">trailer</a></td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/">TF</a>, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/top-10-most-popular-torrent-sites-of-2018-180107/">torrent sites</a> and more. We also have <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-services-keep-anonymous-2018/">VPN reviews, </a><a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-discount-coupon-offer-torguard-nordvpn-expressvpn-pia/">discounts, offers and coupons</a>.</p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=166950
title: Movie Company Tries But Fails to Expose Pirates Through a DMCA Subpoena
uri: Movie-Company-Tries-But-Fails-to-Expose-Pirates-Through-a-DMCA-Subpoen
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/QSLdHGwR-Is/
content:
<p><img class="alignright size-full wp-image-108977" src="media/17a592c8.trollsign.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/trollsign.jpg" alt="" width="250" height="167">In the early 2000s, the RIAA filed lawsuits against tens of thousands of alleged music pirates.</p>
<p>The music industry had just defeated Napster, but P2P file-sharing remained a massive problem.</p>
<p>Millions of people flocked to alternatives such as KaZaA, Morpheus, Grokster, and eDonkey. Since regular education campaigns failed to curb this trend, the lawsuits were supported to alert the public that piracy is not without consequences.</p>
<p>Filing full-blown lawsuits can be an expensive exercise so the RIAA attempted to take a shortcut by applying for so-called&nbsp;DMCA subpoenas.&nbsp;Unlike regular subpoenas, these are not reviewed by a judge and only require a signature from the court clerk.</p>
<p>Internet providers were not happy with this trend and objected. They argued that DMCA subpoenas are only valid when an Internet service stores or links to the infringing content (such as YouTube, Twitter and Facebook), not when they merely pass on traffic.</p>
<p>Various courts have agreed with ISPs since and effectively banned the practice <a href="http://itlaw.wikia.com/wiki/RIAA_v._Verizon">more than 15 years ago</a>. If copyright holders want to go after alleged pirates, they have to file a complaint and request a regular subpoena.</p>
<p>This is well established and copyright holders who have gone after alleged BitTorrent pirates in recent years did so through proper channels. However, late last month the rightsholders of the movie &#8220;<a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt3300542/">London Has Fallen</a>&#8221; gave&nbsp;it another shot.</p>
<p>In a request at a Utah federal court, it requested the clerk to sign off on a DMCA subpoena identifying 33 alleged BitTorrent pirates on a Comcast connection.</p>
<p>The company in question, LHF Productions, <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/copyright-troll-backs-down-when-faced-with-exposure-161109/">is not unaware</a> of how things are supposed to work. It has sued BitTorrent users through the regular &#8216;copyright troll&#8217; scheme dozens of times in the past.</p>
<p>This time, however, it opted for the cheaper and easier DMCA subpoena route.</p>
<p>&#8220;[T]he Clerk should expeditiously issue and sign the proposed subpoena and return it to the undersigned for delivery to the service provider,&#8221; LHF&#8217;s attorney&nbsp; Todd Zenger wrote in his request.</p>
<p>Perhaps the company hoped that the demand would slip through or that the court would have other reasons to approve it, but that was not the case. Last week, US District Court Judge&nbsp;David Nuffer denied the request.</p>
<p>The Judge clarified, once again, that Section 512(h) of the DMCA only allows for prelitigation subpoenas when the targeted Internet services actually host or link to the infringing content.</p>
<p>&#8220;This provision only applies to ISPs that directly store, cache, or provide links to infringing material. It does not apply to ISPs that merely function as a conduit for infringing material.</p>
<p>&#8220;LHF has not identified any material that Comcast should remove or disable, and there is no assertion that Comcast directly stores, caches, or provides links to infringing material,&#8221; the Judge writes.</p>
<p><center><strong>The order (<a href="media/5c084833.dmcadeny.pdf" data-original-source="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/images/dmcadeny.pdf">pdf</a>)</strong></p>
<p></center><center><img class="alignnone size-full wp-image-166964" src="media/8c489213.dmcaorder.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/dmcaorder.png" alt="" width="600" height="419"></center></p>
<p>The film company is not the first to attempt to revive DMCA subpoenas for file-sharing cases. Anti-piracy outfit Rightscorp attempted to take the same <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/rightscorp-finds-shortcut-expose-alleged-bittorrent-pirates-140405/">shortcu</a>t five years ago and <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/rightscorp-fails-in-bid-to-unmask-pirates-using-dmca-150511/">also failed</a>.</p>
<p>LHF tried&nbsp;but probably knew already that their attempt had little chance of success. Whether the company will now file a regular complaint against the alleged pirates is unknown.</p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/">TF</a>, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/top-10-most-popular-torrent-sites-of-2018-180107/">torrent sites</a> and more. We also have <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-services-keep-anonymous-2018/">VPN reviews, </a><a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-discount-coupon-offer-torguard-nordvpn-expressvpn-pia/">discounts, offers and coupons</a>.</p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=166987
title: Premier League Opens New Office to Fight Piracy
uri: Premier-League-Opens-New-Office-to-Fight-Piracy
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/-ybtYLcfK8E/
content:
<div class="wp-block-image"><figure class="alignright"><img src="media/43cda600.premierleague.jpg" data-original-source="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/images/premierleague.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-116272"/></figure></div>



<p>With English Premier League clubs reporting revenues of £4.5 billion for the period 2016/17, top-tier football is extremely lucrative.</p>



<p>The Premier League itself has a three-year TV deal which came into effect during the same period, with a record-breaking £5.1 billion paid to the League by broadcasters Sky and BT<g class="gr_ gr_9 gr-alert gr_gramm gr_inline_cards gr_run_anim Style replaceWithoutSep" id="9" data-gr-id="9">.</g></p>



<p><g class="gr_ gr_9 gr-alert gr_gramm gr_inline_cards gr_run_anim Style replaceWithoutSep" id="9" data-gr-id="9">A</g> new deal, effective 2019 to 2022, netted the Premier League £4.45 billion and the football organization is extremely keen to protect its revenues and that of its customers by tackling piracy head on.</p>



<p>Maintaining that momentum, today the Premier League announced the opening of a brand new office in Singapore, its first international office and one with the primary aim of dealing with unlicensed consumption.</p>



<p>Based in Tanjong Pagar,  which is located within the Central Business District in Singapore, the office will reportedly provide a base for the Asia-Pacific region. From here, the League will deploy its anti-piracy enforcement program across &#8220;multiple&#8221; markets.</p>



<p>In terms of anti-piracy activities, the Premier League is best known for its crackdown on streaming piracy, particularly when it comes to live events. </p>



<p>In the UK, the League has pioneered and developed &#8220;<a href="https://torrentfreak.com/premier-league-obtains-piracy-blocking-order-for-2018-19-season-180719/">live stream</a>&#8221; injunctions which allow it to request that ISPs block illicit streams of matches to disrupt piracy as soon as it takes place.</p>



<p>The practice mainly tends to cause disruption on Saturday afternoons and although some illicit IPTV providers have deployed some successful countermeasures, there are always plenty of complaints on Saturday about illegal streams going down.</p>



<p>Until now, these blocking measures have been restricted to the UK but with this expansion and a brand new office focused on piracy, it seems likely that the scheme could be launched in other countries too.</p>



<p>&#8220;The Asia-Pacific region is strategically important for the Premier League and its clubs,&#8221; says Premier League Director of Broadcasting Paul Molnar.</p>



<p>&#8220;Singapore provides an excellent location for our first international office and we look forward to using this base to support our many broadcast partners across the region.</p>



<p>&#8220;Equally, it is critical that we now deploy local resource and expertise to combat the increasing threat of piracy which undermines all stakeholders in the creative industry.&#8221;</p>



<p>While the new Singapore office is the Premier League&#8217;s first anti-piracy focused overseas base, the company is no stranger to enforcement in the region.</p>



<p>Last year the Singapore High Court <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/singapore-high-court-blocks-access-to-pirate-set-top-box-apps-181123/">granted an injunction</a> following complaints from The Premier League, Singnet PTE Ltd, Fox Networks Group Singapore PTE Ltd, NGC Network Asia LLC, and Fox International Channels (US) Inc.</p>



<p>Neil Gane, General Manager of AVIA’s Coalition Against Piracy (CAP), of which The Premier League is a member, told  TorrentFreak that the motion was heard on November 2, 2018, with the court subsequently handing down an order against &#8220;eight authentication domains.&#8221;</p>



<p>&#8220;Singapore has been considered a bastion of Intellectual Property rights across the region, and the court’s decision to block access to popular illegal applications preloaded onto ISDs and sold in Singapore reaffirms this contention,&#8221; he added.</p>



<p>The Premier League referenced this action in today&#8217;s announcement, noting that it is also taking criminal action against suppliers of ISDs (Illicit Streaming Devices) and working with Thai authorities to raid those in the supply chain.</p>



<p> </p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/">TF</a>, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/top-10-most-popular-torrent-sites-of-2018-180107/">torrent sites</a> and more. We also have <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-services-keep-anonymous-2018/">VPN reviews, </a><a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-discount-coupon-offer-torguard-nordvpn-expressvpn-pia/">discounts, offers and coupons</a>.</p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=166999
title: The Pirate Bay’s Stuck in Time, No New Uploads
uri: The-Pirate-Bay-s-Stuck-in-Time-No-New-Uploads
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/lJEAcvscmBE/
content:
<p><img class="alignright size-full wp-image-142141" 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">The past year has been <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/the-pirate-bay-remains-mysteriously-inaccessible-to-many-181101/">a rough one</a> for The Pirate Bay.</p>
<p>The site has repeatedly suffered downtime and, to a subset of users, it was unavailable for weeks on end.</p>
<p>The Pirate Bay&#8217;s technical team hasn&#8217;t been very outspoken on the issues. However, a few days into the new year it&#8217;s clear that 2019 is not going to be spotless either.</p>
<p>Starting a few days ago, The Pirate Bay&#8217;s upload functionality has become unusable. According to the recent uploads page, no new torrents have been added since last weekend.</p>
<p>The last torrent was uploaded on Sunday and the recent torrents page suggests that the problems started around 6:36 a.m. Central European Time.</p>
<p>After that, things went quiet and the official Pirate Bay <a href="https://pirates-forum.org/misc.php?page=tpbstatus">status page confirms</a> that no new uploads are coming through. What’s causing the trouble is unknown at the moment.</p>
<p><center><strong>No new torrents</strong></p>
<p></center><center></center><center><img class="alignnone size-full wp-image-167002" src="media/1a9d2639.tpbfrozen.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/tpbfrozen.png" alt="" width="600" height="242"></center></p>
<p>Several uploaders have <a href="https://pirates-forum.org/Thread-ThePirateBay-The-Pirate-Bay-Site-Status-Thread-not-for-personal-account-issues?page=106">raised the issue</a> at The Pirate Bay forums, but as usual, there is no official explanation available.</p>
<p>If they try to add a new torrent, they only see a “<a href="https://pirates-forum.org/Thread-Error-File-empty--84637?page=20">Error – File empty</a>” or &#8220;Wrong Code&#8221; error message.</p>
<p>Problems with new uploads are not unique and usually get fixed eventually, but for now, the site&#8217;s users will have to do without any new content. At the same time, new comments are coming through irregularly&nbsp;as well.</p>
<p>The good news is that the site itself appears to be accessible&nbsp;to most people. At least, based on the official status page.</p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/">TF</a>, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/top-10-most-popular-torrent-sites-of-2018-180107/">torrent sites</a> and more. We also have <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-services-keep-anonymous-2018/">VPN reviews, </a><a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-discount-coupon-offer-torguard-nordvpn-expressvpn-pia/">discounts, offers and coupons</a>.</p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=166998
title: Article 13 Suspense Builds as Finish Line Nears
uri: Article-13-Suspense-Builds-as-Finish-Line-Nears
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/2FIdRWTarbU/
content:
<p><img class="alignright size-full wp-image-136985" src="media/19bd259d.eu-copyright.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/eu-copyright.jpg" alt="" width="250" height="167"></p>
<p>Within a week, the European Parliament and Council hope to finalize the final text of Article 13, which is part of the EU’s copyright reform plans.</p>
<p>After Parliament&#8217;s vote last September, the proposal has been tweaked in an attempt to gain broader support. However, critics remain skeptical, especially those who fear that it will lead to broad adoption of copyright filters.</p>
<p>This Friday, the EU member states will vote on the negotiating mandate for the Council, which may be in favor of, or against, Article 13. Several national governments haven&#8217;t made up their minds yet, so their votes can go either way.</p>
<p>The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) warns that the plans will increase censorship and surveillance. The digital rights group specifically calls on people from Germany, Sweden, Poland, and Luxembourg, <a href="https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2019/01/internet-facing-catastrophe-free-expression-and-competition-only-europeans-can">to speak out</a>.</p>
<p>&#8220;Your national government depends on your goodwill to win the votes to continue its mandate. This is a rare moment in European lawmaking when local connections from citizens matter more than well-funded, international corporations,&#8221; EFF notes.</p>
<p>When the Council&#8217;s position is known it will negotiate the final text of Article 13 with Parliament this coming Monday. While not everything has been decided yet, Pirate Party MEP Julia Reda notes that the liability part is fixed.</p>
<p>&#8220;The negotiators have reached agreement on the core of Article 13, which will change the internet as we know it: They want to make internet platforms directly liable for any copyright infringements their users commit,&#8221; <a href="https://juliareda.eu/2019/01/article-13-almost-finished/">Reda notes</a>.</p>
<p>What actions Internet platforms will have to take to avoid this liability remains to be decided. Are there any exemptions for small businesses, for example, and is fair use properly accounted for?</p>
<p>When the text is finalized the Council will vote on the proposal in a few months, followed by the final vote in the European Parliament next spring.</p>
<p>Until then, activists from all sides will continue to push their message. Those who scour social media for opinions will see a lot of people who want to &#8216;delete&#8217; Article 13 altogether, but there are plenty of other views as well.</p>
<p>YouTube, for example, <a href="https://www.youtube.com/saveyourinternet/">appears to be happy</a> with upload filters, which they already have in place. However, it stresses that platforms should only be held liable if copyright holders help platforms to identify infringing content.</p>
<p>Among copyright holders, there are mixed messages. While many are in favor of the original Article 13 proposal, companies in the audiovisual and sports sectors said they would <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/major-rightsholders-are-not-happy-with-article-13-either-181206/">rather be left out</a> if they lose existing protections.</p>
<p>In the music industry, there is quite a bit of support for Article 13. Music outlets see it as an opportunity to address the so-called &#8216;Value Gap&#8217;. PRS for Music, the UK&#8217;s leading collection society, has been rather vocal on this issue.</p>
<p>&#8220;YouTube pays much less than other streaming platforms for a license but has more content and more users than the likes of Spotify and Apple Music. This is why #Article13 is important for creators,&#8221; it wrote in a recent <a href="https://twitter.com/PRSforMusic/status/1081160851506323457">tweet</a>.</p>
<p>PRS and other groups such as UK Music are calling on all who support music to back the proposal. The latter group has also been actively responding to what it sees as Article 13 &#8220;<a href="https://www.ukmusic.org/policy/article-13-mythbuster/">myths</a>&#8221;</p>
<p>On the other side, Techdirt&#8217;s Mike Masnick takes the official <a href="http://www.europarl.europa.eu/news/en/press-room/20190111IPR23225/q-and-a-on-the-draft-digital-copyright-directive">Article 13 Q&amp;A</a> of  EU Parliament&#8217;s Legislative Affairs Committee (JURI) apart in a fact-checking <a href="https://www.techdirt.com/articles/20190112/00014941381/eu-parliament-puts-out-utter-nonsense-defending-copyright-directive.shtml">exercise</a>, with an entirely different outcome.</p>
<p>In a week from now, we should know more about the final language of Article 13 and the broader copyright reform proposals. That said, the discussions, lobbying, and advocacy won&#8217;t stop until the final vote comes in.</p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/">TF</a>, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/top-10-most-popular-torrent-sites-of-2018-180107/">torrent sites</a> and more. We also have <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-services-keep-anonymous-2018/">VPN reviews, </a><a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-discount-coupon-offer-torguard-nordvpn-expressvpn-pia/">discounts, offers and coupons</a>.</p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=166956
title: Set-Top Box Anti-Piracy Code Neutralized By Hack
uri: Set-Top-Box-Anti-Piracy-Code-Neutralized-By-Hack
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/ftXhEncsKp4/
content:
<div class="wp-block-image"><figure class="alignright"><img src="media/c6d79219.iptv.jpg" data-original-source="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/images/iptv.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-135034"/></figure></div>



<p>While legal IPTV platforms exist online, the acronym is also closely associated with services providing access to unlicensed live TV feeds.</p>



<p>These services can be easily accessed via a PC, tablet, or mobile phone, but many are accessed via Android-type set-top boxes. Another option is to use the MAG range of set-top devices available from Ukraine-based Infomir.</p>



<p>The company strongly disassociates itself from such infringing uses and in support of that announced <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/pirate-iptv-services-will-be-blocked-says-set-top-box-manufacturer-181230/">last December</a> that following complaints from rightsholders, it would prevent users from accessing allegedly-infringing portals.</p>



<p>&#8220;Upon receiving complaints from a copyright holder, Infomir is obliged to restrict access from its devices to any portal suspected of copyright infringement. The restriction will be maintained until the issue with the copyright holder is resolved,&#8221; the company said.</p>



<p>News of this action, or at least its effects, spread quickly among many IPTV users. Customers of several unlicensed services reported that portal URLs (the domain names used by devices to access IPTV services) had been blocked on their MAG devices and were no longer accessible.</p>



<p>Some providers changed their portal URLs in response but that was always destined to become a game of whac-a-mole. However, right from the beginning it seemed that MAG devices themselves contained the solution and it didn&#8217;t take long before that was confirmed. </p>



<p>In a <a href="https://old.reddit.com/r/IPTV/comments/aesulq/defeating_the_infomirmag_portal_blocking/">post</a> to Reddit, an unnamed developer using a &#8216;throwaway&#8217; account revealed how he&#8217;d defeated the blocking system.</p>



<p>&#8220;I&#8217;ve spent the last few days digging around with [network analysis tool] <a href="https://www.wireshark.org/">Wireshark</a> + <g class="gr_ gr_3 gr-alert gr_gramm gr_inline_cards gr_run_anim Style multiReplace" id="3" data-gr-id="3">custom  firmware</g> to see how this was working, and it turns out it&#8217;s quite simple and can be removed from all current firmware on all models that I&#8217;ve tested (250/254/256/322/324),&#8221; he wrote.</p>



<p>&#8220;We *could*,  as people currently are, keep changing portal URLs &#8211; but this is not sustainable and as the box is phoning home on every boot, is more than likely just making it easier for Infomir to just re-block on the next wave of updates to the blacklist.&#8221;</p>



<p>The full breakdown is available on Reddit and indeed <a href="http://www.techkings.org/threads/mag-254-warning-message.145263/page-9">other places</a> elsewhere but speaking with TorrentFreak the developer offered to put some more meat on the bones.</p>



<p>&#8216;Thr0wawayicus&#8217; told TF that when connected to the Internet, MAG devices use encryption to access a URL on Infomir&#8217;s servers. This results in the creation of a file called <em>dls.backup&nbsp;</em>on the local device.</p>



<p>&#8220;The encrypted communication is made up of an HTTPS connection to the mentioned URL,&#8221; he said.</p>



<p>&#8220;I can only guess at the contents but at <g class="gr_ gr_4 gr-alert gr_gramm gr_inline_cards gr_run_anim Grammar only-ins doubleReplace replaceWithoutSep" id="4" data-gr-id="4">minimum</g>, it contains the data that is saved as <g class="gr_ gr_3 gr-alert gr_spell gr_inline_cards gr_run_anim ContextualSpelling" id="3" data-gr-id="3"><g class="gr_ gr_3 gr-alert gr_spell gr_inline_cards gr_run_anim ContextualSpelling" id="3" data-gr-id="3"><g class="gr_ gr_3 gr-alert gr_spell gr_inline_cards gr_run_anim ContextualSpelling" id="3" data-gr-id="3">dls</g></g></g>.backup, although I can&#8217;t rule out that it potentially also reports the portal URLs you&#8217;re using back to  Infomir to build up their database for potential future blocks,&#8221; he postulated.</p>



<p>&#8216;Thr0wawayicus&#8217; says that left him with two tasks &#8211; patch the browser present in MAG devices (or block the hosts file to prevent access to the blacklist), or erase the <g class="gr_ gr_3 gr-alert gr_spell gr_inline_cards gr_disable_anim_appear ContextualSpelling ins-del multiReplace" id="3" data-gr-id="3">dls</g>.backup file to prevent cached lookups.</p>



<p>He told TF that deleting the file is probably fine since it likely has no other purpose than to block URLs &#8211; it didn&#8217;t exist in any firmware prior to the latest releases and is referred to internally as a &#8220;domain list file&#8221;. </p>



<p>While some technically-minded people will be able to follow the detailed instructions available online (we&#8217;ve published just the very bare bones here for reporting purposes), &#8216;Thr0wawayicus&#8217; has also put in a lot of work to streamline the process.</p>



<p>MAG devices are designed to accept custom firmware. In fact, Infomir <a href="https://wiki.infomir.eu/eng/set-top-box/for-developers/stb-linux-webkit/stb-software-image-making/operators-utilities-and-instructions-for-building-stb-software-image">provides all the tools</a> that users need to compile their own. &#8216;Thr0wawayicus&#8217; says that he used these tools to create custom &#8216;anti-blocking&#8217; firmware variants for popular MAG devices. These have been placed on file-hosting platforms and torrents for public consumption.</p>



<p>&#8220;The firmware was built with the officially available tools, from source files Infomir release specifically for the purpose of building custom firmware,&#8221; he explained.  </p>



<p>&#8220;There are no license terms prohibiting you from editing the filesystem as needed. It&#8217;s no less legal than stopping say a Chinese WiFi camera from phoning home.&#8221;</p>



<p>While that might possibly be the case, we aren&#8217;t linking to modified firmware here. That being said, &#8216;Thr0wawayicus&#8217; reveals that he spent considerable amounts of time putting them together.</p>



<p>&#8220;Reverse engineering the issue took me around a day. The longest part of the process which took a couple of days after that was the building and testing of all the individual firmware files for each model of the MAG to automate the process of disabling the check in a manner which <g class="gr_ gr_16 gr-alert gr_gramm gr_inline_cards gr_run_anim Style multiReplace" id="16" data-gr-id="16">would  require</g> no special intervention or technical knowledge from the <g class="gr_ gr_17 gr-alert gr_gramm gr_inline_cards gr_run_anim Style multiReplace" id="17" data-gr-id="17">end  user</g>,&#8221; he revealed.</p>



<p>&#8220;The time spent waiting for flashes to complete (because I had to  go back and forth between the official firmware and mine for testing)  probably made up the majority of those two days.&#8221; </p>



<p>The developer said he was motivated to bypass the portal blocking present in these devices because he isn&#8217;t comfortable with an equipment manufacturer dictating what people can and cannot do with their devices.</p>



<p>As previously highlighted, Infomir previously stated they are simply carrying through with their obligations to block allegedly-infringing content as required under both US and European law.</p>



<p>&#8220;Our policy is to comply with the EU and US legislation on copyright and take into account best practices in the area of handling of copyright infringement reports,&#8221; the company told TF.</p>



<p>&#8220;In particular, we only process the reports of copyright infringement that contain all the elements of notification envisaged by the DMCA.&#8221;</p>



<p>Infomir also added that it filters for false or abusive claims and provides all blocked providers with the opportunity to oppose a copyright infringement report. In the event of a dispute, the company said it would request a court order to maintain access restriction to a blocked portal.</p>



<p>Infomir informs TorrentFreak that its products are aimed at professional IPTV service providers and the company strives to maintain high standards of hardware and software.</p>



<p>&#8220;All the tools we provide to our customers are designed to be used solely by legitimate service providers,&#8221; says Infomir Legal Counsel  Vladislav Larionov. </p>



<p>&#8220;We understand that there might be ways to circumvent any restriction system on any device, be it <g class="gr_ gr_4 gr-alert gr_gramm gr_inline_cards gr_run_anim Grammar only-ins replaceWithoutSep" id="4" data-gr-id="4"><g class="gr_ gr_4 gr-alert gr_gramm gr_inline_cards gr_run_anim Grammar only-ins replaceWithoutSep" id="4" data-gr-id="4">set-top</g></g> box, smart TV, tablet, smartphone etc. To ensure high enough level of reliability of the <g class="gr_ gr_42 gr-alert gr_gramm gr_inline_cards gr_run_anim Style multiReplace" id="42" data-gr-id="42">restriction  system</g>, we get it in line with the recommendations of anti-piracy associations we cooperate with.&#8221;&nbsp;<br></p>



<p>  <br></p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/">TF</a>, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/top-10-most-popular-torrent-sites-of-2018-180107/">torrent sites</a> and more. We also have <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-services-keep-anonymous-2018/">VPN reviews, </a><a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-discount-coupon-offer-torguard-nordvpn-expressvpn-pia/">discounts, offers and coupons</a>.</p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=167055
title: Rightsholders Call for Suspension of Article 13
uri: Rightsholders-Call-for-Suspension-of-Article-13
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/HWfiSejkQWM/
content:
<p><img class="alignright size-full wp-image-136985" src="media/19bd259d.eu-copyright.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/eu-copyright.jpg" alt="" width="250" height="167"></p>
<p>After years of discussions and negotiations, the EU&#8217;s copyright reform proposals are&nbsp;<a href="https://torrentfreak.com/article-13-suspense-builds-as-finish-line-nears-190115/">nearing the finish line</a>.</p>
<p>In recent months concerns have been voiced about the plans from various sides.&nbsp; Article 13, in particular, proved to be controversial.</p>
<p>Among the public, the main concern is that this&nbsp;could open the door to increased upload filtering. However, not all copyright holders are pleased with it either.</p>
<p>Last month a coalition of major representatives from the audiovisual and sports sectors, including the Motion Picture Association, the International Union of Cinemas, the Premier League, and La Liga, <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/major-rightsholders-are-not-happy-with-article-13-either-181206/">shared their&nbsp;concerns</a> in a letter to members of the EU Parliament.</p>
<p>The companies are extremely worried about the current version of Article 13. They fear that it will do more harm than good for their industries, as it may strengthen the position of major online content sharing service providers.</p>
<p>At the time, the companies said that they would rather be excluded from Article 13 if their concerns are not addressed.</p>
<p>In response, legislators assured that the companies wouldn’t be worse off under Article 13 than they currently are but the rightsholders in question are not convinced.</p>
<p>With the negotiations nearing the finish line, the companies have now sent a more strongly worded letter to EU lawmakers urging them to halt all Article 13 negotiations for the time being.</p>
<p>According to the companies, the current proposals may actually be a step backward. They specifically warn that &#8220;the solutions that are under discussion are worse than the current legal framework.&#8221;</p>
<p>&#8220;[R]ather than rushing the highly controversial Art. 13 and seeking conclusion of this provision, no matter the jeopardy to the European copyright framework and no matter the prejudice and damage to the creative sectors before the end of this legislative period, we urge EU co-legislators to suspend negotiations with respect to this article,&#8221; the companies write.</p>
<p>The rightsholders specifically mention a pending German case in which YouTube stands accused of being liable for the video uploads of its users.</p>
<p>The German Federal&nbsp;Court referred several liability-related questions to the EU Court of Justice (CJEU) last summer, and the rightsholders hope this will turn out in their favor.</p>
<p>&#8220;The Commission should continue to monitor the developments on CJEU level, in particular in case C-682/18, and decide, following this judgment, whether legislative intervention might be necessary in the future,&#8221; the companies state in their letter.</p>
<p>Whether highlighting one pending case which may or may not change anything warrants suspending all negotiations is up for lawmakers to decide. In any case, all those who are against Article 13 are not going to complain.</p>
<p>At the same time,&nbsp;it also creates tension between various rightsholder groups. The recommendation clearly goes against the wishes of many major music industry&nbsp;companies, which hope that Article 13 will fix the &#8216;Value Gap&#8217;.</p>
<p><em>—</em></p>
<p><em>A copy of the letter sent by representatives of the audio-visual and sports sectors is available&nbsp;<a href="media/986f0c1f.suspend13.pdf" data-original-source="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/images/suspend13.pdf">here (pdf)</a>.</em></p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/">TF</a>, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/top-10-most-popular-torrent-sites-of-2018-180107/">torrent sites</a> and more. We also have <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-services-keep-anonymous-2018/">VPN reviews, </a><a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-discount-coupon-offer-torguard-nordvpn-expressvpn-pia/">discounts, offers and coupons</a>.</p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=167074
title: Star Wars Theory’s “Vader” Fan Film Hit With Copyright Claim
uri: Star-Wars-Theory-s-Vader-Fan-Film-Hit-With-Copyright-Claim
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/URF_Az8z2e4/
content:
<p><img class="alignright size-full wp-image-167080" src="media/2c6ce9e9.vader.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/vader.jpg" alt="" width="300" height="212">Over the years we&#8217;ve written numerous times about questionable copyright claims on YouTube.</p>
<p>This problem is far from new but more and more stories are emerging every week. Over the past days, a claim on a Star Wars fan film has caught a lot of attention.</p>
<p>The video in question was created by the popular&nbsp;Star Wars Theory channel, which published the first episode of the <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ey68aMOV9gc">&#8220;Vader&#8221; fan&nbsp;film</a> just before Christmas.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC8CbFnDTYkiVweaz8y9wd_Q">The channel</a>&nbsp;is operated by Toos, a dedicated Star Wars fan, who made the video for like-minded fans. Aware of the sensitive stance rightsholders have regarding fan films, he reached out to Lucasfilm beforehand.</p>
<p>The company, which was the original copyright holder of the Star Wars franchise before it sold to Disney, said that Toos couldn&#8217;t monetize the project, nor could he crowdfund it. However, if he stuck to the rules it could continue. This meant that Toos paid for the production himself and published it without ads.</p>
<p>All seemed fine for the first weeks after the episode was put up. The video was viewed millions of times and received tens of thousands of likes. However, this week things changed.</p>
<p>Without prior notice, Warner/Chappell &#8211; which controls the rights to Star Wars&#8217; music &#8211; moved in and claimed the video. While the fan film remains online, it&#8217;s now showing ads with the revenue going directly to the music publisher.</p>
<p>&#8220;They have claimed the whole movie because there is a piece in there that uses the rendition of The Imperial March,&#8221; Toos <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=acPFPu_UZWE">says</a>.</p>
<p>This isn&#8217;t the original sound recording that was used in Star Wars, as Toos&nbsp;hired a composer to write a remake of the original theme music. However, according to Warner/Chappell, it&#8217;s a cover which they, apparently, want to be paid for.</p>
<p>Responding to the issue in a YouTube video, Toos says he&#8217;s disappointed. After being told that he can&#8217;t monetize the film, one of the rightsholders has moved in and monetized it instead.</p>
<p>&#8220;It&#8217;s not about the money, it&#8217;s the principle,&#8221; Toos says. &#8220;Someone from one of those companies went in there and manually claimed it. To me, that&#8217;s just very vindictive. It&#8217;s very rude.&#8221;</p>
<p>Soon after Toos published his response on the &#8220;Star Wars Theory&#8221; channel, it blew up. People directed much of their anger <a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/videos/comments/ag8ovy/starwarstheory_creates_a_darth_vader_fan_film/">at Disney</a> and characterized the copyright claim as clearly false.</p>
<p>False in this case is a matter of perspective. While non-commercial fan films are often allowed, the rightsholders can still claim it. Whether this claim is rightful or if it&#8217;s a fair use ultimately has to be decided in court.</p>
<p>Toos doesn&#8217;t want to take it that far. Following the public outrage, Warner/Chappell reached out to his network to indicate that it wouldn&#8217;t&nbsp;back down. This puts him in a tough spot.</p>
<p><center></p>
<div class="embed-container"><iframe src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/G3LOEuhryMo" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen"></iframe></div>
<p></center></p>
<p>Toos can easily dispute the claim. If Warner/Chappell uphold it, he can appeal again after which the music publisher has to file an official DMCA notice. This will then result in a strike on the channel and the video will be removed as well.</p>
<p>At that point, Toos can file a counter-notice. YouTube will then restore the video after ten days unless Warner/Chappel takes the matter to federal court. Not a very pleasant outlook, to say the least.</p>
<p>Warner/Chappel could easily win a potential lawsuit. They argue that the film&#8217;s music is based on the original composition of Star Wars themes, which is indeed the case. That the film is non-commercial doesn&#8217;t mean any use is fair use, there are other factors that play a role as well.</p>
<p>Toos prefers to let the issue go. He still plans to continue with the second episode, although he won&#8217;t use any Star Wars themed music for that.</p>
<p>The good news is that the copyright claim and response brought a lot of attention to the Star Wars Theory channel and the &#8220;Vader&#8221; fan film. That doesn&#8217;t hurt the support he receives through Patreon and other avenues, which comes in handy as Newsweek <a href="https://www.newsweek.com/star-wars-theory-disney-youtube-claim-copyright-reddit-1293172">notes</a> that the film cost around $150,000 to shoot.</p>
<p>As for&nbsp;Warner/Chappell, they will likely continue to claim videos which they believe infringe their rights. This is<a href="https://www.wired.com/story/the-star-wars-video-that-baffled-youtubes-copyright-cops/"> not the first fan-made</a> project they have gone after and it likely won&#8217;t be the last.</p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/">TF</a>, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/top-10-most-popular-torrent-sites-of-2018-180107/">torrent sites</a> and more. We also have <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-services-keep-anonymous-2018/">VPN reviews, </a><a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-discount-coupon-offer-torguard-nordvpn-expressvpn-pia/">discounts, offers and coupons</a>.</p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=167035
title: Vimeo ‘Fined’ €8.5m For Failure to Remove Copyrighted TV Content
uri: Vimeo-Fined-8-5m-For-Failure-to-Remove-Copyrighted-TV-Content
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/Immwi2bijds/
content:
<div class="wp-block-image"><figure class="alignright"><img src="media/be4eb4c8.vimeo.png" data-original-source="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/images/vimeo.png" alt="" class="wp-image-167039"/></figure></div>



<p>Video-hosting platforms that allow users to upload content are currently protected by so-called &#8216;safe harbor&#8217; exceptions.</p>



<p>They are generally not responsible for infringing content when they respond appropriately to complaints from copyright holders. In a case against US-based video platform Vimeo that has just concluded in Italy, things certainly didn&#8217;t go to plan.</p>



<p>In a ruling handed down by the Commercial Court of&nbsp;Rome on January 10, 2019, Vimeo was ordered to pay €8.5 million plus court costs to RTI, a company owned by  Italy-based mass media giant Mediaset.</p>



<p>According to the ruling, Vimeo allowed copyrighted TV content owned by the company to be published on its platform and then failed to remove them as the law requires. The Court described Vimeo as acting as a video on demand (VoD) service for RTI content, to the detriment of the company.</p>



<p>In addition to removing the content in question, Vimeo will also have to act proactively in the future by preventing new uploads of unauthorized content. Failure to do so will result in a fine of 1,000 euros for each offense plus an additional penalty of 500 euros for each day the content remains accessible on Vimeo.</p>



<p>The roots of the dispute date back to 2012 when Mediaset found that content extracted from its TV programming had been uploaded by Vimeo users without the necessary permission. Over time, the list of infringing content grew to more than 2,000 works.</p>



<p>Importantly, the Court determined that service providers who play an &#8220;active role&#8221; including &#8220;cataloging, indexing <g class="gr_ gr_18 gr-alert gr_gramm gr_inline_cards gr_disable_anim_appear Punctuation only-ins replaceWithoutSep" id="18" data-gr-id="18">and</g> commissioning&#8221; content cannot benefit from the safe harbor exemptions offered by the <a href="https://eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexUriServ.do?uri=CELEX:32000L0031:en:HTML">Electronic Commerce Directive 2000/31/EC</a>.</p>



<p>As a result, Vimeo &#8220;lost its neutral character, and with it the exemption of responsibility,&#8221; <a href="https://www.key4biz.it/vimeo-condannata-dovra-risarcire-85-milioni-di-euro-a-mediaset/240127/">reports</a> Alessandro La Rosa, a lawyer who acted for Mediaset.</p>



<p>Also of interest is that the Court highlighted technical capabilities that are available to Vimeo which should allow the platform to identify infringing content automatically and without being provided with specific URLs to take down.</p>



<p>This technology should allow the hosting provider &#8220;to identify, within the material on its digital platform, those that match certain illicit content, even without the prior knowledge of the reference URL and without having to devote personnel to individually view all the videos published and compare them with the programs of the holder of the infringed right.&#8221;   </p>



<p>The timing of the ruling is notable. Within the next week, the&nbsp;European Parliament and Council will be <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/article-13-suspense-builds-as-finish-line-nears-190115/">aiming to agree</a> on the final text of the ever-controversial Article 13, which may &#8211; or indeed may not &#8211; place content hosting platforms like YouTube and Vimeo in a less favorable position in respect of safe harbor protections.</p>



<p> &#8220;The sentence of the court of Rome takes on particular importance as it comes in the final stages of the approval process of the new European directive proposal having as its object the protection of copyright with respect to violations committed via the web,&#8221; Mediaset <a href="https://www.tgcom24.mediaset.it/televisione/copyright-vimeo-condannata-a-risarcire-8-5-milioni-a-mediaset_3185535-201902a.shtml">said</a> in a statement.</p>



<p>&#8220;A provision that intends to harmonize copyright laws in the individual States to protect the creative industry and publishers who, like Mediaset, create content regularly remunerating the rights of all authors .&#8221;</p>



<p>According to La Rosa, the decision of the Court &#8220;is in full harmony&#8221; with recent decisions from the EU Court of Justice and also the assumption under some Article 13 proposals that content sharing platforms should obtain licenses for public communication of third-party works.</p>



<p>&#8220;[I]n the absence of such agreements, the obligation to lend due cooperation with the owners of the rights to prevent, with all the means made available by the state of the art, unauthorized uses of said works,&#8221; La Rosa says.</p>



<p>Speaking with TorrentFreak,  Enzo Mazza, CEO at the Italian Federation of the Music Industry, underlined the importance of the case in Europe.</p>



<p>&#8220;The decision is really important regarding the definition of active hosting limiting the safe harbor and therefore extending the liabilities of the defendant,&#8221; Mazza said.</p>



<p>&#8220;This allows the creative sector to better address the fight against copyright violations in the video streaming area. Also regarding compensation of damages the decision <g class="gr_ gr_7 gr-alert gr_gramm gr_inline_cards gr_run_anim Style multiReplace" id="7" data-gr-id="7">is  groundbreaking</g> in Europe. &#8221;&nbsp; </p>



<p>In addition to paying the rather large fine and remaining vigilant on any further uploads of infringing Mediaset content, Vimeo has been ordered to publish details of the ruling in the physical and online editions of two Italian newspapers. It is also required to publish the same information on the home page of Vimeo.com </p>



<p> </p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/">TF</a>, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/top-10-most-popular-torrent-sites-of-2018-180107/">torrent sites</a> and more. We also have <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-services-keep-anonymous-2018/">VPN reviews, </a><a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-discount-coupon-offer-torguard-nordvpn-expressvpn-pia/">discounts, offers and coupons</a>.</p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=166667
title: Activists Publish ‘An Illegal Book?’ to Defend Popcorn-Time News Site in Court
uri: Activists-Publish-An-Illegal-Book-to-Defend-Popcorn-Time-News-S
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/9hAQVzJ8e2Y/
content:
<p><img class="alignright size-full wp-image-101106" src="media/3b9dbdf1.popcornt.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/popcornt.png" alt="popcornt" width="237" height="106">Five years ago, Popcorn Time was widely embraced by pirates, thanks to its ability to stream torrent files through a user-friendly interface.</p>
<p>This rapid rise raised concern among many movie industry companies, who worked hard to contain the threat by going after several forks and their developers.</p>
<p>This resulted in the <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/popcorn-time-chaos-triggers-more-downtime-151023/">shutdown</a> of several projects. Those that remained online were targeted by website blockades in several countries, including the UK and Denmark.</p>
<p>Popcorn-Time.no was also targeted in this crackdown. The Economic Crimes unit (<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Authority_for_Investigation_and_Prosecution_of_Economic_and_Environmental_Crime_in_Norway">Økokrim</a>) of Norway&#8217;s police <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/norwegian-police-seize-popcorn-time-information-site-160308/">seized the domain name</a> after it was branded an illegal site by rightsholders.</p>
<p>This was highly unusual because the domain in question didn’t host the Popcorn Time software. Instead, the site posted news articles, as well as links to sites that offered the application.</p>
<p>In most cases, this issue would have blown over, as the site had a relatively small number of users. However, in Norway, this wasn&#8217;t the case. Electronic Frontier Norway (<a href="https://efn.no/">EFN</a>) and the Norwegian Unix User Group (<a href="https://www.nuug.no/">NUUG</a>) took an interest in the case and went to court.</p>
<p>This was &#8220;revenge of the nerds,&#8221; as the groups&#8217; lawyer previously put it. They felt that taking down a domain name without proper judicial review went a step too far.</p>
<p>After several rounds in court, the registrar IMCASREG8 (IMC) got involved, as it would lose its rights to the popcorn-time.no domain. IMC chose to contest this claim to hold the authorities accountable and was joined by EFN and NUUG.</p>
<p>The owner of the original domain is not involved and was never charged. Instead, EFN, NUUG, and IMC hope to protect their rights in the bigger picture.</p>
<p>NUUG is standing up to defend multi-use Open Source Technology, for example, while IMC hopes to prevent the commercial chilling effect these broad domain seizures may have.</p>
<p>Last week they presented their arguments in court where EFN argued that the seized the Popcorn-time.no site was merely exercising its right to free speech.</p>
<p>To do so, the group published a book titled &#8220;En ulovlig bok?&#8221; which translates to &#8220;An Illegal book?&#8221; The paperback version, <a href="http://www.lulu.com/shop/john-doe/en-ulovlig-bok/paperback/product-23917634.html">for sale here</a>, is a printout of the site on paper.</p>
<p><center><strong>An Illegal book?</strong></center><center></center><center></center><center><img class="alignnone size-full wp-image-167104" src="media/a9e9c860.illegalbook.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/illegalbook.png" alt="" width="600" height="443"></center></p>
<p>If Popcorn-Time.no was illegal, then this book would be too, EFN argued in court.</p>
<p>&#8220;The goal is to put the focus on whether freedom of expression is protected<br>
on the Internet. For EFN it is critical that expressions on the Internet should be no less protected than expressions in a book,&#8221; EFN’s managing director Tom Fredrik Blenning tells TorrentFreak.</p>
<p>&#8220;EFN is thus of the opinion that there are only two possible options. Ban<br>
the book or allow the website. Of course, the latter is the only one which makes sense.&#8221;</p>
<p><center><strong>A page from the book</strong></center><center></center><center><img class="alignnone size-full wp-image-167103" src="media/c1f667a0.popbook.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/popbook.png" alt="" width="600" height="556"></center></p>
<p>While the contents of the site and the book are the same, the paper version has no hyperlinks of course. Whether that makes a difference has yet to be seen.</p>
<p>The rights group also presented witnesses to substantiate their claims and to counter the opposition. Among other things, it was argued that there is more legal content available (~5%) on Popcorn Time than the prosecution claimed (&lt;1%), although most of it is infringing.</p>
<p>It was also stressed that Popcorn-time.no made no infringing content available. There is no direct link between the alleged pirates and the site.  It only pointed to sites where the application could be downloaded, something Wikipedia <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Popcorn_Time">does as well</a>.</p>
<p>The prosecution, on the other hand, argued that such a link isn&#8217;t necessary. It clearly brands Popcorn-time.no as an infringing site which harms copyright holders, and it believed that the seizure was justified.</p>
<p>It&#8217;s worth mentioning that the Popcorn Time information site looked rather similar to a Danish version, of which the owner received a <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/man-handed-conditional-prison-sentence-spreading-popcorn-time-information-180208/">conditional prison sentence</a> last year. In Norway, there was never a named suspect, however.</p>
<div>It is now up to the court to decide the matter. The verdict is expected to come in later this month. For now, &#8220;An Illegal Book?&#8221; is still up for sale.</p>
</div>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/">TF</a>, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/top-10-most-popular-torrent-sites-of-2018-180107/">torrent sites</a> and more. We also have <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-services-keep-anonymous-2018/">VPN reviews, </a><a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-discount-coupon-offer-torguard-nordvpn-expressvpn-pia/">discounts, offers and coupons</a>.</p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=167051
title: Brazilian Police Shut Down Private Torrent Site in ‘Operation Copyright’
uri: Brazilian-Police-Shut-Down-Private-Torrent-Site-in-Operation-Copyri
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/NAt0wyKbhBQ/
content:
<div class="wp-block-image"><figure class="alignright"><img src="media/2dae7999.brazil-police.png" data-original-source="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/images/brazil-police.png" alt="" class="wp-image-167073"/></figure></div>



<p>As part of Brazil&#8217;s Ministry of Justice, the Federal Police of Brazil (Polícia Federal) is an enforcement agency tasked with tackling a range of crimes.</p>



<p>In addition to drug trafficking and terrorism, the unit is responsible for disrupting organized crime, white-collar crime, and money laundering.</p>



<p>This week the agency announced the launch of &#8216;Operation Copyright&#8217;, an initiative designed to disrupt the sharing of pirated content in Brazil using BitTorrent.</p>



<p>Following a complaint from local anti-piracy group APDIF (Association for the Protection of the Intellectual Property Rights of the Phonographic Industry), in 2017 police launched an investigation into a US-hosted torrent site with an estimated 140,000 users and 9 million visits per year.</p>



<p>Local <a href="https://g1.globo.com/jornal-nacional/noticia/2019/01/15/acao-da-pf-em-cinco-estados-investiga-pirataria-de-musicas-filmes-e-series.ghtml">reports</a> have not yet formally identified the site but sources indicate that a private tracker called <a href="http://speed-share.org/">Speed-Share</a>, which is currently down, was the main target of the operation<g class="gr_ gr_177 gr-alert gr_gramm gr_inline_cards gr_run_anim Style replaceWithoutSep" id="177" data-gr-id="177">.</g></p>



<p>A video clip shared by the authorities shows a site with its branding blurred out but TorrentFreak can confirm that the style matches that of Speed-Share.</p>



<figure class="wp-block-image"><img src="media/70cf99f8.speed-share-e1547633482742.png" data-original-source="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/images/speed-share-e1547633482742.png" alt="" class="wp-image-167077"/><figcaption>Image of Speed-Share.org (<em>credit Globo/ Polícia Federal)</em> </figcaption></figure>



<p>The operation spanned five states, with the Federal Police executing search and seizure warrants in Rio de Janeiro, São Paulo, Paraná, Espírito Santo <g class="gr_ gr_5 gr-alert gr_gramm gr_inline_cards gr_run_anim Punctuation only-ins replaceWithoutSep" id="5" data-gr-id="5">and</g> Goiás. Globo reports that police initially identified two people in São Paulo (the alleged founders and operators of the site) and from there an additional six people were interviewed. </p>



<p>&#8220;Each had a function.&nbsp;There are the operators, there are the moderators, there are the designers, there are the DJs. There is a whole hierarchy inside the site,&#8221; a police spokesperson said.</p>



<p>&#8220;Because of this, we are evaluating the effective participation of each and even to impute the crime of association or criminal organization, which are different crimes.&#8221;</p>



<p>While APDIF estimates that music sharing on the site cost their members more than US$10 million in lost revenues over the past nine years, that doesn&#8217;t account for other content indexed by the tracker including movies, TV shows, and games.</p>



<p>Despite the scale of the operation, it appears that none of the suspects were immediately arrested. They will be expected to answer to copyright infringement charges, however.</p>



<p>While it appears that Speed-Share was the main target, several other &#8216;pirate&#8217; sites are also reported as being offline. It is not yet clear whether these were also targeted by the authorities or whether they have been taken offline as a precaution.</p>



<p>The Federal Police say  they are working with authorities in the United States but it&#8217;s not yet clear whether any warrants have been carried out internationally.</p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/">TF</a>, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/top-10-most-popular-torrent-sites-of-2018-180107/">torrent sites</a> and more. We also have <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-services-keep-anonymous-2018/">VPN reviews, </a><a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-discount-coupon-offer-torguard-nordvpn-expressvpn-pia/">discounts, offers and coupons</a>.</p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=167123
title: Singapore Prepares Ban on Piracy-Configured Media Devices & Software
uri: Singapore-Prepares-Ban-on-Piracy-Configured-Media-Devices-Software
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/vL9VZ-tLzgM/
content:
<div class="wp-block-image"><figure class="alignright"><img src="media/f8623ca2.law-hammer.jpg" data-original-source="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/images/law-hammer.jpg" alt="" class="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"></figure></div>



<p>In common with dozens of countries around the world, Singapore is struggling to contain the spread of piracy-configured set-top boxes.</p>



<p>Branded by industry as &#8216;ISDs&#8217; (Illicit Streaming Devices), these products enable consumers to access a wide range of content &#8211; usually movies and TV shows &#8211; over the Internet without paying an associated fee. </p>



<p>The disruption caused by such devices, which often contain Kodi add-ons and software applications such as Showbox and Mobdro, is regularly criticized by industry players who feel that copyright legislation isn&#8217;t always in step with advances in technology.</p>



<p>In Singapore, such devices currently sit in a legal gray area but that position is set to change later this year with a range of proposed amendments to copyright law published Thursday by the government.</p>



<p>The product of a three-year review by the Ministry of Law and the Intellectual Property Office, the Copyright Review Report details measures to criminalize and impose civil penalties on those who make, import, or commercially distribute piracy-configured media devices.</p>



<p>While current law is capable of dealing with infringing items such as pirate DVDs, so-called ISDs contain no infringing movies or TV shows at the point of sale. The proposed amendments close this loophole, and then some.</p>



<p>&#8220;Our policy position is not to allow commercial gains derived from enabling access to content from unauthorized sources,&#8221; the review paper reads.</p>



<p>&#8220;A DVD may hold unauthorized content, while a set-top box which streams content may not hold the actual unauthorized content itself. However, we do not view this as a material difference.</p>



<p>While the proposals aim to prevent manufacturers, importers, distributors and retailers from knowingly selling devices already set up to access infringing sources, they also claim to close a potential loophole.</p>



<p>In some cases, perhaps understanding the thin line between legal and illegal supply, some sellers of media boxes have supplied them without any piracy-enabling software installed<g class="gr_ gr_20 gr-alert gr_gramm gr_inline_cards gr_run_anim Style replaceWithoutSep" id="20" data-gr-id="20">.</g></p>



<p><g class="gr_ gr_20 gr-alert gr_gramm gr_inline_cards gr_run_anim Style replaceWithoutSep" id="20" data-gr-id="20">Instead</g>, they provide assistance or instruction to the customer on how these may be added at a later point, post-sale. In these cases, the intent and knowledge of the seller will be taken into account.</p>



<p>&#8220;[T]o incur liability, the retailer should have some degree of knowledge that the device in question can, and very likely will, be used to access content from a source that is not authorized by the rights-holder,&#8221; the proposals read.</p>



<p>This will cover people who sell boxes ready-configured, those who advertise their products for infringing purposes, and those who provide assistance to buyers in order to enable their devices for piracy.</p>



<p>So far, the proposals deal with device sellers but there are also those who do not sell devices but instead specialize in setting them up for piracy purposes. The proposals are also set to target people who, for a fee, add infringing capabilities to media devices by installing or providing software, such as Kodi add-ons and similar tools.</p>



<figure class="wp-block-image"><img src="media/7ee21a7b.singapore-isd.png" data-original-source="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/images/singapore-isd.png" alt="" class="wp-image-167140"/><figcaption>Excerpt from the Singapore Copyright Review Report</figcaption></figure>



<p>Speaking with TorrentFreak, Neil Gane of the Asia Video Industry Association&#8217;s Coalition Against Piracy (CAP) says that the ISD problem is the most important copyright infringement issue in Singapore but dealing with it under current law is not straightforward.</p>



<p>&#8220;We are glad the&nbsp;government has recognized that this lack of legal clarity had allowed ISD retailers to mislead consumers that the content accessible through such TV boxes was legal and that requisite subscription charges went to rights-holders – which they did not,&#8221; Gane says.</p>



<p>&#8220;As such,&nbsp;we welcome the proposals&nbsp;to modify&nbsp;Singapore’s&nbsp;Copyright Act to better deal with this form of infringement.&nbsp;We are encouraged by the language in the&nbsp;Copyright Review Report which implies a concerted effort to clarify and ‘future proof’ the current copyright legislation.&#8221;</p>



<p> <em>The full report can be viewed <a href="media/a77fed3e.Annex20A20-20Copyright20Review20Report201620Jan202019.pdf" data-original-source="https://www.mlaw.gov.sg/content/dam/minlaw/corp/News/Press%20Release/Singapore%20Copyright%20Review%20Report%202019/Annex%20A%20-%20Copyright%20Review%20Report%2016%20Jan%202019.pdf">here</a> (pdf)</em></p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/">TF</a>, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/top-10-most-popular-torrent-sites-of-2018-180107/">torrent sites</a> and more. We also have <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-services-keep-anonymous-2018/">VPN reviews, </a><a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-discount-coupon-offer-torguard-nordvpn-expressvpn-pia/">discounts, offers and coupons</a>.</p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=167175
title: Austrian Telecoms Regulator Rejects “Informal” Pirate Site Blocks
uri: Austrian-Telecoms-Regulator-Rejects-Informal-Pirate-Site-Blocks
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/1dZBWfoFAi8/
content:
<div class="wp-block-image"><figure class="alignright"><img src="media/1b97a33a.deniedblocked.jpg" data-original-source="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/images/deniedblocked.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-143825"/></figure></div>



<p>Since the turn of the decade, Austria has been grappling with the controversial issue of pirate site blocking.</p>



<p>While rights holders have long-insisted that blocking is an appropriate and proportionate response to large-scale infringement, local Internet service providers have remained unconvinced, despite many legal processes.</p>



<p>Last November, the Supreme Court&nbsp;<a href="https://torrentfreak.com/the-pirate-bay-1337x-must-be-blocked-austrian-supreme-court-rules-171014/">finally ruled</a>&nbsp;that The Pirate Bay and other “structurally-infringing” sites including 1337x.to can indeed be <g class="gr_ gr_7 gr-alert gr_gramm gr_inline_cards gr_run_anim Punctuation only-del replaceWithoutSep" id="7" data-gr-id="7">blocked,</g> if rights holders have exhausted all other options. However, the decision wasn&#8217;t without complications.</p>



<p>The Telecom Single Market (<a href="http://eur-lex.europa.eu/eli/reg/2015/2120/oj">TSM</a>) Regulation established the principle of non-discriminatory traffic management in the EU. It does allow for the blocking of copyright-infringing websites but only when supported by a clear administrative or judicial decision. </p>



<p>However, rights holders have also written to ISPs in Austria demanding that they block sites that are potentially related to a blocked platform (such as a mirror or proxy) but aren&#8217;t specifically detailed in an official order.</p>



<p>Last January, this problem finally came to head when, after &#8216;voluntarily&#8217; blocking several Pirate Bay clones, ISP T-Mobile <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/t-mobile-blocks-pirate-sites-then-reports-itself-for-possible-net-neutrality-violation-180130/">reported itself</a> to the Austrian Regulatory Authority for Broadcasting and Telecommunications (RTR) for a potential net neutrality breach. As reported by <a href="https://tarnkappe.info/wiener-regulierungsbehoerde-lehnt-netzsperren-auf-zuruf-ab/">Tarnkappe</a>, other providers including A1, Drei, Kabelplus, Liwest, and UPC later followed suit.</p>



<p>&#8220;The decision of the providers to self-disclose may seem surprising at first glance,&#8221; says Maximilian Schubert, Secretary General of Internet Service Providers Austria&nbsp;(ISPA). </p>



<p>&#8220;However, this self-disclosure will hopefully open the eyes of many people entrusted with the topic of how unclear and almost worrying the situation is in this country.&#8221; </p>



<p>At issue is whether local ISPs are obliged to block &#8216;pirate&#8217; sites following an informal request from rights holders and in the absence of an official order. It now transpires, thanks to pressure from the ISPs, that they do not have to block following such requests.</p>



<p>Telecoms regulator <a href="https://www.rtr.at/de/rtr/OrganeTKK">Telecom Control Commission</a> will now get involved when a block is requested which will lead to a supervisory process and a full review by the agency. Informal blocking of domains following a simple request from rights holders is therefore ruled out.</p>



<p>&#8220;From&nbsp;ISPA&#8217;s&nbsp;point of view, this has sent another clear signal that network blocking constitutes a serious infringement of fundamental rights,&#8221; Schubert says.</p>



<p>&#8220;To rely on an informal system of &#8216;bartering&#8217; in such a sensitive matter, as the rights holders have requested, is simply incompatible with the principles of a modern constitutional state.&nbsp;It is now up to the legislator, while respecting the fundamental rights concerned, to find a solution that takes account of the different interests.&#8221;</p>



<p>Moving forward, ISPA says that ISPs want an &#8220;independent judicial body&#8221; to confirm in advance the legality of any blocking while ensuring that a minimum of time and resources are expended on the blocking process<g class="gr_ gr_200 gr-alert gr_gramm gr_inline_cards gr_run_anim Style replaceWithoutSep" id="200" data-gr-id="200">.</g></p>



<p>&#8220;In addition, users need to be able to clearly understand why they are being blocked and thus have the opportunity to fight the block directly at the crucial point. Furthermore, the providers must be compensated for their costs and protected against any claims of third parties,&#8221; ISPA concludes.</p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/">TF</a>, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/top-10-most-popular-torrent-sites-of-2018-180107/">torrent sites</a> and more. We also have <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-services-keep-anonymous-2018/">VPN reviews, </a><a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-discount-coupon-offer-torguard-nordvpn-expressvpn-pia/">discounts, offers and coupons</a>.</p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=167112
title: Facebook Sued For Refusing to Remove Copyrighted Photo
uri: Facebook-Sued-For-Refusing-to-Remove-Copyrighted-Photo
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/UCLc6S2e92U/
content:
<p><img class="alignright size-full wp-image-139520" src="media/139ebf81.facebook-pirate-1.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/facebook-pirate-1.jpg" alt="" width="234" height="122">Every day millions of people post photos online, without approval from the rightsholder.&nbsp;This is particularly prevalent on social media platforms such as Facebook.</p>
<p>Many photographers don&#8217;t have the time or resources to go after these types of infringements, but some are clearly drawing a line in the sand.</p>
<p>This week, photographer&nbsp;<a href="http://www.kristenpiersonphoto.com/">Kristen Pierson</a>&nbsp;filed a complaint against Facebook at a New York District Court. Pierson accuses the social media platform of hosting and displaying one of her works without permission.</p>
<p>Normally these issues are resolved with a DMCA takedown notice but in this case that didn&#8217;t work.</p>
<p>Last year, Pierson noticed that the Facebook account &#8220;Trusted Tech Tips&#8221; had used one of her works, a photo of Rhode Island politician Robert Nardolillo, without permission. When she requested Facebook to remove it, the company chose to leave it up instead.</p>
<p>“Hi-, Thanks for your report. Based on the information you’ve provided, it is not clear that the content you’ve reported infringes your copyright,&#8221; the Facebook representative wrote in reply.</p>
<p><span class="fontstyle0">&#8220;It appears that the content you reported is being used for the purposes of commentary or criticism. For this reason, we are unable to act on your report at this time.”</span></p>
<p><center><strong>Facebook&#8217;s reply</strong></center><center></center><center></center><center><img class="alignnone size-full wp-image-167113" src="media/85cd09e5.facebookreply.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/facebookreply.png" alt="" width="595" height="266"></center>The takedown notice was sent March last year and the post in question <a href="https://www.facebook.com/trustedtechtips/photos/a.714501555325380/1442382495870612/?type=3&amp;theater">remains online</a>&nbsp;at the time of writing, with the photo included. This prompted Pierson to file a complaint at a New York Federal Court this week accusing Facebook of copyright infringement.</p>
<p>According to the Rhode Island-based photographer, Facebook failed to comply with the takedown request and can&#8217;t rely&nbsp;on its safe harbor protection.</p>
<p>&#8220;Facebook did not comply with the DMCA procedure on taking the Photograph down. As a result, Facebook is not protected under the DMCA safe harbor as it failed to take down the Photograph from the Website,&#8221; the complaint reads.</p>
<p><center><strong>The &#8216;infringing&#8217; post (<a href="media/3c4b8c78.piersonfacebook.pdf" data-original-source="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/images/piersonfacebook.pdf">exhibit d</a>)</strong></center><center></center><center></center><center><img class="alignnone wp-image-167115 size-full" src="media/d8a727c9.trustedface-e1547653152128.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/trustedface-e1547653152128.png" alt="" width="600" height="328"></center>The short five-page complaint accuses Facebook of copyright infringement and Pierson requests compensation&nbsp;for the damages she suffered.</p>
<p><span class="fontstyle0">&#8220;Facebook infringed Plaintiff’s copyright in the Photograph by reproducing and publicly displaying the Photograph on the Website. Facebook is not, and has never been, licensed or otherwise authorized to reproduce, publically display, distribute and/or use the Photograph,&#8221; it reads.</span></p>
<p>The photographer is not new to these types of lawsuits. She has filed similar cases against other outlets such as Twitter. The latter case was eventually dismissed, likely after both parties reached an agreement.</p>
<p>In the present case, Pierson requests a trial by jury but it wouldn&#8217;t be a surprise if this matter is settled behind closed doors, away from the public&nbsp;eye.</p>
<p><em>&#8212;</em></p>
<p><em>A copy of the complaint against Facebook is available <a href="media/3c4b8c78.piersonfacebook.pdf" data-original-source="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/images/piersonfacebook.pdf">here (pdf)</a>.</em></p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/">TF</a>, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/top-10-most-popular-torrent-sites-of-2018-180107/">torrent sites</a> and more. We also have <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-services-keep-anonymous-2018/">VPN reviews, </a><a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-discount-coupon-offer-torguard-nordvpn-expressvpn-pia/">discounts, offers and coupons</a>.</p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=167156
title: Anti-Piracy Group BREIN ‘Dealt With’ 339 Pirate Sites Last Year
uri: Anti-Piracy-Group-BREIN-Dealt-With-339-Pirate-Sites-Last-Year
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/G7a1HNuHtIo/
content:
<p><img class="alignright size-full wp-image-167202" src="media/73211f6d.brein.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/brein.png" alt="" width="274" height="116">When it comes to civil anti-piracy enforcement, BREIN is without a doubt one of the best-known players in the industry.</p>
<p>The group, which receives support from Hollywood and other content industries, has shuttered hundreds of smaller sites in recent history and even took on the likes of Mininova and The Pirate Bay.</p>
<p>In 2018&nbsp;<a href="https://stichtingbrein.nl">BREIN</a>&nbsp;continued these enforcement actions. Besides targeting pirate sites throughout the world, it also increased its focus on vendors that offer illegal IPTV subscriptions.</p>
<p>The group has just published a detailed overview of its accomplishments over the past 12 months. This provides clear insight into the group&#8217;s anti-piracy priorities and offers a glimpse of what to expect in the near future.</p>
<p>BREIN&#8217;s copyright enforcement actions cover a broad range of pirate avenues. Steaming may be the prime focus for Hollywood at the moment, but the anti-piracy group isn&#8217;t letting other outlets out of its sight.</p>
<p>&#8220;BREIN’s approach focuses on all forms of illegal supply, regardless of the technology used for it, such as bittorrent, cyberlockers and Usenet and websites or social media linking to it,&#8221; BREIN notes.</p>
<p>Looking at the numbers we see that the anti-piracy group is closing the books on a productive 12 months.</p>
<p>Over the past year, BREIN received hundreds of notices from rightsholders&nbsp;about problematic&nbsp;activity. It concluded a total of&nbsp;511 investigations and 97 remain ongoing at the start of the new year.</p>
<p>Shutting down pirate sites is high on the agenda. BREIN says that it &#8216;dealt with&#8217; 339 illegal websites and services. These include&nbsp;<a href="https://torrentfreak.com/?p=155724&amp;preview=true">torrent sites</a>, <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/brein-shuts-down-usenet-indexing-community-settles-with-operators-180831/">Usenet linking services</a>, and cyberlockers. Some of the sites shut down completely and others were forced to leave their hosting providers.</p>
<p><center><strong>BREIN&#8217;s results</strong></center><center></center><center><img class="alignnone size-full wp-image-167216" src="media/bca0e2c3.breinfigures-e1547803900710.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/breinfigures-e1547803900710.png" alt="" width="500" height="347"></center>Speaking with TorrentFreak, BREIN director Tim Kuik says a close eye will be kept on sites that continue to operate despite its efforts. These are candidates for further ISP blocking processes, which remain on the agenda for the coming years.</p>
<p>Last year the group achieved some additional results in its Pirate Bay blocking case. Following a ruling at Europe&#8217;s highest court, the local Pirate Bay blockade was <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/court-expands-dutch-pirate-bay-blockade-to-more-isps-180113/">expanded</a> to several other Dutch ISPs. There are still <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/dutch-pirate-bay-blocking-case-gets-a-do-over-180702/">some issues to resolve</a>, but BREIN expects that the blockade will stand.</p>
<p>As mentioned in the past, BREIN also has <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/anti-piracy-group-brein-stopped-75-pirate-iptv-sellers-this-year-181128/">vendors of pirate streaming boxes</a> on its radar.&nbsp; Last year, it convinced 79 vendors of copyright-infringing IPTV and VOD services to halt their sales.</p>
<p>In addition, BREIN also caught 17 prolific <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/large-scale-music-pirate-settles-brein-10000-euros-180309/">uploaders</a>, removed 20 Facebook groups where infringing content was being shared, removed 1,291,384 search results, 12,470 files from cyberlockers, and took down 46,203 ads for illegal content.</p>
<p>In some cases, settlements were reached with the infringers. Last year, BREIN signed 31 agreements amounting to hundreds of thousands of euros in damages.</p>
<p>Looking ahead, BREIN plans to continue its enforcement efforts in the new year. Several years ago it announced plans to go after <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/anti-piracy-group-brein-plans-to-target-frequent-seeders-180713/">frequent seeders</a> of pirated material. The group is still collecting IP-address data and hopes to launch the campaign in 2019.</p>
<p>2018 has been a special year for the anti-piracy group which also celebrated its 20th anniversary. For this special occasion it released some additional statistics, boasting its efforts.</p>
<p>Since its inception, BREIN has dealt with more than 41,000 websites, removed over 17 million search engine results, and targeted more than 6,000 online sellers of copyright infringing content, the group notes.</p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/">TF</a>, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/top-10-most-popular-torrent-sites-of-2018-180107/">torrent sites</a> and more. We also have <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-services-keep-anonymous-2018/">VPN reviews, </a><a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-discount-coupon-offer-torguard-nordvpn-expressvpn-pia/">discounts, offers and coupons</a>.</p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=167188
title: TVZion ‘Pirate’ App Dev Threatens Anti-Piracy Measures to Screw Pirates
uri: TVZion-Pirate-App-Dev-Threatens-Anti-Piracy-Measures-to-Screw-Pi
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/QzMSU-mdhqM/
content:
<div class="wp-block-image"><figure class="alignright"><img src="media/0aaaa4fb.face-palm.jpg" data-original-source="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/images/face-palm.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-61200"/></figure></div>



<p>Put on your protective irony suits folks, you&#8217;re definitely going to need them. Facepalming is also <g class="gr_ gr_102 gr-alert gr_gramm gr_inline_cards gr_run_anim Punctuation only-del replaceWithoutSep" id="102" data-gr-id="102">allowed,</g>&nbsp;especially if accompanied by a slow head-shake.</p>



<p>With the downfall of Android-based apps like TerrariumTV, pirates everywhere are looking for the next big thing. Lots of content in a Netflix-style interface is the order of the day, and there is no shortage of contenders.</p>



<p>One player gaining traction with pirates is TVZion. The Android-based software looks good, performs well, and is a perfect fit for those looking to access all the latest movies and TV shows.</p>



<div class="wp-block-image"><figure class="aligncenter"><img src="media/7858d472.tvzion-app.png" data-original-source="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/images/tvzion-app.png" alt="" class="wp-image-167210"/><figcaption>TVZion &#8211; Pretty and functional</figcaption></figure></div>



<p>The standard version of TVZion is free and supported by ads. There is a &#8216;pro&#8217; version too which is advertised as &#8220;100% Ad free, premium features, priority requests and more.&#8221; Being in the &#8216;club&#8217;, however, comes at a price.</p>



<p>While some pirates are indeed happy to purchase the type of service detailed below (and indeed subscribe to the likes of Netflix and Spotify), the operator of TVZion appears exasperated by a growing number of users who want pro features at zero cost. </p>



<div class="wp-block-image"><figure class="aligncenter"><img src="media/32f258f1.zionclub-e1547800440959.png" data-original-source="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/images/zionclub-e1547800440959.png" alt="" class="wp-image-167203"/><figcaption>It&#8217;s cheap &#8211; but some people want cheaper</figcaption></figure></div>



<p></p>



<p>Such a thing is indeed an option, via modded TVZion APK files that are widely available and being promoted heavily by YouTubers. Trouble is, this apparent freeloading is grinding the dev&#8217;s gears while simultaneously undermining his product.</p>



<p>&#8220;So yesterday I had to take down the server momentarily to deploy yet another optimization. Upon checking logs now it&#8217;s safe to say about 35<g class="gr_ gr_10 gr-alert gr_tiny gr_gramm gr_inline_cards gr_run_anim Grammar only-ins replaceWithoutSep" id="10" data-gr-id="10"><g class="gr_ gr_10 gr-alert gr_tiny gr_gramm gr_inline_cards gr_run_anim Grammar only-ins replaceWithoutSep" id="10" data-gr-id="10"><g class="gr_ gr_10 gr-alert gr_tiny gr_gramm gr_inline_cards gr_run_anim Grammar only-ins replaceWithoutSep" id="10" data-gr-id="10">%</g></g></g> users are mod users. Thanks to mindless <g class="gr_ gr_9 gr-alert gr_spell gr_inline_cards gr_run_anim ContextualSpelling" id="9" data-gr-id="9"><g class="gr_ gr_9 gr-alert gr_spell gr_inline_cards gr_run_anim ContextualSpelling" id="9" data-gr-id="9"><g class="gr_ gr_9 gr-alert gr_spell gr_inline_cards gr_run_anim ContextualSpelling" id="9" data-gr-id="9">youtubers</g></g></g>, they are only linking to the modded versions,&#8221; he wrote on Reddit this week.</p>



<p>&#8220;Needless to say a server based app will not sustain this way because <g class="gr_ gr_11 gr-alert gr_gramm gr_inline_cards gr_run_anim Punctuation only-ins replaceWithoutSep" id="11" data-gr-id="11">eventually</g> I will run out of optimizations and server rent. So I am thinking of a countermeasure to deter users from wanting to use the modded version and also deter <g class="gr_ gr_4 gr-alert gr_spell gr_inline_cards gr_run_anim ContextualSpelling ins-del multiReplace" id="4" data-gr-id="4">youtubers</g> to linking to one.&#8221;</p>



<p>Presuming these freeloaders can be identified, the simplest method to end their fun would be to ban them from the service but according to the developer, he&#8217;s &#8220;looking for something more than that&#8221;, something that will act as a deterrent to prevent people using modded APKs altogether.</p>



<p>​If this sounds like the start of an anti-piracy brainstorming session, hold onto your hats folks &#8211; this one is something special. Here are the options for punishing &#8216;illegal&#8217; pro version users, as  <a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/TVZionApp/comments/agub96/discussion_what_to_do_with_mod_users/">suggested</a>  by the developer:</p>



<ol><li><em>Log mod users for Ip addresses, timestamps and contents accessed and keep this information to be used as I see fit if it ever comes to that</em></li><li><em>Crypto mining &#8211; Mine crypto currency in the background. From my experience this&#8217;ll only overwork the device for very little money</em></li><li><em>Use device as proxy &#8211; This will essentially turn their device into a proxy server which will be rented to others (NOT A FAN OF THIS)</em></li></ol>



<p>&#8220;Everything else that comes in my mind is rather more malicious so no point exploring that. The most graceful way to deal with this [in my opinion] is to simply let the user know that this is a mod app and now they are being logged. Let me know what do you think?&#8221; he added.</p>



<p>Even the most hardcore pirates in the world can&#8217;t fail to appreciate the irony here.</p>



<p><g class="gr_ gr_4 gr-alert gr_spell gr_inline_cards gr_run_anim ContextualSpelling ins-del multiReplace" id="4" data-gr-id="4">TVZion</g> is an application that is designed to offer content that otherwise would cost a fee to access. Movie and TV studios all over the world are complaining that their stuff costs billions to make and pirates are undermining their business models. In some cases, these companies employ copyright trolls to log IP addresses with the aim of later punishing them.</p>



<p>And what we have here is a developer of a pirate application, complaining that his business model is being undermined by pirates, so the solutions should perhaps include logging their IP addresses with the aim of punishing them at a later point.</p>



<p>There can be no doubt that this developer has invested plenty of time and energy into what seems to be a very competent application that achieves its stated goals. That classic anti-piracy tactics are being discussed as a solution to protect revenues is ironic at best and mind-boggling at worst.</p>



<p>If we want to argue that the guy is justified in protecting his investment, we can do that. If we want to state he has every right to log the IP addresses of freeloaders taking his service for free, we can do that as well.</p>



<p>What we can&#8217;t do in parallel is criticize entertainment and anti-piracy companies for making the same case for logging infringers and taking subsequent action against them. Either taking other people&#8217;s content and monetizing it is fair game for all, or the entire house of cards comes tumbling down.</p>



<p>Although it&#8217;s impossible to say what is going on behind the scenes of the <g class="gr_ gr_4 gr-alert gr_spell gr_inline_cards gr_disable_anim_appear ContextualSpelling ins-del multiReplace" id="4" data-gr-id="4">TVZion</g> app, at least for now it appears that these suggestions haven&#8217;t been put into practice. Trouble is, once you talk about doing this kind of thing <em>voluntarily</em> <em>to save a business model</em>, what happens when the authorities come calling and action is required to <em>save a skin</em>?</p>



<p></p>



<p><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/TVZionApp/comments/agub96/discussion_what_to_do_with_mod_users/"></a></p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/">TF</a>, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/top-10-most-popular-torrent-sites-of-2018-180107/">torrent sites</a> and more. We also have <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-services-keep-anonymous-2018/">VPN reviews, </a><a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-discount-coupon-offer-torguard-nordvpn-expressvpn-pia/">discounts, offers and coupons</a>.</p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=167053
title: Popular BitTorrent tracker Linkomanija Must Be Blocked, Appeal Court Rules
uri: Popular-BitTorrent-tracker-Linkomanija-Must-Be-Blocked-Appeal-Court-R
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/U40ZovrNlno/
content:
<div class="wp-block-image"><figure class="alignright"><img src="media/4095f203.linkomanija.png" data-original-source="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/images/linkomanija.png" alt="" class="wp-image-147817"/></figure></div>



<p>It&#8217;s certainly not difficult to see why Linkomanija is a major irritant to copyright holders in Lithuania and further afield.</p>



<p>For well over a decade the site has been a major force involved in the sharing of unlicensed content. Even today, despite years of conflict and attacks against the site, <a href="http://linkomanija.net">Linkomanija</a> is not only Lithuania&#8217;s most popular torrent index but also the 18th most popular site in the country, period.</p>



<p>Now, however, copyright holders hope that traffic to the site can be brought under control with the introduction of a court-ordered ISP blockade.</p>



<p>The Lithuanian Copyright Protection Association (LATGA) began its blocking efforts against Linkomanija back in 2016 when it filed a lawsuit at the Regional Court of Vilnius demanding that several local ISPs prevent their subscribers from accessing the site. </p>



<p>In November 2017,  the Court <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/torrent-site-blocking-endangers-freedom-expression-isp-warns-171128/">issued an order</a> which required the country&#8217;s largest Internet providers including Telia, Bitė, LRTC, Cgates, Init, and Balticum TV, to start blocking access to the popular torrent tracker.</p>



<p>However, the Court ordered the costs associated with blocking to be borne by the plaintiff and with ISP Telia complaining that blocking the entire site (which has been <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/bittorrent-tracker-becomes-official-movie-distributor-110428/">used by rightsholders</a> to distribute legal content) could amount to a restriction on free speech, an appeal was quickly on the cards.</p>



<p>After more than a year, the case has now been decided. ISPs will have to begin blocking Linkomanija with immediate effect.</p>



<p>&#8220;For two years, we have been in court with this Linkomanija case,&#8221; LATGA lawyer Andrius Iškauskas told <a href="https://www.delfi.lt/mokslas/technologijos/teismas-deda-taska-linkomanija-turi-buti-uzblokuota.d?id=80109983">Delfi</a>.</p>



<p>&#8220;The court of <g class="gr_ gr_6 gr-alert gr_gramm gr_inline_cards gr_run_anim Grammar only-ins replaceWithoutSep" id="6" data-gr-id="6">first</g> instance made a favorable decision for us, then it was appealed, and the Court of Appeal dismissed the appeal and essentially confirmed all our arguments that blocking Linkomanija is an appropriate and effective measure. </p>



<p>&#8220;This decision can still be appealed to the Supreme Court, but it is already valid and operators will have to execute it and block access to Linkomanija. I think that this decision will help to protect the rights of creators,&#8221; Iškauskas added.</p>



<p>LATGA director Jonas Liniauskas&nbsp;says that he&#8217;s pleased the Court listened to the concerns of rights holders and notes that legislative changes helped the case along. </p>



<p>&#8220;We are very pleased that the Lithuanian courts have finally heard authors who lose a large part of their income due to pirate activity,&#8221; he said<g class="gr_ gr_31 gr-alert gr_gramm gr_inline_cards gr_run_anim Punctuation multiReplace" id="31" data-gr-id="31">.</g></p>



<p>&#8220;I have no doubt that such decisions have been greatly influenced by the amendments to the Lithuanian Law on Copyright and Related Rights, as well as European case law, which will make it possible to protect authors more effectively from pirates on the Internet.&#8221;</p>



<p>In common with all regions where the blocking of one site is ordered, further blocks against more sites are now expected in Lithuania.</p>



<p><br></p>



<p><br></p>



<p> </p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/">TF</a>, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/top-10-most-popular-torrent-sites-of-2018-180107/">torrent sites</a> and more. We also have <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-services-keep-anonymous-2018/">VPN reviews, </a><a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-discount-coupon-offer-torguard-nordvpn-expressvpn-pia/">discounts, offers and coupons</a>.</p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=167092
title: Torrent Paradise Creates Decentralized ‘Pirate Bay’ With IPFS
uri: Torrent-Paradise-Creates-Decentralized-Pirate-Bay-With-IPFS
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/ujrhJjmlM7M/
content:
<p><img class="alignright size-full wp-image-167161" src="media/47fd4b68.paradise.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/paradise.jpg" alt="" width="277" height="219"><a href="https://ipfs.io/">IPFS</a>, short for InterPlanetary File System, has been around for a few years now.</p>
<p>While the name sounds alien to most people, it has a growing userbase among the tech-savvy.</p>
<p>In short, IPFS is a decentralized network where users make files available among each other. If a website uses IPFS, it is served by a &#8220;swarm&#8221; of people, much like BitTorrent users do when a file is shared.</p>
<p>The advantage of this system is that websites can become completely decentralized. If a website or other resource is hosted with IPFS, it remains accessible as long as the computer of one user who &#8220;pinned&#8221; it remains online.</p>
<p>The advantages of IPFS are clear. It allows archivists, content creators, researchers, and many others to distribute large volumes of data over the Internet. It&#8217;s censorship resistant and not vulnerable to regular hosting outages.</p>
<p>It&#8217;salso a perfect match for &#8216;pirate&#8217; sites. The decentralized nature makes IPFS sites virtually impossible to shut down. This aspect was already <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/pirate-bay-founder-piracy-scene-needs-innovation-160726/">highlighted</a> by Pirate Bay co-founder Peter Sunde, back in 2016.</p>
<p>“IPFS is really good and if everyone started using that instead it would be great. It would be working perfectly with less centralization. The problem is that the big sites like TPB and KAT are not really good at using new technology,” Sunde said.</p>
<p>KAT was shut down shortly after Sunde commented and while The Pirate Bay remains online, it now suffers more downtime than ever. Still, none of the major pirate sites have shown an interest in IPFS thus far.</p>
<p>There are others who&#8217;ve taken up this challenge though. A developer going by the handle &#8216;Urban Guacamole&#8217; recently launched <a href="https://torrent-paradise.ml/">Torrent-Paradise</a>, a torrent index which is powered with IPFS.</p>
<p>&#8220;I feel like decentralizing search is the natural next step in the evolution of the torrent ecosystem. File sharing keeps moving in the direction of more and more decentralization, eliminating one single point of failure after another,&#8221; he informs TF.</p>
<p>To start the site Torrent-Paradise used a copy of The Pirate Bay database. This was transformed into a searchable index with help <a href="https://ipfsearch.xyz/">from ipfsearch.xyz</a> and the site&#8217;s operator has a DHT crawler which, at the moment, adds approximately 20,000 new torrents per day.</p>
<p>This all sounds positive but there are also some drawbacks.</p>
<p>One of the main hurdles is that IPFS has to be installed and configured if you want to become a node. This is a relatively easy process, but the average web user may not be familiar with using a command line to set it up, which is a requirement.</p>
<p>However, there are also IPFS gateways available. Cloudflare, for example, introduced one recently. This allows anyone to access sites such as Torrent-Paradise through a <a href="https://cloudflare-ipfs.com/ipns/torrent-paradise.ml/">custom URL</a>, but these people don&#8217;t help to share the site.</p>
<p>Another downside is that the static index which the site relies on is only updated once a day. This isn&#8217;t a technical restriction, but more a practical one. In theory, it could be updated in near real-time.</p>
<p>At the moment there&#8217;s both a <a href="https://torrent-paradise.ml/">regular</a> Torrent-Paradise website, accessible to all, as well as an <a href="http://localhost:8080/ipns/torrent-paradise.ml/">IPFS version</a> which will remain ad-free. The site itself is fairly basic, but the real point of it is to showcase the power of decentralization.</p>
<p>The decentralization of file-sharing has been ongoing for decades. The BitTorrent protocol is decentralized, for example. And The Pirate Bay moved this further by removing its tracker and torrents, relying on DHT and magnet links instead.</p>
<p>&#8220;Decentralizing torrent search is next,&#8221; Urban Guacamole says, who believes that IPFS could become more common among torrent sites in the future.</p>
<p>Torrent-Paradise&#8217;s operator sees &#8216;availability&#8217; as one of the main advantages. In this case, that goes hand in hand with being censorship resistant.</p>
<p>&#8220;Because each update of Torrent Paradise is an IPFS hash, it is impossible for anyone, including me, to take down the site. As long as there&#8217;s someone pinning it (the IPFS equivalent of seeding), the site will be available.&#8221;</p>
<p>Since the site started out as a Pirate Bay copy, rightsholders may eventually come in with complaints. While the site will comply with DMCA notices, it can&#8217;t control the hashes that are already shared in the network.</p>
<p>For the time being, Urban Guacamole plans to continue his work on the site. With a free domain name and Cloudflare support, it only costs roughly $4 a month, so the cost is not a factor.</p>
<p>Perhaps something for The Pirate Bay to consider?</p>
<p>&#8220;It most definitely would help them keep their site available when their servers are down,&#8221; Urban Guacamole says.</p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/">TF</a>, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/top-10-most-popular-torrent-sites-of-2018-180107/">torrent sites</a> and more. We also have <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-services-keep-anonymous-2018/">VPN reviews, </a><a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-discount-coupon-offer-torguard-nordvpn-expressvpn-pia/">discounts, offers and coupons</a>.</p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=167241
title: Voluntary Live Sports Piracy Blocking Implemented in Portugal
uri: Voluntary-Live-Sports-Piracy-Blocking-Implemented-in-Portugal
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/sBw2Kp85yHc/
content:
<div class="wp-block-image"><figure class="alignright"><img src="media/9eb9cac7.pageblocked.jpg" data-original-source="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/images/pageblocked.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-147564" srcset="https://torrentfreak.com/images/pageblocked.jpg 275w, https://torrentfreak.com/images/pageblocked-200x150.jpg 200w" sizes="(max-width: 275px) 100vw, 275px"></figure></div>



<p> In July 2015, Portugal’s Ministry of Culture&nbsp;<a href="https://torrentfreak.com/rapid-pirate-site-blocking-mechanism-introduced-by-portugal-150731/">announced</a>&nbsp;the signing of a an anti-piracy memorandum between the General Inspection of Cultural Activities (IGAC), the Portuguese Association of Telecommunication Operators (APRITEL), various rightsholder groups, the body responsible for administering <g class="gr_ gr_4 gr-alert gr_gramm gr_inline_cards gr_run_anim Style multiReplace" id="4" data-gr-id="4">Portugal’s .</g>PT domain, and representatives from the advertising industry. </p>



<p>The aim of the memorandum was the creation of a super-streamlined anti-piracy mechanism which could be triggered following complaints from rightsholders. As a result, local anti-piracy outfit MAPINET regularly collates evidence on pirate site activities and ISPs block the platforms, with no court intervention required.</p>



<p>Since then, <g class="gr_ gr_17 gr-alert gr_gramm gr_inline_cards gr_run_anim Grammar only-del replaceWithoutSep" id="17" data-gr-id="17">a huge</g> number of sites have been blocked, with new domains added to the country&#8217;s unofficial blacklist every month. At the time of writing there are more than <a href="https://sitesbloqueados.pt/">1,900 sites blocked</a> in the country, many on copyright grounds. Now, however, there appears to be a significant new addition to this controversial scheme.</p>



<p>With what appears to have been little if any public scrutiny, back in December a new agreement was signed between IGAC, APRITEL, and rightsholder groups including <a href="http://fevip.org/site/">FEVIP</a> and <a href="https://www.gedipe.org/website/"><g class="gr_ gr_7 gr-alert gr_spell gr_inline_cards gr_run_anim ContextualSpelling ins-del multiReplace" id="7" data-gr-id="7">GEDIPE</g></a>. The aim was the protection of live sports with the introduction of a regime to block &#8216;pirate&#8217; streams of live sports broadcasts.</p>



<p>Discussions online indicate that those accessing recent live matches were interrupted by ISP blockades which prevented them from accessing unauthorized platforms. After being questioned by local publication <a href="http://exameinformatica.sapo.pt/noticias/internet/2019-01-18-IGAC-operadores-e-produtores-de-video-assinaram-acordo-para-bloquear-streamings-piratas-na-propria-hora">Exame Informática</a>, IGAC confirmed that the practice is indeed going ahead as per the December agreement.</p>



<p>&#8220;Live events, by&nbsp;their very nature and under penalty of futility, require a faster action of the entities involved in the course of unauthorized transmissions,&#8221; said IGAC Inspector General Silveira Botelho.</p>



<p>Botelho told the publication that the original memorandum wasn&#8217;t designed to combat illicit streams of live sports. The new agreement, however, operates on information obtained shortly before live events get underway, in order to block illicit transmissions more effectively.</p>



<p>As usual, rightsholders provide the initial notification to IGAC which then makes the decision whether or not to block the resource. I<g class="gr_ gr_10 gr-alert gr_spell gr_inline_cards gr_run_anim ContextualSpelling ins-del multiReplace" id="10" data-gr-id="10">nstructions</g> are then handed to ISPs to block the online locations associated with the illegal streaming activities.</p>



<p>Unlike the regular blocking process, bans aren&#8217;t permanent but are lifted as soon as the events the rightsholders wish to protect have been concluded. </p>



<p>This appears to be similar to the blocking activities carried out in the UK by the <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/premier-league-obtains-piracy-blocking-order-for-2018-19-season-180719/">Premier League</a> and a pair of boxing promotions (<a href="https://torrentfreak.com/illegal-anthony-joshua-v-alexander-povetkin-boxing-streams-will-be-blocked-180921/">1</a>,<a href="https://torrentfreak.com/new-uk-live-sports-injunction-will-target-pirate-streams-until-2020-181224/">2</a>). The difference is that these are fully authorized by <g class="gr_ gr_182 gr-alert gr_gramm gr_inline_cards gr_run_anim Grammar only-ins replaceWithoutSep" id="182" data-gr-id="182">High</g> Court injunction whereas the Portugal efforts are entirely voluntary.</p>



<p>&#8220;The agreement applies to all live events and is open to the inclusion of other entities that wish to contribute to the achievement of the objectives therein and to accept the respective terms and conditions,&#8221; says IGAC&#8217;s Botelho. </p>



<p>While all live events are covered by the memorandum, reports online suggest that only soccer matches have been affected thus far. The blocking was confirmed by Revolução dos Bytes (Bytes’ Revolution), the group behind <a href="https://sitesbloqueados.pt/">SitesBloqueados.pt</a> and <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/massive-site-blocking-measures-countered-by-100k-browser-addon-users-171231/">site unblocking service Ahoy!</a>, who told TorrentFreak that there has been a &#8216;huge&#8217; increase in new detected blocked sites.</p>



<p>&#8220;I&#8217;m worried about this new easy and expedited way of blocking sites, it  probably means that they have developed a new tool for this particular  purpose, making the process of censoring sites less tedious and with  even less red tape,&#8221; team member Henrique Mouta says.</p>



<p>&#8220;I don&#8217;t know how their system works behind the scenes, but I highly doubt that anyone is double checking if the site actually meets the criteria defined in the memorandum.&#8221;</p>



<p>In any event, the Ahoy! <g class="gr_ gr_51 gr-alert gr_gramm gr_inline_cards gr_run_anim Grammar only-ins doubleReplace replaceWithoutSep" id="51" data-gr-id="51">tool</g> is still being updated to unblock affected sites, although Henrique says the team <g class="gr_ gr_78 gr-alert gr_gramm gr_inline_cards gr_run_anim Grammar multiReplace" id="78" data-gr-id="78">are</g> having to do &#8220;a lot more work&#8221; to keep up with the increased volume.</p>



<p> </p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/">TF</a>, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/top-10-most-popular-torrent-sites-of-2018-180107/">torrent sites</a> and more. We also have <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-services-keep-anonymous-2018/">VPN reviews, </a><a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-discount-coupon-offer-torguard-nordvpn-expressvpn-pia/">discounts, offers and coupons</a>.</p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=167260
title: Top 10 Most Pirated Movies of The Week on BitTorrent – 01/21/19
uri: Top-10-Most-Pirated-Movies-of-The-Week-on-BitTorrent-01-21-19
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/vCkaP9yOo4I/
content:
<p><figure id="attachment_167262" style="width: 300px" class="wp-caption alignright"><img class="size-full wp-image-167262" src="media/04fd1391.starborn.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/starborn.jpg" alt="" width="300" height="188"><figcaption id="figcaption_attachment_167262" class="wp-caption-text">Photo: Warner Bros.</figcaption></figure></p>
<p>This week we have six newcomers in our chart.</p>
<p>A Star is Born is the most downloaded movie.</p>
<p>The data for our weekly download chart is estimated by TorrentFreak, and is for informational and educational reference only. All the movies in the list are Web-DL/Webrip/HDRip/BDrip/DVDrip unless stated otherwise.</p>
<p><a href="http://TorrentFreak.com/category/dvdrip/feed/"><strong>RSS feed</strong></a> for the articles of the recent weekly movie download charts.</p>
<h5>This week&#8217;s most downloaded movies are:</h5>
<table class="css hover">
<thead>
<tr>
<th width="12%"><strong>Movie Rank</strong></th>
<th width="15%"><strong>Rank <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/top-10-most-pirated-movies-of-the-week-on-bittorrent-01-07-19/">last week</a></strong></th>
<th><strong>Movie name</strong></th>
<th width="18%"><strong>IMDb Rating / Trailer</strong></th>
</tr>
</thead>
<tfoot>
<tr>
<td colspan="4">Most downloaded movies via torrents</td>
</tr>
</tfoot>
<tbody>
<tr>
<td><strong>1</strong></td>
<td>(&#8230;)</td>
<td><a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1517451/">A Star is Born</a></td>
<td><a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1517451/">8.0</a> / <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bo_efYhYU2A">trailer</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><strong>2</strong></td>
<td>(&#8230;)</td>
<td><a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1846589/">Hunter Killer</a></td>
<td><a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1846589/">6.7</a> / <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QAhcDHRZOak">trailer</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><strong>3</strong></td>
<td>(1)</td>
<td><a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1213641/">First Man</a></td>
<td><a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1213641/">7.5</a> / <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PSoRx87OO6k&amp;t=43s">trailer</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><strong>4</strong></td>
<td>(&#8230;)</td>
<td><a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt5177088/">The Girl in The Spider&#8217;s Web</a></td>
<td><a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt5177088/">6.1</a> / <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XKMSP9OKspQ">trailer</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><strong>5</strong></td>
<td>(2)</td>
<td><a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1477834/">Aquaman</a> (HDTC)</td>
<td><a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1477834/">7.7</a> / <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZmqJJqFX_CU">trailer</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><strong>6</strong></td>
<td>(3)</td>
<td><a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1270797/">Venom</a></td>
<td><a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1270797/">7.0</a> / <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xLCn88bfW1o&amp;t=3s">trailer</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><strong>7</strong></td>
<td>(&#8230;)</td>
<td><a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt5523010/">The Nutcracker and the Four Realms</a></td>
<td><a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt5523010/">5.6</a> / <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BXfxLIuNJvw">trailer</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><strong>8</strong></td>
<td>(&#8230;)</td>
<td><a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt4701182/">Bumblebee</a> (Subbed HDRip)</td>
<td><a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt4701182/">7.2</a> / <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lcwmDAYt22k">trailer</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><strong>9</strong></td>
<td>(4)</td>
<td><a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt4131496/">The Vanishing</a></td>
<td><a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt4131496/">6.0</a> / <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BMwG9-GfcJI">trailer</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><strong>10</strong></td>
<td>(&#8230;)</td>
<td><a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1727824/">Bohemian Rhapsody</a> (DVDScr)</td>
<td><a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1727824/">8.3</a> / <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mP0VHJYFOAU">trailer</a></td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/">TF</a>, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/top-10-most-popular-torrent-sites-of-2018-180107/">torrent sites</a> and more. We also have <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-services-keep-anonymous-2018/">VPN reviews, </a><a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-discount-coupon-offer-torguard-nordvpn-expressvpn-pia/">discounts, offers and coupons</a>.</p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=167285
title: Copyright Negotiations Canceled As ‘Article 13’ Opposition Rises
uri: Copyright-Negotiations-Canceled-As-Article-13-Opposition-Rises
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/FY0lEY_tkVk/
content:
<p><img class="alignright size-full wp-image-136985" src="media/19bd259d.eu-copyright.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/eu-copyright.jpg" alt="" width="250" height="167">A year ago &#8220;Article 13&#8221; was only known to a select audience with a particular interest in copyright issues.</p>
<p>Today, EU&#8217;s copyright reform proposals and the potential &#8216;Internet filters&#8217; have gone mainstream.</p>
<p>Last September the European Parliament&nbsp;<a href="https://torrentfreak.com/eu-parliament-adopts-controversial-upload-filter-proposal-180912/">backed&nbsp;</a>the controversial Article 13 plans. This set in motion a round of trilogue&nbsp;negotiations during which the final text would be drawn up.</p>
<p>Initially, the last negotiation round was scheduled for last December, but that was later postponed to today. However, there are no negotiations today either.</p>
<p>Last Friday, EU members voted on the negotiating mandate for the Council. With 11 countries voting against a compromise position on Article 13 and Article 11, they failed to reach an agreement.</p>
<p>As a result, today&#8217;s round of final negotiations <a href="https://www.politico.eu/pro/romanian-presidency-cancels-upcoming-trilogue-on-copyright/">was canceled</a>. This doesn&#8217;t mean that the controversial proposals will be shelved, but it creates another delay. And as time passes, opposition only seems to grow.</p>
<p>Early on, most protests came from the public at large and activist groups who believe that Article 13 will lead to broad upload filters, possibly censoring fair use content.</p>
<p>However, as lawmakers tried to seek compromises, various rightsholders were no longer happy and retracted their support as well. This includes <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/rightsholders-call-for-suspension-of-article-13-190116/">movie and TV-companies</a>, as well as <a href="https://www.ifpi.org/news/European-creatives-and-rightsholders-caution-that-new-draft-of-Article-13-requires-urgent-changes-in-key-areas">music groups</a>, which initially backed the proposal.</p>
<p>Copyright holders are still in favor of the original Article 13 text, but they believe that the latest proposals are watered down to a degree where they might be worse off than before.</p>
<p>The original Article 13 opponents, meanwhile, argue that it&#8217;s best to remove the article from the broader copyright reform proposals entirely and to do the same with Article 11, also known as the &#8216;link tax.&#8217;</p>
<p>Julia Reda, Member of the European&nbsp;Parliament&nbsp;for the Pirate Party, hopes for the latter.</p>
<p>The outcome of today’s Council vote also shows that&nbsp;public awareness of the copyright reform is having an effect, Reda<a href="https://juliareda.eu/2019/01/copyright-hits_wall/"> writes</a>.</p>
<p>&#8220;Keeping up the pressure in the coming weeks will be&nbsp;more important than ever&nbsp;to make sure that the most dangerous elements of the new copyright proposal will be rejected,&#8221; she adds.</p>
<p>While Article 13 is not off the table, it appears that the compromise strategy of EU lawmakers isn&#8217;t helping. And after today&#8217;s postponed vote, there will likely be more protests and lobbying efforts from both sides.</p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/">TF</a>, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/top-10-most-popular-torrent-sites-of-2018-180107/">torrent sites</a> and more. We also have <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-services-keep-anonymous-2018/">VPN reviews, </a><a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-discount-coupon-offer-torguard-nordvpn-expressvpn-pia/">discounts, offers and coupons</a>.</p>
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feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=167245
title: Reddit SoccerStreams Effectively Shuts Down Following Piracy Complaints
uri: Reddit-SoccerStreams-Effectively-Shuts-Down-Following-Piracy-Complaint
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/MKclhiF6gz8/
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<div class="wp-block-image"><figure class="alignright"><img src="media/af6fa99d.redditp.png" data-original-source="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/images/redditp.png" alt="" class="wp-image-125451" srcset="https://torrentfreak.com/images/redditp.png 250w, https://torrentfreak.com/images/redditp-200x150.png 200w" sizes="(max-width: 250px) 100vw, 250px"></figure></div>



<p>Watching most top-tier soccer or football is an expensive option in most regions. Billions are paid out by broadcasters for the rights to matches and this cost has to be passed down to fans.</p>



<p>While millions dig deep to fund what has become a pricey sport to follow, others seek a free fix, often in the shape of an unauthorized online stream. These come in many formats, from websites with embedded players through to IPTV and streaming torrent links.</p>



<p>While these are widely available online, having these sources listed in one place is much more convenient for the end user. Until two days ago, Reddit&#8217;s /r/soccerstreams subreddit aimed to fill that gap.</p>



<p>With in excess of 420,000 subscribers, /r/soccerstreams was undoubtedly popular but like similar sections on Reddit offering links to infringing content, the subreddit was also plagued with copyright infringement complaints from upset rightsholders.</p>



<p>According to the moderators of /r/<g class="gr_ gr_5 gr-alert gr_spell gr_inline_cards gr_run_anim ContextualSpelling ins-del multiReplace" id="5" data-gr-id="5">soccerstreams</g>, these recently reached &#8220;critical mass&#8221;, something which effectively shut down the subreddit.</p>



<p>&#8220;I regret to inform you all that a few days ago, the Reddit Admins got in touch with us about an impending ban of this subreddit if changes weren’t made,&#8221; moderator &#8216;<g class="gr_ gr_35 gr-alert gr_spell gr_inline_cards gr_disable_anim_appear ContextualSpelling" id="35" data-gr-id="35">notsoyoungpadawan</g>&#8216; <a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/soccerstreams/comments/ahk9uk/important_announcement_about_the_future_of_this/">wrote</a> in an <g class="gr_ gr_61 gr-alert gr_spell gr_inline_cards gr_run_anim ContextualSpelling ins-del multiReplace" id="61" data-gr-id="61">annou</g>ncement.</p>



<p>&#8220;The only way to save it, from our perspective, was to cease all <g class="gr_ gr_3 gr-alert gr_spell gr_inline_cards gr_run_anim ContextualSpelling ins-del multiReplace" id="3" data-gr-id="3">user related</g> activity here.&#8221;</p>



<p>Since the users of the subreddit were the ones posting the links, the announcement means that while /r/<g class="gr_ gr_3 gr-alert gr_spell gr_inline_cards gr_run_anim ContextualSpelling ins-del multiReplace" id="3" data-gr-id="3">soccerstreams</g> still technically exists, the lack of any streaming soccer links means that the show is effectively over. However, the subreddit will now act as a &#8220;home base&nbsp;for the official Soccer Streams mod team.&#8221;</p>



<p>With /r/<g class="gr_ gr_3 gr-alert gr_spell gr_inline_cards gr_run_anim ContextualSpelling ins-del multiReplace" id="3" data-gr-id="3">soccerstreams</g> being used for announcements and news moving forward, the mod team has revealed that two new subreddits have been created for <a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/soccerstreams_pl">Premier League content</a> and content from <a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/soccerstreams_other">other leagues</a>. There is also a <a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/soccerstreams/comments/ahk9uk/important_announcement_about_the_future_of_this/eefn4q6/">Discord Server</a> for the former.</p>



<p>&#8220;The aforementioned two are, for the moment, temporary solutions. We are working on a more permanent solution, however, due to the short notice we’ve had to work with what we have,&#8221; the mod teams says.</p>



<p>The indication that these are only temporary solutions is unsurprising. </p>



<p>While it&#8217;s unclear which leagues filed copyright infringement complaints with Reddit, it&#8217;s more than likely that the Premier League was heavily involved so will take a dim view of any new section set up to carry out the same function as /r/<g class="gr_ gr_3 gr-alert gr_spell gr_inline_cards gr_run_anim ContextualSpelling ins-del multiReplace" id="3" data-gr-id="3">soccerstreams</g>.</p>



<p>There seems little doubt that if they gain any traction on Reddit or Discord, these new sharing venues will eventually be shut down too since both Reddit and Discord have policies that outlaw copyright infringement and the increasing importance of repeat infringer policies.</p>



<p>This voluntary shutdown features just one in a line of similar subreddits that have been shut down following copyright complaints in recent times. Last year /r/<g class="gr_ gr_128 gr-alert gr_spell gr_inline_cards gr_disable_anim_appear ContextualSpelling" id="128" data-gr-id="128">megalinks</g> suffered a similar fate as did <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/will-reddits-r-piracy-sub-reddit-get-shut-down-180826/">/r/<g class="gr_ gr_144 gr-alert gr_spell gr_inline_cards gr_disable_anim_appear ContextualSpelling ins-del multiReplace" id="144" data-gr-id="144">crackedsoftware</g></a>.</p>



<p>&nbsp; </p>



<p></p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/">TF</a>, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/top-10-most-popular-torrent-sites-of-2018-180107/">torrent sites</a> and more. We also have <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-services-keep-anonymous-2018/">VPN reviews, </a><a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-discount-coupon-offer-torguard-nordvpn-expressvpn-pia/">discounts, offers and coupons</a>.</p>
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