# articles

feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=105299
title: Europe Will Abolish Geo-Blocking and Other Copyright Restrictions
uri: Europe-Will-Abolish-Geo-Blocking-and-Other-Copyright-Restrictions
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/DZR2YBhVcYU/
content:
<p><img src="media/3737aed5.europe-flag.png" data-original-source="https://torrentfreak.com/images/europe-flag.png" alt="europe-flag" width="222" height="146" class="alignright size-full wp-image-79290">Due to complicated licensing agreements Netflix is only available in a few dozen countries, all of which have a different content library.</p>
<p>The same is true for many other media services such as BBC iPlayer, Amazon Instant Video, and even YouTube.</p>
<p>These geo-blocking practices have been a thorn in the side of the European Commission, who now plan to abolish these restrictions altogether. </p>
<p>Today the EU&#8217;s governing body adopted the new Digital Single Market Strategy. One of the main pillars of the new strategy is to provide consumers and businesses with better access to digital goods and services.</p>
<p>Among other things the Commission plans &#8220;to end unjustified geo-blocking,&#8221; which it describes as &#8220;a discriminatory practice used for commercial reasons.&#8221;</p>
<p>&#8220;I want to see every consumer getting the best deals and every business accessing the widest market – wherever they are in Europe,&#8221; Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker says.</p>
<p>Another key element on the new strategy is a modern and more European copyright law. The Commission notes that the legislative proposals to achieve this will follow before the end of the year. </p>
<p>Under the revamped copyright law it should be easier for consumers to access and enjoy content online. This means that consumers will have the right to access content they purchased at home in other European countries. </p>
<p>According to the Commission various industries need to adapt to the new realities of the digital age, indirectly hinting at the restrictive and conservative movie industry.</p>
<p>&#8220;Europe has strengths to build on, but also homework to do, in particular to make sure its industries adapt, and its citizens make full use of the potential of new digital services and goods, Commissioner for the Digital Economy and Society Günther Oettinger says. </p>
<p>&#8220;We have to prepare for a modern society and will table proposals balancing the interests of consumers and industry,&#8221; he adds.</p>
<p>The new Digital Single Market Strategy doesn&#8217;t come as a surprise. Previously, several insiders called for the <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/eu-commissioner-wants-to-abolish-netflix-geoblocking-150227/">lifting</a> of many unnecessary copyright restrictions. With the plans now being official it will be interesting to see what concrete proposals will follow and how the copyright industries respond.</p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com">TorrentFreak</a>, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/top-popular-torrent-sites-2015-150104/">torrent sites</a> and <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/anonymous-vpn-service-provider-review-2015-150228/">anonymous VPN services</a>.</p>
<div class="feedflare">
<a href="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~ff/Torrentfreak?a=DZR2YBhVcYU:uXK3nDIHkYk:yIl2AUoC8zA"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/Torrentfreak?d=yIl2AUoC8zA" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~ff/Torrentfreak?a=DZR2YBhVcYU:uXK3nDIHkYk:D7DqB2pKExk"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/Torrentfreak?i=DZR2YBhVcYU:uXK3nDIHkYk:D7DqB2pKExk" border="0"></img></a>
</div><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~4/DZR2YBhVcYU" height="1" width="1" alt=""/>


feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=105330
title: Music Industry Reports 200 Millionth Pirate Link to Google
uri: Music-Industry-Reports-200-Millionth-Pirate-Link-to-Google
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/_nUb0IAE1MM/
content:
<p><img src="media/36bd1cdd.google-bay.jpg" data-original-source="https://torrentfreak.com/images/google-bay.jpg" alt="google-bay" width="200" height="177" class="alignright size-full wp-image-21875">Despite the growing availability of legal music services in many countries, record labels keep battling ever popular pirate sites.</p>
<p>In an attempt to prevent these sites from expanding their audiences, music industry groups BPI and RIAA send millions of takedown notices to Internet services every month. Most of these requests are directed at Google.</p>
<p>This week the two most prolific industry groups reached a new milestone after they notified Google of the 200 millionth allegedly infringing URL. This is up from 100 million little over a year ago.</p>
<p>According to the most recent statistics the BPI has reported over 138 million links in 295,730 notices with the RIAA adding more than 63 million in 19,569 requests.</p>
<p><center><img src="media/c1a128d1.bpigoog.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/bpigoog.png" alt="bpigoog" width="600" height="202" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-105363"></center></p>
<p>While the record industry groups have little to complain about when it comes to Google&#8217;s response rate, they believe that removing links alone is not enough.</p>
<p>&#8220;The fact that BPI and RIAA have together removed 200 million illegal results from Google demonstrates just how much more needs to be done to clean up search,&#8221; a BPI spokesperson tells TF.</p>
<p>As highlighted in the past, the BPI and RIAA would like Google to go above and beyond processing takedown requests. According to them, the millions of reported links show that removing infringing links alone isn&#8217;t working. </p>
<p>&#8220;If the digital single market is to unlock growth, consumers need be directed to legal sources for entertainment ahead of the online black market. BPI alone has had to remove 7.5 million links from Google in the last month, protecting UK artists and musicians from sites that steal their work,&#8221; the BPI notes. </p>
<p>In recent years Google has slowly implemented several changes to appease the record labels. October last year the company implemented the <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/google-will-downrank-pirate-sites-starting-next-week-141018/">most significant change</a> to its search algorithm to date, aimed at downranking sites that often link to copyright-infringing material.</p>
<p>This significantly reduced the visibility of pirate links in search results and had a <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/googles-new-downranking-hits-pirate-sites-hard-141023/">major impact</a> on the traffic levels of some sites. However, the BPI believes that more must be done to properly address the piracy issue.</p>
<p>&#8220;The changes to Google’s algorithm last year represented a positive step,&#8221; the BPI says.</p>
<p>&#8220;But if further progress is not made swiftly to ensure that searches for entertainment content yield overwhelmingly legal results &#8211; for instance by boosting the ranking of known licensed sites for appropriate types of search &#8211; then the new UK Government and the EU Commission should intervene to make that happen.&#8221;</p>
<p>Both the UK Government and the European Commission are currently reviewing whether online intermediaries such as search engines should have a legal obligation to protect copyright holders. </p>
<p>Google, however, believes that it has done enough and repeatedly argues that the entertainment industries can themselves do more.</p>
<p>“Piracy often arises when consumer demand goes unmet by legitimate supply,” the company <a href="https://drive.google.com/file/d/0BwxyRPFduTN2NmdYdGdJQnFTeTA/view">noted earlier</a>. “The right combination of price, convenience, and inventory will do far more to reduce piracy than enforcement can.”</p>
<p>Based of the current standoff and the increasing rate at which pirate links are being reported to Google, the music industry groups will double the 200 million milestone by the end of next year.</p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com">TorrentFreak</a>, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/top-popular-torrent-sites-2015-150104/">torrent sites</a> and <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/anonymous-vpn-service-provider-review-2015-150228/">anonymous VPN services</a>.</p>
<div class="feedflare">
<a href="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~ff/Torrentfreak?a=_nUb0IAE1MM:Q9Qmt88i1HU:yIl2AUoC8zA"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/Torrentfreak?d=yIl2AUoC8zA" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~ff/Torrentfreak?a=_nUb0IAE1MM:Q9Qmt88i1HU:D7DqB2pKExk"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/Torrentfreak?i=_nUb0IAE1MM:Q9Qmt88i1HU:D7DqB2pKExk" border="0"></img></a>
</div><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~4/_nUb0IAE1MM" height="1" width="1" alt=""/>


feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=105332
title: MPA Report Advises Outreach Campaign Against ‘Pirate’ Ads
uri: MPA-Report-Advises-Outreach-Campaign-Against-Pirate-Ads
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/UHNrou-ZBr8/
content:
<p><img src="media/32cbee81.mpa.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/mpa.jpg" alt="mpa" width="180" height="117" class="alignright size-full wp-image-77324">As part of their war against the unauthorized sharing of copyrighted material online, entertainment industry groups and their affiliates commission reports to highlight how so-called &#8216;pirate&#8217; sites operate. </p>
<p>In 2014, for example, research company NetNames published a <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/report-brands-dotcoms-mega-a-piracy-haven-140918/">report</a> detailing the revenue streams for so-called &#8216;cyberlockers&#8217;. It was later used by a U.S. senator <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/senator-uses-piracy-report-to-pressure-visa-mastercard-141125/">to pressure</a> Visa and Mastercard to stop doing business with such sites.</p>
<p>With continued lobbying efforts in mind, a new report commissioned by the Motion Picture Association (MPA) has again been examining how so-called &#8216;pirate&#8217; sites generate their income.</p>
<p>The study, carried out by UK-based Incopro, analyzes the revenue sources for the 250 most popular sites offering access to unlicensed content in Germany, Spain, France, Italy and United Kingdom. Due to some overlap in each country&#8217;s &#8220;most-popular 250&#8243; list, 622 sites in three categories (hosting, linking only, P2P) were examined overall.</p>
<p><strong>Advertising, cash &#8211; or both</strong></p>
<p>The company looked at two key areas of revenue generation &#8211; monies received from companies who advertise on the sites (intentionally or otherwise) and monies received from users who either pay or donate via payment methods including Visa, MasterCard and Bitcoin.</p>
<p>In its analysis Incopro found that 550 of the 622 sites surveyed carried advertising and 142 offered at least one payment method. An overlap between the two groups meant that 122 sites carried advertising and also accepted payments. With just 52 sites out of 622 carrying no advertising and accepting no payments, a total of 570 sites (91.6%) had at least one source of revenue.</p>
<p>The sources of revenue for each of the three site categories were broken down revealing that &#8216;linking only&#8217; and &#8216;P2P portal&#8217; sites rely heavily on advertising. &#8216;Hosting&#8217; sites tended to have both advertising and payments, with free users being shown advertising and premium users often paying to avoid them. </p>
<p><img src="media/bddacf5c.incop-1.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/incop-1.png" alt="incop-1" width="650" height="348" class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-105338"></p>
<p><strong>Key advertising intermediaries</strong></p>
<p>Since advertising is viewed as the most important source of revenue for the majority of the sites in the report, Incopro has attempted to identify which advertising intermediaries are responsible. While several companies each served up to 55 sites in the report, three entities are highlighted as market leaders.</p>
<p>&#8220;Analysis found that AdCash, Propellerads/OnClickAds&#8230;.and DirectREV were the top three intermediaries to serve adverts across all unique sites in this study,&#8221; Incopro reports.</p>
<p>Noting that the report concentrates on the intermediaries delivering adverts to the 622 sites, Incopro says that opportunities exist to disrupt the flow of ads.</p>
<p>&#8220;One possible approach to this would be to engage with the Content Delivery Networks (CDNs) which do not serve the adverts independently but cache the creative elements that are called by ad tags served by other intermediaries. Consideration should be given to approaching the leading CDNs and working with them to block adverts served to unauthorised sites,&#8221; the company writes.</p>
<p><strong>Advertising categories</strong></p>
<p>Incopro says that the adverts observed in the study were placed into standard categories such as entertainment (5%), tech (5.9%), retail (6.6%), business/finance (7.4%), games (10%), adult (10.4%) and gambling (18.1%).</p>
<p>However, due to the high number of deceptive ads appearing on &#8216;pirate&#8217; sites the company had to create a new group (&#8216;Trick button/Malware&#8217;) which accounted for 31.5% of the total, the biggest group by far.</p>
<p>&#8220;The Trick Button/Malware types of advert typically do not mention the advertiser in the initial ad, and thus they are a form of ‘bait-and-switch&#8217;,&#8221; the company says.</p>
<p>&#8220;Typically, the user is presented with a button that says ‘download’ and/or ‘play’. Believing that these will lead to the desired file, the user then clicks the button. Once clicked, the user is prompted to download an executable file containing a potentially unwanted program.</p>
<p>&#8220;These Trick Buttons are a common feature of unauthorized sites and are worth looking at in more detail given the potentially damaging financial and emotional effect on the user.&#8221;</p>
<p>Finding that two companies (RevenueHits and Matomy Market) were responsible for up to 89% of these kinds of ads to the sites they serve, Incopro advises that some kind of campaign could be effective in turning users away from the sites serving them.</p>
<p>&#8220;Given the likelihood that end users will encounter potentially harmful software from these types of adverts across all types of site, awareness and outreach campaigns around this issue could be reinforced to help to discourage use of unauthorized sites,&#8221; the company writes.</p>
<p><strong>Top advertisers</strong></p>
<p>Regular European visitors to file-sharing related sites will be well aware of the high number of ads served up from gambling companies. Unsurprisingly the Incopro report reaches the same conclusion, finding that four out of the top five most prolific advertisers (Trick button ads excluded) are gambling companies.</p>
<p><img src="media/a06bc648.incop-2.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/incop-2.png" alt="incop-2" width="650" height="360" class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-105341"></p>
<p>&#8220;These companies may not be aware that their adverts are appearing on these sites and should be considered for an approach in order to once again frustrate the ability of an unauthorised site to generate ad revenue,&#8221; the report reads.</p>
<p>&#8220;For this reason, Trick button/PUP adverts have been excluded from this section in order to concentrate on companies that are potentially approachable.&#8221;</p>
<p><strong>Payment methods</strong></p>
<p>As highlighted earlier, 142 out of the 622 sites studied accept payments from users. Of interest, however, is how many different payment methods are utilized by those sites &#8211; 83 in all. In total, four broad areas were identified, as detailed in the image below.</p>
<p><img src="media/90f86481.incop-3.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/incop-3.png" alt="incop-3" width="650" height="325" class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-105343"></p>
<p>&#8220;Host sites were the primary location for payment methods and accounted for 91% of all payment methods detected. Payment to the host site was predominantly via a ‘premium’ subscription service whereas other site types were more likely to accept payment for donations,&#8221; the report notes.</p>
<p>Advising again on possible mitigation measures, the report suggests that pressure on payment companies of all kinds could limit the use of their systems on &#8220;infringing&#8221; sites. </p>
<p>&#8220;Visa and MasterCard, the most observed payment service providers in this study, have responded to notifications in the past. In the same way that the major global Brands would most likely not wish to be associated with infringing websites because it could affect their reputation, these companies may feel the same,&#8221; Incopro writes.</p>
<p>&#8220;In the same way that the payment card providers can be asked to take action, payment processors can also be asked to take similar action to prevent transactions on those merchant accounts where they are facilitating the revenue generation of unauthorized sites.&#8221;</p>
<p>Despite best efforts so far, the image below reveals that the usual big names are still servicing the top &#8220;infringing&#8221; sites.</p>
<p><img src="media/ee9b0dcd.incop-4.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/incop-4.png" alt="incop-4" width="650" height="301" class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-105345"></p>
<p><strong>Conclusions</strong></p>
<p>Overall, Incopro concludes that advertising is far and away the biggest source of revenue for the sites in their study.</p>
<p>&#8220;Given this reliance on advertising, concerted effort should be made by brands, agencies, and where possible, the authorities, to work together to persuade the various intermediaries to undermine these revenue streams,&#8221; the company says.</p>
<p>&#8220;Regarding payment methods, analysis has shown that the payment methods observed broadly consist of four transaction types on the unauthorized websites studied. These are the payment service providers like Visa and MasterCard, payment processors such as Liqpay and Dalpay, virtual wallets such as Google Wallet, RoboKassa and PayPal and resellers such as VIPKeys. Engagement with the first three<br>
is recommended. Resellers should be examined as a separate issue,&#8221; the company concludes.</p>
<p>Just like the NetNames report before it, this MPA-commissioned report will be cited by entertainment industry companies during the months to come to put yet more pressure on advertisers and payment companies alike. Whether that will be enough to stifle the revenue arms race will remain to be seen.</p>
<p>The full report can be downloaded <a href="media/9b862b71.enue-Sources-for-Copyright-Infringing-Sites-in-EU-March-2015.pdf" data-original-source="http://www.incopro.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/Revenue-Sources-for-Copyright-Infringing-Sites-in-EU-March-2015.pdf">here</a> <em>(pdf)</em></p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com">TorrentFreak</a>, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/top-popular-torrent-sites-2015-150104/">torrent sites</a> and <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/anonymous-vpn-service-provider-review-2015-150228/">anonymous VPN services</a>.</p>
<div class="feedflare">
<a href="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~ff/Torrentfreak?a=UHNrou-ZBr8:oCKonkIMG-Q:yIl2AUoC8zA"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/Torrentfreak?d=yIl2AUoC8zA" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~ff/Torrentfreak?a=UHNrou-ZBr8:oCKonkIMG-Q:D7DqB2pKExk"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/Torrentfreak?i=UHNrou-ZBr8:oCKonkIMG-Q:D7DqB2pKExk" border="0"></img></a>
</div><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~4/UHNrou-ZBr8" height="1" width="1" alt=""/>


feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=105253
title: Rightscorp Still Can’t Turn Piracy Into Straight Profit
uri: Rightscorp-Still-Can-t-Turn-Piracy-Into-Straight-Profit
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/y43xVbA8Vs0/
content:
<p><img src="media/ba2479e6.rightscorp.jpg" data-original-source="https://torrentfreak.com/images/rightscorp.jpg" width="180" height="71" class="alignright">For years entrepreneurs around the world have listened intently to entertainment companies and their tales of losing billions to piracy. Given the scale of the alleged losses, serious riches must lie in wait for the company with a workable solution.</p>
<p>One of the outfits dreaming of piracy-into-profit alchemy are the folks at Rightscorp. They sign up rightsholders, track people sharing their content on BitTorrent, and send a bill to alleged pirates to make imaginary lawsuits go away. Unlike other &#8216;trolls&#8217;, however, Rightscorp only asks for around $20 per infringement, a relatively cheap deal considering the many thousands demanded elsewhere.</p>
<p>While it sounds simple enough, the company can&#8217;t seem to make it profitable. They argue that it&#8217;s still early days (the company only went public in 2013) but the figures don&#8217;t lie. Last year Rightscorp <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/rightscorp-hemorrhages-cash-profit-from-piracy-remains-elusive-150311/">lost $3.4 million</a> and during the first quarter of 2015 and despite sounding as optimistic as ever, the company burned through yet more cash.</p>
<p>In results published last evening, Rightscorp revealed that it had grown in several key areas during the first quarter, not least the number of copyrights the company has deals to protect. Including two new contracts signed in January for 250,000 copyrights, the company now has 1.5 million in its &#8220;authorized copyright catalog&#8221;. Currently, however, just 256,000 are in the full Rightscorp system.</p>
<p>The number of ISPs cooperating in the scheme is up too, from 50 ISPs in March 2014 to more than 233 ISPs in March 2015. With that uplift of 466%, Rightscorp says it now has access to 15% of all homes in the United States and in the past two years has closed 200,000 cases of copyright infringement</p>
<p>All in, the company reported revenues of $307,904 for Q1 2015, up 63% on the same period last year. But despite all the growth and positivity it also reported a $929,768 operating loss. The problem &#8211; a recurring theme for the company &#8211; are its costs.</p>
<p>For the first quarter Rightscorp&#8217;s operating costs were in excess of $1.2m, a far cry from the $300K it brought in. The company blames part of the losses on fees it pays to copyright holders (roughly 50% of revenues) but that only accounts for $154K.</p>
<p>On top the company has an expanding wage bill. In Q1 2014 that stood at $241,347 but in the same period this year those costs had increased to $335,073.</p>
<p>Legal costs are also on the rise. In addition to all the usual advice needed to run a company, Rightscorp is currently <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/piracy-monetization-firm-rightscorp-sued-harassment-abuse-141124/">being sued</a> over the methods it uses to collect cash from alleged pirates. As a result legal costs for the quarter were $182,543, up from $114,242 in the same period last year.</p>
<p><img src="media/b2867e29.rights-stock1.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/rights-stock1.png" alt="rights-stock1" width="650" height="343" class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-105392"></p>
<p>As the image above shows, the company&#8217;s current position doesn&#8217;t look good, a point raised last evening during a conference call with investors.</p>
<p>&#8220;What could you say about the fact that the stockholder value has gone down about 80% in the last year, in spite of the fact that you’ve done two private equity raises?&#8221; one caller <a href="http://seekingalpha.com/article/3157026-rightscorps-riht-ceo-christopher-sabec-on-q1-2015-results-earnings-call-transcript">questioned</a>.</p>
<p>&#8220;We think this is a great time to get involved with a company as a shareholder,&#8221; Rightscorp COO Robert Steele responded.</p>
<p>&#8220;Fundamental investment thesis continues to be proven out. So with approximately 250,000 copyrights being monitored we generated $300,000 in top line revenue, there are 27 million Apple copyrights on iTunes, so this can be an enormous business.&#8221; </p>
<p>But despite the optimism the company&#8217;s latest filing paints a bleak picture of the future.</p>
<p>&#8220;The Company has not yet established an ongoing source of revenues sufficient to cover its operating costs and to allow it to continue as a going concern,&#8221; the filing reads.</p>
<p>&#8220;The ability of the Company to continue as a going concern is dependent on the Company obtaining adequate capital to fund operating losses until it establishes a revenue stream and becomes profitable. If the Company is unable to obtain adequate capital it could be forced to cease operations.&#8221;</p>
<p>Only time will tell if Rightscorp will eventually be able to turn piracy into profit, but if current trends continue, each notice sent will only generate a loss. The secret may lie in increased volumes and economies of scale, but if the company feels under serious threat it may seek to up its $20 settlement fee to something more practical. Keep an eye out for that.</p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com">TorrentFreak</a>, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/top-popular-torrent-sites-2015-150104/">torrent sites</a> and <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/anonymous-vpn-service-provider-review-2015-150228/">anonymous VPN services</a>.</p>
<div class="feedflare">
<a href="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~ff/Torrentfreak?a=y43xVbA8Vs0:9U281u_GimA:yIl2AUoC8zA"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/Torrentfreak?d=yIl2AUoC8zA" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~ff/Torrentfreak?a=y43xVbA8Vs0:9U281u_GimA:D7DqB2pKExk"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/Torrentfreak?i=y43xVbA8Vs0:9U281u_GimA:D7DqB2pKExk" border="0"></img></a>
</div><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~4/y43xVbA8Vs0" height="1" width="1" alt=""/>


feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=105370
title: India Orders Piracy Blackout of Vimeo, Pirate Bay and More
uri: India-Orders-Piracy-Blackout-of-Vimeo-Pirate-Bay-and-More
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/8Ni_CdCEzTM/
content:
<p><img src="media/84c5b4a9.piku.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/piku.jpg" alt="piku" width="275" height="320" class="alignright size-full wp-image-105384">Today sees the theatrical premiere of the highly anticipated Bollywood blockbuster &#8220;<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Piku">Piku</a>.&#8221;</p>
<p>As is the case with most movies, unauthorized copies the film will eventually end up being made available from various websites. However, the makers of Piku hope that a recent High Court order will limit the fallout. </p>
<p>Multi Screen Media, one of the companies behind the movie, has obtained a restraining order against 13 websites and a blocking order against some of the country&#8217;s largest Internet providers (<a href="media/42b09dae.4.-Order.pdf" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/4.-Order.pdf">pdf</a>).</p>
<p>Similar orders have been granted in the past, but this one stands out because of the sites it targets.</p>
<p>The order lists the following domain names: Vimeo.com, Thepiratebay.org, Torrentz.eu, Thiruttuvcd.biz, Merotv.net, Novamov.com, Videotanker.co, Cloudy.ec, Vidto.me, Zuzvideo.com, Video.tt, Kickasstoreents.com and Torrentfunk.com.</p>
<p>The owners of the domains are restrained from &#8220;making available&#8221; or otherwise distributing Piku without a proper license. In addition, India&#8217;s largest Internet providers are ordered to block access to the sites.</p>
<p><center><img src="media/a0483897.indiaorder.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/indiaorder.png" alt="indiaorder" width="583" height="382" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-105390"></center></p>
<p>The most surprising target is the popular video sharing platform Vimeo, a site mostly used by independent filmmakers to share their work. While Piku&#8217;s makers describe the site as a piracy hub, the site rarely hosts infringing material.</p>
<p>However, there even more worrying issues with the order that will severely limit its effectiveness. </p>
<p>For example, it lists Pirate Bay&#8217;s .org domain even though the site is currently operating from thepiratebay.se. Similarly, the domain name of KickassTorrents is both outdated and misspelled as kickasstoreents.com.</p>
<p><center><img src="media/c3a8e8e6.kickmis.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/kickmis.png" alt="kickmis" width="600" height="177" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-105389"></center></p>
<p>As a result, the blocking order may not be as successful as the filmmakers would have hoped.</p>
<p>According to the order ISPs must block the mentioned domains within 24 hours. A new hearing is scheduled for July 31 where it will be decided if the measures can be lifted, or if they must stay in place.</p>
<p>At the time of writing no pirated copies of Piku have leaked online yet, but if one surfaces this current order will do very little to stop it from spreading.</p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com">TorrentFreak</a>, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/top-popular-torrent-sites-2015-150104/">torrent sites</a> and <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/anonymous-vpn-service-provider-review-2015-150228/">anonymous VPN services</a>.</p>
<div class="feedflare">
<a href="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~ff/Torrentfreak?a=8Ni_CdCEzTM:j4fA22pOVws:yIl2AUoC8zA"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/Torrentfreak?d=yIl2AUoC8zA" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~ff/Torrentfreak?a=8Ni_CdCEzTM:j4fA22pOVws:D7DqB2pKExk"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/Torrentfreak?i=8Ni_CdCEzTM:j4fA22pOVws:D7DqB2pKExk" border="0"></img></a>
</div><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~4/8Ni_CdCEzTM" height="1" width="1" alt=""/>


feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=105375
title: Trial of Torrent Site Admin and Hosting Provider Concludes
uri: Trial-of-Torrent-Site-Admin-and-Hosting-Provider-Concludes
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/kcL1P0see8w/
content:
<p>In 2009 during the wake of the original Pirate Bay trial and the jail sentences for its operators, Swedish anti-piracy group Antipiratbyrån sent out a <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/swedish-anti-pirates-threaten-bittorrent-trackers-090423">batch of warnings</a> to other sites hosted in Sweden.</p>
<p>One of the sites that initially decided to shut down was known as The Internationals, or TTi for short. In the event the closure was short-lived and just a month later the 26,000 member site was back online and operating largely as usual. The return lasted for more than two years, but then it all fell apart.</p>
<p>A police investigation led to November 2011 raids against TTi in two locations in Sweden, Borås and Växjö. In addition to the seizure of servers housing the site&#8217;s tracker and community data, two men were also arrested.</p>
<p>The man detained in Borås was the alleged operator of TTi but interestingly the second individual, Patrik Lagerman from Växjö, was the person providing TTi&#8217;s webhosting.</p>
<p>The owner of local web-hosting outfit Patrikweb, Lagerman previously gained worldwide attention for being involved in <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/new-pirate-bay-host-got-hollywood-threats-in-20-minutes-090916/">bandwidth supply</a> to The Pirate Bay.</p>
<p>In the TTi case, Lagerman was handed a demand by Antipiratbyrån to disconnect the tracker. He requested a court order but none was forthcoming. The reaction almost a year later was an 06:30am alarm call carried out by five police officers followed by several hours of questioning.</p>
<p>“Trying to prosecute the hosting provider for assisting [in infringement] shows just how stupid they are,” Lagerman said at the time.</p>
<p>But this week that&#8217;s exactly what happened when Lagerman and the as-yet unnamed TTi sysop went on trial for their alleged crimes. The hearing lasted for two days.</p>
<p>&#8220;Two men were prosecuted,&#8221; prosecutor Fredrik Ingblad informs TorrentFreak.</p>
<p>&#8220;The alleged main administrator of the TTi site and the second one – Lagerman – was prosecuted for aiding and abetting the infringement, by renting out server space, Internet services etc, and helping the administrators in some other ways (as an intermediary).</p>
<p>&#8220;The rights holders contacted [Lagerman] and informed him of the site and the infringement, but he still continued with his services to the site owner,&#8221; the prosecutor notes.</p>
<p>Although the site tracked many more titles including plenty of Hollywood blockbusters, the case itself now involves just 28 Swedish films.</p>
<p>TorrentFreak spoke with Lagerman who said he&#8217;d hold back on a comment until the verdict is handed down in two weeks time. Fortunately for both defendants he should be able to do that as a relatively free man since the prosecution are not pressing for custodial sentences.</p>
<p>&#8220;Due to the long time that has passed since the crimes (the investigation unfortunately took a bit too long), I didn´t request for an unconditional  imprisonment,&#8221; Ingblad says.</p>
<p>&#8220;I requested for a conditional sentence and community services for the alleged main administrator, and a conditional sentence plus fines for Mr. Lagerman.&#8221;</p>
<p>The case is an intriguing one and the eventual decision will be of great interest to other local ISPs in similar positions.</p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com">TorrentFreak</a>, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/top-popular-torrent-sites-2015-150104/">torrent sites</a> and <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/anonymous-vpn-service-provider-review-2015-150228/">anonymous VPN services</a>.</p>
<div class="feedflare">
<a href="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~ff/Torrentfreak?a=kcL1P0see8w:jeiddiBhrUw:yIl2AUoC8zA"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/Torrentfreak?d=yIl2AUoC8zA" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~ff/Torrentfreak?a=kcL1P0see8w:jeiddiBhrUw:D7DqB2pKExk"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/Torrentfreak?i=kcL1P0see8w:jeiddiBhrUw:D7DqB2pKExk" border="0"></img></a>
</div><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~4/kcL1P0see8w" height="1" width="1" alt=""/>


feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=105251
title: BBC Wants Google to Remove Top Gear’s IMDb Page
uri: BBC-Wants-Google-to-Remove-Top-Gear-s-IMDb-Page
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/0DQyJ1A-ZUI/
content:
<p><img src="media/0eb17a46.stig.jpg" data-original-source="https://torrentfreak.com/images/stig.jpg" alt="stig" width="250" height="150" class="alignright size-full wp-image-105269">In an effort to make piracy less visible, copyright holders send dozens of millions of takedown notices to Google every month.</p>
<p>Unfortunately not all of these requests are as accurate as they should be. </p>
<p>Due to the high number of often automated notices and the fact that copyright holders don’t check the validity of all requests, there are many questionable takedowns.</p>
<p>This week BBC Worldwide reported a record number of infringing links to Google, targeting more than 25,000 webpages. We decided to go through the links and it wasn&#8217;t hard to find several URLs that are clearly not infringing.</p>
<p>For example, <a href="http://www.google.com/transparencyreport/removals/copyright/requests/2164873/">one of the notices</a> targets the IMDb pages of Top Gear, The Game and Top Fails. </p>
<p>The Internet Movie Database is one of the prime sources for movie and TV fans to get information and doesn&#8217;t host or link to infringing content, so taking these pages offline only hurts the BBC.</p>
<p>Perhaps even more worrying is that the same notice also lists the British home of the video site Dailymotion as &#8220;infringing.&#8221; While this page may have linked to unauthorized material in the past, it&#8217;s certainly doesn&#8217;t warrant the removal of the entire homepage.</p>
<p><img src="media/4a46e6b0.bbcimdbdaily.png" data-original-source="https://torrentfreak.com/images/bbcimdbdaily.png" alt="bbcimdbdaily" width="640" height="403" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-105281"></center> </p>
<p>Unfortunately this notice is not an isolated incident. In recent years we&#8217;ve highlighted countless examples of takedown requests that censor legitimate content, often hurting traffic for the affected sites.</p>
<p>The good news is that Google appears to have white-listed several domains, including the IMDb and Dailymotion. This means that while the links reported by the BBC were not removed, less prominent sites may not be so lucky.</p>
<p>As mentioned previously the DMCA notice surge is a growing problem, with Google now removing more than a million links each day on average. Since Google and other websites can’t possibly verify every DMCA claim, the problem is only expected to increase. </p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com">TorrentFreak</a>, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/top-popular-torrent-sites-2015-150104/">torrent sites</a> and <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/anonymous-vpn-service-provider-review-2015-150228/">anonymous VPN services</a>.</p>
<div class="feedflare">
<a href="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~ff/Torrentfreak?a=0DQyJ1A-ZUI:jHiVXtXbtsA:yIl2AUoC8zA"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/Torrentfreak?d=yIl2AUoC8zA" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~ff/Torrentfreak?a=0DQyJ1A-ZUI:jHiVXtXbtsA:D7DqB2pKExk"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/Torrentfreak?i=0DQyJ1A-ZUI:jHiVXtXbtsA:D7DqB2pKExk" border="0"></img></a>
</div><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~4/0DQyJ1A-ZUI" height="1" width="1" alt=""/>


feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=105358
title: Mega Consults Legal Team Over New Piracy Report
uri: Mega-Consults-Legal-Team-Over-New-Piracy-Report
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/ipo0g9VVLfY/
content:
<p><img src="media/76fd4240.nopiracy.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/nopiracy.png" alt="nopiracy" width="183" height="155" class="alignright size-full wp-image-83919">In September 2014, NetNames published a <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/report-brands-dotcoms-mega-a-piracy-haven-140918/">report</a> titled <em>Behind The Cyberlocker Door: A Report How Shadowy Cyberlockers Use Credit Card Companies to Make Millions</em>.</p>
<p>While the report was informative in many respects, NetNames made the questionable decision to include cloud-hosting service Mega.co.nz. Granted, Mega&#8217;s Kim Dotcom connections might paint the site in an unfavorable light in some eyes, but the fact remains that Mega.co.nz covers all the bases when it comes to copyright law.</p>
<p>And let&#8217;s face it &#8211; the site has had no other choice. As the most scrutinized file-hosting startup in history, any breach (even of the overseas DMCA) would prove absolutely catastrophic. Nevertheless and largely thanks to the NetNames report, payment processors including Visa, Mastercard and PayPal recently <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/under-u-s-pressure-paypal-nukes-mega-for-encrypting-files-150227/">pulled the plug</a> on the company. </p>
<p>Then this week, just eight months after the NetNames report, came another turn of the screw. Titled <em>The Revenue Sources for Websites Making Available Copyright Content Without Consent in the EU</em>, a new MPA-commissioned <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/mpa-report-advises-outreach-campaign-against-pirate-ads-150507/">report</a> published by Incopro examined the money-making techniques of more than 600 &#8216;unauthorized&#8217; sites in the file-sharing space.</p>
<p>The study&#8217;s overarching tone is that the sites surveyed are criminal enterprises run by shady individuals aiming to get rich on the backs of the entertainment industries. In respect of many sites on the list it is difficult to argue with the assertion. But, yet again, Mega.co.nz finds itself on the list alongside the likes of The Pirate Bay and other similarly copyright-hostile domains.</p>
<p>Just as we did following the NetNames report, TorrentFreak contacted the report&#8217;s authors and asked why Mega, a company with robust copyright protection mechanisms, had been included in the report. We received no response to what shouldn&#8217;t have been a particularly difficult question.</p>
<p>It&#8217;s worth pointing out, however, that Incopro do list the factors that get hosting sites on the list. They say the factors &#8220;are drawn from case law&#8221; and are &#8220;typically used by courts&#8221; to &#8220;determine the status&#8221; of a site. They&#8217;re listed in bold below:</p>
<p><em><strong>Users are not charged for storage of files, instead revenue is accrued from subscription fees permitting download; per-download charges; and/or advertising</strong></em></p>
<p>While the above could indeed describe an infringing site if bad intent was present, it also describes the business model of YouTube. It seems unlikely that a court would find a site illegal on this basis alone.</p>
<p><em><strong>Anonymity for Users: The use of the service can be enjoyed in complete anonymity</strong></em></p>
<p>Allowing users to be anonymous is no indication of criminality, unless a service intentionally encourages its users to commit a crime. For the record, Mega users are not anonymous &#8211; the service <a href="https://mega.co.nz/ios_privacy.html">logs user IP addresses</a> to counter abuse.</p>
<p><em><strong>Anonymity for the Operators: Quite often the operators of the site will also be anonymous or based in jurisdictions where enforcement of the rule of law is quite difficult. Such sites tend to move less frequently, but will do so in response to perceived threats of legal action.</strong></em></p>
<p>While anonymity for operators can be an indication that facing the law isn&#8217;t a key priority, it is blatantly clear that Mega.co.nz is going nowhere. The company and its directors are registered in New Zealand, are public faces, and are currently pursuing a stock market listing. The Pirate Bay this most certainly isn&#8217;t.</p>
<p><em><strong>Inducement/Reward Scheme: Rewards for uploaders of large and popular files (with a particular emphasis on file size, i.e. additional rewards for popular files of over 200 megabytes, which are consistent with long-form copyright-protected audiovisual content).</strong></em></p>
<p>It is well known that some of the most shadowy file-hosting services use these kinds of affiliate schemes to attract uploaders of pirated content, but their presence alone is not an indicator of criminality. Again, YouTube is happy to share revenues with uploaders of popular files. In any event, Mega offers no such scheme.</p>
<p><em><strong>Ability to share files in the following formats (all consistent with long-form copyright-protected AV content): .rar, .zip, .avi, .wmv, .mpg, .mhv, .mp4, .divx, .xvid, .flv, .mov and .mpeg.</strong></em></p>
<p>That the hosting of these filetypes can result in a site being labeled as infringing is beyond ridiculous and doesn&#8217;t even warrant a detailed rebuttal.</p>
<p><em><strong>Free access for stored files is limited (in an attempt to encourage the purchase of premium membership) by methods such as increased wait times, bandwidth throttling, caps on the number of downloads freely accessed and online advertising.</strong></em></p>
<p>Again, many of these techniques are indeed employed by some of the most notorious file-hosters but on their own they are not indications of criminality. However, the important thing here is that none apply to Mega.</p>
<p><em><strong>Enabling Sharing of Links: Provision of ‘forum codes’ and ‘URL codes’ to facilitate the incorporation of links on third party indexing and linking sites.</strong></em></p>
<p>Providing a URL to stored content indicates that a site is pirate? Watch out Dropbox!</p>
<h4>The most important factors, the ones that really matter</h4>
<p>Although not listed directly for hosting sites, Incopro does note that other factors can determine whether a site is likely infringing or not for the purposes of its report. This is where the meat of their claims against Mega and any other site should really hold up.</p>
<p><em>The clear (and often stated) purpose of the sites is copyright infringement and facilitation of copyright infringement.</p>
<p>The sites are highly structured and the content is referenced, categorized, curated and moderated.</p>
<p>The operators are believed to exercise control over the content on the website.</p>
<p>The sites provide guidance and deploy a variety of means of encouragement to<br>
users in accessing and making available content and advertise the availability of content on third party sites.</p>
<p>The sites either don’t operate a takedown policy at all or such policies are mere window-dressing or even a sham.</em></p>
<p>To even the most casual observer it must be clear Mega does not fit into any of these categories. Most importantly the company has a robust DMCA-style policy that has even seen it remove its own founder&#8217;s music <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/record-labels-take-kim-dotcoms-album-140923/">following a bogus DMCA complaint</a>.</p>
<p><strong>Conclusion</strong></p>
<p>When a site fails to meet any of the criteria for inclusion in a piracy report yet still finds itself included, one needs to ask why. Sadly (and like NetNames before them) the creators of this otherwise enlightening report refuse to answer that simple question. </p>
<p>So why then have two big reports, both of which are likely to shape policy in the coming months and years, branded a legitimate file-hosting site a piracy haven?</p>
<p>If it&#8217;s because Mega is breaking the law, the aggrieved parties should step up to the plate and say so. Better still, those funding the report (the MPA) should have their lawyers do something about it.</p>
<p>If, however, it&#8217;s because Kim Dotcom founded Mega and everything he touches must now be destroyed at all costs, people should have the nerve to admit it. As noted earlier, both reports have their merits, but when suspicions of hidden agendas become apparent, their value is only diminished.</p>
<p><em>Mega informs TorrentFreak it is analyzing the report with its lawyers.</em></p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com">TorrentFreak</a>, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/top-popular-torrent-sites-2015-150104/">torrent sites</a> and <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/anonymous-vpn-service-provider-review-2015-150228/">anonymous VPN services</a>.</p>
<div class="feedflare">
<a href="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~ff/Torrentfreak?a=ipo0g9VVLfY:AhpZfsmMWSM:yIl2AUoC8zA"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/Torrentfreak?d=yIl2AUoC8zA" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~ff/Torrentfreak?a=ipo0g9VVLfY:AhpZfsmMWSM:D7DqB2pKExk"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/Torrentfreak?i=ipo0g9VVLfY:AhpZfsmMWSM:D7DqB2pKExk" border="0"></img></a>
</div><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~4/ipo0g9VVLfY" height="1" width="1" alt=""/>


feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=105406
title: Killing Spotify’s Free Version Will Boost Piracy
uri: Killing-Spotify-s-Free-Version-Will-Boost-Piracy
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/u4OikVmxdn0/
content:
<p><a href="media/15e2b1a1.cassette.jpg" data-original-source="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/images/cassette.jpg"><img src="media/7abb2d22.cassette.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/cassette.jpg" alt="cassette" width="200" height="150" class="alignright size-full wp-image-84245"></a>When Spotify launched its first beta in the fall of 2008, we branded it “<a href="http://torrentfreak.com/spotify-music-piracy-down-australia-140910/">an alternative to music piracy</a>.”</p>
<p>With the option to stream millions of tracks supported by an occasional ad, or free of ads for a small subscription fee, Spotify appeared to be a serious competitor to music piracy.</p>
<p>In the years that followed Spotify conquered the hearts and minds of many music fans. Currently available in more than 60 countries, the service has amassed dozens of millions of users. </p>
<p>It&#8217;s a true success story, and one that led to a <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/music-piracy-continues-to-decline-thanks-to-spotify-110928/">decline in music piracy rates</a> in a few countries, exactly <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/spotify-was-designed-from-the-ground-up-to-combat-piracy-131204/">as planned</a>.</p>
<p>However, in recent months there have been calls to end Spotify&#8217;s free ad-supported service. Some prominent musicians and labels believe that killing the free tier will increase revenues.</p>
<p>This week it was revealed that Apple is also <a href="http://www.theverge.com/2015/5/4/8540935/apple-labels-spotify-streaming">pressuring record labels</a> to end the licensing agreements that allow Spotify&#8217;s ad-supported deal, presumably to make its own Beats service more competitive. </p>
<p>While Spotify hasn&#8217;t signaled that anything will change, killing the free version will be a dangerous move. In fact, it&#8217;ll be a step backward that is likely to increase piracy in the long run.</p>
<p>Sure, when free users are forced to pay it will motivate some to sign up for a paid subscription. This will then lead to more revenue in the short term, something labels and artists will appreciate. However, in the long run the effects may not be so positive.  </p>
<p>One of the main appeals Spotify has for the public, specifically &#8216;pirates,&#8217; is that there&#8217;s a free version available. Pirates like to try before they buy and Spotify free removes the giant hurdle to make the switch to a legal streaming service.</p>
<p>Those who then like the service and want the ad-free experience will eventually convert to a paid subscription. After all, <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/pirates-are-the-music-industrys-most-valuable-customers-100122/">paying is not a problem</a> for most &#8216;pirates&#8217; who tend to spend more money on entertainment than the average consumer.</p>
<p>Ultimately, the goal of the free version is to start changing the habits of pirates, and it&#8217;s been pretty successful at doing so.</p>
<p>Besides killing the free version of Spotify there&#8217;s also a possibility that it may become more limited. Just before the weekend news broke that Apple&#8217;s Beats may also offer <a href="http://recode.net/2015/05/08/apples-new-music-service-will-push-paid-subscriptions-with-free-samples/">some content for free</a>, and perhaps they would like Spotify and others to do the same. </p>
<p>Again, this isn&#8217;t a particularly good idea. The magic of Spotify is that users can access a virtually unlimited library of music. A library that&#8217;s greater than what people can find on most pirate sites, and more convenient too. </p>
<p>Limiting the library for free users will make it look less attractive compared to the pirate alternatives. As a result, people will be less likely to get hooked and less likely to make the switch to becoming a paid user. </p>
<p>This brings us to the exclusivity issue. In recent years the music industry has excelled in making its music available to as many people as possible, often without restrictions. But now that some big artists are removing (or threatening to remove) their music from Spotify, or offer some content exclusively to other services, the overall appeal is waning.</p>
<p>Music fans don&#8217;t want to pay for 3, 5 or 10 services to get all the music they love. They want it all in one place. While this may not bring in as much as everyone would like, it&#8217;s a crucial part of stamping out music piracy. </p>
<p>A few months ago a movie industry report found that consumers in the UK need to use <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/uk-users-need-27-services-to-get-most-popular-films-report-finds-141208/">dozens of movie services</a> if they want access to the most popular films. If the same happens to music, piracy will surely soar. </p>
<p>All in all it&#8217;s safe to conclude that exclusivity breeds pirates. So if artists and labels are in it for the long run they should keep everything together, and make it easy for pirates to go legal. </p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com">TorrentFreak</a>, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/top-popular-torrent-sites-2015-150104/">torrent sites</a> and <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/anonymous-vpn-service-provider-review-2015-150228/">anonymous VPN services</a>.</p>
<div class="feedflare">
<a href="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~ff/Torrentfreak?a=u4OikVmxdn0:mDsK5C5Ny-w:yIl2AUoC8zA"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/Torrentfreak?d=yIl2AUoC8zA" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~ff/Torrentfreak?a=u4OikVmxdn0:mDsK5C5Ny-w:D7DqB2pKExk"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/Torrentfreak?i=u4OikVmxdn0:mDsK5C5Ny-w:D7DqB2pKExk" border="0"></img></a>
</div><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~4/u4OikVmxdn0" height="1" width="1" alt=""/>


feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=105440
title: Top 10 Most Pirated Movies of The Week – 05/11/15
uri: Top-10-Most-Pirated-Movies-of-The-Week-05-11-15
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/FQfoYrK1ZB0/
content:
<p><img src="media/f734ffa0.jupiter.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/jupiter.jpg" alt="jupiter" width="300" height="169" class="alignright size-full wp-image-104919">This week we have two newcomers in our chart.</p>
<p>Jupiter Ascending is the most downloaded movie.</p>
<p>The data for our weekly download chart is estimated by TorrentFreak, and is for informational and educational reference only. All the movies in the list are BD/DVDrips unless stated otherwise.</p>
<p><a href="http://TorrentFreak.com/category/dvdrip/feed/"><strong>RSS feed</strong></a> for the weekly movie download chart.</p>
<table class="css hover">
<thead>
<tr>
<th width="12%"><strong>Ranking</strong></th>
<th width="15%"><strong>(<a href="https://torrentfreak.com/top-10-most-pirated-movies-of-the-week-050415/">last week</a>)</strong></th>
<th><strong>Movie</strong></th>
<th width="18%"><strong>IMDb Rating / Trailer</strong></th>
</tr>
</thead>
<tfoot>
<tr>
<td colspan="4">torrentfreak.com</td>
</tr>
</tfoot>
<tbody>
<tr>
<td><strong>1</strong></td>
<td>(6)</td>
<td><a href="http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/jupiter_ascending_2014/">Jupiter Ascending</a> </td>
<td><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1617661/">5.8</a> / <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t4ZzMkDLjWI">trailer</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><strong>2</strong></td>
<td>(3)</td>
<td><a href="http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/furious_7/">Furious 7</a> (Subbed/cropped HDRip)</td>
<td><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2820852/">8.8</a> / <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yISKeT6sDOg">trailer</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><strong>3</strong></td>
<td>(4)</td>
<td><a href="http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/american_sniper/">American Sniper</a> </td>
<td><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2179136/">7.4</a> / <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MItGoIxoVGk">trailer</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><strong>4</strong></td>
<td>(1)</td>
<td><a href="http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/kingsman_the_secret_service/">Kingsman: The Secret Service</a> </td>
<td><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2802144/">8.1</a> / <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kl8F-8tR8to">trailer</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><strong>5</strong></td>
<td>(&#8230;)</td>
<td><a href="http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/run_all_night/">Run All Night</a> </td>
<td><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2199571/?ref_=nv_sr_1">6.9</a> / <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7uDuFh-nC-c">trailer</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><strong>6</strong></td>
<td>(5)</td>
<td><a href="http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/get_hard/">Get Hard</a> </td>
<td><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2561572/">6.2</a> / <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lEqrpuU9fYI">trailer</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><strong>7</strong></td>
<td>(7)</td>
<td><a href="http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/fifty_shades_of_grey/">Fifty Shades of Grey</a> </td>
<td><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2322441/">4.2</a> / <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SfZWFDs0LxA">trailer</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><strong>8</strong></td>
<td>(2)</td>
<td><a href="http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/seventh_son/">Seventh Son</a> </td>
<td><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1121096/">5.5</a> / <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TXiNkOjM7oM">trailer</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><strong>9</strong></td>
<td>(&#8230;)</td>
<td><a href="http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/infini_2015/">Infini</a> </td>
<td><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt3327624/">5.3</a> / <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s4l_lHGMhlw">trailer</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><strong>10</strong></td>
<td>(9)</td>
<td><a href="http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/interstellar_2014/">Interstellar</a> </td>
<td><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0816692/">8.8</a> / <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0vxOhd4qlnA">trailer</a></td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com">TorrentFreak</a>, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/top-popular-torrent-sites-2015-150104/">torrent sites</a> and <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/anonymous-vpn-service-provider-review-2015-150228/">anonymous VPN services</a>.</p>
<div class="feedflare">
<a href="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~ff/Torrentfreak?a=FQfoYrK1ZB0:m1o-vEXxrb8:yIl2AUoC8zA"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/Torrentfreak?d=yIl2AUoC8zA" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~ff/Torrentfreak?a=FQfoYrK1ZB0:m1o-vEXxrb8:D7DqB2pKExk"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/Torrentfreak?i=FQfoYrK1ZB0:m1o-vEXxrb8:D7DqB2pKExk" border="0"></img></a>
</div><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~4/FQfoYrK1ZB0" height="1" width="1" alt=""/>


feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=105444
title: You Can’t Defend Public Libraries and Oppose File-Sharing
uri: You-Can-t-Defend-Public-Libraries-and-Oppose-File-Sharing
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/-BkQhpR8MeE/
content:
<p>Public libraries started appearing in the mid-1800s. At the time, publishers went absolutely berserk: they had been lobbying for the lending of books to become illegal, as reading a book without paying anything first was &#8220;stealing&#8221;, they argued. As a consequence, they considered private libraries at the time to be hotbeds of crime and robbery. (Those libraries were so-called &#8220;subscription libraries&#8221;, so they were argued to be for-profit, too.)</p>
<p>British Parliament at the time, unlike today&#8217;s politicians, wisely disagreed with the publishing industry lobby &#8211; the copyright industry of the time. Instead, they saw the economic value in an educated and cultural populace, and passed a law <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Public_Libraries_Act_1850">allowing free public libraries</a> in 1850, so that local libraries were built throughout Britain, where the public could take part of knowledge and culture for free.</p>
<p>In other words, they made explicit exceptions to the copyright monopoly for the benefit of public access to culture and knowledge. In most copyright monopoly legislation today, it says explicitly that monopoly holders to not have any kind of right to object to their works being displayed, read, and lent from public libraries. This can be traced back to the insights of 1850.</p>
<p><strong>So how is this different from file-sharing? From manufacturing your own copies of knowledge and culture from others&#8217; sources? Is it different at all?</strong></p>
<p>Yes, it is different. It differs in <em>efficiency.</em> Where public libraries can educate one citizen at a time from one original book, file-sharing has the potential to educate millions at a time with the same effort spent.</p>
<p>Libraries and file-sharing do <em>not</em> differ in payment to copyright monopoly holders. You would frequently hear that authors are paid royalties when their books are borrowed from a library. This claim is not true. Authors do indeed get some slush money in most European countries, and this is <em>based</em> on library statistics, but it is no form of <em>compensation</em> for that library activity. The difference is crucial.</p>
<p>Rather, that money &#8220;from libraries&#8221; is a unilateral cultural grant that happens to use library statistics for data. It is not true that authors get money when their books are borrowed from libraries. In some cases, they do, but that&#8217;s mostly a coincidence. When Harry Potter in Swedish is borrowed from a Swedish library, for example, J.K. Rowling does not get a single penny for that. (The translator does, though. It&#8217;s a grant to promote culture availability in the local language, not to reward the author.) So the equivalence &#8211; the connection between lending and compensation &#8211; can be trivially disproven through examples.</p>
<p>Libraries and file-sharing do <em>not</em> differ in principle. The purpose of libraries was &#8211; is &#8211; to make culture and knowledge available to as many as possible, as efficiently as possible, for free &#8211; simply because of the greater socioeconomic benefit of an educated and cultural populace. How is this not file-sharing?</p>
<p>So we can observe that public libraries and file-sharing differ in scale and efficiency &#8211; and <em>only</em> in scale and efficiency. Quite a bit, even. But that&#8217;s a quantitative difference, not a qualitative difference. I sometimes hear people trying to defend the copyright monopoly by saying that file-sharing makes public libraries <em>too efficient</em>, and therefore cannot be allowed.</p>
<p>I can&#8217;t do anything but shake my head at that.</p>
<p><strong>That has to be a first in the public debate: Are those people actually standing up and demanding that public services, such as public libraries, be made <em>less efficient</em>, to have <em>less</em> output for the tax money spent on it?</strong></p>
<p>No. That does not make sense. And they deserve to hear it, to hear the absolute silliness of their own argument.</p>
<p><strong>You just cannot defend public libraries and oppose file-sharing at the same time. They are one and the same phenomenon. One is just vastly more efficient.</strong></p>
<p>In a quote from the 1850s that went past my information flow in February 2009, I noted that a publisher of the time had argued, paraphrased, that &#8220;you cannot possibly allow people to read books for free! If you pass this law, no author will ever make a penny from books again! Not a single more book will be written if you pass this law!&#8221;</p>
<p>(Sadly, I have lost the source of that quote. If somebody recognizes it, I would love to re-source it.)</p>
<p>Indeed, no book has been written since 1850. And no movie or piece of music has been created since large-scale file sharing with the Internet arrived around 1999. Either that, or these arguments are completely bogus, and there are only gains to be had from enabling the largest library ever created.</p>
<p>History does repeat itself. As do the people trying to defend obsolete guild-like privileges, even across centuries.</p>
<p><strong>We have built the most amazing public library ever created. All of humanity is able to access the collective culture and knowledge of all of humanity, twenty-four by seven, as well as contribute to that collective pool. All the tools are already in place, all the infrastructure already rolled out, all the training already completed. Not a single tax penny needs to be spent to accomplish this. The only thing we need to do is to remove the ban on using it.</strong></p>
<p>Why are we letting a cartoon industry stand in the way of this? </p>
<p><center>
<div class="alignfull" style="border:2px solid #3F3F3F;width:100%;padding:15px;padding-top:8px;padding-bottom:4px;margin-top:20px;margin-bottom:10px;border-radius:10px">
<h3 style="margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:10px">
<div style="float:right;height:130px;width:39px;margin-left:20px;margin-right:10px"><img src="media/98818a80.Rick_Falkvinge_39x130.jpg" data-original-source="http://falkvinge.net/wp-content/themes/WpNewspaper/images/falkvinge/Rick_Falkvinge_39x130.jpg" style="border:none;-moz-box-shadow:none;-webkit-box-shadow:none" class="quimby_search_image"></div>
<p><span style="color:#3F3F3F;font-size:125%">About The</span> <span style="color:#FF3C78;font-size:125%">Author</span></p>
</h3>
<p style="font-family:PTSansRegular,Arial,Sans-Serif;font-weight:400;line-height:150%;margin-bottom:14px"><small>Rick Falkvinge is a regular columnist on TorrentFreak, sharing his thoughts every other week. He is the founder of the Swedish and first Pirate Party, a whisky aficionado, and a low-altitude motorcycle pilot. His blog at <a href="http://falkvinge.net">falkvinge.net</a> focuses on information policy.</small></p>
<div style="float:right;position:relative;top:-12px">
<p><small>Book Falkvinge <a href="http://falkvinge.net/keynotes/">as speaker</a>?</small></p>
</div>
<p><a href="http://twitter.com/Falkvinge" class="twitter-follow-button">Follow @Falkvinge</a></p>
</div>
<p></center></p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com">TorrentFreak</a>, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/top-popular-torrent-sites-2015-150104/">torrent sites</a> and <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/anonymous-vpn-service-provider-review-2015-150228/">anonymous VPN services</a>.</p>
<div class="feedflare">
<a href="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~ff/Torrentfreak?a=-BkQhpR8MeE:XtLvmaJ73SU:yIl2AUoC8zA"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/Torrentfreak?d=yIl2AUoC8zA" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~ff/Torrentfreak?a=-BkQhpR8MeE:XtLvmaJ73SU:D7DqB2pKExk"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/Torrentfreak?i=-BkQhpR8MeE:XtLvmaJ73SU:D7DqB2pKExk" border="0"></img></a>
</div><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~4/-BkQhpR8MeE" height="1" width="1" alt=""/>


feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=105481
title: Rightscorp Fails in Bid to Unmask Pirates Using DMCA
uri: Rightscorp-Fails-in-Bid-to-Unmask-Pirates-Using-DMCA
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/zQMepdGLVbk/
content:
<p><img src="media/96cc090f.rightscorp.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/rightscorp.jpg" alt="rightscorp" width="180" height="71" class="alignright size-full wp-image-85915">Working on behalf of various copyright owners including Warner Bros. and BMG, last year anti-piracy company Rightscorp began sending subpoenas to dozens of smaller ISPs in the United States. The aim, as usual, was to unmask alleged file-sharers so that they could be pursued for cash settlement.</p>
<p>While many ISPs complied with the requests, the practice was controversial. Such subpoenas aren&#8217;t considered applicable in file-sharing cases and largely avoid scrutiny since they can by signed by a court clerk and are not reviewed by a judge.</p>
<p>In 2014, telecoms company Birch Communications kicked back by refusing to hand over customer details of subsidiary ISP, CBeyond. The company filed a motion to quash Rightscorp&#8217;s subpoena arguing that the anti-piracy outfit had embarked on a fishing exercise with no legal basis.</p>
<p>“CBeyond contends that the section does not apply to service providers that act only as a conduit for data transferred between other parties and that do not store data. The court agrees,” Magistrate Judge Janet King <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/isp-doesnt-have-to-expose-pirating-subscribers-judge-rules-150203/">said</a>.</p>
<p>Faced with this setback Rightscorp filed objections to the ruling and sought to have it overturned. The company has now failed in that effort. Last week the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Georgia adopted the earlier ruling and quashed Rightscorp&#8217;s subpoena.</p>
<p>&#8220;We safeguard our customer information and take privacy issues seriously,&#8221; Birch President and Chief Executive Officer Vincent Oddo said in a statement.</p>
<p>&#8220;The U.S. District Court did the right thing by backing our view, and we&#8217;re very pleased to see that this case will serve to help protect our customers&#8217; private information.&#8221;</p>
<p>Birch Senior Vice President and General Counsel Christopher Bunce says the company&#8217;s first response is to always protect subscriber privacy.</p>
<p>&#8220;Our first order of business when anyone requests access to a customer&#8217;s private information is to refuse, absent a valid subpoena or court order, which we then scrutinize as we did with Rightscorp&#8217;s illegal subpoena in this matter,&#8221; Bunce says.</p>
<p>According to Gardiner Davis who acted as lead litigation counsel for Birch, Rightscorp&#8217;s interpretation of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act was far too liberal.</p>
<p>“They had not even filed a copyright infringement lawsuit,” Davis <a href="http://www.bizjournals.com/kansascity/news/2015/05/08/birch-beats-back-legal-effort-to-access-customer.html">said</a>. “So this attempt was essentially a fishing expedition and I think this ruling was correctly and wisely decided. The court interpreted the statute as Congress intended.”</p>
<p>The defeat represents another blow to an embattled Rightscorp. The company&#8217;s <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/rightscorp-still-cant-turn-piracy-into-straight-profit-150508/">latest financial report</a> reveals a company hemorrhaging cash, despite substantial year-on-year growth.</p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com">TorrentFreak</a>, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/top-popular-torrent-sites-2015-150104/">torrent sites</a> and <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/anonymous-vpn-service-provider-review-2015-150228/">anonymous VPN services</a>.</p>
<div class="feedflare">
<a href="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~ff/Torrentfreak?a=zQMepdGLVbk:UEcbbOey35E:yIl2AUoC8zA"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/Torrentfreak?d=yIl2AUoC8zA" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~ff/Torrentfreak?a=zQMepdGLVbk:UEcbbOey35E:D7DqB2pKExk"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/Torrentfreak?i=zQMepdGLVbk:UEcbbOey35E:D7DqB2pKExk" border="0"></img></a>
</div><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~4/zQMepdGLVbk" height="1" width="1" alt=""/>


feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=105457
title: Google, Microsoft, Mastercard & ISPs Sign Anti-Piracy Agreement
uri: Google-Microsoft-Mastercard-ISPs-Sign-Anti-Piracy-Agreement
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/i6XBw2A2nyE/
content:
<p><img src="media/c579e316.pirate-card.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/pirate-card.jpg" alt="pirate-card" width="250" height="210" class="alignright size-full wp-image-86520">While action against online infringement takes place on many levels, parallel large-scale initiatives with broader aims are increasingly being employed by entertainment industry companies.</p>
<p>Outside of &#8220;<a href="http://torrentfreak.com/?s=three+strikes">three strikes</a>&#8221; style programs, &#8220;follow the money&#8221; is perhaps the next best well-known. This type of initiative, carried out with the assistance of big brands, advertising companies and payment processors, <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/tech-giants-sign-deal-to-ban-advertising-on-pirate-websites-130715/">aims to strangle</a> the finances of &#8216;pirate&#8217; sites.</p>
<p><a href="http://torrentfreak.com/mpa-report-advises-outreach-campaign-against-pirate-ads-150507/">As seen last week</a>, there are also tandem efforts to portray unauthorized sites as &#8220;unsafe&#8221; places for netizens to frequent. The overall message is that pirate sites are run by criminals, consumers should not support them, and money is best spent with legitimate content providers.</p>
<p>Denmark has become the latest country to embrace these ideals via a Memorandum of Understanding titled &#8216;Code to Promote Lawful Behavior on the Internet&#8217; signed by some of the world&#8217;s biggest online players.</p>
<p>Google and Microsoft are the most recognizable international technology signatories and all the big Hollywood studios make a proxy appearance via anti-piracy group Rights Alliance. Broadcasters and cinema companies are also represented.</p>
<p>The interests of more than 40,000 composers, songwriters and music publishers are served by rights group <a href="http://www.koda.dk/eng/home/">Koda</a> and payment companies including MasterCard and Diners Club are also on board. Local ISPs have signed through the Tele Industrien group.</p>
<p><center><img src="media/a82a5079.dan-mou.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/dan-mou.png" alt="dan-mou" width="552" height="390" class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-105466"></center></p>
<p>According to the Ministry of Culture the MoU represents the beginning of a collaborative mechanism designed to tackle digital challenges on five key issues.</p>
<p>1. To help make the Internet a safe and legal platform for consumers and businesses.<br>
2. To stress that copyright is an important cornerstone for growth and innovation.<br>
3. To work together to reduce financial crime, based on copyright violations.<br>
4. To work together to promote the dissemination of legal products.<br>
5. To contribute to efficient processes that can help to reduce copyright violations and associated crimes.</p>
<p>In keeping with <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/six-strikes-anti-piracy-warnings-double-year-140830/">voluntary anti-piracy initiatives</a> currently underway in other countries, signatories will also participate in discussion aimed at identifying new areas of cooperation.</p>
<p>The shape of this Danish initiative looks familiar, with rightsholders applying the pressure and search engines, ISPs, payment processors and advertisers falling into step. While the emphasis is on consumer safety, it is clear that companies are being advised to do everything they can to disassociate themselves from &#8220;criminal enterprises&#8221; on the Internet.</p>
<p>As part of the MoU, signatories agree not to &#8220;finance criminal activities&#8221; by offering support of any kind including giving them &#8220;exposure&#8221;, providing advertising revenue or payment processing services.</p>
<p>&#8220;The companies and organizations that are part of this Code want to counter that their companies are associated with economic crime, based on copyright violations,&#8221; the code reads. </p>
<p>In a statement announcing the signing of the MoU, the Ministry of Culture stressed the aims and importance of the broad agreement.</p>
<p>&#8220;The code reflects a common desire to make a determined effort to ensure that the Internet is a safe and economically sustainable marketplace. It will help to create better conditions for growth and innovation for legitimate businesses and security and transparency for the users,&#8221; the Ministry said.</p>
<p>Time will tell how far each signatory will be prepared to go and on what basis, but the companies involved are the biggest players around and having them all at the same table will be a powerful tool.</p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com">TorrentFreak</a>, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/top-popular-torrent-sites-2015-150104/">torrent sites</a> and <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/anonymous-vpn-service-provider-review-2015-150228/">anonymous VPN services</a>.</p>
<div class="feedflare">
<a href="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~ff/Torrentfreak?a=i6XBw2A2nyE:1AviMfvN65s:yIl2AUoC8zA"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/Torrentfreak?d=yIl2AUoC8zA" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~ff/Torrentfreak?a=i6XBw2A2nyE:1AviMfvN65s:D7DqB2pKExk"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/Torrentfreak?i=i6XBw2A2nyE:1AviMfvN65s:D7DqB2pKExk" border="0"></img></a>
</div><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~4/i6XBw2A2nyE" height="1" width="1" alt=""/>


feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=105398
title: Popcorn Time Traffic Doesn’t Rival Traditional Torrents Just Yet
uri: Popcorn-Time-Traffic-Doesn-t-Rival-Traditional-Torrents-Just-Yet
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/GHckMg3Sj94/
content:
<p><img src="media/3b9dbdf1.popcornt.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/popcornt.png" alt="popcornt" width="237" height="106" class="alignright size-full wp-image-101106">Branded a “Netflix for Pirates,” the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Popcorn_Time">Popcorn Time</a> app quickly gathered a user base of millions of people over the past year.</p>
<p>The application has some of the major media giants worried, including Netflix which sees the pirate app as a <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/netflix-sees-popcorn-time-as-a-serious-competitor-150121/">serious competitor</a> to its business. </p>
<p>Popcorn Time is also a rival for traditional torrent clients such as uTorrent, albeit of a different kind. However, until now how these different types of BitTorrent traffic compare in volume terms has remained unknown.</p>
<p>New data from network management company <a href="http://www.proceranetworks.com/">Procera</a> sheds some light on how the two stack up against each other. Procera gathered data from a European fixed line network in March and April and shared their findings with TF.</p>
<p>On this particular network, which has a capacity of dozens of Gigabits per second, Popcorn Time accounted for roughly 18 Gigabit per second at its peak. The traffic was lowest at night, dropping to nearly zero. </p>
<p>All the traffic in question was generated by &#8216;traditional&#8217; video torrents which were then streamed through the Popcorn Time app.</p>
<p><center><strong>Popcorn Time traffic</strong><br></br></center><center><img src="media/2b9ded17.PopcornEurope1.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/PopcornEurope1.jpg" alt="PopcornEurope1" width="700" height="472" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-105452"></center></p>
<p>The data above comes from one network, so the numbers are not very meaningful without a good comparison standard. For this reason, Procera <a href="http://www.proceranetworks.com/blog/its-popcorn-time-or-is-it">also monitored</a> the traffic generated by uTorrent. </p>
<p>The graph below shows that uTorrent accounts for at least double the traffic compared to Popcorn Time, with a approximately 44 Gigabit per second at the peak in April. </p>
<p><center><strong>uTorrent traffic</strong><br></br></center><center><img src="media/fced7a73.UTorrentEurope1.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/UTorrentEurope1.jpg" alt="UTorrentEurope1" width="700" height="475" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-105453"></center></p>
<p>While the vast majority of uTorrent traffic is generated by video, it&#8217;s worth noting that the data above also includes transfers of software, music and other content. </p>
<p>Non-uTorrent BitTorrent transfers were insignificant according to Procera, well below the traffic Popcorn Time generates.</p>
<p>The traffic patterns observed on this European network may be different in other parts of the world. However, with Popcorn Time having a massive user base in Europe, it&#8217;s safe to conclude that the app is not rivaling traditional torrent yet, traffic-wise.</p>
<p>It will be interesting to see if Popcorn Time will continue to grow during the coming year. The application is now available on all major operating systems and it&#8217;s not unthinkable that it will eventually catch up with uTorrent.</p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com">TorrentFreak</a>, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/top-popular-torrent-sites-2015-150104/">torrent sites</a> and <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/anonymous-vpn-service-provider-review-2015-150228/">anonymous VPN services</a>.</p>
<div class="feedflare">
<a href="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~ff/Torrentfreak?a=GHckMg3Sj94:Veamy0lS_vY:yIl2AUoC8zA"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/Torrentfreak?d=yIl2AUoC8zA" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~ff/Torrentfreak?a=GHckMg3Sj94:Veamy0lS_vY:D7DqB2pKExk"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/Torrentfreak?i=GHckMg3Sj94:Veamy0lS_vY:D7DqB2pKExk" border="0"></img></a>
</div><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~4/GHckMg3Sj94" height="1" width="1" alt=""/>


feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=105455
title: Copyright Holders Want Cox to Expose “Most Egregious” Pirates
uri: Copyright-Holders-Want-Cox-to-Expose-Most-Egregious-Pirates
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/7l_NBtzdIzg/
content:
<p><img src="media/015f41e0.cox-logo.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/cox-logo.png" alt="cox-logo" width="200" height="99" class="alignright size-full wp-image-68146">In the United States most large Internet providers forward DMCA notices to subscribers who&#8217;re accused of downloading copyrighted material.</p>
<p>Cox Communications is one of the ISPs that does this. In addition, the ISP also implemented a strict <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/cox-targets-pirates-with-10-strikes-program-130408/">set of rules</a> of its own accord to ensure that its customers understand the severity of the allegations.</p>
<p>According to some copyright holders, however, Cox&#8217;s efforts are falling short. Last year BMG Rights Management and Round Hill Music <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/cox-communications-sued-for-not-disconnecting-pirates-141128/">sued</a> the ISP because it fails to terminate the accounts of repeat infringers. </p>
<p>The companies, which control the publishing rights to songs by Katy Perry, The Beatles and David Bowie among others, <a href="media/05920dca.gov.uscourts.vaed.310858.1.0.pdf" data-original-source="http://ia601407.us.archive.org/30/items/gov.uscourts.vaed.310858/gov.uscourts.vaed.310858.1.0.pdf">claimed</a> that Cox has given up its DMCA safe harbor protections due to this inaction.</p>
<p>The case revolves around the &#8220;repeat infringer&#8221; clause of the DMCA, which prescribes that Internet providers must terminate the accounts of persistent pirates. Both parties are currently conducting discovery.</p>
<p>In order to make their case the copyright holders have sent a long list of demands to Cox, but court records show the ISP is reserved in the information it&#8217;s willing to hand over.</p>
<p>The company refused, for example, to reveal the identities of roughly 150,000 subscribers who allegedly downloaded infringing works from BMG and Round Hill Music. According to the ISP, the Cable Privacy Act prevents the company from disclosing this information.</p>
<p>The music groups, however, aren&#8217;t taking no for an answer and are now asking the court to compel Cox to hand over their personal details. According to them, this information is crucial to proof the direct infringement claims. </p>
<p>The copyright holders are willing to accept a more limited number of accounts to begin with. In a motion to compel, they ask for the personal details of 500 account holders whose accounts were repeatedly used to share pirated material.</p>
<p>&#8220;In an effort to narrow the dispute, Copyright Holders only request the identity of and contact information associated with 500 of what appear to be the most egregious infringers,&#8221; they write. </p>
<p>&#8220;Specifically, Copyright Holders seek the identity of subscribers associated with 250 IP addresses that have infringed the copyrights at issue since the complaint was filed in this case, and the identity of subscribers associated with 250 IP addresses that have infringed in the six months prior to the Complaint being filed,&#8221; the companies add.</p>
<p>While the current request is limited to 500 IP-addresses, the music groups reserve the right to request more at a later stage and ask the court to grant permission to do so.</p>
<p>&#8220;Copyright Holders also request that the Court issue an open Order requiring Cox to produce the contact information for additional direct infringers of the copyrights at issue in this case, if the need arises,&#8221; they write.</p>
<p>There is a hearing scheduled for later this week when the copyright holders will further detail their request, if needed. Cox has yet to respond but it&#8217;s unlikely that the company will hand to hand over the requested information without putting up a fight.</p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com">TorrentFreak</a>, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/top-popular-torrent-sites-2015-150104/">torrent sites</a> and <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/anonymous-vpn-service-provider-review-2015-150228/">anonymous VPN services</a>.</p>
<div class="feedflare">
<a href="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~ff/Torrentfreak?a=7l_NBtzdIzg:UfTDGNo-GZI:yIl2AUoC8zA"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/Torrentfreak?d=yIl2AUoC8zA" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~ff/Torrentfreak?a=7l_NBtzdIzg:UfTDGNo-GZI:D7DqB2pKExk"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/Torrentfreak?i=7l_NBtzdIzg:UfTDGNo-GZI:D7DqB2pKExk" border="0"></img></a>
</div><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~4/7l_NBtzdIzg" height="1" width="1" alt=""/>


feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=105525
title: “Well Organized” TV Show Piracy Group Shut Down
uri: Well-Organized-TV-Show-Piracy-Group-Shut-Down
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/J1JcxUBqjKc/
content:
<p><img src="media/3c5b727e.old-tv.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/old-tv.jpg" alt="old-tv" width="200" height="122" class="alignright size-full wp-image-34676">When it comes to content being made available on file-sharing networks, TV shows have certainly stamped their position as one of the leaders in recent years.</p>
<p>Often enjoying their premiere in the United States, TV shows are illegally downloaded all over the world just minutes after they air, disrupting local licensing and marketing strategies in an instant but giving fans want they want &#8211; without the premium price tag.</p>
<p>Until these issues are fully addressed piracy will continue, with dedicated TV show releasing groups happy to fill in the gaps on availability and/or price &#8211; until they&#8217;re tracked down and stopped of course.</p>
<p>To that end, Hong Kong customs authorities are this morning reporting success in shutting down what they describe as a &#8220;well organized cross-border&#8221; TV show piracy &#8220;syndicate&#8221;.</p>
<p>Following an investigation carried out over the past three months, yesterday authorities arrested two men in two areas of the autonomous territory. One, a 25-year-old living in the Southern District, is said to be the group&#8217;s founder. Another, a 46-year-old, is being described as a &#8220;key member&#8221;. A third, said to be the group&#8217;s &#8216;<a href="http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=Capper">capper</a>&#8216;, is believed to be at large.</p>
<p>According to a government release, four sets of computers were seized and TV shows were discovered stored on the equipment. Overall the group is suspected of distributing around 2,500 shows.</p>
<p>Of interest, however, is that Hong Kong authorities are currently refusing to name the group or their site URL. That&#8217;s because the server is located in the United States and at the moment remains fully operational. Nevertheless, the operation is being declared a success.</p>
<p>“This is virtually our first case in which we have discovered such a large quantity of television programs being uploaded to the Internet for downloading,” a Customs officer said.</p>
<p>Under local copyright law anyone distributing an infringing copy of a TV show or other copyright work commits a criminal offense if that negatively affects the copyright owner. The maximum penalty is four years in jail and a fine of around US$6,500 per infringing copy. </p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com">TorrentFreak</a>, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/top-popular-torrent-sites-2015-150104/">torrent sites</a> and <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/anonymous-vpn-service-provider-review-2015-150228/">anonymous VPN services</a>.</p>
<div class="feedflare">
<a href="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~ff/Torrentfreak?a=J1JcxUBqjKc:1XdBZExuhxM:yIl2AUoC8zA"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/Torrentfreak?d=yIl2AUoC8zA" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~ff/Torrentfreak?a=J1JcxUBqjKc:1XdBZExuhxM:D7DqB2pKExk"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/Torrentfreak?i=J1JcxUBqjKc:1XdBZExuhxM:D7DqB2pKExk" border="0"></img></a>
</div><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~4/J1JcxUBqjKc" height="1" width="1" alt=""/>


feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=105487
title: Netload Resurfaces At New Home After Court Order
uri: Netload-Resurfaces-At-New-Home-After-Court-Order
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/rGHNIU29lSY/
content:
<p><img src="media/34f8ff1b.nloa.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/nloa.png" alt="nloa" width="202" height="64" class="alignright size-full wp-image-105507">For several years copyright holder have branded Netload a piracy haven.</p>
<p>A few months ago the MPAA <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/mpaa-reports-top-pirate-sites-u-s-government-141027/">reported</a> the site to the U.S. Government as a &#8220;notorious market&#8221; and in Germany several music groups have taken the site to court. </p>
<p>Back in 2011 record labels started legal proceedings against the site&#8217;s operator, demanding the names and addresses of uploaders. The site owner initially refused to do so, but eventually caved in when faced with a prison sentence.</p>
<p>Now, three years later, trouble continues for Netload. Music industry lawfirm Rasch recently obtained an injunction from a Hamburg Court ordering Netload to stop the distribution of a pirated music album. </p>
<p>&#8220;The District Court of Hamburg decided on Netload’s obligation to cease and desist from aiding their users to make a certain album available to the public,&#8221; Rasch lawyer Mirko Brüß informs TF, adding that he couldn&#8217;t name the album in question.</p>
<p>Under German jurisprudence this means that Netload will have to monitor external forums and search engines to make sure that these are not linking to the infringing work. If the site fails to do so the service faces a fine of hundreds of thousands of euros.</p>
<p>&#8220;If we find another (working) link to the album, Netload faces punitive fines of up to 250,000 euro per infringement,&#8221; Brüß notes. </p>
<p>The lawfirm <a href="http://www.raschlegal.de/news/sharehoster-netload-nach-gerichtlicher-inanspruchnahme-durch-rasch-rechtsanwaelte-offline/">served the operator</a> of Netload with this injunction last week, and soon after the site vanished. Initially the lawyers and their clients believed that the site had shut down, but the assessment came too quickly.</p>
<p><center><img src="media/93fc119b.netloadfull.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/netloadfull.jpg" alt="netloadfull" width="600" height="330" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-105517"></center></p>
<p>While <a href="http://netload.in">Netload.in</a> is still offline a copy of the site has reappeared at <a href="http://netload.me">Netload.me</a>. This site is allegedly operated by the same people and the old logins are functional.</p>
<p>&#8220;It appears Netload is going to relaunch using the .me-domain. It’s the same company in the imprint and the old user logins are working. Uploads are not working so far,&#8221; Brüß tells TF.</p>
<p>Despite the change of address the injunction still stands, so the music industry lawyers will keep a close eye on the site to see if the infringing album appears. </p>
<p>Netload was contacted for a comment on the recent troubles but the company has yet to respond to our inquiry.</p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com">TorrentFreak</a>, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/top-popular-torrent-sites-2015-150104/">torrent sites</a> and <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/anonymous-vpn-service-provider-review-2015-150228/">anonymous VPN services</a>.</p>
<div class="feedflare">
<a href="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~ff/Torrentfreak?a=rGHNIU29lSY:qntpVES_6Z8:yIl2AUoC8zA"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/Torrentfreak?d=yIl2AUoC8zA" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~ff/Torrentfreak?a=rGHNIU29lSY:qntpVES_6Z8:D7DqB2pKExk"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/Torrentfreak?i=rGHNIU29lSY:qntpVES_6Z8:D7DqB2pKExk" border="0"></img></a>
</div><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~4/rGHNIU29lSY" height="1" width="1" alt=""/>


feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=105562
title: “Six Strikes” Anti-Piracy Scheme Is a Sham, Filmmakers Say
uri: Six-Strikes-Anti-Piracy-Scheme-Is-a-Sham-Filmmakers-Say
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/CvWkTh1lRdo/
content:
<p><img src="media/f2bfe741.pirate-running.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/pirate-running.jpg" alt="pirate-running" width="222" height="204" class="alignright size-full wp-image-78717">To counter the ever increasing piracy threat a group of smaller movie studios launched a new coalition last month, the <a href="http://internetsecuritytaskforce.org/">Internet Security Task Force</a> (ISTF). </p>
<p>ISTF, which includes Voltage Pictures, Millennium, Bloom, Sierra/Affinity and FilmNation Entertainment among its members, is poised to be more aggressive than the MPAA.</p>
<p>Today the group unveils its first point of action. According to the group it&#8217;s time to end the voluntary &#8220;six strikes&#8221; <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/six-strikes-anti-piracy-warnings-double-year-140830/">Copyright Alert System</a>, the voluntary anti-piracy agreement between the RIAA, MPAA and several large U.S. Internet providers.</p>
<p>ISTF presents data which reveals that the six strikes warnings are not getting the desired result, describing the system as a &#8220;sham&#8221;.</p>
<p>According to Millennium Films President Mark Gill his studio sent numerous piracy notices directed at &#8216;Expendables 3&#8242; pirates under the scheme, but only a tiny fraction were forwarded by the participating ISPs. </p>
<p>&#8220;We&#8217;ve always known the Copyright Alert System was ineffective, as it allows people to steal six movies from us before they get an educational leaflet. But now we have the data to prove that it&#8217;s a sham,&#8221; Gill comments. </p>
<p>&#8220;On our film &#8216;Expendables 3,&#8217; which has been illegally viewed more than 60 million times, the CAS only allowed 0.3% of our infringement notices through to their customers. The other 99.7% of the time, the notices went in the trash,&#8221; he adds.</p>
<p>As part of the Copyright Alert System ISPs and copyright holders have agreed to send a limited number of notices per month, so anything above this threshold is not forwarded. </p>
<p>ISTF&#8217;s data on the number of &#8216;Expendables 3&#8242; infringements suggests that the Copyright Alerts are in fact less effective than the traditional forwarding schemes of other providers. </p>
<p>Cox and Charter, two ISPs who do not participate in the Copyright Alert System, saw a 25.47% decrease in reported infringements between November 2014 and January 2015. However, the ISPs who sent six strikes notices saw a 4.54% increase over the same period.</p>
<p>&#8220;These alarming numbers show that the CAS is little more than talking point utilized to suggest these five ISPs are doing something to combat piracy when in actuality, their customers are free to continue pirating content with absolutely no consequences,&#8221; Voltage Pictures CEO Nicolas Chartier notes. </p>
<p>&#8220;As for its laughable six strikes policy, would any American retailer wait for someone to rob them six times before handing them an educational leaflet? Of course not, they call the cops the first time around,&#8221; he adds.</p>
<p>While it&#8217;s clear that ISTF is not happy with the Copyright Alert System, they seem mistaken about how it works. Customers don&#8217;t have to be caught six times before they are warned, they get an educational notice the first time they&#8217;re caught. </p>
<p>The &#8220;six strikes&#8221; terminology refers to the graduated response scheme, in which customers face stronger punishments after being caught more times.</p>
<p>Interestingly, the filmmakers promote the Canadian notice-and-notice system as a better alternative. Since earlier this year, Canadian ISPs are <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/canadian-piracy-notices-boost-demand-anonymous-vpns-150113/">obligated to forward infringement notices</a> to their subscribers, and ISTF notes that it has been instrumental in decreasing piracy.</p>
<p>Since the beginning of 2015, Bell Canada has seen a 69.6% decrease in infringements and Telus (54.0%), Shaw (52.1%), TekSavvy (38.3%) and Rogers (14.9%) all noted significant reductions.</p>
<p>The data presented is collected by the monitoring outfit CEG TEK. This American company sends infringement notices paired with settlement requests on behalf of copyright holders, sometimes demanding hundreds of dollars from alleged pirates. </p>
<p>Needless to say, these threats may in part be the reason for the reported effectiveness. </p>
<p>In the United States, ISPs are currently not obliged to forward copyright infringement notices. Some ISPs such as Comcast do so voluntarily, but they also strip out the settlement demands.</p>
<p>ISTF hopes this will change in the near future and the group has sent a letter to the MPAA, RIAA and the major ISPs urging them to expire the Copyright Alert System, and switch to the Canadian model instead.</p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com">TorrentFreak</a>, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/top-popular-torrent-sites-2015-150104/">torrent sites</a> and <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/anonymous-vpn-service-provider-review-2015-150228/">anonymous VPN services</a>.</p>
<div class="feedflare">
<a href="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~ff/Torrentfreak?a=CvWkTh1lRdo:aAJMGFJy__k:yIl2AUoC8zA"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/Torrentfreak?d=yIl2AUoC8zA" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~ff/Torrentfreak?a=CvWkTh1lRdo:aAJMGFJy__k:D7DqB2pKExk"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/Torrentfreak?i=CvWkTh1lRdo:aAJMGFJy__k:D7DqB2pKExk" border="0"></img></a>
</div><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~4/CvWkTh1lRdo" height="1" width="1" alt=""/>


feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=105584
title: YouTuber Sues Google, Viacom Over Content ID Takedowns
uri: YouTuber-Sues-Google-Viacom-Over-Content-ID-Takedowns
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/SufaQjYzQcw/
content:
<p><img src="media/71d3999d.youtubesadsmall1.png" data-original-source="https://torrentfreak.com/images/youtubesadsmall1.png" width="200" height="145" class="alignright">While in previous years people were simply grateful to have somewhere to host their own vides, these days a growing number of YouTube users rely on the site to generate extra cash.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.youtube.com/yt/creators//earn-money.html">Earning money with YouTube</a> is now easier than ever, with some &#8216;YouTubers&#8217; even making enough to invest <a href="http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2957053/That-s-7-million-subscribers-buy-Blogging-sensation-Zoella-buys-1million-five-bedroom-mansion-Brighton-six-years-YouTube-diary.html">in a mansion</a>.</p>
<p>For others, however, the environment created by the Google-owned video platform is far from perfect, with <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/universal-music-hijacks-youtube-videos-of-indie-artist-150317/">complaints</a> over the company&#8217;s Content ID anti-piracy system regularly <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/youtube-flags-cat-purring-as-copyright-infringing-music-150211/">making the news</a>. Now YouTuber Benjamin Ligeri is adding his name to the disgruntled list.</p>
<p>In a lawsuit filed at the US District Court for the District of Rhode Island which lists Google, Viacom, Lionsgate and another YouTuber as defendants, Ligeri bemoans a restrictive YouTube user contract and a system that unfairly handles copyright complaints.</p>
<p>Ligeri says that he has uploaded content to YouTube under the name <a href="https://www.youtube.com/user/BetterStream/videos">BetterStream</a> for purposes including &#8220;criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, and/or research,&#8221; but never in breach of copyright. Nevertheless, he claims to have fallen foul of YouTube&#8217;s automated anti-piracy systems.</p>
<p>One complaint details a video uploaded by Ligeri which he says was a parody of the film The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo. It was present on YouTube for a year before a complaint was filed against it by a YouTube user called Egeda Pirateria.</p>
<p>&#8220;Defendant Pirateria is not the rightful owner of the rights to The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo, nor did the Plaintiff&#8217;s critique of it amount to copying or distribution of the movie,&#8221; Ligeri writes.</p>
<p>However, much to his disappointment, YouTube issued a copyright &#8220;strike&#8221; against Ligeri&#8217;s account and refused to remove the warning, even on appeal.</p>
<p>&#8220;YouTube, although Defendants Pirateria or Lion&#8217;s Gate lacked any legal claim<br>
to any copyright to The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo, denied the Plaintiff&#8217;s appeal pertaining to his account&#8217;s copyright strike,&#8221; the complaint reads.</p>
<p>Ligeri says Viacom also got in on the action, filing a complaint against his &#8220;critique&#8221; of the 2014 remake of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.</p>
<p>&#8220;A claim was made with YouTube on behalf of Defendant Viacom. Defendant Viacom does not have a legal or valid copyright to TMNT. Defendant YouTube allowed Viacom the option to mute, disable or monetize the Plaintiff&#8217;s Fair Use content,&#8221; Ligeri adds.</p>
<p>Although the fair use argument could be up for debate, in 2009 Nickelodeon acquired the global rights to the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles brand. Nickelodeon&#8217;s parent company is Viacom-owned Paramount Pictures.</p>
<p>&#8220;Content ID is an opaque and proprietary system where the accuser can serve as the judge, jury and executioner,&#8221; Ligeri continues.</p>
<p>&#8220;Content ID allows individuals, including Defendants other than Google, to steal ad revenue from YouTube video creators en masse, with some companies claiming content they don&#8217;t own deliberately or not. The inability to understand context and parody regularly leads to fair use videos getting blocked, muted or monetized.&#8221;</p>
<p>Noting that YouTube exercises absolute power through its <a href="https://www.law.cornell.edu/wex/adhesion_contract_contract_of_adhesion">take-it-or-leave-it</a> user agreement, Ligeri says the agreement and Content ID combined result in non-compliance with the Digital Millennium Copyright Act.</p>
<p>&#8220;Normally, under DMCA, there would be a process where the reported content<br>
would be removed for 10-14 days so any dispute could be resolved by way of notice and counter-notice,&#8221; Ligeri writes.</p>
<p>&#8220;Content ID and YouTube&#8217;s adhesion contract are not compliant with DMCA<br>
because, at a minimum, the software&#8217;s algorithm fails [to] recognize when content may or may not be violating copyright.&#8221;</p>
<p>Ligeri says that rather than acting as a neutral party, YouTube favors larger copyright holders using Content ID over smaller creators who do not.</p>
<p>&#8220;This software and YouTube&#8217;s terms of use circumvent DMCA by creating a<br>
private arbitration mechanism. Further, a party claiming copyright infringement has no burden of proof under this private arbitration mechanism,&#8221; he notes.</p>
<p>In conclusion, Ligeri is demanding an injunction which compels Google/YouTube to restore the content taken down via the allegedly bogus complaints and &#8220;otherwise comply with the DMCA.&#8221;</p>
<p>Ligeri also seeks declaratory judgments that he did not infringe the copyrights of the defendants and that YouTube&#8217;s terms of use are void on several counts, including that they ignore or fail to comply with the DMCA.</p>
<p>A claim for nominal damages of $10,000, &#8216;special&#8217; damages of $1,000,000 plus unspecified punitive damages and costs conclude the filing.</p>
<p>This is not the first time Ligeri has personally targeted YouTube. In 2008 he unsuccessfully sued the company in an effort to <a href="http://arstechnica.com/uncategorized/2008/08/youtube-user-sues-google-for-his-slice-of-the-traffic/">obtain a 1/500th share</a> in the revenue generated by the video site.</p>
<p>The self-styled &#8220;#1 Most Viewed YouTube Icon&#8221; also appears to enjoy representing himself. In addition to the current case his <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/benjaminligeri">Linkedin profile</a> describes him as a &#8220;human rights activist private litigator&#8221; with previous experience working in a public defender&#8217;s office for the criminally insane.</p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com">TorrentFreak</a>, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/top-popular-torrent-sites-2015-150104/">torrent sites</a> and <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/anonymous-vpn-service-provider-review-2015-150228/">anonymous VPN services</a>.</p>
<div class="feedflare">
<a href="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~ff/Torrentfreak?a=SufaQjYzQcw:qS-_SkB7CsE:yIl2AUoC8zA"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/Torrentfreak?d=yIl2AUoC8zA" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~ff/Torrentfreak?a=SufaQjYzQcw:qS-_SkB7CsE:D7DqB2pKExk"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/Torrentfreak?i=SufaQjYzQcw:qS-_SkB7CsE:D7DqB2pKExk" border="0"></img></a>
</div><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~4/SufaQjYzQcw" height="1" width="1" alt=""/>


feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=105618
title: Shutting Down Pirate Sites is Ineffective, European Commission Finds
uri: Shutting-Down-Pirate-Sites-is-Ineffective-European-Commission-Finds
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/3YFYuJSipQc/
content:
<p><img src="media/eb49179c.eucommtechreport.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/eucommtechreport.png" alt="eucommtechreport" width="300" height="233" class="alignright size-full wp-image-105642">A few years ago Europe witnessed the largest piracy-related busts in history with <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/kino-to-raided-in-massive-police-operation-admins-arrested-110608/">the raid</a> of the popular movie streaming portal Kino.to. </p>
<p>Police officers in Germany, Spain, France and the Netherlands raided several residential addresses, data centers and arrested more than a dozen individuals connected to the site.</p>
<p>The operation wiped out the largest unauthorized streaming portal in Europe and was praised as a massive success. However, new research from the European Commission&#8217;s <a href="https://ec.europa.eu/jrc/">Joint Research Centre</a> shows that the effect on end users was short-lived and relatively limited. </p>
<p>In a <a href="http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2604197">working paper</a> titled &#8220;Online Copyright Enforcement, Consumer Behavior, and Market Structure&#8221; researchers examined clickstream data for a set of 5,000 German Internet users to see how their legal and illegal consumption habits changed in response to the shutdown. </p>
<p>One of the main conclusions is that the kino.to raid led to a short-lived decrease in piracy, after which piracy levels returned to normal. At the same time, the researchers observed only a small increase in the use of legal services.</p>
<p>&#8220;While users of kino.to decreased their levels of piracy consumption by 30% during the four weeks following the intervention, their consumption through licensed movie platforms increased by only 2.5%,&#8221; the paper reads.</p>
<p>Based on the above the researchers conclude that if the costs of the raids and prosecution are factored in, the shutdown probably had no positive effect.</p>
<p><center><img src="media/5b5f3235.totalp1.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/totalp1.png" alt="totalp1" width="497" height="374" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-105644"></center> </p>
<p>&#8220;Taken at face value, these results indicate that the intervention mainly converted consumer surplus into deadweight loss. If we were to take the costs of the intervention into account, our results would suggest that the shutdown of kino.to has not had a positive effect on overall welfare,&#8221; the researchers write.</p>
<p>Perhaps more worrying is the fact that Kino.to was soon replaced by several new streaming services. This so-called &#8220;Hydra&#8221; effect means that a landscape which was previously dominated by one site, now consists of several smaller sites that together have roughly the same number of visitors. </p>
<p>The researchers note that Movie2k.to and KinoX.to quickly filled the gap, and that the scattered piracy landscape would make future shutdowns more costly.</p>
<p>&#8220;Our analysis shows that the shutdown of kino.to resulted in a much more fragmented structure of the market for unlicensed movie streaming,&#8221; the paper reads.</p>
<p>&#8220;This potentially makes future law enforcement interventions either more costly &#8211; as there would not be a single dominant platform to shutdown anymore &#8211; or less effective if only a single website is targeted by the intervention&#8221;</p>
<p><center><img src="media/a40b7e1e.totalp.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/totalp.png" alt="totalp" width="504" height="344" class="alignnone size-large wp-image-105646"></center></p>
<p>One of the policy implications could be to advise against these type of large piracy raids, as they do very little to solve the problem at hand. </p>
<p>However, the researchers note that the results should be interpreted with caution. For example, it doesn&#8217;t include any data on offline sales. Similarly, back in 2011 there were relatively few legal options available, so the effects may be different now. </p>
<p>That said, the current findings shed an interesting light on the limited effectiveness of international law enforcement actions directed at piracy sites. Also, it&#8217;s the first research paper we know of that provides strong evidence for the frequently mentioned <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/hundreds-of-pirate-bay-copies-emerge-is-the-hydra-alive-141227/">Hydra effect</a>.</p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com">TorrentFreak</a>, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/top-popular-torrent-sites-2015-150104/">torrent sites</a> and <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/anonymous-vpn-service-provider-review-2015-150228/">anonymous VPN services</a>.</p>
<div class="feedflare">
<a href="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~ff/Torrentfreak?a=3YFYuJSipQc:CZekFbyirJQ:yIl2AUoC8zA"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/Torrentfreak?d=yIl2AUoC8zA" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~ff/Torrentfreak?a=3YFYuJSipQc:CZekFbyirJQ:D7DqB2pKExk"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/Torrentfreak?i=3YFYuJSipQc:CZekFbyirJQ:D7DqB2pKExk" border="0"></img></a>
</div><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~4/3YFYuJSipQc" height="1" width="1" alt=""/>


feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=105623
title: MPAA & RIAA Demand DNS Action Against ‘Pirate’ Domains
uri: MPAA-RIAA-Demand-DNS-Action-Against-Pirate-Domains
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/cziIU1ybPdg/
content:
<p><img src="media/a48beb7d.stopstop.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/stopstop.jpg" alt="stopstop" width="180" height="120" class="alignright size-full wp-image-81719">One of the key aims of the now infamous SOPA legislation that failed to pass several years ago was the takedown of domains being used for infringing purposes. The general consensus outside of the major copyright groups was that this kind of provision should be rejected.</p>
<p>However, within the movie and music industries the spirit of SOPA is still alive, it&#8217;s just a question of how its aims can be achieved without giving alternative mechanisms the same name. Yesterday, during a hearing before the House Judiciary Committee’s Internet subcommittee, domains were firmly on the agenda.</p>
<p>One group in attendance was the Coalition for Online Accountability. COA&#8217;s aim is to improve online transparency and to encourage &#8220;effective enforcement against online infringement of copyrights and trademarks.&#8221;</p>
<p>No surprise then that its members consist of the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA), the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), Entertainment Software Association (ESA) and the Software and Information Industry Association (SIIA).</p>
<p>COA counsel Steve Metalitz&#8217;s testimony called for domain name registrars to deal with complaints effectively.</p>
<p><strong>Domains</strong></p>
<p>&#8220;In recent months, there have been increasing calls from many quarters for domain name registrars to recognize that, like other intermediaries in the e-commerce environment, they must play their part to help address the plague of online copyright theft that continues to blight the digital  marketplace,&#8221; Metalitz said.</p>
<p>&#8220;Under the 2013 revision of the Registrar Accreditation Agreement (<a href="https://www.icann.org/resources/pages/approved-with-specs-2013-09-17-en">RAA</a>), domain name registrars took on important new obligations to respond to complaints that domain names they sponsor are being used for copyright or trademark infringement, or other illegal activities.&#8221;</p>
<p>However, according to Metalitz, registrars are not responding. The COA counsel said that the RAA requires registrars to “investigate and respond appropriately” to abuse reports and make “commercially reasonable efforts” to ensure that registrants don&#8217;t use their domain names “directly or indirectly” to infringe third party rights. But there has been little action. </p>
<p>&#8220;Well-documented reports of abuse that are submitted to registrars by right-holders, clearly demonstrating pervasive infringement, are summarily rejected, in contravention of the 2013 RAA, which requires that they be investigated,&#8221; he said.</p>
<p>As an example, Metalitz highlighted a Romanian-hosted &#8216;pirate&#8217; music site using the domain Itemvn.com.</p>
<p>&#8220;By August of last year, RIAA had notified the site of over 220,000 infringements of its members’ works (and had sent similar notices regarding 26,000 infringements to the site’s hosting providers). At that time, RIAA complained to the domain name registrar (a signatory of the 2013 RAA), which took no action, ostensibly because it does not host the site,&#8221; he explained. A complaint to ICANN was also dismissed, twice.</p>
<p>It&#8217;s clear from Metalitz&#8217;s testimony that the MPAA, RIAA and ESA are seeking an environment in which domains will be suspended or blocked if they can be shown to be engaged in infringement. But the groups&#8217; demands don&#8217;t end there.</p>
<p><strong>WHOIS</strong></p>
<p>WHOIS databases carry the details of individuals or companies that have registered domains and registrars are required to ensure that this information is both accurate and up to date. However, since WHOIS searches often reveal information that registrants would rather keep private, so-called proxy registrations (such as Whoisguard) have become increasingly popular.</p>
<p>While acknowledging there is a legitimate need for such registrations (albeit in &#8220;limited circumstances&#8221;), the entertainment industry groups are not happy that pirate site operators are playing the system to ensure they cannot be traced.</p>
<p>As a result they are aiming for a situation where registrars only deal with proxy services that meet certain standards on issues including accuracy of customer data, relaying of complaints to proxy registrants, plus &#8220;ground rules for when the contact points of a proxy registrant will be revealed to a complainant in order to help address a copyright or trademark infringement.&#8221;</p>
<p>In other words, anonymity should only be available up to a point.</p>
<p>In a letter to the Committee, the EFF warned against the COA&#8217;s proposals.</p>
<p>&#8220;As  advocates  for  free  speech,  privacy, and  liberty  on  the  global  Internet,  we  ask  the Committee   to   resist   calls   to   impose   new   copyright   and   trademark   enforcement responsibilities on ICANN. In particular, the Committee should reject proposals to have ICANN  require the  suspension  of  Internet  domain  names  based  on  accusations of copyright or trademark infringement by a website,&#8221; the EFF said.</p>
<p>&#8220;This is effectively the same proposal that  formed  the  centerpiece  of  the  Stop  Online  Piracy  Act  of  2011  (SOPA),  which  this Committee set aside after millions of Americans voiced their opposition. Using the global Domain Name System to enforce copyright law remains as problematic in 2015 as it was in 2011.&#8221;</p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com">TorrentFreak</a>, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/top-popular-torrent-sites-2015-150104/">torrent sites</a> and <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/anonymous-vpn-service-provider-review-2015-150228/">anonymous VPN services</a>.</p>
<div class="feedflare">
<a href="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~ff/Torrentfreak?a=cziIU1ybPdg:KYlR8FpWMEE:yIl2AUoC8zA"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/Torrentfreak?d=yIl2AUoC8zA" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~ff/Torrentfreak?a=cziIU1ybPdg:KYlR8FpWMEE:D7DqB2pKExk"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/Torrentfreak?i=cziIU1ybPdg:KYlR8FpWMEE:D7DqB2pKExk" border="0"></img></a>
</div><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~4/cziIU1ybPdg" height="1" width="1" alt=""/>


feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=105684
title: Mega Rolls Out Legal Heavyweights to Refute Piracy Claims
uri: Mega-Rolls-Out-Legal-Heavyweights-to-Refute-Piracy-Claims
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/9xwWUPFM9JY/
content:
<p><img src="media/7bd905c6.mega_logo.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/mega_logo.png" alt="mega_logo" width="200" height="109" class="alignright size-full wp-image-102194">In September 2014, NetNames published a <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/report-brands-dotcoms-mega-a-piracy-haven-140918/">report</a> titled <em>Behind The Cyberlocker Door: A Report How Shadowy Cyberlockers Use Credit Card Companies to Make Millions.</em> It accused New Zealand-based cloud-storage site Mega of being a &#8220;cyberlocker&#8221; and profiting from &#8220;content theft&#8221;.</p>
<p>Mega <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/mega-goes-legal-issues-ultimatum-over-cyberlocker-report-140925/">reacted angrily</a> to the report, branding it defamatory and warning of further action.</p>
<p>This morning Mega revealed it had commissioned international law firm <a href="http://www.olswang.com/">Olswang</a> to critique the NetNames report, an interesting move considering the firm&#8217;s pedigree. In 2014 Olswang <a href="http://www.olswang.com/news/2014/05/olswang-helps-uk-government%E2%80%99s-ip-adviser-shape-anti-piracy-recommendations-for-search-engines/">worked</a> with the UK government&#8217;s IP advisor to publish a set of anti-piracy recommendations. They were <a href="http://www.mpaa.org/endorsing-mike-weatherley-call-for-search-engines-to-play-a-bigger-role-in-supporting-a-safe-and-secure-online-environment/">later endorsed</a> by the MPAA.</p>
<p><strong>The report</strong></p>
<p>&#8220;Olswang was asked to analyse the evidence and data used by NetNames in order to establish whether there was any factual basis for the claims.  Olswang is renowned for its deep experience in the technology, media and telecoms sector,&#8221; Mega says.</p>
<p>The result is a 42-page teardown of the <a href="http://www.netnames.com/">NetNames</a> report, clarifying Mega&#8217;s business and legal practices while leaving the brand company with plenty of questions to answer.</p>
<p>&#8220;The NetNames report has been extremely damaging to Mega,&#8221; Oslwang begins. &#8220;Most notably, it has been relied upon by United States Senator Patrick Leahy to <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/senator-uses-piracy-report-to-pressure-visa-mastercard-141125/">apply pressure</a> to major payment providers and credit card companies to withdraw their services from those identified in the NetNames report.&#8221; </p>
<p><strong>Allegedly infringing content</strong></p>
<p>One of NetNames&#8217; key claims is that the majority of the files stored on Mega are infringing. Olswang attacks both the claim and the company&#8217;s methodology.</p>
<p>Describing the analysis file sample as &#8220;inherently biased towards finding infringing content&#8221;, the law firm notes that only publicly available files were examined while the vast majority of files stored on Mega (encrypted and not publicly shared) were ignored.</p>
<p>&#8220;In September 2014, when the NetNames report was published, Mega had approximately 2.5 billion files stored on its servers. This means that the sample of files analysed represents just 0.00002% of the total number of overall files,&#8221; Olswang reports.</p>
<p>The law firm adds that NetNames took no steps to determine whether content was actually infringing. Instead, filenames were used as the lone indicator of illegality.</p>
<p><strong>Business model</strong></p>
<p>After holding NetNames to its own definition of an &#8220;illegal cyberlocker&#8221;, Olswang found no similarities with Mega, noting that the company&#8217;s business model is &#8220;entirely at odds with NetNames&#8217; own description of those used by cyberlockers.&#8221;</p>
<p>Noting that Mega&#8217;s basic service is similar to those provided by many other major legitimate cloud-hosting providers, Olswang addresses NetNames&#8217; claims that rogue cyberlockers limit download speeds in order to encourage users to pay to upgrade to higher speeds.</p>
<p>&#8220;Mega operates a bandwidth limit in the same way as other legitimate storage providers and does not limit download speeds,&#8221; the law firm notes.</p>
<p>And then to advertising.</p>
<p>&#8220;The NetNames report acknowledges that Mega does not host advertising and is therefore an &#8216;exception&#8217; to the other 29 cyberlocker companies named. However it still categorizes Mega as a cyberlocker despite it being clear that Mega&#8217;s primary sources of revenue do not share any of the characteristics ascribed to cyberlockers. We therefore see no possible basis on which such a conclusion can be drawn,&#8221; the report adds.</p>
<p>Aggressive affiliate programs, which are considered by some to be one of the hallmarks of a rogue file-hosting site, are also tackled by Olswang in the clearest possible terms.</p>
<p>&#8220;The NetNames report estimates that Mega pays out $66,789 per month to affiliates. The source of this figure is unexplained, and it is entirely false. To date, Mega has not finalized any affiliate relationships and therefore has never paid any commission or retainer to any affiliate,&#8221; the law firm notes.</p>
<p><strong>Legal</strong></p>
<p>Of primary importance is whether Mega complies with the law, both locally in New Zealand and elsewhere internationally. The Olswang report highlights no deficiencies while noting that Mega&#8217;s policies are &#8220;fully compliant with the New Zealand Copyright Act 1994 and the equivalent intermediary liability regimes provided for in the US DMCA and European ECommerce Directive.&#8221;</p>
<p>The company takes down infringing content on demand and reports deleting 131,377 files in the first quarter of 2015, a figure representing just 0.003% of all files stored on Mega. Site users are subjected to a &#8220;5 strikes&#8221; regime, meaning that after five reports of infringement accounts are suspended.</p>
<p>&#8220;At the time of writing 29,290 user accounts had been suspended by Mega for this reason, comprising less than 0.16% of total Mega users,&#8221; Olswang notes.</p>
<p><strong>Conclusion</strong></p>
<p>&#8220;Having reviewed the NetNames report and undertaken analysis of Mega’s service, Olswang has found no evidence to conclude that Mega can be considered a cyberlocker, or that it knowingly, willingly or even passively assists in or condones wide scale copyright or other infringement,&#8221; the law firm writes.</p>
<p>&#8220;In summary, Olswang has concluded that the allegations in the NetNames report are highly defamatory of Mega and appear to have no factual basis whatsoever. The NetNames report contains numerous factual inaccuracies and methodological errors and draws conclusions that are entirely wrong.</p>
<p>&#8220;[All] of Mega’s characteristics are consistent with those of a legitimate cloud storage provider in the same way as Google Drive, Microsoft OneDrive, Apple iCloud, Dropbox and many other similar providers,&#8221; Olswang concludes.</p>
<p>Mega says it is pleased with the findings of the report and is now considering its legal position.</p>
<p>“It is quite clear from the comprehensive review conducted by Olswang that the assertions about Mega in the NetNames report are totally without foundation and are defamatory. We are now taking legal advice on this serious attack against Mega,&#8221; says Mega CEO Graham Gaylard.</p>
<p>“Olswang’s credentials on anti-piracy issues are impeccable, and their conclusions totally refute the allegations made in the NetNames report.&#8221;</p>
<p>Thus far NetNames has ignored requests for comment on the inclusion of Mega in its report. With pressure building as it now is, the company could soon be left with little choice.</p>
<p>The full report can be downloaded <a href="media/01647d3d.Mega_Limited_Olswang_Report_15May2015.pdf" data-original-source="https://mega.nz/Mega_Limited_Olswang_Report_15May2015.pdf">here</a> <em>(pdf)</em>.</p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com">TorrentFreak</a>, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/top-popular-torrent-sites-2015-150104/">torrent sites</a> and <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/anonymous-vpn-service-provider-review-2015-150228/">anonymous VPN services</a>.</p>
<div class="feedflare">
<a href="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~ff/Torrentfreak?a=9xwWUPFM9JY:m1Dzw01YMsA:yIl2AUoC8zA"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/Torrentfreak?d=yIl2AUoC8zA" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~ff/Torrentfreak?a=9xwWUPFM9JY:m1Dzw01YMsA:D7DqB2pKExk"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/Torrentfreak?i=9xwWUPFM9JY:m1Dzw01YMsA:D7DqB2pKExk" border="0"></img></a>
</div><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~4/9xwWUPFM9JY" height="1" width="1" alt=""/>


feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=105682
title: Record Labels Sue ‘New’ Grooveshark, Seize Domains
uri: Record-Labels-Sue-New-Grooveshark-Seize-Domains
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/Zo7EypU3UKc/
content:
<p><img src="media/df9c7fbf.grooveshark.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/grooveshark.png" alt="grooveshark" width="173" height="118" class="alignright size-full wp-image-105689">Earlier this month the long running lawsuit between the RIAA and Grooveshark came to an end. </p>
<p>Facing hundreds of millions in damages, the music streaming service <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/grooveshark-shuts-down-apologizes-to-the-riaa-150501/">settled the dispute for $50 million while offering an apology</a> for the mistakes that had been made in the past. </p>
<p>The record labels celebrated the outcome as a victory, but after a few days they had a new Grooveshark problem on their hands. A person naming himself &#8220;Shark&#8221; had launched a new music service using the familiar Grooveshark brand. </p>
<p>Contrary to most press reports proclaiming a near-complete return of Grooveshark, the site itself appeared to be <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/resurrected-grooveshark-is-actually-an-mp3juices-clone-150506/">mostly an MP3Juices clone</a>. However, the use of the Grooveshark name was enough to have the record labels worried. </p>
<p>In a complaint filed under seal at the Southern District of New York, the labels are now suing the people behind Grooveshark&#8217;s reincarnation. </p>
<p>The labels accuse the site&#8217;s operators of counterfeiting, trademark infringement, cybersquatting and copyright infringement and immediately applied for countermeasures to shut the site down. </p>
<p>Earlier this week District Court Judge Deborah Batts sided with the labels, issuing the requested temporary restraining order as well as a seizure order directed at the site&#8217;s operators, hosting providers and domain registrar NameCheap.</p>
<p>&#8220;There is good cause to believe that, unless the Defendants are restrained and enjoined by Order of this Court, immediate and irreparable harm will result from the Defendants’ ongoing violations,&#8221; the Judge writes.</p>
<p>Under the temporary restraining order the site&#8217;s operators are barred from using Grooveshark trademarks and logos and it also prohibits hosting providers from working with the site. In addition, NameCheap was ordered to seize the domain until further notice.</p>
<p><center><strong>Letter to Namecheap</strong><br></br></center><center><img src="media/773fe1d1.newgroove.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/newgroove.jpg" alt="newgroove" width="600" height="620" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-105698"></center></p>
<p>Namecheap swiftly complied with the order and as a result the site&#8217;s domain names including <a href="http://grooveshark.io">Grooveshark.io</a> are now inaccessible. </p>
<p>The operator of the &#8216;new&#8217; Grooveshark, however, is not impressed by the legal fireworks and will continue to run the site from the new <a href="http://grooveshark.vc/">Grooveshark.vc</a> domain name that was just launched. </p>
<p>&#8220;I have one message for those responsible for this hostile take over: You will not stop us. We won&#8217;t give in to this type of bullying,&#8221; Shark informs us.</p>
<p>&#8220;On the contrary! The harder you come at us the stronger we&#8217;ll fight, and now after this hit we&#8217;re more determined than ever to keep Grooveshark alive and kicking,&#8221; he adds.</p>
<p>In addition to relocating to a new domain name Shark says he&#8217;s added several developers to his team. A few days ago the team released the much requested playlist feature and in the near future he hopes to make the entire project Open Source. </p>
<p>And so a new game of Whac-A-Mole has started.</p>
<p><strong>Update May 18:</strong> The new domain has been nullrouted as well. </p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com">TorrentFreak</a>, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/top-popular-torrent-sites-2015-150104/">torrent sites</a> and <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/anonymous-vpn-service-provider-review-2015-150228/">anonymous VPN services</a>.</p>
<div class="feedflare">
<a href="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~ff/Torrentfreak?a=Zo7EypU3UKc:qPPMUMj5kR4:yIl2AUoC8zA"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/Torrentfreak?d=yIl2AUoC8zA" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~ff/Torrentfreak?a=Zo7EypU3UKc:qPPMUMj5kR4:D7DqB2pKExk"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/Torrentfreak?i=Zo7EypU3UKc:qPPMUMj5kR4:D7DqB2pKExk" border="0"></img></a>
</div><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~4/Zo7EypU3UKc" height="1" width="1" alt=""/>


feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=105546
title: Top BitTorrent Tracker Pressured to Ban Infringing Hashes
uri: Top-BitTorrent-Tracker-Pressured-to-Ban-Infringing-Hashes
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/axjaO7tug6Y/
content:
<p><img src="media/3c71d30b.demonii.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/demonii.png" alt="demonii" width="190" height="185" class="alignright size-full wp-image-70906">At any given point in time, millions of people are sharing files via BitTorrent. The most used trackers process millions of requests per minute, serving between 15 and 30 million people at once.</p>
<p>Demonii is one of these top BitTorrent trackers. The standalone tracker offers no torrents but merely coordinates communication between people who share files via sites such as The Pirate Bay.</p>
<p>Technically speaking a tracker is similar to a DNS provider, it&#8217;s a &#8216;phone book&#8217; which points people to content without knowing what it is. However, according to German lawfirm Rasch, trackers have a responsibility to block infringing hashes if they are asked to. </p>
<p>Earlier this year the lawfirm took action against the hosting companies of several standalone trackers after they failed to block &#8220;infringing&#8221; hashes. The operator of Demonii, currently the most used BitTorrent tracker, informed us that they were contacted too.</p>
<p>&#8220;First we received an email from Rasch asking us to remove about five torrent hashes for one music artist. Since the firm is merely an agent and not the actual copyright owner, I asked for proof that he is the lawful agent,&#8221; Demonii&#8217;s operator explains. </p>
<p>The lawfirm provided the requested paperwork and to avoid problems with the hosting company, Demonii blocked the five hashes. This was the first time that Demonii had ever blocked content, which is nothing more than filtering a piece of HEX string.</p>
<p>However, it soon became clear that Rasch was just getting started. In the weeks that followed the company filed complaints against 10,000 allegedly infringing hashes which pointed to content from various copyright holders. </p>
<p>Again, Demonii requested proof that the firms was acting as a lawful agent, but this time Rasch declined. Instead, Rasch lawyer Mirko Brüß told the operator that anyone can report copyright infringements.</p>
<p>&#8220;Anybody can notify you of an infringement, even if they are in no way affiliated with the rights owner. Please understand that we will not go above and beyond what is provided by the law in order to satisfy your personal requests,&#8221; Brüß wrote in an email.</p>
<p>&#8220;It is your decision to act upon the information sent to you. But with regards to blocking content wrongfully, the content owners could approach us with claims for damages for sending a false notice to you,&#8221; he added.</p>
<p>The Demonii operator disagrees with this assessment and calls out the claim as incorrect. </p>
<p>&#8220;If what he is saying is right, in theory, I can go send an email to his hosting provider to remove their site? After all I am not the owner and no way legally affiliated, but I can still claim the take down?! &#8212; No.. I can&#8217;t, and neither should he,&#8221; he tells TF.</p>
<p>However, with pressure shifting to the tracker&#8217;s hosting service (which had given the tracker 24 hours to comply), Demonii was eventually forced to block all reported hashes. </p>
<p>Describing the lawfirm&#8217;s tactics as &#8220;bullying&#8221;, the operator decided to move away from its hosting company to one that may be more resistant to this type of pressure. </p>
<p>&#8220;We have moved to a different hosting provider, one which we hope will take the matter more seriously and not just bend over backwards for any outrageous claim and takedown request where ownership can not be proven,&#8221; Demonii&#8217;s operator says. </p>
<p>The previous hash blocks have also been lifted, so Demonii is starting over fresh and uncensored again. The move hasn&#8217;t stopped the lawfirm from sending more blocking requests, but for the time being the tracker is opting to ignore these. </p>
<p>The tracker stresses that it respects copyright law. However, it will only respond to correct takedown notice and not to &#8220;bullying&#8221; tactics. </p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com">TorrentFreak</a>, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/top-popular-torrent-sites-2015-150104/">torrent sites</a> and <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/anonymous-vpn-service-provider-review-2015-150228/">anonymous VPN services</a>.</p>
<div class="feedflare">
<a href="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~ff/Torrentfreak?a=axjaO7tug6Y:FrsQDVuPCSg:yIl2AUoC8zA"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/Torrentfreak?d=yIl2AUoC8zA" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~ff/Torrentfreak?a=axjaO7tug6Y:FrsQDVuPCSg:D7DqB2pKExk"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/Torrentfreak?i=axjaO7tug6Y:FrsQDVuPCSg:D7DqB2pKExk" border="0"></img></a>
</div><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~4/axjaO7tug6Y" height="1" width="1" alt=""/>


feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=105716
title: Facebook Shuts Down ExtraTorrent’s Official Page
uri: Facebook-Shuts-Down-ExtraTorrent-s-Official-Page
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/fT30YLKfxSM/
content:
<p><img src="media/15660387.etfacebook.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/etfacebook.png" alt="etfacebook" width="299" height="196" class="alignright size-full wp-image-105720">With regular competitions and frequent status updates ExtraTorrent has a very active community on Facebook. </p>
<p>Or had, we should say. </p>
<p>After sailing clear for nearly three years, Facebook decided to pull the plug on the site this morning citing a third-party copyright complaint. </p>
<p>“We have removed or disabled access to the following content that you have posted on Facebook because we received a notice from a third-party that the content infringes their copyright(s),” Facebook wrote.</p>
<p>According to Facebook the ExtraTorrent page was considered to be a repeat copyright infringer, but the staff of the torrent site refutes this characterization.</p>
<p>ExtraTorrent&#8217;s staff tells TF that they were careful not to link directly to infringing content after Facebook warned them two years ago. However, Google cache <a href="http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:toVFMEq58IoJ:https://www.facebook.com/ExtratorrentPage+&#038;cd=1&#038;hl=en&#038;ct=clnk">does show</a> occasional links to pages that list pirated movies. </p>
<p><center><strong>Facebook&#8217;s takedown message</strong></center><center><img src="media/92f97ef1.extratorrent-facebook-page-removed.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/extratorrent-facebook-page-removed.png" alt="extratorrent-facebook-page-removed" width="880" height="350" class="alignright size-full wp-image-105722"></center></p>
<p>The last notice ExtraTorrent received from Facebook came in yesterday. This takedown notice complained about a post from two years ago which linked to a torrent of the film Elysium.</p>
<p>&#8220;This post was published in 2013. It&#8217;s very curious. Looks like Facebook removed the ExtraTorrent Page because of a post from 2013,&#8221; ET&#8217;s staff tells us.</p>
<p>This is not the first time that ExtraTorrent has been kicked from Facebook. The same happened <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/facebook-removes-extratorrent-fan-page-120620/">three years ago</a> when the site&#8217;s official page had roughly 140,000 fans.</p>
<p>Despite the new setback, the torrent site is not giving up on Facebook just yet. They quickly launched a <a href="https://www.facebook.com/ExtraTorrent">new page</a> which quickly gathered thousands of followers, and many more are sure to follow.</p>
<p><center><strong>Extratorrent&#8217;s new Facebook page</strong></center><center><img src="media/1259b932.extraface.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/extraface.jpg" alt="extraface" width="600" height="497" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-105719"></center></p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com">TorrentFreak</a>, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/top-popular-torrent-sites-2015-150104/">torrent sites</a> and <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/anonymous-vpn-service-provider-review-2015-150228/">anonymous VPN services</a>.</p>
<div class="feedflare">
<a href="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~ff/Torrentfreak?a=fT30YLKfxSM:2YMTiGlMkLY:yIl2AUoC8zA"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/Torrentfreak?d=yIl2AUoC8zA" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~ff/Torrentfreak?a=fT30YLKfxSM:2YMTiGlMkLY:D7DqB2pKExk"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/Torrentfreak?i=fT30YLKfxSM:2YMTiGlMkLY:D7DqB2pKExk" border="0"></img></a>
</div><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~4/fT30YLKfxSM" height="1" width="1" alt=""/>


feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=105668
title: Comcast Users Sued After Ignoring Piracy Notices
uri: Comcast-Users-Sued-After-Ignoring-Piracy-Notices
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/hCRijtEq67Y/
content:
<p><img src="media/e278f072.comcast-new.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/comcast-new.png" alt="comcast-new" width="200" height="110" class="alignright size-full wp-image-105673">Through various programs, such as the &#8220;six strikes&#8221; scheme in the United States and the fledgling <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/canadian-isps-vpns-now-alert-pirating-customers-150102/">Canadian program</a> launched earlier this  year, warning notices are delivered to BitTorrent users suspected of distributing content online.</p>
<p>While most are relatively benign, other warning notices come with a price tag attached. The most common are sent by anti-piracy outfit Rightscorp which routinely adds $20 settlement demands to ISP-delivered infringement notices.</p>
<p>The key with these notices is that Rightscorp and its clients don&#8217;t know the identities of the people they&#8217;re targeting so in the vast majority of cases these cash demands can be ignored. However, it now transpires that&#8217;s not always the best strategy.</p>
<p>In a lawsuit filed at the United States District Court for the District of New Jersey, Rightscorp client Rotten Records is suing a Comcast user who allegedly downloaded and shared <em>When the Kite String Pops</em>, the 1994 debut album from sludge metal band <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Acid_Bath">Acid Bath</a>.</p>
<p>In a second filed at the United States District Court for the District of Massachusetts, Rotten Records is suing another Comcast user who allegedly downloaded and shared <em>Definition</em>, the sixth album from crossover thrash band <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/D.R.I._%28band%29">D.R.I</a>.</p>
<p>According to both lawsuits, Rotten Records hired Rightscorp to monitor BitTorrent networks for infringement. The company connected to the defendants&#8217; BitTorrent clients and downloaded a full copy of each of the albums, later verifying that they were identical to the original copyright works.</p>
<p>Distancing themselves from any accusations of wrongdoing, the lawsuits state that neither Rotten Records nor Rightscorp were the original &#8216;seeders&#8217; of the album and at no point did Rightscorp upload the albums to any other BitTorrent users. However, the company did send warnings to the Comcast users with demands for them to stop sharing the album.</p>
<p>&#8220;Rightscorp sent Defendant 11 notices via Defendant’s ISP Comcast Cable<br>
Communications, Inc. from March 26, 2015 to April 4, 2015 demanding that Defendant stop illegally distributing Plaintiff’s work. Defendant ignored each and every notice and continued to illegally distribute Plaintiff’s work,&#8221; the <em>Acid Bath</em> lawsuit reads.</p>
<p>While eleven notices is significant, that number pales into insignificance when compared to the <em>D.R.I</em> case.</p>
<p>&#8220;Rightscorp sent Defendant 288 notices via their ISP Comcast Cable Communications, Inc. from December 14, 2014 to May 12, 2015 demanding that<br>
Defendant stop illegally distributing Plaintiff’s work. Defendant ignored each and every notice and continued to illegally distribute Plaintiff’s work,&#8221; the complaint reads.</p>
<p>In closing, Rotten Records demands an injunction forbidding further online infringement in both cases in addition to the deletion of both albums from each Comcast user&#8217;s computer.</p>
<p>Unsurprisingly the record label also wants statutory damages (potentially $150K per work if any infringement is deemed willful) plus attorneys&#8217; fees.</p>
<p>The cases are interesting ones for a number of reasons, not least the decision to target Comcast customers. The ISP routinely <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/comcast-kills-business-model-of-piracy-monitoring-and-settlement-firm-131206/">strips settlement demands</a> from notices sent by Rightscorp, so it&#8217;s possible a message is being sent here.</p>
<p>The other angle is money. Sure, Rotten Records can probably come away with a few thousand dollars by way of settlement, but for Rightscorp the cases could prove much more valuable.</p>
<p>Despite warning that not settling for $20 could have a much worse outcome for an alleged pirate, it&#8217;s become relatively common knowledge that the company hardly ever shows its teeth. Victory in a case like this could be just what it needs to force settlements from greater numbers of notice recipients.</p>
<p>Keep an eye out for forthcoming (and noisily high-value) settlement announcements. They could make $20 sound like a bargain and boost Rightscorp&#8217;s <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/rightscorp-still-cant-turn-piracy-into-straight-profit-150508/">failing bottom line</a>.</p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com">TorrentFreak</a>, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/top-popular-torrent-sites-2015-150104/">torrent sites</a> and <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/anonymous-vpn-service-provider-review-2015-150228/">anonymous VPN services</a>.</p>
<div class="feedflare">
<a href="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~ff/Torrentfreak?a=hCRijtEq67Y:VrplkY5fDrE:yIl2AUoC8zA"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/Torrentfreak?d=yIl2AUoC8zA" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~ff/Torrentfreak?a=hCRijtEq67Y:VrplkY5fDrE:D7DqB2pKExk"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/Torrentfreak?i=hCRijtEq67Y:VrplkY5fDrE:D7DqB2pKExk" border="0"></img></a>
</div><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~4/hCRijtEq67Y" height="1" width="1" alt=""/>


feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=105712
title: MPAA Complained So We Seized Your Funds, PayPal Says
uri: MPAA-Complained-So-We-Seized-Your-Funds-PayPal-Says
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/5_W8SgCKsw8/
content:
<p><img src="media/feee0104.paypaldenied.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/paypaldenied.jpg" alt="paypaldenied" width="180" height="115" class="alignright size-full wp-image-53701">For <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/paypal-ifpi-and-police-collaborate-to-strangle-pirate-music-sites-110723/">several years</a> PayPal has been <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/paypal-demands-invites-to-private-bittorrent-trackers-130108/">trying to limit</a> how much business it does with sites involved with copyright infringement. Unsurprisingly torrent sites are high up on the payment processors &#8220;do not touch&#8221; list.</p>
<p>For that reason it is quite rare to see PayPal offered as a donation method on the majority of public sites as these are spotted quite quickly and often shut down. It&#8217;s unclear whether PayPal does its own &#8216;scouting&#8217; but the company is known to act upon complaints from copyright holders as part of the developing global &#8220;Follow the Money&#8221; anti-piracy strategy.</p>
<p>This week Andrew Sampson, the software developer behind new torrent search engine &#8216;<a href="http://torrentfreak.com/strike-public-tracker-dht-searches-presented-cleanly-150321/">Strike</a>&#8216;, discovered that when you have powerful enemies, bad things can happen.</p>
<p>With no advertising on the site, Sampson added his personal PayPal account in case anyone wanted to donate. Quickly coming to the conclusion that was probably a bad idea, Sampson removed the button and carried on as before. One month later PayPal contacted him with bad news.</p>
<p>&#8220;We are contacting you as we have received a report that your website https://getstrike.net is currently infringing upon the intellectual property of Motion Picture Association of America, Inc.,&#8221; PayPal began.</p>
<p>&#8220;Such infringement also violates PayPal&#8217;s Acceptable Use Policy. Therefore your account has been permanently limited.&#8221;</p>
<p><img src="media/a6c593f6.Strike-paypal.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/Strike-paypal.png" alt="Strike-paypal" width="641" height="884" class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-105718"></p>
<p>It isn&#8217;t clear why PayPal waited for a month after donations were removed from Strike to close Sampson&#8217;s six-year-old account but the coder believes that his public profile (he doesn&#8217;t hide his real identity) may have led to his issues.</p>
<p>&#8220;It seems someone at the MPAA realized I took donations using PayPal from some of my other LEGAL open source projects (like https://github.com/Codeusa/Borderless-Gaming) and was able to get the email of my account,&#8221; the dev told TF.</p>
<p>While Sampson had regularly been receiving donations from users of his other <a href="https://github.com/Codeusa">open source projects</a>, he says he only received $200 from users of Strike, a small proportion of the $2,500 in his personal account when PayPal shut it down.</p>
<p>&#8220;That money was earned through legitimate freelance work and was going to be used specifically for my rent/car payment so it kind of sucks,&#8221; he says.</p>
<p>While it&#8217;s going to be a painful 180 day wait for Sampson to get his money back from PayPal, the lack of options for receiving donations on his other projects could prove the most damaging moving forward. Sampson does accept Bitcoin, but it&#8217;s nowhere near as user-friendly as PayPal.</p>
<p>Of course, this is all part of the MPAA&#8217;s strategy. By making sites like Strike difficult to run, they hope that developers like Sampson will reconsider their positions and move on. And in this case they might just achieve their aims.</p>
<p>&#8220;I&#8217;ve allowed someone else to manage the site for the time being. It will operate as it normally does but I need a bit to clear my head and don&#8217;t want anything to do with it as it&#8217;s become quite stressful,&#8221; Sampson says.</p>
<p>&#8220;I think the MPAA is playing low ball tactics against a developer who just wanted a better search engine. I don&#8217;t condone piracy, but I sure as hell understand why it happens.&#8221; </p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com">TorrentFreak</a>, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/top-popular-torrent-sites-2015-150104/">torrent sites</a> and <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/anonymous-vpn-service-provider-review-2015-150228/">anonymous VPN services</a>.</p>
<div class="feedflare">
<a href="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~ff/Torrentfreak?a=5_W8SgCKsw8:r8Y-MWIIrRs:yIl2AUoC8zA"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/Torrentfreak?d=yIl2AUoC8zA" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~ff/Torrentfreak?a=5_W8SgCKsw8:r8Y-MWIIrRs:D7DqB2pKExk"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/Torrentfreak?i=5_W8SgCKsw8:r8Y-MWIIrRs:D7DqB2pKExk" border="0"></img></a>
</div><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~4/5_W8SgCKsw8" height="1" width="1" alt=""/>


feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=105748
title: Top 10 Most Pirated Movies of The Week – 05/18/15
uri: Top-10-Most-Pirated-Movies-of-The-Week-05-18-15
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/Nkr018aM118/
content:
<p><img src="media/228d887d.machina.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/machina.jpg" alt="machina" width="300" height="169" class="alignright size-full wp-image-105751">This week we have four newcomers in our chart.</p>
<p>Ex Machina is the most downloaded movie.</p>
<p>The data for our weekly download chart is estimated by TorrentFreak, and is for informational and educational reference only. All the movies in the list are BD/DVDrips unless stated otherwise.</p>
<p><a href="http://TorrentFreak.com/category/dvdrip/feed/"><strong>RSS feed</strong></a> for the weekly movie download chart.</p>
<table class="css hover">
<thead>
<tr>
<th width="12%"><strong>Ranking</strong></th>
<th width="15%"><strong>(<a href="https://torrentfreak.com/top-10-most-pirated-movies-of-the-week-051115/">last week</a>)</strong></th>
<th><strong>Movie</strong></th>
<th width="18%"><strong>IMDb Rating / Trailer</strong></th>
</tr>
</thead>
<tfoot>
<tr>
<td colspan="4">torrentfreak.com</td>
</tr>
</tfoot>
<tbody>
<tr>
<td><strong>1</strong></td>
<td>(&#8230;)</td>
<td><a href="http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/ex_machina/">Ex Machina</a> </td>
<td><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0470752/">8.0</a> / <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EoQuVnKhxaM">trailer</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><strong>2</strong></td>
<td>(&#8230;)</td>
<td><a href="http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/project_almanac/">Project Almanac</a> </td>
<td><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2436386/">6.3</a> / <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Yih-CxTWsw">trailer</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><strong>3</strong></td>
<td>(1)</td>
<td><a href="http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/jupiter_ascending_2014/">Jupiter Ascending</a> </td>
<td><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1617661/">5.8</a> / <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t4ZzMkDLjWI">trailer</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><strong>4</strong></td>
<td>(2)</td>
<td><a href="http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/furious_7/">Furious 7</a> (Subbed/cropped HDRip)</td>
<td><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2820852/">8.8</a> / <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yISKeT6sDOg">trailer</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><strong>5</strong></td>
<td>(4)</td>
<td><a href="http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/kingsman_the_secret_service/">Kingsman: The Secret Service</a> </td>
<td><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2802144/">8.1</a> / <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kl8F-8tR8to">trailer</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><strong>6</strong></td>
<td>(3)</td>
<td><a href="http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/american_sniper/">American Sniper</a> </td>
<td><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2179136/">7.4</a> / <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MItGoIxoVGk">trailer</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><strong>7</strong></td>
<td>(&#8230;)</td>
<td><a href="http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/chappie/">Chappie</a> </td>
<td><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1823672">7.2</a> / <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lyy7y0QOK-0">trailer</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><strong>8</strong></td>
<td>(5)</td>
<td><a href="http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/run_all_night/">Run All Night</a> </td>
<td><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2199571/?ref_=nv_sr_1">6.9</a> / <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7uDuFh-nC-c">trailer</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><strong>9</strong></td>
<td>(&#8230;)</td>
<td><a href="http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/focus_2014/?">Focus</a> </td>
<td><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2381941/">6.7</a> / <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MxCRgtdAuBo">trailer</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><strong>10</strong></td>
<td>(7)</td>
<td><a href="http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/fifty_shades_of_grey/">Fifty Shades of Grey</a> </td>
<td><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2322441/">4.2</a> / <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SfZWFDs0LxA">trailer</a></td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com">TorrentFreak</a>, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/top-popular-torrent-sites-2015-150104/">torrent sites</a> and <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/anonymous-vpn-service-provider-review-2015-150228/">anonymous VPN services</a>.</p>
<div class="feedflare">
<a href="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~ff/Torrentfreak?a=Nkr018aM118:jQ1lWdW9qvw:yIl2AUoC8zA"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/Torrentfreak?d=yIl2AUoC8zA" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~ff/Torrentfreak?a=Nkr018aM118:jQ1lWdW9qvw:D7DqB2pKExk"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/Torrentfreak?i=Nkr018aM118:jQ1lWdW9qvw:D7DqB2pKExk" border="0"></img></a>
</div><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~4/Nkr018aM118" height="1" width="1" alt=""/>


feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=105532
title: RIAA Cuts More Jobs, Awards Bonuses to Execs
uri: RIAA-Cuts-More-Jobs-Awards-Bonuses-to-Execs
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/XVcdg7DTmR8/
content:
<p><img src="media/971b8479.riaa-logo.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/riaa-logo.jpg" alt="riaa-logo" width="170" height="173" class="alignright size-full wp-image-15326">The RIAA has just submitted its latest tax filing to the IRS, covering the fiscal year ending March 31, 2014. Time for us to see where the music industry&#8217;s anti-piracy arm stands. </p>
<p>In previous years the RIAA reported a massive decline in revenue after the record labels cut back on their membership dues, but this trend now appears to have stopped. </p>
<p>Total revenue according to the latest filing is $24.2 million, a slight increase from $24.1 million the year before. Despite the stabilizing income, which mostly comes from the record label&#8217;s membership dues, the RIAA continues to trim employees.</p>
<p>Over the past five years the number of employees at the RIAA has been slashed in half, dropping from 117 to just 55. </p>
<p>In its most recent filing the RIAA lists 55 people on the payroll compared to 58 the year before. In total these employees earned $11.7 million of which more than 25% went into the pockets of three top executives.  </p>
<p>Interestingly, while more than half of the organization&#8217;s workers have been let go, the RIAA&#8217;s top employees have enjoyed salary increases year after year, including some healthy bonuses.</p>
<p>The top earner in the year ending March 2014 was CEO Cary Sherman with a $1.6 million a year payout for a working week of 50 hours. Sherman&#8217;s base salary is a cool million dollars, but that was boosted with a half million bonus and other compensation.</p>
<p>Other high income employees were Mitch Glazier (Senior Executive VP), Steve Marks (General Counsel) and Neil Turkewitz (EVP International) with $776,616, $728,959 and $657,952 respectively, including over a quarter million in bonuses.</p>
<p><center><strong>RIAA top earners</strong><br></br></center><center><img src="media/bd377177.990riiarev.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/990riiarev.png" alt="990riiarev" width="961" height="437" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-105604"></center></p>
<p>While these incomes are significant, they are relatively modest compared to other industry groups. For example, MPAA boss Chris Dodd earns $3.3 million, while its former General Counsel Henry Hoberman earned close to a million.</p>
<p>Looking at other expenses reported in the tax return we see that the RIAA spent $2.3 million on lobbying, a figure that has remained relatively stable over time. </p>
<p>The same cannot be said for the group&#8217;s legal fees, which dropped from $16.50 to $1.28 million in a few years. In part, this is because the expensive lawsuits against individual file-sharers and services such as Limewire have ended.</p>
<p>Most recently the RIAA started another lawsuit, this time targeting the <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/major-record-labels-sue-mp3skull-150420/">music linking site MP3Skull</a>, so perhaps the amount spent will increase again in future years.</p>
<p>The full 2013/2014 filing is <a href="https://www.scribd.com/doc/265198565/RIAA2014-990?secret_password=VtGFZ9IqH8LZNcbZw1qY">available here</a>.</p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com">TorrentFreak</a>, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/top-popular-torrent-sites-2015-150104/">torrent sites</a> and <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/anonymous-vpn-service-provider-review-2015-150228/">anonymous VPN services</a>.</p>
<div class="feedflare">
<a href="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~ff/Torrentfreak?a=XVcdg7DTmR8:rOR9adVkwdo:yIl2AUoC8zA"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/Torrentfreak?d=yIl2AUoC8zA" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~ff/Torrentfreak?a=XVcdg7DTmR8:rOR9adVkwdo:D7DqB2pKExk"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/Torrentfreak?i=XVcdg7DTmR8:rOR9adVkwdo:D7DqB2pKExk" border="0"></img></a>
</div><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~4/XVcdg7DTmR8" height="1" width="1" alt=""/>


feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=105757
title: EZTV Shuts Down After Hostile Takeover
uri: EZTV-Shuts-Down-After-Hostile-Takeover
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/JF9Gwi10cTU/
content:
<p><img src="media/a9c13900.eztv-logo-small1.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/eztv-logo-small1.png" alt="eztv-logo-small" width="191" height="80" class="alignright size-full wp-image-99927">During the spring of 2005 several large TV-torrent sites were knocked offline, leaving a gaping void that was soon <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/meet-eztv-the-leading-tv-torrent-distribution-group/">filled by</a> a new torrent distribution group, EZTV.</p>
<p>For a decade EZTV has been one of the leading TV distribution groups. It turned into one of the <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/top-popular-torrent-sites-2015-150104/">most visited torrent sites</a>, but today this run comes to an end. </p>
<p>Facing a hostile takeover the group&#8217;s founder and main operator NovaKing has called it quits. </p>
<p>Initially it remained vague how EZTV&#8217;s demise came to be, not least because NovaKing could not be reached. However, with help from several EZTV staffers including sladinki007 we can now explain what happened. </p>
<p>The group&#8217;s troubles started earlier this year when the .IT registry <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/eztv-ditches-it-domain-after-italian-intervention-150115/">suspended EZTV&#8217;s domain name</a> because of inaccurate Whois information. A few weeks later the .IT registry put the domain back on the market and <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/eztv-impostors-hope-to-cash-in-on-eztv-it-150403/">it was snapped up by scammers</a>. </p>
<p>The people who took over the domain name came in well-prepared. They registered the UK company EZCloud LIMITED, which is the same company name as EZTV used. Initially the takeover wasn&#8217;t much of a problem, as EZTV had already moved to a new domain name at EZTV.ch, but things quickly turned from bad to worse. </p>
<p>Using the EZCloud company details and by faking the director&#8217;s name, the scammers also managed to take over the EZTV.se domain through the EuroDNS registrar. NovaKing tried to prevent this from happening by alerting the registrar, but according to an EZTV staffer he was told to get a court order if he wanted his domain back.</p>
<p>The .se domain was linked to the mailbox of EZTV founder NovaKing, which allowed them to access the domain registrar account and various other services for which they quickly reset all passwords. As a result, NovaKing was locked out, losing control of virtually all of his domain names. </p>
<p>Initially, there was also the possibility that the servers were compromised as well. This prompted a thorough <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/eztv-goes-on-hiatus-for-a-thorough-security-audit-150415/">security audit</a> and a site lockdown last month.</p>
<p>Eventually, even the new EZTV.ch domain fell <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/take-over-new-eztv-domain-name-150425/">into the hands</a> of the scammers, completing the hostile takeover.</p>
<p>Sladinki007 says that NovaKing must have been devastated by what happened. A life&#8217;s work was completely ruined in a few days and access to personal domain names was gone as well.   </p>
<p>While EZTV could technically start over using a new name the group&#8217;s founder decided to throw in the towel. Too much had already been lost. The group had always been a &#8220;fun&#8221; non-profit project, and the recent troubles took the fun away.</p>
<p>The scammers, meanwhile, continue to operate both the .it and .ch domain names and are now distributing their own torrents (sourced elsewhere) with the hijacked EZTV brand. They pretend to be the real deal, sending out misleading and false status updates, but they&#8217;re not. </p>
<p>Having control over NovaKing&#8217;s email address the scammers even reached out to other torrent site operators, claiming that EZTV was back in business. However, most knew better not to fall for it and have retired official EZTV uploader accounts. </p>
<p>A Pirate Bay moderator informs TF that they have suspended the <a href="https://thepiratebay.se/user/eztv/">EZTV user account</a>. Many of the older torrents are still on the site, but TPB has added a warning urging people to stay away from the compromised domain. </p>
<p><center><strong>TPB&#8217;s EZTV warning</strong><br></br></center><center><img src="media/b69530db.tpbwarning.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/tpbwarning.png" alt="tpbwarning" width="695" height="217" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-105759"></center></p>
<p>Other torrent sites such as KickassTorrents, BT-chat and Rarbg have also disabled or suspended the official EZTV accounts after hearing about the takeover. In addition, KickassTorrents and BT-chat have added the same warning as TPB. This way they hope to keep people away from the compromised EZTV site, which is now serving various ads including pop-unders.</p>
<p>Former EZTV staffers also urge people to stay away from all EZTV sites and to inform others to do the same. The real EZTV is no longer active. </p>
<p>EZTV&#8217;s forced retirement marks the and of an era. While there are still plenty of TV-torrents around, the group will be dearly missed by millions.</p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com">TorrentFreak</a>, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/top-popular-torrent-sites-2015-150104/">torrent sites</a> and <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/anonymous-vpn-service-provider-review-2015-150228/">anonymous VPN services</a>.</p>
<div class="feedflare">
<a href="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~ff/Torrentfreak?a=JF9Gwi10cTU:BbWrhRQqGgY:yIl2AUoC8zA"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/Torrentfreak?d=yIl2AUoC8zA" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~ff/Torrentfreak?a=JF9Gwi10cTU:BbWrhRQqGgY:D7DqB2pKExk"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/Torrentfreak?i=JF9Gwi10cTU:BbWrhRQqGgY:D7DqB2pKExk" border="0"></img></a>
</div><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~4/JF9Gwi10cTU" height="1" width="1" alt=""/>


feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=105763
title: Pirate Bay Helps Puts Sweden on the Map, Govt. Agency Says
uri: Pirate-Bay-Helps-Puts-Sweden-on-the-Map-Govt-Agency-Says
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/-EmGNUNGkUA/
content:
<p><img src="media/4e243e8b.tpb-logo.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/tpb-logo.jpg" alt="tpb-logo" width="222" height="198" class="alignright size-full wp-image-67837">As countries fight for prominence on the international stage, being recognized among trading partners and the global general public is an important part of the battle.</p>
<p>For example, London imagery and the royal family are powerful overseas marketing tools for the UK while superstar movie and music icons ensure that United States branding is funneled into hundreds of millions of overseas homes every single day.</p>
<p>In Sweden the government has its own agency tasked with understanding overseas cultures and promoting Sweden and Swedish issues globally. Founded in 1945, the <a href="https://si.se/">Swedish Institute</a> has approximately 140 employees.</p>
<p>This morning the Swedish Institute made an appearance at the Swedish consulate in Istanbul as part of a <a href="http://curatorsofsweden.com/">Curators of Sweden</a> event discussing freedom of expression, the Internet and democracy. As part of a slideshow the organization highlighted a number of Swedish brands responsible for raising Sweden&#8217;s profile on the world stage.</p>
<p>As can be seen from the slide below (thanks <a href="https://twitter.com/sakaerka">Erkan Saka</a>) some of Sweden&#8217;s most iconic companies sit front and center. Adorned in Sweden&#8217;s national colors, furniture giant IKEA makes a key appearance, closely followed by clothing outlet H&#038;M and motoring legend Volvo. The final three need little introduction.</p>
<p><img src="media/afb3e518.si-istanbul.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/si-istanbul.png" alt="si-istanbul" width="650" height="414" class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-105777"></p>
<p>Interestingly, all three of the tech companies above have close connections to the file-sharing scene.</p>
<p>First up is Swedish-founded communications software Skype. While millions have used the tool since its launch in August 2003, most probably aren&#8217;t aware that its backend was <a href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/programmes/click_online/4102692.stm">first utilized</a> by infamous P2P tool Kazaa. Indeed, <a Swede href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Niklas_Zennstr%C3%B6m">Niklas Zennström</a> co-founded them both.</p>
<p>And Spotify has close connections to file-sharing too. In addition to publicly admitting its service was &#8220;<a href="https://torrentfreak.com/spotify-was-designed-from-the-ground-up-to-combat-piracy-131204/">designed from the ground up</a>&#8221; to be a product with appeal to pirates, one of its engineers is Ludvig Strigeus (Ludde), a Swedish programmer best known for developing BitTorrent client µTorrent.</p>
<p>And last &#8211; but certainly not least &#8211; sits the infamous The Pirate Bay. As famous for pirating music in 2015 as Swedish pop sensation ABBA were for creating it 40 years earlier, the site has certainly raised the profile of Sweden around the globe. Of course, some will argue that boost hasn&#8217;t always been for the best.</p>
<p>At the same time as gathering tens of thousands of headlines focusing on Sweden, the country&#8217;s connections to The Pirate Bay have also strained relations with key allies, including the United States.</p>
<p>However, what cannot be denied is how the site has raised global interest in Sweden and ensured that when it comes to discussion and progression in the digital age &#8211; especially concerning entertainment distribution &#8211; this small Scandinavian country (currently 90th in the world by population) remains at the cutting edge.</p>
<p>Soon, however, the Swedish legal system <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/historic-pirate-bay-domain-decision-will-arrive-early-may-150430/">will decide</a> whether to sever the country&#8217;s ties with the infamous file-sharing system. It&#8217;s unlikely the country&#8217;s overseas profile will diminish as a result though &#8211; that part of history has already been written and won&#8217;t be forgotten in a hurry.</p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com">TorrentFreak</a>, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/top-popular-torrent-sites-2015-150104/">torrent sites</a> and <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/anonymous-vpn-service-provider-review-2015-150228/">anonymous VPN services</a>.</p>
<div class="feedflare">
<a href="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~ff/Torrentfreak?a=-EmGNUNGkUA:-5lDu6V2hfk:yIl2AUoC8zA"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/Torrentfreak?d=yIl2AUoC8zA" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~ff/Torrentfreak?a=-EmGNUNGkUA:-5lDu6V2hfk:D7DqB2pKExk"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/Torrentfreak?i=-EmGNUNGkUA:-5lDu6V2hfk:D7DqB2pKExk" border="0"></img></a>
</div><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~4/-EmGNUNGkUA" height="1" width="1" alt=""/>


feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=105829
title: Pirate Bay Moves to GS, LA, VG, AM, MN and GD Domains
uri: Pirate-Bay-Moves-to-GS-LA-VG-AM-MN-and-GD-Domains
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/vyhtCRLKsBs/
content:
<p><img src="media/4e243e8b.tpb-logo.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/tpb-logo.jpg" alt="tpb-logo" width="222" height="198" class="alignright size-full wp-image-67837">The Pirate Bay has long been associated with Sweden but soon the popular torrent site will stop using a Swedish domain name. </p>
<p>Earlier today the Stockholm District Court <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/key-pirate-bay-domains-must-be-seized-court-rules-150519/">ordered</a> the seizure of both thepiratebay.se and piratebay.se, arguing that they were linked to copyright crimes. </p>
<p>Potential appeals aside the domains in question will be handed over to the Swedish Government, but the ruling is unlikely to hamper Pirate Bay&#8217;s availability, quite the contrary. </p>
<p>The TPB team informs TF that they have already begun redirecting the .SE address, rotating it to six new domain names. </p>
<p>As of now, the notorious torrent site is available through new <a href="https://thepiratebay.gs/">GS</a>, <a href="https://thepiratebay.la/">LA</a>, <a href="https://thepiratebay.vg/">VG</a>, <a href="https://thepiratebay.am/">AM</a>, <a href="https://thepiratebay.mn/">MN</a> and <a href="https://thepiratebay.gd/">GD</a> domain names.</p>
<p><center><strong>Pirate Bay homepage (.VG didn&#8217;t fit the hydra)</strong><br></br></center><center><img src="media/b971078f.tpblogo.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/tpblogo.png" alt="tpblogo" width="544" height="436" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-105840"></center></p>
<p>This means that all the effort that went into the lawsuit, as well as at least $40,000 in legal costs, have done very little to stop the site.</p>
<p>&#8220;Congratulations to Prosecutor Fredrik Ingblad. Two years hard work to get us to change two little letters at a cost of $20,000 per letter,&#8221; the TPB team tells TF in a comment. </p>
<p>&#8220;He could have given us $35,000 and we would have left the domain, thus saving the Swedish tax payer $5,000. All he had to do was ask nicely,&#8221; they add.</p>
<p>With six new domains one can argue that The Pirate Bay has become even more resilient. There will undoubtedly be attempts to seize or suspend the new domains, but there are also plenty more domains TPB can register. </p>
<p>And so the Whack-a-Mole continues.</p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com">TorrentFreak</a>, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/top-popular-torrent-sites-2015-150104/">torrent sites</a> and <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/anonymous-vpn-service-provider-review-2015-150228/">anonymous VPN services</a>.</p>
<div class="feedflare">
<a href="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~ff/Torrentfreak?a=vyhtCRLKsBs:PGnTCObZCCA:yIl2AUoC8zA"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/Torrentfreak?d=yIl2AUoC8zA" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~ff/Torrentfreak?a=vyhtCRLKsBs:PGnTCObZCCA:D7DqB2pKExk"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/Torrentfreak?i=vyhtCRLKsBs:PGnTCObZCCA:D7DqB2pKExk" border="0"></img></a>
</div><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~4/vyhtCRLKsBs" height="1" width="1" alt=""/>


feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=105501
title: Key Pirate Bay Domains Must Be Seized, Court Rules
uri: Key-Pirate-Bay-Domains-Must-Be-Seized-Court-Rules
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/H4X-jvThUh4/
content:
<p><img src="media/4e243e8b.tpb-logo.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/tpb-logo.jpg" alt="tpb-logo" width="222" height="198" class="alignright size-full wp-image-67837">In keeping with a global strategy to disrupt the operations of unauthorized file-sharing sites by attacking their infrastructure, Swedish authorities have been eying two domains operated by the notorious Pirate Bay.</p>
<p>In 2013, Prosecutor Fredrik Ingblad, the man behind the operation that <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/swedish-police-raid-the-pirate-bay-site-offline-141209/">took the site down</a> in December, filed a motion targeting ThePirateBay.se (the site’s main domain) and PirateBay.se (a lesser used alternative).</p>
<p>Filed against <a href="http://iis.se">Punkt SE</a>, the organization responsible for Sweden’s top level .SE domain, the case reasoned that since The Pirate Bay is an illegal operation, its domains are tools used by the site to infringe copyright. Noting that Punkt SE supplies and controls the domains and is therefore liable for their (mis)use, the domains should be dealt with in the same way that other criminal tools would be, Ingblad argued.</p>
<p>Punkt SE, on the other hand, took the position that holding a registry responsible for infringement has no basis in law. Furthermore, disabling domains is an ineffective way to deal with infringement.</p>
<p><img src="media/224a97db.IIS-SE.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/IIS-SE.jpg" width="191" height="112" class="alignright">After two years preparation the case was heard at the end of April 2015 and just a few minutes ago the decision was handed down.</p>
<p>After a week-long delay the Stockholm District Court ruled that The Pirate Bay will forfeit its Sweden-based domains &#8211; ThePirateBay.se and PirateBay.se &#8211; after finding that they belong to Pirate Bay co-founder Fredrik Neij.</p>
<p>&#8220;The District Court&#8217;s conclusion is that the domain names are property that can be forfeited,&#8221; the ruling reads.</p>
<p>&#8220;Fredrik Neij has participated in the [copyright infringement] crimes that have been identified and he is the actual holder of the domain names. It is therefore no obstacle to confiscate domain names from him. The prosecutor&#8217;s primary claim with respect to Fredrik Neij should be upheld and domain names should be confiscated from him in accordance with the Copyright Act.&#8221;</p>
<p>While copyright holders will be pleased that two of Pirate Bay&#8217;s domains will be put out of action (they will be seized by the Swedish state), the District Court dismissed the prosecution&#8217;s case against Punkt.se and awarded the registry close to $40,000 (SEK 332,000) in costs. </p>
<p>&#8220;We have received the verdict and are of course glad that the court chose to decide according to our view,&#8221; .SE public relations manager Elisabeth Nilsson informs TorrentFreak.</p>
<p>&#8220;We think it is good that this issue has been examined. Now we need some time to read through the verdict and do a thorough analysis before we can make any further comments.&#8221; </p>
<p>At least for now The Pirate Bay will continue business as usual. An insider informs TF that the site has plenty of other domains in reserve and will make a switch when required.</p>
<p>We have also requested comment from prosecutor Fredrik Ingblad and this article will be updated as soon as further details become available.</p>
<p>Should the parties wish to appeal they must do so no later than June 9, 2015.</p>
<p><strong>Update:</strong> Sara Lindbäck of anti-piracy group Rights Alliance informs TF that the decision was expected and will make it harder for pirate sites to operate from Swedish domains.</p>
<p>&#8220;Pirate Bay has on a commercial scale committed massive infringements against rights holders. The forfeiture is a clear and positive sign that society does not accept these types of activities,&#8221; Lindbäck says.</p>
<p>&#8220;[In future] it will become more difficult for illegal players to run their activities under the SE-domain.&#8221;</p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com">TorrentFreak</a>, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/top-popular-torrent-sites-2015-150104/">torrent sites</a> and <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/anonymous-vpn-service-provider-review-2015-150228/">anonymous VPN services</a>.</p>
<div class="feedflare">
<a href="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~ff/Torrentfreak?a=H4X-jvThUh4:C1sk7KbCR2E:yIl2AUoC8zA"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/Torrentfreak?d=yIl2AUoC8zA" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~ff/Torrentfreak?a=H4X-jvThUh4:C1sk7KbCR2E:D7DqB2pKExk"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/Torrentfreak?i=H4X-jvThUh4:C1sk7KbCR2E:D7DqB2pKExk" border="0"></img></a>
</div><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~4/H4X-jvThUh4" height="1" width="1" alt=""/>


feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=105860
title: Netflix Needs BitTorrent Expert to Implement P2P Streaming
uri: Netflix-Needs-BitTorrent-Expert-to-Implement-P2P-Streaming
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/GEI0Jegn2Xk/
content:
<p><img src="media/b310fc7c.netflix-logo.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/netflix-logo.png" alt="netflix-logo" width="200" height="121" class="alignright size-full wp-image-69714">With roughly 60 million subscribers globally, Netflix is a giant in the world of online video entertainment.</p>
<p>The service moves massive amounts of data and is credited with consuming <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/bittorrent-traffic-drops-in-america-grows-in-europe-131111/">a third</a> of all Internet traffic in North America during peak hours.</p>
<p>Netlix&#8217;s data use is quite costly for the company and also results in network congestion and stream buffering at times. However, thanks to P2P-powered streaming these problems may soon be a thing of the past.</p>
<p>In a <a href="https://jobs.netflix.com/jobs/2242/apply">job posting</a> late April, Netflix says it is looking to expand its team with the addition of a Senior Software Engineer. While that&#8217;s nothing new, the description reveals information on the company&#8217;s P2P-streaming plans.  </p>
<p>&#8220;Our team is evaluating up-and-coming content distribution technologies, and we are seeking a highly talented senior engineer to grow the knowledge base in the area of peer-to-peer technologies and lead the technology design and prototyping effort,&#8221; the application reads.</p>
<p>The software engineer will be tasked with guiding the project from start to finish. This includes the design and architecture phase, implementation, testing, the internal release and final evaluation.</p>
<p>&#8220;This is a great opportunity to enhance your full-stack development skills, and simultaneously grow your knowledge of the state of the art in peer-to-peer content distribution and network optimization techniques,&#8221; Netflix writes.</p>
<p>A few weeks ago Netflix told its shareholders that it sees the BitTorrent-powered piracy app Popcorn Time as a <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/netflix-sees-popcorn-time-as-a-serious-competitor-150121/">serious threat</a>. However, the job application makes it clear that BitTorrent can be used for legal distribution as well.</p>
<p>Among the qualification requirements Netflix lists experience with BitTorrent and other P2P-protocols. Having contributed to the open source torrent streaming tool <a href="https://github.com/feross/webtorrent">WebTorrent</a> or a similar project is listed as a preferred job qualification. </p>
<p>In other words, existing Popcorn Time developers are well-suited candidates for the position.</p>
<blockquote class="pullquote"><p>&#8211; You have experience with peer-to-peer protocols such as the BitTorrent protocol</p>
<p>&#8211; You have strong experience in the development of peer-to-peer protocols and software</p>
<p>&#8211; You have contributed to a major peer-to-peer open source product such as WebTorrent</p>
<p>&#8211; You have strong experience in the development of web-based video applications and tools</p></blockquote>
<p>Moving to P2P-assisted streaming appears to be a logical step. It will be possible to stream videos in a higher quality than is currently possible. In addition, it will offer a significant cost reduction.</p>
<p>BitTorrent inventor Bram Cohen will be happy to see that Netflix is considering using his technology. He previously said that Netflix&#8217;s video quality <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/bram-cohen-understands-why-pirates-prefer-bittorrent-over-netflix-131113/">is really terrible</a>, adding that BitTorrent-powered solutions are far superior.</p>
<p>“The fact is that by using BitTorrent it’s possible to give customers a much better experience with much less cost than has ever been possible before. It’s really not being utilized properly and that’s really unfortunate,” Cohen said.</p>
<p>While the job posting is yet <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/netflix-considers-p2p-powered-streaming-technology-140426/">more evidence</a> that Netflix is seriously considering a move to P2P-powered streaming, it&#8217;s still unclear whether the new technology will ever see the light of day.</p>
<p><center><strong>The job posting</strong><br></br></center><center><img src="media/0d76d7ec.netflix-torrent.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/netflix-torrent.png" alt="netflix-torrent" width="621" height="824" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-105868"></center></p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com">TorrentFreak</a>, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/top-popular-torrent-sites-2015-150104/">torrent sites</a> and <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/anonymous-vpn-service-provider-review-2015-150228/">anonymous VPN services</a>.</p>
<div class="feedflare">
<a href="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~ff/Torrentfreak?a=GEI0Jegn2Xk:wybqDtttc7Q:yIl2AUoC8zA"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/Torrentfreak?d=yIl2AUoC8zA" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~ff/Torrentfreak?a=GEI0Jegn2Xk:wybqDtttc7Q:D7DqB2pKExk"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/Torrentfreak?i=GEI0Jegn2Xk:wybqDtttc7Q:D7DqB2pKExk" border="0"></img></a>
</div><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~4/GEI0Jegn2Xk" height="1" width="1" alt=""/>


feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=105845
title: Voltage Pictures Sued For Copyright Infringement
uri: Voltage-Pictures-Sued-For-Copyright-Infringement
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/d7A20Y-BQL0/
content:
<p><img src="media/c9ee199c.godz-small.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/godz-small.jpg" alt="godz-small" width="190" height="183" class="alignright size-full wp-image-105854">There are dozens of companies engaged in so-called &#8220;copyright trolling&#8221; worldwide, the majority connected with adult movie companies.</p>
<p>While most are generally dismissed as second-rate companies out to make a quick buck, U.S. producer Voltage Pictures has <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/?s=voltage+pictures">developed a reputation</a> for making fairly decent movies and being one of the most aggressive &#8216;trolls&#8217; around.</p>
<p>The company has targeted thousands of individuals in the United States, <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/isp-teksavvy-appeals-in-hurt-locker-piracy-case-150406/">Canada</a>, <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/dallas-buyers-club-wants-cash-european-pirates-141222/">Europe</a>, Asia and most recently Australia. The company has largely prevailed in these actions but a new case filed this week in the U.S. sees the company on the receiving end of procedures.</p>
<p>The spat concerns Voltage&#8217;s plans for a new movie. Starring Anne Hathaway and titled &#8216;<em>Collosal</em>&#8216;, the flick sees a giant lizard-like creature stomping its way over Tokyo. It sounds an awful lot like Godzilla, recognized by Guinness World Records as the longest-running movie franchise ever. Toho, the Japanese movie studio behind the Godzilla brand, noticed the similarities too.</p>
<p>In a lawsuit filed yesterday in the United States District Court for the Central District of California, Toho highlights the hypocrisy of Voltage&#8217;s actions.</p>
<p>Describing the company as a &#8220;staunch advocate for the protection and enforcement of intellectual property rights&#8221; after filing hundreds of copyright suits involving its movies The Hurt Locker and Dallas Buyers Club, Toho says that Voltage began promoting its new movie via email at the Cannes Film Festival earlier this month.</p>
<p>As can be seen from the screenshot below, the email features three large photos of Godzilla, actress Anne Hathaway, and a giant robot.</p>
<p><center><img src="media/df4e1763.voltage-godz.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/voltage-godz.png" alt="voltage-godz" width="583" height="581" class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-105851"></center></p>
<p>&#8220;Gloria is an ordinary woman who finds herself in an extraordinary circumstance. Tokyo is under attack by Godzilla and a giant robot and, for some strange reason, Gloria is the only person who can stop it,&#8221; the email reads.</p>
<p>Predictably Toho is upset at Voltage&#8217;s use of the Godzilla character and associated breaches of the company&#8217;s copyrights and trademarks. Only making matters worse is the fact that the image of Godzilla used by Voltage is actually taken from promotional material published by Toho to accompany the release of its 2014 movie, Godzilla.</p>
<p>&#8220;Godzilla is one of the most iconic fictional characters in the history of motion pictures. Toho Co., Ltd., the copyright owner of the Godzilla character and<br>
franchise of films, brings this lawsuit because defendants are brazenly producing,<br>
advertising, and selling an unauthorized Godzilla film of their own,&#8221; Toho begin.</p>
<p>&#8220;There is nothing subtle about defendants’ conduct. They are expressly informing the entertainment community that they are making a Godzilla film and are using the<br>
Godzilla trademark and images of Toho’s protected character to generate interest in<br>
and to obtain financing for their project,&#8221; the company continues.</p>
<p>&#8220;That anyone would engage in such blatant infringement of another’s intellectual property is wrong enough. That defendants, who are known for zealously protecting their own copyrights, would do so is outrageous in the extreme.&#8221;</p>
<p>Noting that at no stage has Voltage ever sought permission to exploit the Godzilla character, Toho says it asked Voltage to cease and desist but the company refused.</p>
<p>&#8220;Upon learning of Defendants’ infringing activities, Toho demanded that Defendants cease their exploitation of the Godzilla Character, but Defendants refused to do so,&#8221; Toho writes.</p>
<p>In response Toho filed suit and is now demanding that all profits generated by Voltage as a result of its &#8220;infringing activities&#8221; should be handed over to the Japanese company. That, or payment of $150,000 in statutory damages for each infringement of Toho&#8217;s copyrights. Trademark issues are at stake too, with Toho demanding preliminary and permanent injunctive relief against Voltage&#8217;s use of the Godzilla marks.</p>
<p>Being on the wrong end of a copyright infringement lawsuit will be a novel experience for Voltage Pictures.</p>
<p>After recently <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/iinet-loses-dallas-buyers-club-piracy-case-150407/">winning a case</a> to reveal the identities of thousands of alleged pirates in Australia, the company is currently engaged in negotiations with a Federal court over how its first letters to the accused should be worded.</p>
<p>With a hearing scheduled for tomorrow, the studio is still experiencing resistance against what is perceived as a so-called &#8220;speculative invoicing&#8221; business model. Local ISP iiNet is providing <a href="http://blog.iinet.net.au/what-does-it-mean-for-me-if-i-downloaded-the-dallas-buyers-club-movie/">comprehensive advice</a> to its customers affected by Voltage&#8217;s action and is even working with a law firm prepared to provide pro-bono services.</p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com">TorrentFreak</a>, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/top-popular-torrent-sites-2015-150104/">torrent sites</a> and <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/anonymous-vpn-service-provider-review-2015-150228/">anonymous VPN services</a>.</p>
<div class="feedflare">
<a href="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~ff/Torrentfreak?a=d7A20Y-BQL0:ptpVYIodXTs:yIl2AUoC8zA"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/Torrentfreak?d=yIl2AUoC8zA" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~ff/Torrentfreak?a=d7A20Y-BQL0:ptpVYIodXTs:D7DqB2pKExk"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/Torrentfreak?i=d7A20Y-BQL0:ptpVYIodXTs:D7DqB2pKExk" border="0"></img></a>
</div><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~4/d7A20Y-BQL0" height="1" width="1" alt=""/>


feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=105887
title: Court Orders Israeli ISPs to Block Popcorn Time Websites
uri: Court-Orders-Israeli-ISPs-to-Block-Popcorn-Time-Websites
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/Yg0YzxjH128/
content:
<p><img src="media/3b9dbdf1.popcornt.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/popcornt.png" alt="popcornt" width="237" height="106" class="alignright size-full wp-image-101106">Branded a “Netflix for Pirates,” the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Popcorn_Time">Popcorn Time</a> app quickly gathered a user base of millions of people over the past year.</p>
<p>The application has some of the major media giants worried, including Netflix which sees the pirate app as a <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/netflix-sees-popcorn-time-as-a-serious-competitor-150121/">serious competitor</a> to its business. </p>
<p>Since Popcorn Time is powered by BitTorrent it is hard to stop the downloads directly, but copyright holders can go after the websites that offer the application. In Israel the local anti-piracy outfit <a href="http://he.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D7%96%D7%99%D7%A8%22%D7%94">ZIRA</a> went down this route.</p>
<p>The group, which represents several media companies, applied for an ex parte injunction ordering local Internet providers to block access to the websites of several Popcorn Time forks.</p>
<p>This week the Tel Aviv court granted the application, arguing that the application does indeed violate the rights of copyright holders.</p>
<p>The copyright holders are pleased with the outcome, which shows that services such as Popcorn Time are infringing even though they don&#8217;t host any files themselves.</p>
<p>&#8220;The Popcorn Time software provides users with a service to stream and download content on the Internet, including Israeli movies and foreign movies and TV series with English subtitles, without having any permission from copyright holders to do so,&#8221; attorney Presenti told <a href="http://www.themarker.com/technation/1.2641412">local media</a>.</p>
<p>The ISP blockades will prevent people from downloading Popcorn Time in the future. However, applications that have been downloaded already will continue to work for now. </p>
<p>To address this, ZIRA&#8217;s lawyers say the are considering additional steps including the option to block the ports Popcorn Time uses.  While that may be effective, it may also block other traffic, especially if the app switches to more common ports such as <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Port_80">port 80</a>. </p>
<p>Israel is the second country to block access to Popcorn Time websites. Last month the UK High Court issued a <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/court-orders-uk-isps-to-block-popcorn-time-150428/">similar order</a>, which also targeted the domain names of various APIs the applications use.</p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com">TorrentFreak</a>, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/top-popular-torrent-sites-2015-150104/">torrent sites</a> and <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/anonymous-vpn-service-provider-review-2015-150228/">anonymous VPN services</a>.</p>
<div class="feedflare">
<a href="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~ff/Torrentfreak?a=Yg0YzxjH128:b1xnvi5ntEw:yIl2AUoC8zA"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/Torrentfreak?d=yIl2AUoC8zA" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~ff/Torrentfreak?a=Yg0YzxjH128:b1xnvi5ntEw:D7DqB2pKExk"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/Torrentfreak?i=Yg0YzxjH128:b1xnvi5ntEw:D7DqB2pKExk" border="0"></img></a>
</div><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~4/Yg0YzxjH128" height="1" width="1" alt=""/>


feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=105799
title: Google Fiber Sends Automated Piracy ‘Fines’ to Subscribers
uri: Google-Fiber-Sends-Automated-Piracy-Fines-to-Subscribers
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/Xw8z87trvv8/
content:
<p><img src="media/956e9ad4.googlefiberlogo.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/googlefiberlogo.png" alt="googlefiberlogo" width="222" height="153" class="alignright size-full wp-image-98840">Every month Google receives dozens of millions of DMCA takedown requests from copyright holders, most of which are directed at its search engine. </p>
<p>However, with <a href="https://fiber.google.com/about/">Google Fiber</a> being rolled out in more cities, notices targeting allegedly pirating Internet subscribers are becoming more common as well. </p>
<p>These include regular takedown notices but also the more controversial <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/expendables-3-downloaders-told-to-pay-up-or-else-140918/">settlement demands</a> sent by companies such as Rightscorp and CEG TEK.</p>
<p>Instead of merely alerting subscribers that their connections have been used to share copyright infringing material, these notices serve as automated fines, offering subscribers settlements ranging from $20 to $300. </p>
<p>The scheme uses the standard DMCA takedown process which means that the copyright holder doesn&#8217;t have to go to court or even know who the recipient is. In fact, the affected subscriber is often not the person who shared the pirated file.</p>
<p>To protect customers against these practices many ISPs <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/comcast-kills-business-model-of-piracy-monitoring-and-settlement-firm-131206/">including Comcast</a>, Verizon and AT&#038;T have chosen not to forward settlement demands. However, information received by TF shows that Google does take part. </p>
<p>Over the past week we have seen settlement demands from Rightscorp and CEG TEK which were sent to Google Fiber customers. In an email, Google forwards the notice with an additional warning that repeated violations may result in a permanent disconnection.</p>
<p>&#8220;Repeated violations of our Terms of Service may result in remedial action being taken against your Google Fiber account, up to and including possible termination of your service,&#8221; Google Fiber writes.</p>
<p><center><img src="media/2332df8c.fiberwarning1.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/fiberwarning1.png" alt="fiberwarning" width="454" height="435" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-105812"></center></p>
<p>Below Google&#8217;s message is the notification with the settlement demand, which in this example was sent on behalf of music licensing outfit BMG. In the notice, the subscriber is warned over possible legal action if the dispute is not settled.</p>
<p>&#8220;BMG will pursue every available remedy including injunctions and recovery of attorney&#8217;s fees, costs and any and all other damages which are incurred by BMG as a result of any action that is commenced against you,&#8221; the notice reads.</p>
<p><center><img src="media/a935087c.bmgwarning.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/bmgwarning.png" alt="bmgwarning" width="488" height="336" class="alignnone size-large wp-image-105815"></center></p>
<p>Facing such threatening language many subscribers are inclined to pay up, which led some to accuse the senders of harassment and abuse. In addition, several legal experts have spoken out against this use of the DMCA takedown process.</p>
<p>Mitch Stoltz, staff attorney at the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/why-isps-should-stop-forwarding-piracy-settlement-demands-150502/">previously told us</a> that Internet providers should carefully review what they’re forwarding to their users. Under U.S. law they are not required to forward DMCA notices and forwarding these automated fines may not be in the best interest of consumers.</p>
<p>“In the U.S., ISPs don’t have any legal obligation to forward infringement notices in their entirety. An ISP that cares about protecting its customers from abuse should strip out demands for money before forwarding infringement notices. Many do this,” Stoltz said.</p>
<p>According to Stoltz these settlement demands are often misleading or inaccurate, suggesting that account holders are responsible for all use of their Internet connections.</p>
<p>“The problem with notices demanding money from ISP subscribers is that they’re often misleading. They often give the impression that the person whose name is on the ISP bill is legally responsible for all infringement that might happen on the Internet connection, which is simply not true,” he notes.</p>
<p>While Google is certainly not the only ISP that forwards these notices it is the biggest name involved. TF asked Google why they have decided to forward the notices in their entirely but unfortunately the company did not respond to our request for comment. </p>
<p><strong>Update:</strong> Google responded to our inquiry, <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/google-targeting-downloaders-not-the-best-solution-to-fight-piracy-150522/">more details here</a>.</p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com">TorrentFreak</a>, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/top-popular-torrent-sites-2015-150104/">torrent sites</a> and <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/anonymous-vpn-service-provider-review-2015-150228/">anonymous VPN services</a>.</p>
<div class="feedflare">
<a href="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~ff/Torrentfreak?a=Xw8z87trvv8:cGOyx7LP9ck:yIl2AUoC8zA"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/Torrentfreak?d=yIl2AUoC8zA" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~ff/Torrentfreak?a=Xw8z87trvv8:cGOyx7LP9ck:D7DqB2pKExk"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/Torrentfreak?i=Xw8z87trvv8:cGOyx7LP9ck:D7DqB2pKExk" border="0"></img></a>
</div><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~4/Xw8z87trvv8" height="1" width="1" alt=""/>


feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=105902
title: Pirate Domain Seizures Are Easy in the United States
uri: Pirate-Domain-Seizures-Are-Easy-in-the-United-States
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/Gb81lpp9CiE/
content:
<p><img src="media/2eb462c8.court1-featured-150x150.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/court1-featured-150x150.jpg" alt="court1-featured" width="150" height="150" class="alignright size-thumbnail wp-image-82881">One the biggest piracy-related stories of the year broke this week after Swedish authorities succeeded in their quest to take over two key Pirate Bay domains.</p>
<p>The court order, <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/key-pirate-bay-domains-must-be-seized-court-rules-150519/">handed down Tuesday</a>, will see ThePirateBay.se and PirateBay.se fall under the control of the Swedish government, provided no appeal is filed in the coming weeks. It&#8217;s been a long and drawn out process but given the site&#8217;s history, one with an almost inevitable outcome.</p>
<p>Over in the United States and spurred on by &#8216;rogue&#8217; sites such as TPB, much attention has been focused on depriving &#8216;pirate&#8217; sites of their essential infrastructure, domains included. Just last week the MPAA and RIAA appeared before the House Judiciary Committee’s Internet subcommittee <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/mpaa-riaa-demand-dns-action-against-pirate-domains-150514/">complaining</a> that ICANN isn&#8217;t doing enough to deal with infringing domains.</p>
<p>Of course, having ICANN quickly suspend domains would be convenient, but entertainment industry groups aren&#8217;t completely helpless. In fact, yet another complaint filed in the United States by TV company ABS-CBN shows how easily it is to take control of allegedly infringing domains.</p>
<p>The architect of several recent copyright infringement <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/abs-cbn-sues-another-18-sites-over-tv-and-movie-piracy-141126/">complaints</a>, in its latest action ABS-CBN requested assistance from the United States District Court for the Southern District of Florida.</p>
<p>The TV company complained that eleven sites (listed below) have been infringing its rights by offering content without permission. To protect its business moving forward ABS-CBN requested an immediate restraining order and after an <em><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ex_parte">ex parte</a></em> hearing, District Court Judge William P. Dimitrouleas was happy to oblige.</p>
<p>In an order (<a href="media/2d939292.01220-2015051820-20TRO.pdf" data-original-source="http://servingnotice.com/BL4G47/012%20-%20150518%20-%20TRO.pdf">pdf</a>) handed down May 15 (one day after the complaint was filed) Judge Dimitrouleas acknowledges that the sites unlawfully &#8220;advertised, promoted, offered for distribution, distributed or performed&#8221; copyrighted works while infringing on ABS-CBN trademarks. He further accepted that the sites were likely to continue their infringement and cause &#8220;irreparable injury&#8221; to the TV company in the absence of protection by the Court.</p>
<p>Granting a temporary order (which will become preliminary and then permanent in the absence of any defense by the sites in question) the Judge restrained the site operators from further infringing on ABS-CBN copyrights and trademarks. However, it is the domain element that provokes the most interest.</p>
<p>In addition to ordering the sites&#8217; operators not to transfer any domains until the Court advises, Judge Dimitrouleas ordered the registrars of the domains to transfer their certificates to ABS-CBN&#8217;s counsel. Registrars must then lock the domains and inform their registrants what has taken place.</p>
<p>Furthermore, the Whois privacy protection services active on the domains and used to conceal registrant identities are ordered to hand over the site operators&#8217; personal details to ABS-CBN so that the TV company is able to send a copy of the restraining order. If no active email address is present in Whois records, ABS-CBN is allowed to contact the defendants via their websites.</p>
<p>Once this stage is complete the domain registrars are ordered to transfer the domains to a new registrar of ABS-CBN&#8217;s choosing. However, if the registrars fail to act within 24 hours, the TLD registries (.COM etc) must take overriding action within five days. </p>
<p>The Court also ordered ABS-CBN&#8217;s registrar to redirect any visitors to the domains to a specific URL (http://servingnotice.com/BL4G47/index.html) which is supposed to contain a copy of the order. At the time of writing, however, that URL is non-functional.</p>
<p>Also of interest is how the Court locks down attempts to get the sites running again. In addition to expanding the restraining order to any new domains the site operators may choose to move to, the Court grants ABS-CBN access to Google Webmaster Tools so that the company may &#8220;cancel any redirection of the domains that have been entered there by Defendants which redirect traffic to the counterfeit operations to a new domain name or website.&#8221;</p>
<p>The domains affected are: freepinoychannel.com, lambingan.to, pinoymovie.to, pinoynetwork.to, pinoytambayan-replay.com, pinoytambayantv.com, tambaytayo.com, tvnijuan.net, phstream.com, streampinoy.info and tambayanatin.com.</p>
<p>Despite the order having been issued last Thursday, at the time of writing all but one of the domains remains operational. Furthermore, and in an interesting twist, pinoymovie.to and pinoynetwork.to have already skipped to fresh domains operated by none other than the Swedish administered .SE registry.</p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com">TorrentFreak</a>, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/top-popular-torrent-sites-2015-150104/">torrent sites</a> and <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/anonymous-vpn-service-provider-review-2015-150228/">anonymous VPN services</a>.</p>
<div class="feedflare">
<a href="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~ff/Torrentfreak?a=Gb81lpp9CiE:_QFfHvnvxLY:yIl2AUoC8zA"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/Torrentfreak?d=yIl2AUoC8zA" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~ff/Torrentfreak?a=Gb81lpp9CiE:_QFfHvnvxLY:D7DqB2pKExk"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/Torrentfreak?i=Gb81lpp9CiE:_QFfHvnvxLY:D7DqB2pKExk" border="0"></img></a>
</div><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~4/Gb81lpp9CiE" height="1" width="1" alt=""/>


feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=105908
title: Pirate Bay Loses New Domain Name, Hydra Lives On
uri: Pirate-Bay-Loses-New-Domain-Name-Hydra-Lives-On
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/WH22BDvp7S0/
content:
<p><img src="media/9272a356.tpbhydrax-300x240.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/tpbhydrax-300x240.png" alt="tpbhydrax" width="300" height="240" class="alignright size-medium wp-image-105924">Earlier this week the Stockholm District Court ordered the Pirate Bay&#8217;s .SE domains to be <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/key-pirate-bay-domains-must-be-seized-court-rules-150519/">handed over to the Swedish state</a>, arguing that they were linked to copyright crimes.</p>
<p>The Pirate Bay was fully prepared for the negative outcome and quickly <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/pirate-bay-moves-to-gs-la-vg-am-mn-and-gd-domains-150519/">redirected its visitors</a> to six new domain names. </p>
<p>Since then the site has been accessible through the <a href="https://thepiratebay.gs/">GS</a>, <a href="https://thepiratebay.la/">LA</a>, <a href="https://thepiratebay.vg/">VG</a>, <a href="https://thepiratebay.am/">AM</a>, <a href="https://thepiratebay.mn/">MN</a> and <a href="https://thepiratebay.gd/">GD</a> domain names, without even a second of downtime. </p>
<p>Marking the change The Pirate Bay updated its logo to the familiar Hydra logo, linking a TLD to each of the heads. However, we can now reveal that one head has already been chopped off.</p>
<p>The site&#8217;s .GS domain name has been suspended by the registry, and ThePirateBay.gs is now listed as &#8220;ServerHold&#8221; and &#8220;Inactive.&#8221;</p>
<p>The Pirate Bay informs us that the .GS domain has indeed been lost, which didn&#8217;t come as a complete shock. In fact, one of the reasons to move to six domains was to see which ones would hold up.</p>
<p>&#8220;We have more domain names behind, if needed. We are stronger than ever and will defend the site to the end,&#8221; the TPB team tells us. </p>
<p>At this point it&#8217;s unclear for how long the other domain names will remain available. Hoping to find out more, we reached out to the respective registries to discover their policies on domains being operated by The Pirate Bay.</p>
<p>The Mongolian .MN registry informs TF that they will process potential complaints through ICANN&#8217;s <a href="https://www.icann.org/resources/pages/help/dndr/udrp-en">Dispute Resolution Policy</a>, suggesting that they will not take any voluntary action.</p>
<p>The VG Registry referred us to their <a href="http://nic.vg/terms.php">terms and conditions</a>, specifically sections 3.4 and 7.2, which allow for an immediate termination or suspension if a domain infringes on the rights of third parties. However, it could not comment on this specific case.</p>
<p>&#8220;We will review any complaint and act accordingly. Please understand that we cannot make any predictions based on theoretical options,&#8221; a VG Registry spokesperson says.</p>
<p>It won&#8217;t be a big surprise if several more Pirate Bay domain names are suspended during the days and weeks to come. That&#8217;s a Whac-A-Mole game the site&#8217;s operators are all too familiar with now, but one that won&#8217;t bring the site to its knees.</p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com">TorrentFreak</a>, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/top-popular-torrent-sites-2015-150104/">torrent sites</a> and <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/anonymous-vpn-service-provider-review-2015-150228/">anonymous VPN services</a>.</p>
<div class="feedflare">
<a href="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~ff/Torrentfreak?a=WH22BDvp7S0:R1wzNH776uU:yIl2AUoC8zA"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/Torrentfreak?d=yIl2AUoC8zA" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~ff/Torrentfreak?a=WH22BDvp7S0:R1wzNH776uU:D7DqB2pKExk"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/Torrentfreak?i=WH22BDvp7S0:R1wzNH776uU:D7DqB2pKExk" border="0"></img></a>
</div><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~4/WH22BDvp7S0" height="1" width="1" alt=""/>


feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=105956
title: Supergirl Pilot Leaks to Torrent Sites, Six Months Early
uri: Supergirl-Pilot-Leaks-to-Torrent-Sites-Six-Months-Early
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/-M9eMp9Dp0M/
content:
<p><img src="media/4da6eb24.supergirl.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/supergirl.jpg" alt="supergirl" width="160" height="227" class="alignright size-full wp-image-105959">After making an appearance as far back as 1958, Supergirl was intended to be a female counterpart to DC Comics&#8217; Superman who first appeared 20 years earlier. While successful in her own right, she never quite reached the dizzy heights of the Clark Kent-based character.</p>
<p>This yeah, however, the world is braced for the return of Supergirl in a new <a href="http://www.cbs.com/shows/supergirl/">CBS TV series</a>. Featuring Melissa Benoist (Glee, Homeland, Law and Order) as Kara Zor-El, an alien who has hidden her powers since escaping from Krypton, the show will see her transform into Supergirl and &#8220;the superhero she was meant to be.&#8221; </p>
<p>After a commitment in September 2014, the series was officially picked up by CBS earlier this month. The pilot was scheduled to debut in November, but those plans have now massively unraveled after the episode leaked online, six months earlier than its planned debut.</p>
<p>Two &#8216;Scene&#8217; release groups &#8211; DIMENSION and LOL &#8211; competed to premiere the title first this morning, with the latter beating the former by around 90 seconds. LOL&#8217;s version is a convenient 400mb so likely to become the most sought after copy. On the other hand DIMENSION&#8217;s is more than 15 times the size, but for 1080p connoisseurs it&#8217;ll be worth the wait.[Note: As some have pointed out, the two groups are connected, one releasing SD and the other HD]</p>
<p>Although it&#8217;s certainly possible that the pilot contains hidden watermarks, as far as visible identifiers go the 46 minute episode looks very clean. As illustrated by the image below, there are no tell-tale &#8216;property of&#8217; warnings that are regularly seen on &#8216;screener&#8217; copies of leaked movies.</p>
<p><center><img src="media/a448a175.supergirl-ss.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/supergirl-ss.png" alt="supergirl-ss" width="650" height="363" class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-105962"></center></p>
<p>The leak of the pilot came as a complete surprise a couple of hours ago so download stats on BitTorrent sites are a currently quite modest 25,000 or so. However, given the anticipated media snowball effect during the day the number of downloads is likely to increase dramatically, probably to more than a quarter million by this time tomorrow.</p>
<p>The Supergirl leak comes just weeks after the first four episodes of the new series of Game of Thrones <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/first-episodes-of-game-of-thrones-season-5-leak-online-150412/">leaked online</a>. That event triggered a <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/leaked-game-of-thrones-episodes-trigger-piracy-craze-150412/">piracy crazy</a> that continues to this day.</p>
<p>Whether more episodes of Supergirl will leak online in the days to come is unknown but in any event it seems likely that CBS will try to stem the current tide. The company is a prolific sender of DMCA takedown notices and regularly sends more than 100,000 each week to Google alone.</p>
<p><strong>Update:</strong> Another pilot has leaked, this time of the forthcoming NBC TV series &#8216;<a href="http://www.nbc.com/crowded">Crowded</a>&#8216;. Leaked by the same groups (LOL and DIMENSION, which are connected) it is available in qualities up to 1080p. It runs for 22 minutes.</p>
<p><center><strong>Supergirl trailer</strong><br></br></center><center><iframe width="640" height="360" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/Lm46-envrHo" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe></center></p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com">TorrentFreak</a>, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/top-popular-torrent-sites-2015-150104/">torrent sites</a> and <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/anonymous-vpn-service-provider-review-2015-150228/">anonymous VPN services</a>.</p>
<div class="feedflare">
<a href="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~ff/Torrentfreak?a=-M9eMp9Dp0M:KpQvPZPp_c0:yIl2AUoC8zA"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/Torrentfreak?d=yIl2AUoC8zA" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~ff/Torrentfreak?a=-M9eMp9Dp0M:KpQvPZPp_c0:D7DqB2pKExk"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/Torrentfreak?i=-M9eMp9Dp0M:KpQvPZPp_c0:D7DqB2pKExk" border="0"></img></a>
</div><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~4/-M9eMp9Dp0M" height="1" width="1" alt=""/>


feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=105949
title: Google: Targeting Downloaders Not The Best Solution to Fight Piracy
uri: Google-Targeting-Downloaders-Not-The-Best-Solution-to-Fight-Piracy
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/tJiUbB6xGio/
content:
<p><img src="media/3a6fa524.google-bay.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/google-bay.jpg" alt="google-bay" width="200" height="177" class="alignright size-full wp-image-21875">In recent years it has become more common for copyright holders to include settlement offers in the takedown notices that are sent to Internet providers.</p>
<p>While most large ISPs prefer not to forward these demands, Google Fiber decided it would. </p>
<p>A few days ago we <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/google-fiber-sends-automated-piracy-fines-to-subscribers-150520/">highlighted the issue</a> in an article. Before publication we reached out to Google for a comment, but initially the company didn&#8217;t reply. Now, a week after our first inquiry Google has sent a response.</p>
<p>Google explains that it&#8217;s forwarding the entire takedown notice including the settlement offers in an effort to be as transparent as it can be. </p>
<p>“When Google Fiber receives a copyright complaint about an account, we pass along all of the information we receive to the account holder so that they’re aware of it and can determine the response that’s best for their situation,&#8221; a Google spokesperson tells TF. </p>
<p>This suggests that the transparency is seen by Google as more important than protecting customers against threatening and sometimes inaccurate notices. Overall, however, Google notes that targeting pirates directly is not the best solution to deal with the issue.</p>
<p>&#8220;Although we think there are better solutions to fighting piracy than targeting individual downloaders, we want to be transparent with our customers,&#8221; Google&#8217;s spokesperson adds.</p>
<p>Google doesn&#8217;t say what these better options are, but previously the company noted that piracy is mainly a <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/google-piracy-availability-pricing-problem-140310/">pricing and availability problem</a>.</p>
<p>While transparency is often a good thing, in this case it doesn&#8217;t necessarily help Google Fiber customers. After receiving the notice they can either pay up or ignore it. If they choose the latter generally nothing happens, but recent history shows that there&#8217;s a legal risk involved.</p>
<p>Last week the <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/comcast-users-sued-after-ignoring-piracy-notices-150516/">news broke</a> that Rotten Records, one of the companies which sends settlement requests to ISPs, sued Comcast subscribers for ignoring these infringement notices. </p>
<p>With the possibility of false accusations, it would probably be in the customers&#8217; best interest if ISPs ignored the notices entirely, <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/why-isps-should-stop-forwarding-piracy-settlement-demands-150502/">which some do</a>. </p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com">TorrentFreak</a>, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/top-popular-torrent-sites-2015-150104/">torrent sites</a> and <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/anonymous-vpn-service-provider-review-2015-150228/">anonymous VPN services</a>.</p>
<div class="feedflare">
<a href="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~ff/Torrentfreak?a=tJiUbB6xGio:vsdRrIw1faA:yIl2AUoC8zA"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/Torrentfreak?d=yIl2AUoC8zA" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~ff/Torrentfreak?a=tJiUbB6xGio:vsdRrIw1faA:D7DqB2pKExk"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/Torrentfreak?i=tJiUbB6xGio:vsdRrIw1faA:D7DqB2pKExk" border="0"></img></a>
</div><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~4/tJiUbB6xGio" height="1" width="1" alt=""/>


feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=106013
title: WebHost Owner Cleared of Aiding Torrent Site Piracy
uri: WebHost-Owner-Cleared-of-Aiding-Torrent-Site-Piracy
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/sjPAYLp6fXA/
content:
<p><img src="media/2bcf6c41.pirate-bay-flag-150x150.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/pirate-bay-flag-150x150.jpg" alt="pirate bay flag" width="150" height="150" class="alignright size-thumbnail wp-image-98721">Following a complaint from Swedish anti-piracy group Antipiratbyrån, in November 2011 police carried out raids in two locations against private torrent site TTi, aka The Internationals.</p>
<p>In one location police targeted site owner Joel Larsson. In another, Patrik Lagerman, boss of web-hosting firm PatrikWeb, the company providing hosting for the torrent site.</p>
<p><a href="http://torrentfreak.com/trial-of-torrent-site-admin-and-hosting-provider-concludes-150509/">The case</a> against Larsson centered around the unlawful distribution of copyrighted video content by his site&#8217;s users. Lagerman was accused of aiding that infringement after he refused to take the site down following a request (not backed by a court order) from Antipiratbyrån.</p>
<p>The case dragged on for more than three and a half years but concluded earlier this month. The judgment was handed down yesterday and its one of mixed fortunes.</p>
<p>Larsson previously admitted to being the operator of TTi and also the person who accepted donations from site members, an amount equivalent to around US$12,000. He also insisted that he never controlled the content shared by his site&#8217;s users.</p>
<p>In its judgment, however, the court noted that files found on a confiscated PC revealed details of meetings with site staff indicating that Larsson fully understood that the site was involved in the exchange of infringing content.</p>
<p>The Court found Larsson guilty of copyright infringement and sentenced him to 90 hours community service. If prison had been suggested by the prosecutor he would have served three months.</p>
<p>The Court also seized several servers connected with the site but rejected a prosecution claim for the forfeiture of $12,000 in site donations after it was determined Larsson spent the same amount keeping the site running.</p>
<p>For Patrik Lagerman, the site&#8217;s host, things went much better. Despite finding that Lagerman had indeed been involved in the site&#8217;s operations by providing hosting and infrastructure, he was deemed not negligent for his refusal to take down the site without a court order. He was acquitted on all charges.</p>
<p>Commenting on the judgment, Sara Lindbäck at Rights Alliance told TorrentFreak that getting a conviction was the important thing in this case.</p>
<p>&#8220;The person responsible for the illegal service was found guilty. That is the important part in the ruling. The illegal services are causing tremendous damages to the rights holders,&#8221; Lindbäck said.</p>
<p>&#8220;In this case the person had also received substantial amounts in donations, in other words receiving money for content that somebody else has created.&#8221;</p>
<p>Speaking on Lagerman&#8217;s acquittal, Lindbäck acknowledged that the situation had been less straightforward.</p>
<p>&#8220;Regarding the hosting provider, the court did not find him responsible for copyright infringement. The legal aspects to the responsibility for hosting providers is of course interesting legally. We will now analyze the ruling further and see what consequences it can have in the future.&#8221;</p>
<p>Rights Alliance did not reveal whether it intends to appeal, but considering the amount of time already passed since the arrests in 2011, that seems unlikely.</p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com">TorrentFreak</a>, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/top-popular-torrent-sites-2015-150104/">torrent sites</a> and <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/anonymous-vpn-service-provider-review-2015-150228/">anonymous VPN services</a>.</p>
<div class="feedflare">
<a href="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~ff/Torrentfreak?a=sjPAYLp6fXA:DDIG8dQcB14:yIl2AUoC8zA"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/Torrentfreak?d=yIl2AUoC8zA" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~ff/Torrentfreak?a=sjPAYLp6fXA:DDIG8dQcB14:D7DqB2pKExk"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/Torrentfreak?i=sjPAYLp6fXA:DDIG8dQcB14:D7DqB2pKExk" border="0"></img></a>
</div><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~4/sjPAYLp6fXA" height="1" width="1" alt=""/>


feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=105539
title: ‘How Movie Studios Exploit Video on Demand Services’
uri: How-Movie-Studios-Exploit-Video-on-Demand-Services
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/wQWYtvqM7KA/
content:
<p><img src="media/5f9796f8.movies1.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/movies1.jpg" alt="movies" width="200" height="135" class="alignright size-full wp-image-105597"><em>The account below comes from an employee of a mid-sized video on demand (VOD) service in Europe. </p>
<p>To avoid repercussions from the major studios the author prefers to remain anonymous.<br>
</em><br>
&#8212;</p>
<p><strong>Exploitation On Demand<br>
</strong><br>
Every once in a while wrongdoings are reported by whistleblowers. Motives are often political and have worldwide consequences. Today, we&#8217;re addressing a much more down to earth topic. We don’t pretend for a second that we&#8217;re changing the world but instead we&#8217;re shining light on what we consider to be wrongful practices destroying an industry. </p>
<p>Our case is business centered, yet the industry we’re denouncing has damaged its fair share of individual liberties and has violated countless numbers of ethical principles. We’re talking about the Major Movie Studios.</p>
<p>For quite some time we’ve been working with “Major Studios” such as Warner Bros, Walt Disney, Universal, Sony, 20th Century Fox and Paramount. We would like to refer to it as collaboration, but unfortunately it’s really been a one way street thus far. Money transits and the final destination is the Majors&#8217; pockets</p>
<p>We’ve been operating a video on demand service (VOD) for quite some time now, trying to make the best out of it. Eventually we grew tired of being shaken down at every turn and now feel it’s time to share the limitations that come with a deal in the “legit distribution” system. This may not be breaking news to some of you, yet we feel it’s important for people to understand how operating within the constraints imposed by the Majors works.</p>
<p>While observing the latest productions coming out from Hollywood studios (Fast &#038; Furious 7, Avengers, Transformers 4, Dumb and Dumber 2, Taken 3) you may have noticed that this industry is not very risk savvy, to say the least. In fact it hates risk. </p>
<p>In recent years the studios&#8217; strategy has been to buy rights to bestselling or comic books, plus games and kids toys to feed the public with a new episode every year. </p>
<p>Another risk minimizing strategy is to pre-sell cinema-distribution rights in certain territories to finance film making. By this mechanism a film is basically paid for before it gets made.</p>
<p>This system works for cinema distribution and was exported for home entertainment, where it affects our business. For a video on demand (VOD) operator to distribute any given catalogue, it must pay “Minimum Guarantees (MG’s)” to the studio. This allows one to exploit the catalogue. Mind you, you don’t get to choose what you pay for. That would be too simple. </p>
<p>Output deals are the norm and in essence they mean you need to take every licensed film as part of a single deal. If you want the latest blockbuster, you must also take the latest winner of the Golden Raspberry awards, and take our word for it, there are some pretty unworthy films in there. These Minimum Guarantees are quoted in millions of dollars per deal, and as a result VOD services like ourselves have to operate on very small profit margins.</p>
<p>On top of MG’s, distributors must also agree to pay revenue shares. Should the sales top the Minimum Guarantee on a given year the rev share kicks in. Revenue shares are usually in the studio’s favor (between 70% and 50% depending on whether we’re speaking of recent releases or old ones). </p>
<p>If a given platform manages to recoup its costs it must also share its future revenue with the Rights Holder, while providing the majority of the value chain involved in a streaming service: Storage, streaming costs, platform development, DRM licenses and geoblocking tools.</p>
<p>In the meantime, studios provide a license that costs them virtually nothing and they take the lion&#8217;s share of the deal for it. And we haven&#8217;t even started on release windows yet. Windows? If you thought that paying a fortune for a film allowed you to exploit it forever, think again. Usually the window for a film is 90 days. </p>
<p>You got that right: platforms have 90 days to pay for a Minimum Guarantee if they expect to turn a profit on a film. And keep in mind most of the profit just gets funneled back to the studios anyway with the revenue share clause. After that a title simply gets pulled off their catalogues to allow for Pay-TV and linear TV distribution. The title can come back in the catalogue after 12 to 18 months, given of course that it&#8217;s properly paid for.</p>
<p>This may seem like a lot to process, and it is, yet it’s just the tip of the iceberg. We will probably write a follow-up to this article as these people are not acting as if they were selling entertainment; they’re behaving like they’re selling enriched uranium! </p>
<p>Facilities that host servers on which films are kept have to be equipped as if they were a bank. If studio’s are looking to diversify they should consider giving Fort Knox consultancy services on security matters. More on that soon…</p>
<p>We love films and originally started a VOD business hoping to provide a legit solution that would entertain millions. How will we ever be successful while we have to operate on such stiff policies? Well we won’t. </p>
<p>It’s no wonder that streaming and P2P services are thriving: Majors’ constraints imposed on people who are trying to abide by their standards are just disabling anyone trying to be competitive enough and offer a comprehensive catalogue at a decent cost to the public. </p>
<p>Until this framework changes no one will ever. With their own policies, the major movie studios are sawing at the branch on which they sit . They probably realize it to some extent. But they certainly don’t care enough to do something about it. </p>
<p>Surely this is because piracy is not hurting them as much as they want us to believe. By cutting some slack to their partners they would have concrete tools to cut down piracy. They’re simply too comfortable to consider that as an option.</p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com">TorrentFreak</a>, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/top-popular-torrent-sites-2015-150104/">torrent sites</a> and <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/anonymous-vpn-service-provider-review-2015-150228/">anonymous VPN services</a>.</p>
<div class="feedflare">
<a href="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~ff/Torrentfreak?a=wQWYtvqM7KA:MMfo2PRc-e8:yIl2AUoC8zA"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/Torrentfreak?d=yIl2AUoC8zA" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~ff/Torrentfreak?a=wQWYtvqM7KA:MMfo2PRc-e8:D7DqB2pKExk"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/Torrentfreak?i=wQWYtvqM7KA:MMfo2PRc-e8:D7DqB2pKExk" border="0"></img></a>
</div><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~4/wQWYtvqM7KA" height="1" width="1" alt=""/>


feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=105792
title: Court Orders Cox to Expose “Most Egregious” BitTorrent Pirates
uri: Court-Orders-Cox-to-Expose-Most-Egregious-BitTorrent-Pirates
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/x2haffHiLy0/
content:
<p><img src="media/015f41e0.cox-logo.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/cox-logo.png" alt="cox-logo" width="200" height="99" class="alignright size-full wp-image-68146"> Last year BMG Rights Management and Round Hill Music sued Cox Communications, arguing that the ISP fails to terminate the accounts of repeat infringers.</p>
<p>The companies, which control the publishing rights to songs by Katy Perry, The Beatles and David Bowie among others, claim that Cox has given up its DMCA safe harbor protections due to this inaction.</p>
<p>The case revolves around the “repeat infringer” clause of the DMCA, which prescribes that Internet providers must terminate the accounts of persistent pirates. </p>
<p>As part of the discovery process the music outfits requested details on the accounts which they caught downloading their content. In total there are 150,000 alleged pirates, but as a compromise BMG and Round Hill limited their initial request to 500 IP-addresses. </p>
<p>Cox refused to hand over the requested information arguing that the Cable Privacy Act prevents the company from disclosing this information. </p>
<p>The matter was discussed during a court hearing late last week. After a brief deliberation Judge John Anderson ruled that the ISP must hand over the personal details of 250 subscribers.</p>
<p>&#8220;Defendants shall produce customer information associated with the Top 250 IP Addresses recorded to have infringed in the six months prior to filing the Complaint,&#8221; Judge Anderson writes.</p>
<p>&#8220;This production shall include the information as requested in Interrogatory No.13, specifically: name, address, account number, the bandwidth speed associated with each account, and associated IP address of each customer.&#8221;</p>
<p><center><strong>The order</strong><br></br></center><center><img src="media/97834813.coxorder.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/coxorder.png" alt="coxorder" width="600" height="615" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-105919"></center></p>
<p>The music companies also asked for the account information of the top 250 IP-addresses connected to the piracy of their files after the complaint was filed, but this request was denied. Similarly, if the copyright holders want information on any of the 149,500 other Cox customers they need a separate order.</p>
<p>The music companies previously informed the court that the personal details are crucial to proof their direct infringement claims, but it&#8217;s unclear how they plan to use the data. </p>
<p>While none of the Cox customers are facing any direct claims as of yet, it&#8217;s not unthinkable that some may be named in the suit to increase pressure on the ISP.</p>
<p>The full list of IP-addresses is available for download here (<a href="media/96902f48.coxipaddresses.pdf" data-original-source="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/images/coxipaddresses.pdf">PDF</a>). </p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com">TorrentFreak</a>, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/top-popular-torrent-sites-2015-150104/">torrent sites</a> and <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/anonymous-vpn-service-provider-review-2015-150228/">anonymous VPN services</a>.</p>
<div class="feedflare">
<a href="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~ff/Torrentfreak?a=x2haffHiLy0:szmkkqtGp8s:yIl2AUoC8zA"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/Torrentfreak?d=yIl2AUoC8zA" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~ff/Torrentfreak?a=x2haffHiLy0:szmkkqtGp8s:D7DqB2pKExk"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/Torrentfreak?i=x2haffHiLy0:szmkkqtGp8s:D7DqB2pKExk" border="0"></img></a>
</div><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~4/x2haffHiLy0" height="1" width="1" alt=""/>


feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=105931
title: Thanks for the Really Counter-Productive DMCA Complaints
uri: Thanks-for-the-Really-Counter-Productive-DMCA-Complaints
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/uXqqCnefn4g/
content:
<p><img src="media/e02ae2ea.picarddmca.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/picarddmca.png" alt="picarddmca" width="180" height="119" class="alignright size-full wp-image-75723">One of today&#8217;s favored anti-piracy methods is to have Google de-index alleged pirate links from its search results. The theory is that if users don&#8217;t find content on search pages 1, 2 or 3, there&#8217;s more chance of them heading off to an official source.</p>
<p>The trouble is, Google&#8217;s indexes are massive and therefore return a lot of data. This results in copyright holders resorting to automated tools to identify infringing content <em>en masse</em> and while for some people these seem to work well (the UK&#8217;s BPI appears to have a very good record), others aren&#8217;t so good at it.</p>
<p>Errors get made and here at TF we like to keep an eye out for the real clangers &#8211; obviously it&#8217;s of particular interest when we become the targets. After being wrongfully accused by NBC Universal eight times in February, we had to wait until April for the world-famous Web Sheriff to ride into town.</p>
<p>In a <a href="https://www.chillingeffects.org/notices/10695770">DMCA notice</a> sent on behalf of The Weinstein Company, Web Sheriff tackles dozens of domains for alleged offering the company&#8217;s content for download. However, for reasons best known to the gun-slinging Sheriff, he told Google that TF&#8217;s <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/top-popular-torrent-sites-2015-150104/">list of the most popular torrent sites of 2015</a> is infringing on his client&#8217;s copyrights.</p>
<p>We weren&#8217;t the only targets though. The Sheriff also tried to have three pages removed from business networking site Linkedin and one each from movie promo sites ComingSoon and Fandango (which are both <a href="http://www.comingsoon.net/movie/monsters-dark-continent-2015">legitimately</a> <a href="http://www.fandango.com/monsters:darkcontinent_181504/movieoverview">advertising</a> Weinstein movies).</p>
<p>However, the real genius came when the Sheriff tried to take down the <a href="https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/keepondoco/keep-on-keepin-on-documentary">Kickstarter page</a> for Weinstein&#8217;s <a href="http://radiustwc.com/releases/keep-on-keepin-on/">own movie</a>, Keep On Keepin&#8217; On. Fortunately, Google is on the ball and rejected every attempt.</p>
<p><center><img src="media/a17d97c0.sher-1.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/sher-1.png" alt="sher-1" width="540" height="218" class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-105977"></center></p>
<p>This month we were targeted again, this time by Markscan, a company that made the headlines during last year&#8217;s soccer World Cup when it failed in <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/foul-sony-orders-google-to-censor-the-world-cup-140622/">an attempt</a> to silence the articles of several leading news outlets.</p>
<p>In a <a href="http://www.google.com/transparencyreport/removals/copyright/requests/2211165/">new DMCA notice</a> the company bizarrely targets a TF article from December 2006 in which we <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/download-2000-music-albums-for-free/">promoted the availability</a> of 2,000 Creative Commons music albums available on the Jamendo platform.</p>
<p>Bad enough, of course, but made even worse by the targeting in the same notice of the official BitTorrent Inc. torrent client available for <a href="http://bittorrent.en.softonic.com/download">download on Softonic</a> and another random <a href="http://www.dvdvideosoft.com/products/dvd/Free-Torrent-Downloader.htm#.VV7VykaDvF8">freeware torrent client</a> published by DVDVideoSoft.</p>
<p>Finally, TF was targeted a couple of days ago by anti-piracy outfit <a href="http://www.unidam.com/">Unidam</a> acting on behalf of Japanese talent agency and entertainment company AKS Co. Ltd. It&#8217;s clear from <a href="http://www.google.com/transparencyreport/removals/copyright/requests/2220493/">their complaint</a> that they have a problem with plenty of file-hosting sites.</p>
<p>One of them is RyuShare, a Vietnamese-based site whose owners <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/ryushare-file-host-owner-arrested-cash-cars-motorcycles-seized-140414/">were arrested</a> last year and eventually jailed. However, for some strange reason Unidam didn&#8217;t want us to get the word out on that story, instead asking Google to remove it from its search results.</p>
<p><center><img src="media/7523b911.ryu-dmca.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/ryu-dmca.png" alt="ryu-dmca" width="589" height="187" class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-105979"></center></p>
<p>While it&#8217;s pretty irritating to be wrongfully targeted by these companies, it&#8217;s important to recognize the valuable role Google plays here. Without the company&#8217;s <a href="http://www.google.com/transparencyreport/">transparency report</a> the world would be largely blind to the sloppy actions of some anti-piracy companies. </p>
<p>Admittedly these outfits have a tough job, but if they have the time to send these notices out and take the money, they should take the time to check that they aren&#8217;t stepping on innocent toes.</p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com">TorrentFreak</a>, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/top-popular-torrent-sites-2015-150104/">torrent sites</a> and <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/anonymous-vpn-service-provider-review-2015-150228/">anonymous VPN services</a>.</p>
<div class="feedflare">
<a href="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~ff/Torrentfreak?a=uXqqCnefn4g:Qu_0vXHHl-c:yIl2AUoC8zA"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/Torrentfreak?d=yIl2AUoC8zA" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~ff/Torrentfreak?a=uXqqCnefn4g:Qu_0vXHHl-c:D7DqB2pKExk"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/Torrentfreak?i=uXqqCnefn4g:Qu_0vXHHl-c:D7DqB2pKExk" border="0"></img></a>
</div><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~4/uXqqCnefn4g" height="1" width="1" alt=""/>


feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=106001
title: Top 10 Most Pirated Movies of The Week – 05/25/15
uri: Top-10-Most-Pirated-Movies-of-The-Week-05-25-15
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/pPGg8XdLVbc/
content:
<p><img src="media/30968417.kingsman1.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/kingsman1.jpg" alt="kingsman" width="300" height="211" class="alignright size-full wp-image-106007">This week we have three newcomers in our chart.</p>
<p>Kingsman: The Secret Service is the most downloaded movie.</p>
<p>The data for our weekly download chart is estimated by TorrentFreak, and is for informational and educational reference only. All the movies in the list are BD/DVDrips unless stated otherwise.</p>
<p><a href="http://TorrentFreak.com/category/dvdrip/feed/"><strong>RSS feed</strong></a> for the weekly movie download chart.</p>
<table class="css hover">
<thead>
<tr>
<th width="12%"><strong>Ranking</strong></th>
<th width="15%"><strong>(<a href="https://torrentfreak.com/top-10-most-pirated-movies-of-the-week-051815/">last week</a>)</strong></th>
<th><strong>Movie</strong></th>
<th width="18%"><strong>IMDb Rating / Trailer</strong></th>
</tr>
</thead>
<tfoot>
<tr>
<td colspan="4">torrentfreak.com</td>
</tr>
</tfoot>
<tbody>
<tr>
<td><strong>1</strong></td>
<td>(5)</td>
<td><a href="http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/kingsman_the_secret_service/">Kingsman: The Secret Service</a> </td>
<td><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2802144/">8.1</a> / <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kl8F-8tR8to">trailer</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><strong>2</strong></td>
<td>(1)</td>
<td><a href="http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/ex_machina/">Ex Machina</a> </td>
<td><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0470752/">8.0</a> / <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EoQuVnKhxaM">trailer</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><strong>3</strong></td>
<td>(3)</td>
<td><a href="http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/jupiter_ascending_2014/">Jupiter Ascending</a> </td>
<td><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1617661/">5.8</a> / <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t4ZzMkDLjWI">trailer</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><strong>4</strong></td>
<td>(&#8230;)</td>
<td><a href="http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/home_2015/">Home</a> </td>
<td><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2224026/">6.8</a> / <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MyqZf8LiWvM">trailer</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><strong>5</strong></td>
<td>(&#8230;)</td>
<td><a href="http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/avengers_age_of_ultron/">Avengers: Age of Ultron</a> (CAM/TS)</td>
<td><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2395427/">8.0</a> / <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tmeOjFno6Do">trailer</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><strong>6</strong></td>
<td>(4)</td>
<td><a href="http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/furious_7/">Furious 7</a> (Subbed/cropped HDRip)</td>
<td><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2820852/">8.8</a> / <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yISKeT6sDOg">trailer</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><strong>7</strong></td>
<td>(2)</td>
<td><a href="http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/project_almanac/">Project Almanac</a> </td>
<td><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2436386/">6.3</a> / <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Yih-CxTWsw">trailer</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><strong>8</strong></td>
<td>(&#8230;)</td>
<td><a href="http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/the_spongebob_movie_sponge_out_of_water/">The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge Out of Water</a> </td>
<td><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2279373/">6.3</a> / <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TGjbpO1toTc">trailer</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><strong>9</strong></td>
<td>(9)</td>
<td><a href="http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/focus_2014/?">Focus</a> </td>
<td><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2381941/">6.7</a> / <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MxCRgtdAuBo">trailer</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><strong>10</strong></td>
<td>(6)</td>
<td><a href="http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/american_sniper/">American Sniper</a> </td>
<td><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2179136/">7.4</a> / <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MItGoIxoVGk">trailer</a></td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com">TorrentFreak</a>, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/top-popular-torrent-sites-2015-150104/">torrent sites</a> and <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/anonymous-vpn-service-provider-review-2015-150228/">anonymous VPN services</a>.</p>
<div class="feedflare">
<a href="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~ff/Torrentfreak?a=pPGg8XdLVbc:Dguw15G1TpU:yIl2AUoC8zA"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/Torrentfreak?d=yIl2AUoC8zA" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~ff/Torrentfreak?a=pPGg8XdLVbc:Dguw15G1TpU:D7DqB2pKExk"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/Torrentfreak?i=pPGg8XdLVbc:Dguw15G1TpU:D7DqB2pKExk" border="0"></img></a>
</div><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~4/pPGg8XdLVbc" height="1" width="1" alt=""/>


feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=105984
title: Rightscorp Offered Internet Provider a Cut of Piracy Settlements
uri: Rightscorp-Offered-Internet-Provider-a-Cut-of-Piracy-Settlements
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/AK8Wa008_bE/
content:
<p><img src="media/015f41e0.cox-logo.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/cox-logo.png" alt="cox-logo" width="200" height="99" class="alignright size-full wp-image-68146">Piracy monetization firm Rightscorp has made headlines over the past year, often because of its aggressive attempts to obtain settlements from allegedly pirating Internet users.</p>
<p>Working on behalf of various copyright owners including Warner Bros. and BMG the company sends copyright infringement notices to Internet providers in the U.S. and Canada. These notices include a settlement proposal, offering alleged downloaders an option to pay off their &#8220;debt.&#8221;</p>
<p>Rightscorp&#8217;s practices haven&#8217;t been without controversy. The company and its clients have been sued for abuse and harassment and various large ISPs refuse to forward the settlements to their subscribers. </p>
<p>Cox Communications, one of the larger Internet providers in the U.S. also chose not to work with Rightscorp. The ISP didn&#8217;t comment on this refusal initially, but now that Cox has been <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/cox-communications-sued-for-not-disconnecting-pirates-141128/">sued by several Rightscorp clients</a>, it reveals why.</p>
<p>In a statement that leaves little to the imagination, Cox notes that Rightscorp is &#8220;threatening&#8221; subscribers with &#8220;extortionate&#8221; letters. </p>
<p>&#8220;Rightscorp is in the business of threatening Internet users on behalf of copyright owners. Rightscorp specifically threatens subscribers of ISPs with loss of their Internet service — a punishment that is not within Rightscorp’s control — unless the subscribers pay a settlement demand,&#8221; Cox writes (<a href="media/fc197ac0.coxrc.pdf" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/coxrc.pdf">pdf</a>). </p>
<p>As a result, the ISP decided not to participate in the controversial scheme unless Rightscorp revised the notifications and removed the extortion-like language.</p>
<p>&#8220;Because Rightscorp’s purported DMCA notices were, in fact, improper threats against consumers to scare them into paying settlements to Rightscorp, Cox refused to accept or forward those notices, or otherwise to participate in Rightscorp’s extortionate scheme.&#8221; </p>
<p>&#8220;Cox expressly and repeatedly informed Rightscorp that it would not accept Rightscorp’s improper extortion threat communications, unless and until Rightscorp revised them to be proper notices.&#8221;</p>
<p>The two parties went back and forth over the details and somewhere in this process Rightscorp came up with a controversial proposal. The company offered Cox a cut of the settlement money its subscribers would pay, so the ISP could also profit. </p>
<p>&#8220;Rightscorp had a history of interactions with Cox in which Rightscorp offered Cox a share of the settlement revenue stream in return for Cox’s cooperation in transmitting extortionate letters to Cox’s customers. Cox rebuffed Rightscorp’s approach,&#8221; Cox informs the court. </p>
<p>This allegation is something that was never revealed, and it shows to what great lengths Rightscorp is willing to go to get ISPs to comply. It&#8217;s not clear whether the same proposal was made to other ISPs are well, but that wouldn&#8217;t be a surprise. </p>
<p>Cox, however, didn&#8217;t take the bait and still refused to join the scheme. Rightscorp wasn&#8217;t happy with this decision and according to the ISP, the company and its clients are now getting back at them through the <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/cox-communications-sued-for-not-disconnecting-pirates-141128/">&#8220;repeat infringer&#8221; lawsuit</a>.</p>
<p>&#8220;This lawsuit is, in effect, a bid both to punish Cox for not participating in Rightscorp’s scheme, and to gain leverage over Cox’s customers for the settlement shakedown business model that Plaintiffs and Rightscorp jointly employ,&#8221; Cox notes.</p>
<p>Despite the strong language and extortion accusations used by Cox, the revelations didn&#8217;t prevent the Court from granting copyright holders access to the personal details of <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/court-orders-cox-to-expose-most-egregious-bittorrent-pirates-150523/">250 accused copyright infringers</a>.</p>
<p>The case is just getting started though, and judging from the aggressive stance being taken by both sides we can expect a lot more dirt to come out in the months ahead.</p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com">TorrentFreak</a>, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/top-popular-torrent-sites-2015-150104/">torrent sites</a> and <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/anonymous-vpn-service-provider-review-2015-150228/">anonymous VPN services</a>.</p>
<div class="feedflare">
<a href="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~ff/Torrentfreak?a=AK8Wa008_bE:01Btx6xaMDA:yIl2AUoC8zA"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/Torrentfreak?d=yIl2AUoC8zA" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~ff/Torrentfreak?a=AK8Wa008_bE:01Btx6xaMDA:D7DqB2pKExk"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/Torrentfreak?i=AK8Wa008_bE:01Btx6xaMDA:D7DqB2pKExk" border="0"></img></a>
</div><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~4/AK8Wa008_bE" height="1" width="1" alt=""/>


feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=106051
title: Pirate Bay Founder Appeals Domain Seizure Decision
uri: Pirate-Bay-Founder-Appeals-Domain-Seizure-Decision
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/U1Xy9OUq_Cg/
content:
<p><img src="media/ef316a60.tpbhydrax-150x150.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/tpbhydrax-150x150.png" alt="tpbhydrax" width="150" height="150" class="alignright size-thumbnail wp-image-105924">Last week a two year old case launched by the Swedish state concerning a pair of key Pirate Bay domains <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/key-pirate-bay-domains-must-be-seized-court-rules-150519/">came to an end</a>.</p>
<p>While the prosecution failed in its quest to hold the Swedish .SE registry responsible for infringements carried out by The Pirate Bay and its users, it did convince the Stockholm District Court to put ThePirateBay.se and PirateBay.se out of action.</p>
<p>Even though the domains were held in a third-party&#8217;s name, the Court found that Pirate Bay co-founder Fredrik Neij owned and operated them. On that basis they were ordered to be placed under the future control of the Swedish state, never to be used again.</p>
<p>&#8220;Fredrik Neij has participated in the [copyright infringement] crimes that have been identified and he is the actual holder of the domain names. It is therefore no obstacle to confiscate domain names from him,&#8221; the Court said.</p>
<p>The parties were given until June 9, 2015, to appeal but less than a week later we now know that The Pirate Bay&#8217;s most recognizable domains will remain operational for at least a little while longer.</p>
<p>Through his lawyer Jonas Nilsson, this morning Fredrik Neij confirmed that he will appeal the confiscation order handed down May 19 by the District Court. But while some might presume that getting the domains handed back is a key aim of Neij, that is not the case. He is actually more interested in challenging the Court&#8217;s reasoning.</p>
<p>&#8220;The district court makes an erroneous assessment of how to look at a domain name. We believe it is an address assignment, not an estate,&#8221; Nilsson <a href="http://www.dn.se/ekonomi/domen-om-piratebayse-overklagas/">says</a>.</p>
<p>&#8220;The prosecution has alleged two things. One is that crimes have been committed via The Pirate Bay. Fredrik Neij really has no views on this. The second is that he is involved in The Pirate Bay operation.&#8221;</p>
<p>It was the assertion that the domains were controlled by Neij and used to infringe copyright that appeared to make it a straightforward decision for the Court to order their forfeiture. But for Neij, however, that has the potential to develop into a more serious matter.</p>
<p>In 2009 the Stockholm District Court <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/pirate-bay-founders-banned-from-running-the-site-091029/">banned</a> Fredrik Neij and co-founder Gottfrid Svartholm from having anything to do with the site, even though both were living outside Sweden (even the EU) by that time. Nevertheless, the court attached a 500,000 kronor ($59,500) penalty to any breach.</p>
<p>With Neij set to be released from prison next week after serving his Pirate Bay sentence, one has to wonder if the District Court&#8217;s determination will negatively affect that in some way. As reported here in December 2014, a <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/pirate-bays-fredrik-neij-now-wanted-for-hacking-141224/">leaked MPAA email</a> predicted continued trouble.</p>
<p>&#8220;Neij is facing a 10 month prison sentence in Sweden for his conviction in the Pirate Bay case. Neij may also face new charges for his continuing role in the operation of TPB and two additional charges for computer hacking,” the email read.</p>
<p>Either way, Neij has unfinished business in Sweden and with his history of moving to far-off lands to avoid justice, it wouldn&#8217;t be a surprise if the prosecution argued for his continued detention.</p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com">TorrentFreak</a>, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/top-popular-torrent-sites-2015-150104/">torrent sites</a> and <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/anonymous-vpn-service-provider-review-2015-150228/">anonymous VPN services</a>.</p>
<div class="feedflare">
<a href="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~ff/Torrentfreak?a=U1Xy9OUq_Cg:1fdnuqtcPeg:yIl2AUoC8zA"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/Torrentfreak?d=yIl2AUoC8zA" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~ff/Torrentfreak?a=U1Xy9OUq_Cg:1fdnuqtcPeg:D7DqB2pKExk"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/Torrentfreak?i=U1Xy9OUq_Cg:1fdnuqtcPeg:D7DqB2pKExk" border="0"></img></a>
</div><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~4/U1Xy9OUq_Cg" height="1" width="1" alt=""/>


feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=106090
title: H33T.to Mysteriously Disappears….But Can Be Found
uri: H33T-to-Mysteriously-Disappears-But-Can-Be-Found
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/HweLhzDEcuk/
content:
<p><img src="media/68403d63.h33t-300x102.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/h33t-300x102.png" width="300" height="102" class="alignright">People being unable to access a particular torrent site is perhaps the most common complaint in the file-sharing world today, and that should come as little surprise considering the elements at play.</p>
<p>While citizens of the U.S. largely enjoy unfettered access to any site, file-sharers in Europe have to deal with website blocking on a grand scale. Add domain seizures, pressure on webhosts and sundry raids that effect everyone into the mix, it&#8217;s perhaps surprising just how well sites are coping.</p>
<p>One site with a checkered recent uptime history is H33T. At times one of the world&#8217;s Top 10 torrent sites, H33T has fought through some <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/universal-music-behind-h33t-com-domain-seizure-130914/">very public spats</a> with copyright holders and has <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/uk-isps-start-blocking-kickasstorrents-h33t-and-fenopy-130321/">been blocked</a> in the UK since 2013 after music industry group BPI obtained a <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/high-court-orders-uk-isps-to-block-kickass-torrents-h33t-and-fenopy-130228/">High Court order</a> against the country&#8217;s six ISPs.</p>
<p>Recently H33T disappeared again but with no comment from anyone running the site (if anyone is, day to day), millions of the site&#8217;s users were left wondering what the following message from Cloudflare means for the future.</p>
<p>&#8220;You&#8217;ve requested a page on a website (h33t.to) that is on the CloudFlare network. CloudFlare is currently not routing the requested domain (h33t.to). There are two potential causes of this,&#8221; Cloudflare explains.</p>
<p><center><img src="media/b6ef2c1d.cloud-h33t.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/cloud-h33t.png" alt="cloud-h33t" width="491" height="189" class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-106097"></center></p>
<p>From the above it&#8217;s clear that Cloudflare isn&#8217;t currently a helpful service for those trying to access the site. The big question, however, is whether H33T is functioning somewhere and Cloudflare is the issue, or whether it&#8217;s gone altogether. Time to bypass Cloudflare to find out.</p>
<p>A few minutes of detective work turn up two potential direct IP addresses for H33T, one registered to a Canadian datacenter and the other located in the tiny 115-island country of Seychelles. At first, both appear useless, with the Canadian IP <a href="http://204.16.200.51/">doing nothing</a> and the <a href="http://137.63.68.242">Seychelles IP directing straight back to Google</a>.</p>
<p>However, by adding the latter IP to the <a href="http://helpdeskgeek.com/windows-7/windows-7-hosts-file/">Windows hosts file</a> and then accessing H33T.to in the usual way&#8230;&#8230;</p>
<p><center><img src="media/c6050f3b.h33t-block.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/h33t-block.png" alt="h33t-block" width="650" height="375" class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-106095"></center></p>
<p>&#8230;.H33T magically springs to life.</p>
<p>Perhaps surprisingly the site seems entirely operational, with torrents uploaded as recently as today. Exactly what the problem is remains unclear, but serious issues with Cloudflare that have persisted for many days seem to be the culprit.</p>
<p>Why these haven&#8217;t been fixed is a question likely to go unanswered. The site&#8217;s once-popular Facebook page hasn&#8217;t been updated since October 2014 and still lists the long-defunct URL H33T.com as the site&#8217;s main domain.</p>
<p>In the meantime and not withstanding hosts edits, proxies <a href="https://h33t.unblocked.pw">such as this one</a> are keeping the site alive. Only time will tell if Cloudflare will re-enable the site &#8211; the company does not discuss individual cases. </p>
<p><strong>Update:</strong> After several days the h33t.to domain appears to work normally again.</p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com">TorrentFreak</a>, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/top-popular-torrent-sites-2015-150104/">torrent sites</a> and <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/anonymous-vpn-service-provider-review-2015-150228/">anonymous VPN services</a>.</p>
<div class="feedflare">
<a href="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~ff/Torrentfreak?a=HweLhzDEcuk:R0FYHRCFnkg:yIl2AUoC8zA"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/Torrentfreak?d=yIl2AUoC8zA" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~ff/Torrentfreak?a=HweLhzDEcuk:R0FYHRCFnkg:D7DqB2pKExk"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/Torrentfreak?i=HweLhzDEcuk:R0FYHRCFnkg:D7DqB2pKExk" border="0"></img></a>
</div><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~4/HweLhzDEcuk" height="1" width="1" alt=""/>


feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=106071
title: Court Order Forbids ‘Poor Pirate’ To Use BitTorrent
uri: Court-Order-Forbids-Poor-Pirate-To-Use-BitTorrent
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/0K4GSqMDx9A/
content:
<p><img src="media/182e5568.bart-300x126.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/bart-300x126.jpg" alt="bart" width="300" height="126" class="alignright size-medium wp-image-106075">The makers of Dallas Buyers Club <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/dallas-buyers-club-sues-bittorrent-pirates-citing-oscar-wins-140312/">have sued</a> thousands of BitTorrent users over the past year. </p>
<p>Many of these cases end up being settled for an undisclosed amount. This is usually a figure around $3,500, which is what the company offers in their settlement proposals. However, there are exceptions to this rule with damages and costs in some cases <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/dallas-buyers-club-pirate-agrees-pay-14000-141112/">hitting $14,000</a>. </p>
<p>This week we stumbled upon a new consent judgment between Oregon resident Krystal Krause and the movie studio. In this case the Magistrate Judge signed off on an order that requires the defendant to pay $7,500. </p>
<p>Interestingly, however, the woman doesn&#8217;t have to pay anything as long as she promises not to pirate any movies in the future. According to the judgment the filmmakers offer this leniency due to the &#8220;financial hardship&#8221; and &#8220;extenuating circumstances.&#8221;</p>
<p>&#8220;In recognition of the financial hardship and extenuating circumstances in this case, plaintiff agrees that though the below Money Judgment shall be entered and enforceable, plaintiff will not execute or enforce the Money Judgment so long as the defendant complies with the below Permanent Injunction&#8230;,&#8221; the consent order reads. </p>
<p>The court documents do not explain what the extenuating circumstances are, but it suggests that money isn&#8217;t the only issue. </p>
<p>Looking more closely at the permanent injunction it appears that there are more reasons why the order is unusual. </p>
<p><center><img src="media/dc61cb6a.injunction.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/injunction.png" alt="injunction" width="540" height="457" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-106078"></center></p>
<p>In addition to barring any future infringements, Krause can&#8217;t use BitTorrent for legal purposes either. In fact, she has to remove all BitTorrent and P2P software she has installed.</p>
<p>&#8220;Krystal Krause is hereby directed to immediately delete [&#8230;] any and all BitTorrent clients on any computer(s) she owns or controls together with all other software used to obtain media through the Internet by BitTorrent peer-to-peer transfer or exchange,&#8221; it reads (<a href="media/73e2d33d.krauseinjunction.pdf" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/krauseinjunction.pdf">pdf</a>). </p>
<p>For Krause it may be a small sacrifice to make, especially when it saves $7,500 in costs. That said, it&#8217;s still highly unusual to order someone to remove software that by itself isn&#8217;t infringing at all. </p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com">TorrentFreak</a>, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/top-popular-torrent-sites-2015-150104/">torrent sites</a> and <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/anonymous-vpn-service-provider-review-2015-150228/">anonymous VPN services</a>.</p>
<div class="feedflare">
<a href="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~ff/Torrentfreak?a=0K4GSqMDx9A:_GMVv9xFCDA:yIl2AUoC8zA"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/Torrentfreak?d=yIl2AUoC8zA" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~ff/Torrentfreak?a=0K4GSqMDx9A:_GMVv9xFCDA:D7DqB2pKExk"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/Torrentfreak?i=0K4GSqMDx9A:_GMVv9xFCDA:D7DqB2pKExk" border="0"></img></a>
</div><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~4/0K4GSqMDx9A" height="1" width="1" alt=""/>


feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=106108
title: The Pirate Bay Suffers Downtime
uri: 2015-05-27-The-Pirate-Bay-Suffers-Downtime
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/2ILTWO2ZjAA/
content:
<p><img src="media/2a43984f.pirate-bay.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/pirate-bay.jpg" alt="pirate bay" width="200" height="207" class="alignright size-full wp-image-53470">The Pirate Bay has become unreachable since a few hours.</p>
<p>It&#8217;s currently not clear what&#8217;s causing the problems. There might be a hardware issue, hosting problem or a software glitch, issues that have occurred many times in the site&#8217;s history.</p>
<p>What we do know is that the site&#8217;s domain names are not the culprit.</p>
<p>The Pirate Bay currently displays a CloudFlare error message across <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/pirate-bay-moves-to-gs-la-vg-am-mn-and-gd-domains-150519/">all domain names</a>, suggesting that TPB&#8217;s servers are unresponsive.</p>
<p><center><a href="media/7e7c56a6.tpbcferror.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/tpbcferror.png"><img src="media/7e7c56a6.tpbcferror.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/tpbcferror.png" alt="tpbcferror" width="600" height="368" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-101493"></a></center></p>
<p>With <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/swedish-police-raid-the-pirate-bay-site-offline-141209/">the raid</a> of a few months ago still fresh in memory some fear the worst, but these concerns are unwarranted for now.</p>
<p>In fact, the site is still accessible via the Tor network, including the popular Pirate Browser. </p>
<p>The Tor traffic goes through a separate server, and it appears that this part of the site&#8217;s infrastructure is not going through CloudFlare.</p>
<p>TorrentFreak reached out to The Pirate Bay team for a comment on the situation and we will update this article if we hear back.</p>
<p><strong>Update:</strong> After a few hours the site came back online.</p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com">TorrentFreak</a>, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/top-popular-torrent-sites-2015-150104/">torrent sites</a> and <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/anonymous-vpn-service-provider-review-2015-150228/">anonymous VPN services</a>.</p>
<div class="feedflare">
<a href="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~ff/Torrentfreak?a=2ILTWO2ZjAA:L3BQ_ZgOlTQ:yIl2AUoC8zA"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/Torrentfreak?d=yIl2AUoC8zA" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~ff/Torrentfreak?a=2ILTWO2ZjAA:L3BQ_ZgOlTQ:D7DqB2pKExk"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/Torrentfreak?i=2ILTWO2ZjAA:L3BQ_ZgOlTQ:D7DqB2pKExk" border="0"></img></a>
</div><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~4/2ILTWO2ZjAA" height="1" width="1" alt=""/>


feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=106124
title: RIAA Drags CloudFlare into Piracy Lawsuit, Scolds LeaseWeb
uri: RIAA-Drags-CloudFlare-into-Piracy-Lawsuit-Scolds-LeaseWeb
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/p08sozMV69Q/
content:
<p><img src="media/4a535cc9.cloudflare.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/cloudflare.png" alt="cloudflare" width="275" height="188" class="alignright size-full wp-image-96401">Earlier this month the long running lawsuit between the RIAA and Grooveshark came to an end.</p>
<p>Facing hundreds of millions in damages, the music streaming service <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/grooveshark-shuts-down-apologizes-to-the-riaa-150501/">settled the dispute</a> for $50 million while offering an apology for the mistakes that had been made in the past.</p>
<p>The RIAA heralded the outcome as a major victory, but the joy didn&#8217;t last long. A few days after Grooveshark shut down unknown persons <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/resurrected-grooveshark-is-actually-an-mp3juices-clone-150506/">launched</a> a new music service using the familiar Grooveshark brand.</p>
<p>Recognizing the new Grooveshark.io service as a considerable threat, the RIAA didn&#8217;t waste any time taking countermeasures. The group filed a sealed application for temporary restraining and seizure orders, targeting the site&#8217;s domain name and hosting services. </p>
<p>The court <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/record-labels-sue-new-grooveshark-seize-domains-150515/">granted the RIAA&#8217;s request</a> earlier this month and this week the documents were unsealed. They reveal how the music group intends to drag both Cloudflare and hosting provider LeaseWeb into the fight.</p>
<p>In his declaration, RIAA&#8217;s VP Online Anti-Piracy Mark McDevitt describes the new Grooveshark as a &#8220;blatantly illegal&#8221; site that hides its true location behind CloudFlare&#8217;s service. </p>
<p>&#8220;Because of the presence of CloudFlare’s servers, it is impossible to identify the location of the actual server supporting those aspects of the website absent the disclosure of this information by CloudFlare,&#8221; McDevitt writes (<a href="media/ff35e52b.6e5cbee8-0673-45a1-8c6f-e551d06be1a3.pdf" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/6e5cbee8-0673-45a1-8c6f-e551d06be1a3.pdf">pdf</a>). </p>
<p>While CloudFlare doesn&#8217;t host any of the infringing files, it&#8217;s accused of helping Grooveshark to evade detection. The RIAA alerted CloudFlare of this role early May and asked the company to take action, without the desired result.  </p>
<p>&#8220;In response to this notice, CloudFlare informed the RIAA that it had notified the operator of the Grooveshark.io website of the RIAA’s complaint, but did not discontinue providing its services to the website,&#8221; McDevitt writes.</p>
<p>In an email seen by TF, CloudFlare informs the RIAA that it&#8217;s merely a pass-through provider, and that they&#8217;re not offering any hosting services.</p>
<p>&#8220;Please be aware CloudFlare is a network provider offering a reverse proxy, pass-through security service. We are not a hosting provider. CloudFlare does not control the content of our customers,&#8221; the company replied. </p>
<p>Even today, the new Grooveshark remains active on the <a href="http://grooveshark.li/">Grooveshark.li </a>domain name, and it&#8217;s still hiding behind CloudFlare. The site did lose its original domain name, which Namecheap seized after receiving the court order, but new domains are easily registered.</p>
<p>It&#8217;s unclear at this point whether CloudFlare is actively refusing to comply with the <a href="https://www.scribd.com/doc/266751281/TorrentFreak-TRO-Grooveshark">restraining order</a> that&#8217;s targeted at Grooveshark&#8217;s Internet service providers, but the company&#8217;s counsel did attend a court hearing yesterday to discuss the matter. </p>
<p>Besides CloudFlare, the RIAA also names web company LeaseWeb, which they suspect of offering hosting services to the new Grooveshark. In its presentations to the court the RIAA lashes out hard against the Dutch company. </p>
<p>&#8220;LeaseWeb has a long history of hosting major pirate sites. For example, LeaseWeb once hosted the notorious (and now shuttered) pirate website &#8216;MegaUpload,&#8217; which was the subject of the largest criminal copyright law enforcement action ever undertaken,&#8221; McDevitt writes.</p>
<p>&#8220;Other examples of LeaseWeb’s involvement with pirate sites are also well known in the antipiracy community,&#8221; he adds, after summing up several other examples.</p>
<p>Neither CloudFlare nor LeaseWeb are named as defendants, but the language used makes clear that the RIAA isn&#8217;t happy with how they respond to copyright complaints. </p>
<p>While Grooveshark.li is a relatively small fish, the case may set a crucial precedent for future anti-piracy efforts. With relative ease the Court has issued temporary restraining and seizure orders. If these hold up, more sites may be targeted in a similar fashion. </p>
<p>This outlook may also be the reason for CloudFlare to have their say in the matter. As a service provider to some of the largest piracy havens, including The Pirate Bay, there&#8217;s a lot at stake. </p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com">TorrentFreak</a>, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/top-popular-torrent-sites-2015-150104/">torrent sites</a> and <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/anonymous-vpn-service-provider-review-2015-150228/">anonymous VPN services</a>.</p>
<div class="feedflare">
<a href="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~ff/Torrentfreak?a=p08sozMV69Q:XP-7TkbLN-0:yIl2AUoC8zA"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/Torrentfreak?d=yIl2AUoC8zA" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~ff/Torrentfreak?a=p08sozMV69Q:XP-7TkbLN-0:D7DqB2pKExk"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/Torrentfreak?i=p08sozMV69Q:XP-7TkbLN-0:D7DqB2pKExk" border="0"></img></a>
</div><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~4/p08sozMV69Q" height="1" width="1" alt=""/>


feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=106118
title: High Court Orders UK ISPs to Block eBook Sites
uri: High-Court-Orders-UK-ISPs-to-Block-eBook-Sites
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/VRL2klJl2Zo/
content:
<p><img src="media/2d38a024.stopstop-150x120.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/stopstop-150x120.jpg" alt="stopstop" width="150" height="120" class="alignright size-thumbnail wp-image-81719">Rather than tackling unauthorized sites with direct legal action, major entertainment industry companies are increasingly attempting to disrupt &#8216;pirate&#8217; operations with broader strokes.</p>
<p>One of the favored tools is site blocking, a technique that has gathered considerable momentum in Europe and the UK in particular. More than 120 domains are currently blocked by the country&#8217;s major ISPs, largely thanks to action taken by the <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/court-orders-uk-isps-to-block-popcorn-time-150428/">movie</a> and <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/record-labels-obtain-orders-to-block-21-torrent-sites-141023/">music</a> industries plus soccer body <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/uk-isps-ordered-to-block-firstrow-sports-streaming-site-130717/">The Premier League</a>.</p>
<p>This week the pool of organizations to succeed in site-blocking legal action deepened with the addition of The Publishers Association (PA). The group, which has more than 100 members with combined revenues of £4.7 billion, went to the High Court to demand the blocking of several eBook focused download sites. </p>
<p>They are: Ebookee, LibGen, Freshwap, AvaxHome, Bookfi, Bookre and Freebookspot.</p>
<p>According to the PA its investigations found that over 80% of the material made available by the sites infringes copyright. In total the sites are said to offer in excess of 10 million titles.</p>
<p>In response the PA and its members claim to have sent close to one million takedown notices directly to the sites and requested that Google remove 1.75 million related URLs from its search results.</p>
<p>In common with all previous similar actions initiated by the MPAA and BPI, The Publishers Association (with support from the Association of American Publishers) sued the UK&#8217;s leading ISPs &#8211; BT, Virgin Media, Sky, TalkTalk and EE &#8211; under Section 97A of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.</p>
<p>Presenting a case which demonstrated mass infringement on the eBook sites in question alongside evidence that the major ISPs have &#8220;actual knowledge&#8221; that their subscribers are infringing copyright, the PA argued that the sites should be blocked without further delay.</p>
<p>After consideration, yesterday the High Court handed down its ruling in favor of the publishers. The outcome was never really in question &#8211; UK ISPs have long since given up defending these cases.</p>
<p>“We are very pleased that the High Court has granted this order and, in doing so, recognizes the damage being inflicted on UK publishers and authors by these infringing websites,” says Richard Mollet, Chief Executive of The PA.</p>
<p>“A third of publisher revenues now come from digital sales but unfortunately this rise in the digital market has brought with it a growth in online infringement. Our members need to be able to protect their authors’ works from such illegal activity; writers need to be paid and publishers need to be able to continue to innovate and invest in new talent and material.&#8221;</p>
<p>The ISPs listed in the injunction now have 10 days in which to implement a blockade.</p>
<p>High Court injunctions represent a new anti-piracy tool for The Publishers Association. In addition to its regular <a href="http://www.google.com/transparencyreport/removals/copyright/owners/24757/The-Publishers-Association/">takedown work</a> with search engines such as Google, The PA is also involved in City of London Police’s <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/police-begin-placing-warning-adverts-pirate-sites-140729/">Operation Creative</a>, run out of the Police Intellectual Property Crime Unit (PIPCU). Last year PIPCU acted on The PA&#8217;s behalf by <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/anti-piracy-police-begin-targeting-ebook-pirates-140921/">taking down a domain</a> operated by eBook site OnRead.</p>
<p>The full list of sites to be blocked in the UK is now as follows:</p>
<p>&#8212;</p>
<p><em><strong>New:</strong> Ebookee, LibGen, Freshwap, AvaxHome, Bookfi, Bookre and Freebookspot.</p>
<p><strong>Previously blocked:</strong> popcorntime.io, flixtor.me, popcorn-time.se, isoplex.isohunt.to, watchonlineseries.eu, axxomovies.org, afdah.com and g2g.fm, Bursalagu, Fullsongs, Mega-Search, Mp3 Monkey, Mp3.li, Mp3Bear, MP3Boo, Mp3Clan, Mp3Olimp, MP3s.pl, Mp3soup, Mp3Truck, Musicaddict, My Free MP3, Plixid, RnBXclusive, STAFA Band, watchseries.lt, Stream TV, Watchseries-online, Cucirca, Movie25, watchseries.to, Iwannawatch, Warez BB, Ice Films, Tehparadox, Heroturko, Scene Source,, Rapid Moviez, Iwatchonline, Los Movies, Isohunt, Torrentz.pro, Torrentbutler, IP Torrents, Sumotorrent, Torrent Day, Torrenting, BitSoup, TorrentBytes, Seventorrents, Torrents.fm, Yourbittorrent, Tor Movies , Demonoid, torrent.cd, Vertor, Rar BG, bittorrent.am, btdigg.org, btloft.com, bts.to, limetorrents.com, nowtorrents.com, picktorrent.com, seedpeer.me, torlock.com, torrentbit.net, torrentdb.li, torrentdownload.ws, torrentexpress.net, torrentfunk.com, torrentproject.com, torrentroom.com, torrents.net, torrentus.eu, torrentz.cd, torrentzap.com, vitorrent.org.Megashare, Viooz, Watch32, Zmovie, Solarmovie, Tubeplus, Primewire, Vodly, Watchfreemovies, Project-Free TV, Yify-Torrents, 1337x, Bitsnoop, Extratorrent, Monova, Torrentcrazy, Torrentdownloads, Torrentreactor, Torrentz, Ambp3, Beemp3, Bomb-mp3, Eemp3world, Filecrop, Filestube, Mp3juices, Mp3lemon, Mp3raid, Mp3skull, Newalbumreleases, Rapidlibrary, EZTV, FirstRowSports, Download4all, Movie2K, KickAssTorrents, Fenopy, H33T and The Pirate Bay.</em></p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com">TorrentFreak</a>, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/top-popular-torrent-sites-2015-150104/">torrent sites</a> and <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/anonymous-vpn-service-provider-review-2015-150228/">anonymous VPN services</a>.</p>
<div class="feedflare">
<a href="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~ff/Torrentfreak?a=VRL2klJl2Zo:SjaEbvvT0Xw:yIl2AUoC8zA"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/Torrentfreak?d=yIl2AUoC8zA" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~ff/Torrentfreak?a=VRL2klJl2Zo:SjaEbvvT0Xw:D7DqB2pKExk"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/Torrentfreak?i=VRL2klJl2Zo:SjaEbvvT0Xw:D7DqB2pKExk" border="0"></img></a>
</div><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~4/VRL2klJl2Zo" height="1" width="1" alt=""/>


feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=106184
title: Hola VPN Sells Users’ Bandwidth, Founder Confirms
uri: Hola-VPN-Sells-Users-Bandwidth-Founder-Confirms
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/CTPuXstF0iE/
content:
<p><img src="media/61367eb2.hola-logo.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/hola-logo.jpg" alt="hola-logo" width="180" height="179" class="alignright size-full wp-image-106197">Faced with increasing local website censorship and Internet services that restrict access depending on where a user is based, more and more people are turning to specialist services designed to overcome such limitations.</p>
<p>With prices plummeting to just a few dollars a month in recent years, VPNs are now within the budgets of most people. However, there are always those who prefer to get such services for free, without giving much consideration to how that might be economically viable.</p>
<p>One of the most popular free VPN/geo-unblocking solutions on the planet is operated by Israel-based <a href="http://hola.org">Hola</a>. It can be added to most popular browsers in seconds and has an impressive <a href="https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/hola-better-internet/gkojfkhlekighikafcpjkiklfbnlmeio">seven million users</a> on Chrome alone. Overall the company boasts 46 million users of its service.</p>
<p>Now, however, the company is facing accusations from 8chan message board operator Fredrick Brennan. He <a href="http://8ch.net/hola.html">claims</a> that Hola users&#8217; computers were used to attack his website without their knowledge, and that was made possible by the way Hola is setup.</p>
<p>&#8220;When a user installs Hola, he becomes a VPN endpoint, and other users of the Hola network may exit through his internet connection and take on his IP. This is what makes it free: Hola does not pay for the bandwidth that its VPN uses at all, and there is no user opt out for this,&#8221; Brennan says.</p>
<p>This means that rather than having their IP addresses cloaked behind a private server, free Hola users are regularly exposing their IP addresses to the world but associated with other people&#8217;s traffic &#8211; no matter what that might contain.</p>
<p><center><img src="media/dd0ad0e8.hola-big.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/hola-big.jpg" alt="hola-big" width="650" height="379" class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-106201"></center></p>
<p>While this will come as a surprise to many, Hola says it has never tried to hide the methods it employs to offer a free service.</p>
<p>Speaking with TorrentFreak, Hola founder Ofer Vilenski says that his company offers two tiers of service &#8211; the free option (which sees traffic routed between Hola users) and a premium service, which operates like a traditional VPN.</p>
<p>However, Brennan says that Hola goes a step further, by selling Hola users&#8217; bandwidth to another company.</p>
<p>&#8220;Hola has gotten greedy. They recently (late 2014) realized that they basically have a 9 million IP strong botnet on their hands, and they began selling access to this botnet (right now, for HTTP requests only) at <a href="https://luminati.io/">https://luminati.io</a>,&#8221; the 8chan owner says.</p>
<p>TorrentFreak asked Vilenski about Brennan&#8217;s claims. Again, there was no denial.</p>
<p>&#8220;We have always made it clear that Hola is built for the user and with the user in mind.  We&#8217;ve explained the technical aspects of it in our FAQ and have always advertised in our FAQ the ability to pay for non-commercial use,&#8221; Vilenski says.</p>
<p>And this is how it works.</p>
<p>Hola generates revenue by selling a premium service to customers through its Luminati brand. The resources and bandwidth for the Luminati product are provided by Hola users&#8217; computers when they are sitting idle. In basic terms, Hola users get their service for free as long as they&#8217;re prepared to let Hola hand their resources to Luminati for resale. Any users who don&#8217;t want this to happen can buy Hola for $5 per month.</p>
<p>Fair enough perhaps &#8211; but how does Luminati feature in Brennan&#8217;s problems? It appears his interest in the service was piqued after 8chan was hit by multiple denial of service attacks this week which originated from the Luminati / Hola network.</p>
<p>&#8220;An attacker used the Luminati network to send thousands of legitimate-looking POST requests to 8chan&#8217;s post.php in 30 seconds, representing a 100x spike over peak traffic and crashing PHP-FPM,&#8221; Brennan says.</p>
<p>Again, TorrentFreak asked Vilenski for his input. Again, there was no denial.</p>
<p>&#8220;8chan was hit with an attack from a hacker with the handle of BUI.  This person then wrote about how he used the Luminati commercial VPN network to hack 8chan.  He could have used any commercial VPN network, but chose to do so with ours,&#8221; Vilenski explains.</p>
<p>&#8220;If 8chan was harmed, then a reasonable course of action would be to obtain a court order for information and we can release the contact information of this user so that they can further pursue the damages with him.&#8221;</p>
<p>Vilenski says that Hola screens users of its &#8220;commercial network&#8221; (Luminati) prior to them being allowed to use it but in this case &#8220;BUI&#8221; slipped through the net. &#8220;Adjustments&#8221; have been made, Hola&#8217;s founder says.</p>
<p>&#8220;We have communicated directly with the founder of 8Chan to make sure that once we terminated BUI&#8217;s account they&#8217;ve had no further problems, and it seems that this is the case,&#8221; Vilenski says.</p>
<p>It is likely the majority of Hola&#8217;s users have no idea how the company&#8217;s business model operates, even though it is made <a href="http://hola.org/faq#in_how_is_free">fairly clear</a> in its extensive FAQ/ToS [see note below]. Installing a browser extension takes seconds and if it works as advertised, most people will be happy.</p>
<p>Whether this episode will affect Hola&#8217;s business moving forward is open to question but for those with a few dollars to spend there are plenty of options in the market. Until then, however, those looking for free options should read the small print before clicking install.</p>
<p><strong>Update:</strong> It appears that Hola only recently changed/edited their FAQ to add in the details about Luminati. We have asked the company to tell us exactly when those changes were made. Updates when they arrive.</p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com">TorrentFreak</a>, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/top-popular-torrent-sites-2015-150104/">torrent sites</a> and <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/anonymous-vpn-service-provider-review-2015-150228/">anonymous VPN services</a>.</p>
<div class="feedflare">
<a href="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~ff/Torrentfreak?a=CTPuXstF0iE:mtO3JTybyRs:yIl2AUoC8zA"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/Torrentfreak?d=yIl2AUoC8zA" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~ff/Torrentfreak?a=CTPuXstF0iE:mtO3JTybyRs:D7DqB2pKExk"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/Torrentfreak?i=CTPuXstF0iE:mtO3JTybyRs:D7DqB2pKExk" border="0"></img></a>
</div><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~4/CTPuXstF0iE" height="1" width="1" alt=""/>


feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=106140
title: Seized Megaupload Domains Link to Scam Ads and Malware
uri: Seized-Megaupload-Domains-Link-to-Scam-Ads-and-Malware
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/ZJp34EsEZLM/
content:
<p><img src="media/6f965905.doj1.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/doj1.png" alt="doj" width="222" height="109" class="alignright size-full wp-image-62313">Well over three years have passed since Megaupload <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/megaupload-shut-down-120119/">was shutdown</a>, but there is still little progress in the criminal proceedings against the operation.</p>
<p>The United States hopes that New Zealand will extradite Kim Dotcom and his colleagues, but the hearings have been delayed several times already.</p>
<p>Meanwhile, several domain names including the popular Megaupload.com and Megavideo.com remain under the control of the U.S. Government. At least, that should be the case. In reality, however, they&#8217;re now being exploited by &#8216;cyber criminals.&#8217;</p>
<p>Instead of a banner announcing that the domains names have been seized as part of a criminal investigation they now direct people to a Zero-Click adverting feed. This feed often links to malware installers and other malicious ads.</p>
<p>One of the many malicious &#8220;ads&#8221; the Megaupload and Megavideo domain names are serving links to a <a href="media/34ecda9e.dpHpLrD.png" data-original-source="http://i.imgur.com/dpHpLrD.png">fake BBC article</a>, suggesting people can get an iPhone 6 for only £1.</p>
<p>And here is another example of a malicious ad prompting visitors to update their browser.</p>
<p><center><img src="media/fc2f186a.megascamad.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/megascamad.png" alt="megascamad" width="600" height="366" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-106154"></center></p>
<p>The question that immediately comes to mind is this: How can it be that the Department of Justice is allowing the domains to be used for such nefarious purposes?</p>
<p>Looking at the Whois records everything seems to be in order. The domain name still <a href="media/894137b4.megawhois.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/megawhois.png">lists</a> Megaupload Limited as registrant, which is as it was before. Nothing out of the ordinary. </p>
<p>The nameserver PLEASEDROPTHISHOST15525.CIRFU.BIZ, on the other hand, triggers several alarm bells.</p>
<p><center><img src="media/5a36d6f3.meganame.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/meganame.png" alt="meganame" width="483" height="97" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-106156"></center></p>
<p>CIRFU refers to the FBI&#8217;s <a href="http://www.fbi.gov/news/stories/2011/september/cyber_091611">Cyber Initiative and Resource Fusion Unit</a>, a specialized tech team tasked with handling online crime and scams. The unit used the CIRFU.NET domain name as nameserver for various seized domains, including the Mega ones. </p>
<p>Interestingly, the CIRFU.NET domain now lists &#8220;<a href="http://whois.domaintools.com/cirfu.net">Syndk8 Media Limited</a>&#8221; as registrant, which doesn&#8217;t appear to have any connections with the FBI. Similarly, CIRFU.BIZ is not an official CIRFU domain either and points to a server in the Netherlands hosted by LeaseWeb.  </p>
<p>It appears that the domain which the Department of Justice (DoJ) used as nameserver is no longer in control of the Government. Perhaps it expired, or was taken over via other means. </p>
<p>As a result, Megaupload and Megavideo are now serving malicious ads, run by the third party that controls the nameserver.</p>
<p>This is quite a mistake for one of the country&#8217;s top cybercrime units, to say the least. It&#8217;s also one that affects tends of thousands of people, as the Megaupload.com domain remains frequently visited.</p>
<p>Commenting on the rogue domains, Megaupload founder Kim Dotcom notes that the people who are responsible should have known better.</p>
<p>&#8220;With U.S. Assistant Attorney Jay Prabhu the DOJ in Virginia employs a guy who doesn&#8217;t know the difference between civil &#038; criminal law. And after this recent abuse of our seized Mega domains I wonder how this guy was appointed Chief of the Cybercrime Unit when he can&#8217;t even do the basics like safeguard the domains he has seized,&#8221; he tells TF. </p>
<p>&#8220;Jay Prabhu keeps embarrassing the U.S. government. I would send him back to law school and give him a crash course in &#8216;how the Internet works&#8217;,&#8221; Dotcom adds.</p>
<p>Making matters worse for the Government, Megaupload.com and Megavideo.com are not the only domain names affected. Various poker domains that were previously seized, including absolutepoker.com and ultimatebet.com, also link to malicious content now. </p>
<p>While the Government appears to have lost control of the old nameservers, it can still correct the problem through a nameserver update at their end. However, that doesn&#8217;t save those people who had their systems compromised during recent days, and it certainly won&#8217;t repair the PR damage. </p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com">TorrentFreak</a>, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/top-popular-torrent-sites-2015-150104/">torrent sites</a> and <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/anonymous-vpn-service-provider-review-2015-150228/">anonymous VPN services</a>.</p>
<div class="feedflare">
<a href="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~ff/Torrentfreak?a=ZJp34EsEZLM:hNF_FDy2gJg:yIl2AUoC8zA"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/Torrentfreak?d=yIl2AUoC8zA" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~ff/Torrentfreak?a=ZJp34EsEZLM:hNF_FDy2gJg:D7DqB2pKExk"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/Torrentfreak?i=ZJp34EsEZLM:hNF_FDy2gJg:D7DqB2pKExk" border="0"></img></a>
</div><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~4/ZJp34EsEZLM" height="1" width="1" alt=""/>


feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=106218
title: UN: Encryption and Anonymity Must Be Protected
uri: UN-Encryption-and-Anonymity-Must-Be-Protected
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/2-Jnfm06G3s/
content:
<p><img src="media/3d881413.spy.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/spy.jpg" alt="spy" width="200" height="177" class="alignright size-full wp-image-39770">For the past several years and particularly in the wake of the Edward Snowden revelations, interest in encrypted and anonymous communications has spread to a much wider audience.</p>
<p>More than ever before the ability to send and receive information both privately and anonymously is viewed as crucial in the digital age, enabling all corners of society &#8211; especially those most persecuted &#8211; to exercise their right to freedom of opinion and expression.</p>
<p>On the other hand, however, there are those who abuse those freedoms and the rights of others. And then, rightly or wrongly, there are those who communicate privately in order to undermine their governments. This leads some nations to restrict or even ban encryption, while others seek to introduce laws which allow law enforcement to tap into citzens&#8217; communications.</p>
<p>A new report from David Kaye, a UN special rapporteur on freedom of expression, seeks to shine light on these complex issues by asking two questions:</p>
<p>&#8211; Do the rights to privacy and freedom of opinion and expression protect secure online communication, specifically by encryption or anonymity?<br>
&#8211; Assuming an affirmative answer, to what extent may Governments, in accordance with human rights law, impose restrictions on encryption and anonymity?</p>
<p>Acknowledging that some states impose draconian measures to restrict citizens&#8217; abilities to send and impart knowledge without fear, Kaye says that journalists and activists often need specialist tools to make their voices heard.</p>
<p>&#8220;A VPN connection, or use of Tor or a proxy server, combined with encryption, may be the only way in which an individual is able to access or share information in such environments,&#8221; Kaye says.</p>
<p>Noting that individuals should be able to send and receive information beyond their borders, the rapporteur states that some member states act to deny those freedoms by restricting communications using aggressive filtering.</p>
<p>&#8220;Encryption enables an individual to avoid such filtering, allowing information to flow across borders. Moreover, individuals do not control — and are usually unaware of — how or if their communications cross borders. Encryption and anonymity may protect information of all individuals as it transits through servers located in third countries that filter content,&#8221; Kaye writes.</p>
<p>Of course, in the online environment encryption and anonymity are often spoken of in the same breath, and just as encryption can often beat the censors, in some cases staying anonymous is vital to continued freedom of expression.</p>
<p>&#8220;Anonymity has been recognized for the important role it plays in safeguarding and advancing privacy, free expression, political accountability, public participation and debate,&#8221; Kaye writes.</p>
<p>&#8220;Some States exert significant pressure against anonymity, offline and online. Yet because anonymity facilitates opinion and expression in significant ways online, States should protect it and generally not restrict the technologies that provide it.&#8221;</p>
<p>Kaye notes that several states have attempted to combat anonymity tools such as TOR, VPNs and proxies, with Russia even offering significant cash bounties for techniques which would enable it to unmask TOR users. However, due to their human rights value, use of such tools should actually be encouraged.</p>
<p>&#8220;Because such tools may be the only mechanisms for individuals to exercise freedom of opinion and expression securely, access to them should be protected and promoted,&#8221; Kaye advises.</p>
<p>&#8220;States should revise or establish, as appropriate, national laws and regulations to promote and protect the rights to privacy and freedom of opinion and expression.&#8221;</p>
<p>In respect of encryption and anonymity, Kaye says that member states should adopt policies of &#8220;non-restriction or comprehensive protection&#8221;, and only introduce restrictions on a proportional, court-order supported, case-by-case basis.</p>
<p>Adding that states and companies alike should actively promote strong encryption and anonymity, Kaye says that measures that weaken individual&#8217;s online security, such as backdoors, weak encryption standards and key escrows, should be avoided.</p>
<p>Finally, Kaye advises member states to not only encourage the use of encryption, but also make it the norm.</p>
<p>&#8220;The Special Rapporteur, recognizing that the value of encryption and anonymity tools depends on their widespread adoption, encourages States, civil society organizations and corporations to engage in a campaign to bring encryption by design and default to users around the world and, where necessary, to ensure that users at risk be provided the tools to exercise their right to freedom of opinion and expression securely,&#8221; <a href="http://www.ohchr.org/EN/HRBodies/HRC/RegularSessions/Session29/Documents/A.HRC.29.32_AEV.doc">the report concludes</a>.</p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com">TorrentFreak</a>, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/top-popular-torrent-sites-2015-150104/">torrent sites</a> and <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/anonymous-vpn-service-provider-review-2015-150228/">anonymous VPN services</a>.</p>
<div class="feedflare">
<a href="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~ff/Torrentfreak?a=2-Jnfm06G3s:ookyppT9hik:yIl2AUoC8zA"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/Torrentfreak?d=yIl2AUoC8zA" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~ff/Torrentfreak?a=2-Jnfm06G3s:ookyppT9hik:D7DqB2pKExk"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/Torrentfreak?i=2-Jnfm06G3s:ookyppT9hik:D7DqB2pKExk" border="0"></img></a>
</div><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~4/2-Jnfm06G3s" height="1" width="1" alt=""/>


feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=106267
title: Advocate General Doubts Legality of Pirate Bay Blockade
uri: Advocate-General-Doubts-Legality-of-Pirate-Bay-Blockade
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/Ryf3PRbRVJY/
content:
<p><img src="media/2a43984f.pirate-bay.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/pirate-bay.jpg" alt="pirate bay" width="200" height="207" class="alignright size-full wp-image-53470">Early last year The Court of The Hague handed down its decision in a long running case which had previously forced two Dutch ISPs, Ziggo and XS4ALL, to block The Pirate Bay.</p>
<p>The Court ruled against local anti-piracy outfit BREIN, concluding that the <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/isps-no-longer-have-to-block-the-pirate-bay-dutch-court-rules-140128/">blockade was ineffective</a> and restricted the ISPs’ entrepreneurial freedoms.</p>
<p>Responding to the verdict the two ISPs quickly unblocked the site and various other Dutch ISPs followed suit.</p>
<p>Meanwhile, the Hollywood-backed group took its case all the way <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/brein-takes-pirate-bay-blocking-case-supreme-court-140623/">to the Supreme Court</a> and today Advocate General Van Peursem <a href="http://uitspraken.rechtspraak.nl/inziendocument?id=ECLI:NL:PHR:2015:729">published</a> his conclusion after a careful review. </p>
<p>The Advocate General advises the Supreme Court to stay the proceedings between BREIN and the Internet providers in order to seek clarification from the EU Court of Justice on several matters.</p>
<p>The first question that requires a European review is whether The Pirate Bay is actually communicating illegal content to the public. If this isn&#8217;t the case then the EU Court should rule whether ISPs can be ordered to block the site on other grounds.</p>
<p>A decision at the European level will be important, as it may also affect court orders in other countries, such as the UK, Italy and Belgium. </p>
<p>When the questions are resolved at the EU Court, the Advocate General advises to redo the entire trial noting that The Court of The Hague was too strict when it concluded that the blockade was ineffective and disproportional.</p>
<p>The Advocate General&#8217;s advice is not binding so it&#8217;s not yet certain whether the case will be referred to the EU Court of Justice. However, <a href="http://tweakers.net/nieuws/103366/advies-aan-hoge-raad-rechtszaak-van-brein-over-pirate-bay-blokkade-moet-opnieuw.html">Tweakers</a> notes in most cases the recommendations are followed by the Supreme Court. </p>
<p>The Supreme Court is expected to release its verdict on October 9th. </p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com">TorrentFreak</a>, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/top-popular-torrent-sites-2015-150104/">torrent sites</a> and <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/anonymous-vpn-service-provider-review-2015-150228/">anonymous VPN services</a>.</p>
<div class="feedflare">
<a href="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~ff/Torrentfreak?a=Ryf3PRbRVJY:OfXm-1zRBYw:yIl2AUoC8zA"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/Torrentfreak?d=yIl2AUoC8zA" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~ff/Torrentfreak?a=Ryf3PRbRVJY:OfXm-1zRBYw:D7DqB2pKExk"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/Torrentfreak?i=Ryf3PRbRVJY:OfXm-1zRBYw:D7DqB2pKExk" border="0"></img></a>
</div><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~4/Ryf3PRbRVJY" height="1" width="1" alt=""/>


feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=106182
title: MPAA Threats Shut Down Popular Torrent Site BT-Chat
uri: MPAA-Threats-Shut-Down-Popular-Torrent-Site-BT-Chat
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/w_4lYoFMLMc/
content:
<p><img src="media/9b1ee61f.btchat.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/btchat.png" alt="btchat" width="285" height="131" class="alignright size-full wp-image-106185"> Over several years the Canada-based torrent index <a href="http://www.bt-chat.com/">BT-Chat</a> has grown to become one of the most popular among TV and movie fans. </p>
<p>The site was founded over a decade ago and has been running without any significant problems since. Starting a few days ago, however, the site&#8217;s fortunes turned. </p>
<p>Without prior warning or an official explanation the site went offline. Instead of listing the latest torrents, an ominous message appeared with a broken TV signal in the background. </p>
<p>&#8220;Error 791-the internet is shutdown due to copyright restrictions,&#8221; the mysterious message read. </p>
<p><center><img src="media/2cd936dd.chatdown.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/chatdown.jpg" alt="chatdown" width="485" height="310" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-106194"></center></p>
<p>Initially is was unclear whether the message hinted at hosting problems or if something more serious was going on. Many of the site&#8217;s users hoped for the former but a BT-Chat insider informs TF that the site isn&#8217;t coming back anytime soon. </p>
<p>The site&#8217;s operators have decided to pull the plug after receiving a hand delivered letter from the Canadian MPA, which acts on behalf of its American parent organization the MPAA.</p>
<p>In the letter, shown below, Hollywood&#8217;s major movie studios demand that the site removes all infringing torrents. </p>
<p>&#8220;We are writing to demand that you take immediate steps to address the extensive copyright infringement of television programs and motion pictures that is occurring by virtue of the operation of the Internet website www.BT-Chat.com.&#8221;</p>
<p><center><img src="media/c208f87a.MPAA-CAN.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/MPAA-CAN.jpg" alt="MPAA-CAN" width="634" height="772" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-106183"></center> </p>
<p>The MPAA makes its case by citing U.S. copyright law, and states that linking to unauthorized movies and TV-shows constitutes contributory copyright infringement.</p>
<p>Referencing the isoHunt case the movie studios explicitly note that it&#8217;s irrelevant whether or not a website actually hosts infringing material.</p>
<p>&#8220;It makes no difference that your website might not have infringing content on it, or only links to infringing content,&#8221; the letter says.</p>
<p>The threats from Hollywood have not been taken lightheartedly by the BT-Chat team. While giving up a site that they worked on for more than a decade is not easy, the alternative is even less appealing.</p>
<p>In the end thry decided that it would be for the best to shut the site down, instead of facing potential legal action.</p>
<p>And so another popular site bites the dust&#8230;</p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com">TorrentFreak</a>, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/top-popular-torrent-sites-2015-150104/">torrent sites</a> and <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/anonymous-vpn-service-provider-review-2015-150228/">anonymous VPN services</a>.</p>
<div class="feedflare">
<a href="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~ff/Torrentfreak?a=w_4lYoFMLMc:5Zk_ClWsMBg:yIl2AUoC8zA"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/Torrentfreak?d=yIl2AUoC8zA" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~ff/Torrentfreak?a=w_4lYoFMLMc:5Zk_ClWsMBg:D7DqB2pKExk"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/Torrentfreak?i=w_4lYoFMLMc:5Zk_ClWsMBg:D7DqB2pKExk" border="0"></img></a>
</div><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~4/w_4lYoFMLMc" height="1" width="1" alt=""/>


feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=106195
title: Cloudflare: We’re Not Aiding and Abetting Piracy
uri: Cloudflare-We-re-Not-Aiding-and-Abetting-Piracy
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/fgyAug5WCGs/
content:
<p><img src="media/4a535cc9.cloudflare.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/cloudflare.png" alt="cloudflare" width="275" height="188" class="alignright size-full wp-image-96401">After Grooveshark shut down earlier this month it was quickly replaced by a &#8220;new&#8221; Grooveshark, much to the annoyance of the major record labels. </p>
<p>Headed by the RIAA, the operators of the new site were <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/record-labels-sue-new-grooveshark-seize-domains-150515/">quickly taken to court</a>. </p>
<p>The group filed a sealed application for a temporary restraining order (TRO) targeting the site’s domain name and hosting services.</p>
<p>The court granted the RIAA’s request earlier this month, allowing the music group to demand that hosting companies and registrars stop offering their services to the &#8216;rogue&#8217; site.</p>
<p>Namecheap swiftly complied and seized the initial domain name. However, popular CDN service CloudFlare <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/riaa-drags-cloudflare-into-piracy-lawsuit-scolds-leaseweb-150527/">refused</a> to take any action, claiming that the TRO doesn&#8217;t apply to them. </p>
<p>The new Grooveshark, meanwhile, moved to another domain and is still using CloudFlare&#8217;s services. </p>
<p>Hoping to compel CloudFlare to comply with the order, the RIAA asked the court to expand it by specifying that the CDN service has to take action. According to the RIAA, CloudFlare is “aiding and abetting” piracy.</p>
<p>However, in an opposition brief CloudFlare clearly disagrees. With help from the EFF, the company argues that even if it terminates its services, the &#8216;Grooveshark&#8217; site would remain available.</p>
<p>&#8220;Even if CloudFlare—and every company in the world that provides similar services—took proactive steps to identify and block the Defendants, the website would remain up and running at its current domain name,&#8221; CloudFlare argues (<a href="media/66ca9d3c.CF-reply.pdf" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/CF-reply.pdf">pdf</a>). </p>
<p>The request to include CloudFlare in the restraining order goes way too far, the company believes. If granted, this may lead to a snowball effect of orders against automated Internet services that are not actively assisting illegal activity.</p>
<p>&#8220;Given that CloudFlare clearly is not in &#8216;active concert or participation&#8217; with Defendants, it appears Plaintiffs are effectively attempting to expand the traditional boundaries of Rule 65,&#8221; the lawyers write. </p>
<p>&#8220;That attempt, if accepted by this Court, could have implications well beyond this case. Other parties may seek the same remedy, using allegations of trademark or copyright infringement to obtain orders against the world.&#8221; </p>
<p>The RIAA is demanding SOPA-like powers with its request, CloudFlare argues. The company highlights that the SOPA bill was turned down after heavy criticism, but that the RIAA is now acting as if it&#8217;s become law.</p>
<p>&#8220;The [SOPA] bill was met with widespread public criticism from Internet users, technology companies, law professors, and software pioneers who helped create the Internet. Congress tabled the bill and did not advance it further,&#8221; CloudFlare notes.</p>
<p>&#8220;Here, Plaintiffs ask the Court to construe its injunction power as though H.R. 3261 had in fact become law. But lacking explicit statutory authority for such an order against a nonparty, the TRO cannot be construed to reach so far.&#8221;</p>
<p>CloudFlare therefore asks the court not to expand the restraining order. The company warns that any contrary ruling could set a dangerous precedent, putting many infrastructure providers and other services at risk.</p>
<p>For the RIAA and other copyright holders the case is an important test for future anti-piracy efforts against other pirate sites. The new Grooveshark is barely getting any visitors after the initial hype, but it has certainly triggered a crucial legal battle.</p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com">TorrentFreak</a>, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/top-popular-torrent-sites-2015-150104/">torrent sites</a> and <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/anonymous-vpn-service-provider-review-2015-150228/">anonymous VPN services</a>.</p>
<div class="feedflare">
<a href="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~ff/Torrentfreak?a=fgyAug5WCGs:IwB-KuFRfUU:yIl2AUoC8zA"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/Torrentfreak?d=yIl2AUoC8zA" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~ff/Torrentfreak?a=fgyAug5WCGs:IwB-KuFRfUU:D7DqB2pKExk"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/Torrentfreak?i=fgyAug5WCGs:IwB-KuFRfUU:D7DqB2pKExk" border="0"></img></a>
</div><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~4/fgyAug5WCGs" height="1" width="1" alt=""/>


feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=106170
title: Court Orders VPN, TOR & Proxy Advice Site to be Blocked
uri: Court-Orders-VPN-TOR-Proxy-Advice-Site-to-be-Blocked
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/_6KS6zdmWF8/
content:
<p><img src="media/a48beb7d.stopstop.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/stopstop.jpg" alt="stopstop" width="180" height="120" class="alignright size-full wp-image-81719">While there is still much resistance to the practice in the United States, having websites blocked at the ISP level is becoming easier in many other countries around the world.</p>
<p>One country where the process is becoming ever more streamlined is Russia. The country blocks hundreds of websites on many grounds, from copyright infringement to the publication of extremist propaganda, suicide discussion and the promotion of drugs.</p>
<p>Keeping a close eye on Russia&#8217;s constantly expanding website blocklist is <a href="http://rublacklist.net/">RosComSvoboda</a>. The project advocates human rights and freedoms on the Internet, monitors and publishes data on blockades, and provides assistance to Internet users and website operators who are wrongfully subjected to restrictions.</p>
<p>Now, however, RosKomSvoboda will have to fight for its own freedoms after a local court ordered ISPs to block an advice portal operated by the group.</p>
<p>The site, <a href="http://rublacklist.net/bypass/">RUBlacklist</a>, is an information resource aimed at users who wish to learn about tools that can be used to circumvent censorship. It doesn&#8217;t host any tools itself but offers advice on <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/anonymous-vpn-service-provider-review-2015-150228/">VPNs</a>, proxies, TOR and The Pirate Bay&#8217;s <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/pirate-bays-anti-censorship-browser-clocks-1-million-downloads-131019/">Pirate Browser</a>.</p>
<p>Also detailed are various anonymizer services (which are presented via a linked Google search), Opera browser&#8217;s &#8216;turbo mode&#8217; (which is often used in the UK to unblock torrent sites) and open source anonymous network I2P (<a href="https://torrentfreak.com/popcorn-time-explores-i2p-anonymity-as-vpn-overloads-150206/">soon to feature</a> in a Popcorn Time fork).</p>
<p>Unfortunately, Russian authorities view this education as problematic. During an investigation carried out by the Anapa district&#8217;s prosecutor&#8217;s office it was determined that RosKomSvoboda&#8217;s advice undermines government blocks.</p>
<p>&#8220;Due to anonymizer sites, in particular http://rublacklist.net/bypass, users can have full access to all the banned sites anonymously and via spoofing. That is, with the help of this site, citizens can get unlimited anonymous access to banned content, including extremist material,&#8221; a ruling from the Anapa Court reads.</p>
<p>Describing the portal as an anonymization service, the Court ordered RosKomSvoboda&#8217;s advice center to be blocked at the ISP level.</p>
<p>Needless to say the operators of RosKomSvoboda are outraged that their anti-censorship efforts will now be censored. Group chief Artyom Kozlyuk slammed the decision, describing both the prosecutor&#8217;s lawsuit and the Court ruling as &#8220;absurd&#8221;.</p>
<p>“Law enforcement has demonstrated its complete incompetence in the basic knowledge of all the common technical aspects of the Internet, though even youngsters can understand it,&#8221; Kozlyuk says.</p>
<p>&#8220;Anonymizers, proxies and browsers are multitask instruments, helping to search for information on the Internet. If we follow the reasoning of the prosecutor and the court, then the following stuff should be prohibited as well: knives, as they can become a tool for murder; hammers, as they can be used as a tool of torture; planes, because if they fall they can lead to many deaths.</p>
<p>&#8220;To conclude, I would love to ask the prosecutor of Anapa to consider the possibility of prohibiting paper and ink, because with these tools one can draw a very melancholic picture of this ruling&#8217;s complete ignorance.&#8221;</p>
<p>RosKomSvoboda&#8217;s legal team say they intend to appeal the ruling which was the result of a legal procedure that took place without their knowledge.</p>
<p>“We can only guess why the project is considered to be an anonymizer. It&#8217;s likely that no one in Anapa city court understands what they are dealing with,&#8221; says RosKomSvoboda lawyer Sarkis Darbinian.</p>
<p>&#8220;We see that these kinds of rulings are being stamped on a legal conveyor belt. Moreover, we see the obvious violation of the fundamental principles of civil procedure &#8211; an adversarial system.&#8221;</p>
<p>The court ruling against RUBlacklist arrives at the same time as a <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/un-encryption-and-anonymity-must-be-protected-150529/">report from the United Nations</a> which urges member states to do everything they can to encourage encryption and anonymity online.</p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com">TorrentFreak</a>, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/top-popular-torrent-sites-2015-150104/">torrent sites</a> and <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/anonymous-vpn-service-provider-review-2015-150228/">anonymous VPN services</a>.</p>
<div class="feedflare">
<a href="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~ff/Torrentfreak?a=_6KS6zdmWF8:ROfIX2hE1q0:yIl2AUoC8zA"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/Torrentfreak?d=yIl2AUoC8zA" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~ff/Torrentfreak?a=_6KS6zdmWF8:ROfIX2hE1q0:D7DqB2pKExk"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/Torrentfreak?i=_6KS6zdmWF8:ROfIX2hE1q0:D7DqB2pKExk" border="0"></img></a>
</div><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~4/_6KS6zdmWF8" height="1" width="1" alt=""/>


feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=106086
title: UK Piracy Blocklist Expands With Sports Streaming Sites
uri: UK-Piracy-Blocklist-Expands-With-Sports-Streaming-Sites
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/Y3j-OaLArKQ/
content:
<p><img src="media/f43ec131.roja.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/roja.png" alt="roja" width="252" height="252" class="alignright size-full wp-image-106243">Following a series of High Court orders six UK ISPs are required to block subscriber access to many of the largest pirate sites.</p>
<p>The efforts started in 2012 and the list continued to grow in the years that followed.</p>
<p>In the latest wave The Football Association and Premier League Limited achieved an extension of the UK blocklist with the addition of popular sports streaming sites Rojadirecta, LiveTV and Drakulastream. </p>
<p>This brings the total number of blocked sites to 128 and more domains are expected to follow in the months to come.</p>
<p>The new blocks, which haven&#8217;t been implemented by all ISPs yet, are believed to be an expansion of a High Court order <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/uk-isps-ordered-to-block-firstrow-sports-streaming-site-130717/">against the streaming site Firstrow</a>. This order provides the football associations with the option to continually update the list of infringing domains.</p>
<p>TF contacted the Premier League for a comment on the latest additions but at the time of publication we hadn&#8217;t heard back.</p>
<p>Interestingly, one of the targeted sites, Drakulastream, was also facing trouble on another front. This week the EURid registry suspended the site&#8217;s .eu domain pending a legal investigation.</p>
<p>&#8220;The domain name is temporarily inactive pending the outcome of a legal activity. It might be that the status of the domain name changes in the coming days. This is a procedure that is still pending,&#8221; an EURid spokesperson informed TF a few days ago.</p>
<p><center><img src="media/aed39f0b.drakulasuspended.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/drakulasuspended.png" alt="drakulasuspended" width="549" height="169" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-106246"></center></p>
<p>However, Drakulastream later resolved the issue and the domain became active again a few hours ago.</p>
<p>The blocked sports streaming sites are not the only ones to be added to the UK blocklist this week. A few days ago The Publishers Association <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/high-court-orders-uk-isps-to-block-ebook-sites-150527/">won a court order</a> requiring local ISPs to block various eBook sites. </p>
<p>&#8212;</p>
<p>The full list of sites to be blocked in the UK is now as follows:</p>
<p>&#8212;</p>
<p><em><strong>New: Rojadirecta, LiveTV and Drakulastream</strong> </p>
<p><strong>Previously blocked:</strong> Ebookee, LibGen, Freshwap, AvaxHome, Bookfi, Bookre, Freebookspot, popcorntime.io, flixtor.me, popcorn-time.se, isoplex.isohunt.to, watchonlineseries.eu, axxomovies.org, afdah.com, g2g.fm, Bursalagu, Fullsongs, Mega-Search, Mp3 Monkey, Mp3.li, Mp3Bear, MP3Boo, Mp3Clan, Mp3Olimp, MP3s.pl, Mp3soup, Mp3Truck, Musicaddict, My Free MP3, Plixid, RnBXclusive, STAFA Band, watchseries.lt, Stream TV, Watchseries-online, Cucirca, Movie25, watchseries.to, Iwannawatch, Warez BB, Ice Films, Tehparadox, Heroturko, Scene Source,, Rapid Moviez, Iwatchonline, Los Movies, Isohunt, Torrentz.pro, Torrentbutler, IP Torrents, Sumotorrent, Torrent Day, Torrenting, BitSoup, TorrentBytes, Seventorrents, Torrents.fm, Yourbittorrent, Tor Movies , Demonoid, torrent.cd, Vertor, Rar BG, bittorrent.am, btdigg.org, btloft.com, bts.to, limetorrents.com, nowtorrents.com, picktorrent.com, seedpeer.me, torlock.com, torrentbit.net, torrentdb.li, torrentdownload.ws, torrentexpress.net, torrentfunk.com, torrentproject.com, torrentroom.com, torrents.net, torrentus.eu, torrentz.cd, torrentzap.com, vitorrent.org.Megashare, Viooz, Watch32, Zmovie, Solarmovie, Tubeplus, Primewire, Vodly, Watchfreemovies, Project-Free TV, Yify-Torrents, 1337x, Bitsnoop, Extratorrent, Monova, Torrentcrazy, Torrentdownloads, Torrentreactor, Torrentz, Ambp3, Beemp3, Bomb-mp3, Eemp3world, Filecrop, Filestube, Mp3juices, Mp3lemon, Mp3raid, Mp3skull, Newalbumreleases, Rapidlibrary, EZTV, FirstRowSports, Download4all, Movie2K, KickAssTorrents, Fenopy, H33T and The Pirate Bay.</em></p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com">TorrentFreak</a>, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/top-popular-torrent-sites-2015-150104/">torrent sites</a> and <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/anonymous-vpn-service-provider-review-2015-150228/">anonymous VPN services</a>.</p>
<div class="feedflare">
<a href="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~ff/Torrentfreak?a=Y3j-OaLArKQ:bzmXF90bVKU:yIl2AUoC8zA"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/Torrentfreak?d=yIl2AUoC8zA" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~ff/Torrentfreak?a=Y3j-OaLArKQ:bzmXF90bVKU:D7DqB2pKExk"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/Torrentfreak?i=Y3j-OaLArKQ:bzmXF90bVKU:D7DqB2pKExk" border="0"></img></a>
</div><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~4/Y3j-OaLArKQ" height="1" width="1" alt=""/>


feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=106103
title: Top Torrent Trackers Now Handle Up to 56 Million Peers – Each
uri: Top-Torrent-Trackers-Now-Handle-Up-to-56-Million-Peers-Each
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/6BvfI0Mwqg4/
content:
<p><img src="media/3c71d30b.demonii.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/demonii.png" alt="demonii" width="190" height="185" class="alignright size-full wp-image-70906">If one needs to find a physical location, sat navs, smart phones or even the humble map or sign post should help to shorten the process. If one wants to find the precise location of content being distributed on BitTorrent, there is no better solution than querying a tracker.</p>
<p>When a user loads a .torrent file into his or her torrent client for the first time, the software looks inside to find out which trackers know about the torrent. Then the torrent client contacts the tracker to find out which other clients (or &#8216;peers&#8217;) are already sharing the content. This enables all sharers to be put in contact with each other to upload and download content. It&#8217;s an elegant system that works exceptionally well.</p>
<p>Some of the most influential trackers of recent years, all of which use the <a href="http://erdgeist.org/arts/software/opentracker/">same software</a>, have had their share of ups and downs. Having <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/worlds-largest-bittorrent-tracker-goes-down-141205/">disappeared</a> last year, PublicBT appears to have been consigned to history, OpenBitTorrent has just returned after months offline, and Demonii battles on, <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/music-industry-shuts-down-top-torrent-trackers-150429/">legal threats</a> not withstanding.</p>
<p>Earlier this month we <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/demonii-tracker-pauses-after-breaking-torrent-records-150505/">reported</a> how Demonii smashed its own record by tracking in excess of 36 million simultaneous peers while managing 4.8 million torrents. But just over three weeks later, the tracker is again in the record books.</p>
<p>New stats published by the site show that Demonii is now tracking a seriously impressive 56 million simultaneous peers making around 3.7 billion connections every single day.</p>
<p><center><img src="media/9b06b421.demon-peers-rec.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/demon-peers-rec.jpg" alt="demon-peers-rec" width="527" height="252" class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-106253"></center></p>
<p>That&#8217;s a 55% uplift on the record set earlier this month and 86% more than the figures <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/top-torrent-tracker-hits-record-breaking-30-million-peers-150208/">published</a> in February. And, as can be seen in the image below, the number of torrents being tracked is up to, from 4.8 million to 5.2 million.</p>
<p><center><img src="media/d48bee66.demon-torrents-rec.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/demon-torrents-rec.jpg" alt="demon-torrents-rec" width="527" height="230" class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-106255"></center></p>
<p>After its recent return, OpenBitTorrent is riding high too. Although the site isn&#8217;t as open with its stats as Demonii, the tracker is also handling between 50 and 52 million peers (approx 36m seeds and 16m leechers) while handling between 5.2 and 5.4 million torrents.</p>
<p>From previous discussions we know that the OpenTracker software used by both sites tends to max out at around 35 million torrents, so what has enabled these massive boosts in recent weeks? </p>
<p>&#8220;The reason for the sudden spike is due to the fact that we have upgraded our infrastructure,&#8221; one of Demonii&#8217;s operators informs TF. </p>
<p>&#8220;Since [mid May] we switched our tracker to a different hosting provider and at the same time we added two servers, instead of the single one we used before hand.&#8221;</p>
<p>With two servers/trackers now working in sync the numbers of peers have increased dramatically. But despite Demonii&#8217;s efforts, yet more ceilings may soon be reached.</p>
<p>&#8220;We are estimating that there are still limitations, this time on one of the two servers rather than the software. One of the two servers is getting maxed out at 100mbit (which is its max),&#8221; Demonii explains.</p>
<p>For now the tracker will continue using OpenTracker since in Demonii&#8217;s own words &#8220;it&#8217;s the best software out there&#8221;, but changes could be made in the future.</p>
<p>&#8220;We are still working with <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/private-anime-torrent-tracker-became-essential-tool-facebook-150216/">Chihaya</a> (<a href="https://github.com/chihaya/chihaya">github</a>) to hopefully have their software replace OpenTracker, but it&#8217;s not ready just yet,&#8221; Demonii concludes.</p>
<p>Even though the community transparently falls back on the slower <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/bittorrents-future-dht-pex-and-magnet-links-explained-091120/">DHT and PEX</a> when the main public trackers go down, it is clear that the demand for fast and dedicated public trackers is still huge. As always, however, the BitTorrent ecosystem is still served by a relatively small number of trackers and that doesn&#8217;t look like it will change anytime soon.</p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com">TorrentFreak</a>, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/top-popular-torrent-sites-2015-150104/">torrent sites</a> and <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/anonymous-vpn-service-provider-review-2015-150228/">anonymous VPN services</a>.</p>
<div class="feedflare">
<a href="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~ff/Torrentfreak?a=6BvfI0Mwqg4:NGyOww-72zg:yIl2AUoC8zA"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/Torrentfreak?d=yIl2AUoC8zA" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~ff/Torrentfreak?a=6BvfI0Mwqg4:NGyOww-72zg:D7DqB2pKExk"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/Torrentfreak?i=6BvfI0Mwqg4:NGyOww-72zg:D7DqB2pKExk" border="0"></img></a>
</div><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~4/6BvfI0Mwqg4" height="1" width="1" alt=""/>


feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=106297
title: Top 10 Most Pirated Movies of The Week – 06/01/15
uri: Top-10-Most-Pirated-Movies-of-The-Week-06-01-15
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/ZBtO_m6jEFs/
content:
<p><img src="media/30968417.kingsman1.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/kingsman1.jpg" alt="kingsman" width="300" height="211" class="alignright size-full wp-image-106007">This week we have three newcomers in our chart.</p>
<p>Kingsman: The Secret Service is the most downloaded movie for the second week in a row.</p>
<p>The data for our weekly download chart is estimated by TorrentFreak, and is for informational and educational reference only. All the movies in the list are BD/DVDrips unless stated otherwise.</p>
<p><a href="http://TorrentFreak.com/category/dvdrip/feed/"><strong>RSS feed</strong></a> for the weekly movie download chart.</p>
<table class="css hover">
<thead>
<tr>
<th width="12%"><strong>Ranking</strong></th>
<th width="15%"><strong>(<a href="https://torrentfreak.com/top-10-most-pirated-movies-of-the-week-052515/">last week</a>)</strong></th>
<th><strong>Movie</strong></th>
<th width="18%"><strong>IMDb Rating / Trailer</strong></th>
</tr>
</thead>
<tfoot>
<tr>
<td colspan="4">torrentfreak.com</td>
</tr>
</tfoot>
<tbody>
<tr>
<td><strong>1</strong></td>
<td>(1)</td>
<td><a href="http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/kingsman_the_secret_service/">Kingsman: The Secret Service</a> </td>
<td><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2802144/">8.1</a> / <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kl8F-8tR8to">trailer</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><strong>2</strong></td>
<td>(&#8230;)</td>
<td><a href="http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/chappie/">Chappie</a> </td>
<td><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1823672/">7.1</a> / <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lyy7y0QOK-0">trailer</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><strong>3</strong></td>
<td>(&#8230;)</td>
<td><a href="http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/771418863/">San Andreas Quake</a> </td>
<td><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt4547120/">2.1</a> / <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w-fSiFJcw9k">trailer</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><strong>4</strong></td>
<td>(5)</td>
<td><a href="http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/avengers_age_of_ultron/">Avengers: Age of Ultron</a> (CAM/TS)</td>
<td><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2395427/">8.0</a> / <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tmeOjFno6Do">trailer</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><strong>5</strong></td>
<td>(4)</td>
<td><a href="http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/home_2015/">Home</a> </td>
<td><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2224026/">6.8</a> / <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MyqZf8LiWvM">trailer</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><strong>6</strong></td>
<td>(6)</td>
<td><a href="http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/furious_7/">Furious 7</a> (Subbed/cropped HDRip)</td>
<td><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2820852/">8.8</a> / <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yISKeT6sDOg">trailer</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><strong>7</strong></td>
<td>(2)</td>
<td><a href="http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/ex_machina/">Ex Machina</a> </td>
<td><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0470752/">8.0</a> / <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EoQuVnKhxaM">trailer</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><strong>8</strong></td>
<td>(&#8230;)</td>
<td><a href="http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/unfinished_business_2015/">Unfinished Business</a> </td>
<td><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2358925/">5.2</a> / <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8yb9Dn2mnMg">trailer</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><strong>9</strong></td>
<td>(3)</td>
<td><a href="http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/jupiter_ascending_2014/">Jupiter Ascending</a> </td>
<td><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1617661/">5.8</a> / <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t4ZzMkDLjWI">trailer</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><strong>10</strong></td>
<td>(8)</td>
<td><a href="http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/the_spongebob_movie_sponge_out_of_water/">The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge Out of Water</a> </td>
<td><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2279373/">6.3</a> / <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TGjbpO1toTc">trailer</a></td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com">TorrentFreak</a>, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/top-popular-torrent-sites-2015-150104/">torrent sites</a> and <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/anonymous-vpn-service-provider-review-2015-150228/">anonymous VPN services</a>.</p>
<div class="feedflare">
<a href="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~ff/Torrentfreak?a=ZBtO_m6jEFs:a_2BRZWZ5BY:yIl2AUoC8zA"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/Torrentfreak?d=yIl2AUoC8zA" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~ff/Torrentfreak?a=ZBtO_m6jEFs:a_2BRZWZ5BY:D7DqB2pKExk"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/Torrentfreak?i=ZBtO_m6jEFs:a_2BRZWZ5BY:D7DqB2pKExk" border="0"></img></a>
</div><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~4/ZBtO_m6jEFs" height="1" width="1" alt=""/>


feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=106305
title: Pirate Bay Co-Founder Fredrik Neij Released From Prison
uri: Pirate-Bay-Co-Founder-Fredrik-Neij-Released-From-Prison
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/z4wnPCBJi8I/
content:
<p><img src="media/2a43984f.pirate-bay.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/pirate-bay.jpg" alt="pirate bay" width="220" height="228" class="alignright size-full wp-image-53470">Fredrik Neij, one of The Pirate Bay&#8217;s co-founders, was a key operator of the torrent site during its early years.</p>
<p>In 2012 Fredrik received a <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/pirate-bay-founders-prison-sentences-final-supreme-court-appeal-rejected-120201/">10-month prison sentence</a> for his involvement with the notorious site, which he initially avoided. </p>
<p>Last November he was eventually <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/pirate-bay-founder-fredrik-neij-arrested-in-asia-141104/">arrested</a> by Thai immigration authorities and later transferred to a prison in Skänninge, Sweden.</p>
<p>Today, Fredrik&#8217;s jail term ended and a few hours ago he was released from prison. After serving two-thirds of his ten month prison sentence the 37-year-old was reunited with family and friends. </p>
<p>TF spoke with a family member who was kind enough to share some pictures of Fredrik enjoying his newly gained freedom. Based on the pictures below, he is doing quite well. </p>
<p><center><strong>Fredrik is out, enjoying a beer</strong><br></br></center><center><img src="media/f25a3bbd.fredrikbeer.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/fredrikbeer.jpg" alt="fredrikbeer" width="600" height="599" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-106331"></center></p>
<p>For a while it was uncertain whether Fredrik would be released today. The Swedish authorities questioned whether the time he spent in Thai custody should count towards his sentence, but this dispute was eventually resolved. </p>
<p>While Fredrik has been doing relatively well in prison, he clashed with the administration a few times. First, because he <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/pirate-bays-fredrik-neij-appeals-denial-to-print-in-prison-150409/">wasn&#8217;t allowed</a> to print and again after a request to play games on an old Nintendo 8-bit console <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/pirate-bays-fredrik-neij-cant-play-nintendo-classics-in-prison-150417/">was denied</a>.</p>
<p>In recent months the Pirate Bay co-founder was also <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/pirate-bays-fredrik-neij-now-wanted-for-hacking-141224/">accused of</a> hacking and his continued involvement with The Pirate Bay, but these allegations haven&#8217;t been made official. </p>
<p>With his release Fredrik can put prison life behind him and focus on the future again. It is expected that he will return to his new home country of Laos, where he lives with his wife and kids.</p>
<p>Today&#8217;s release marks the end of a controversial chapter in The Pirate Bay&#8217;s history, as <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/pirate-bay-fin-will-serve-sentence-electronically-tagged-120319/">Carl Lundström</a>, <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/pirate-bay-founder-arrested-in-cambodia-120901/">Gottfrid Svartholm</a>, <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/pirate-bays-peter-sunde-released-prison-141011/">Peter Sunde</a> and Fredrik have all served their sentences. </p>
<p><center><strong>Fredrik enjoying his freedom</strong><br></br></center><center><img src="media/fc7705bb.fredrikfree.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/fredrikfree.jpg" alt="fredrikfree" width="600" height="676" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-106332"></center></p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com">TorrentFreak</a>, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/top-popular-torrent-sites-2015-150104/">torrent sites</a> and <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/anonymous-vpn-service-provider-review-2015-150228/">anonymous VPN services</a>.</p>
<div class="feedflare">
<a href="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~ff/Torrentfreak?a=z4wnPCBJi8I:UGH45DLesic:yIl2AUoC8zA"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/Torrentfreak?d=yIl2AUoC8zA" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~ff/Torrentfreak?a=z4wnPCBJi8I:UGH45DLesic:D7DqB2pKExk"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/Torrentfreak?i=z4wnPCBJi8I:UGH45DLesic:D7DqB2pKExk" border="0"></img></a>
</div><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~4/z4wnPCBJi8I" height="1" width="1" alt=""/>


feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=106302
title: Police Shut Down Yet More ‘Pirate’ Sites in Ongoing Sweep
uri: Police-Shut-Down-Yet-More-Pirate-Sites-in-Ongoing-Sweep
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/G0YJdX8RKpo/
content:
<p><img src="media/5f9796f8.movies1.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/movies1.jpg" alt="movies" width="200" height="135" class="alignright size-full wp-image-105597">With web-blockades, domain seizures and payment processor interventions making headlines, campaigns to shut down individual sites have been less prominent than usual in the first half of 2015. But that doesn&#8217;t mean they&#8217;ve stopped.</p>
<p>Just last week the popular <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/mpaa-threats-shut-down-popular-torrent-site-bt-chat-150529/">BT-Chat was shut down</a> in Canada following pressure from the MPAA and news from Europe suggests that at least two more sites have fallen in recent days following industry action.</p>
<p>After a long investigation, police in Poland report that authorities swooped last week on individuals said to be part of a &#8220;criminal group&#8221; involved with the unauthorized distribution of video online, movies in particular. In an operation carried out by municipal police and officers from a regional cybercrime unit, several locations were searched including homes, offices and cars.</p>
<p>Three men aged between 24 and 33 years-old were arrested in Wroclaw, the largest city in western Poland. According to police, 14 computers, 13 external drives, 40 prepaid cards, several mobile phones and sundry other items were seized during the raids.</p>
<p>In addition to the images below, police have put together a video (<a href="media/3f5ec269.1-164603.mp4" data-original-source="http://www.policja.pl/dokumenty/zalaczniki/1/1-164603.mp4">mp4</a>) of one of the targeted locations complete with a horror movie-style audio track for added impact.</p>
<p><center><img src="media/7509f8b2.pol-raid.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/pol-raid.png" alt="pol-raid" width="645" height="492" class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-106310"></center></p>
<p>While police have not published the names of the domains allegedly operated by the men, two leading sites have disappeared in recent days without explanation. TNTTorrent.info and Seansik.tv were the country&#8217;s 160th and 130th most popular sites overall but neither is currently operational.</p>
<p>The men are being blamed for industry losses of at least $1.3m and together stand accused of breaching copyright law which can carry a jail sentence of up to five years in criminal cases. For reasons that are not entirely clear, however, police are currently advising a potential three year sentence.</p>
<p>The latest shutdowns, which also encompass torrent site Torrent.pl, follow police action in May which closed down eKino.tv and the lesser known Litv.info, Scs.pl and Zalukaj.to. With around 324,000 likes on its Facebook page eKino.tv was by far the most popular site but it seems unlikely that it will return anytime soon. Currently displaying &#8220;THE END&#8221; on its front page, its owner was arrested last month.</p>
<p><center><img src="media/3d35ce96.arrest49.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/arrest49.png" alt="arrest49" width="650" height="289" class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-106320"><em>Credit:<a href="http://olsztyn.wm.pl/">Olsztyn.wm.pl</a></em></center></p>
<p>Local media is <a href="http://olsztyn.wm.pl/267543,Milioner-spod-Olsztyna-zatrzymany-Chcial-zmonopolizowac-nielegalna-dystrybucje-filmow-w-Internecie.html#axzz3bnYyKygh">connecting</a> the closure to the arrest of a 49-year-old businessman who had been running a company offering &#8220;Internet services&#8221; and also Poland&#8217;s largest pirate site. According to authorities he made millions of dollars from the operation and laundered money by investing in the stock exchange. Those funds have reportedly been frozen.</p>
<p>Also arrested were three accomplices, including a 36-year-old allegedly responsible for creating the database of movies and setting up a US company to assist with the site&#8217;s finances. They all stand accused of copyright infringement and money laundering offenses and face ten years in prison.</p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com">TorrentFreak</a>, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/top-popular-torrent-sites-2015-150104/">torrent sites</a> and <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/anonymous-vpn-service-provider-review-2015-150228/">anonymous VPN services</a>.</p>
<div class="feedflare">
<a href="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~ff/Torrentfreak?a=G0YJdX8RKpo:rDuEE46nM70:yIl2AUoC8zA"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/Torrentfreak?d=yIl2AUoC8zA" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~ff/Torrentfreak?a=G0YJdX8RKpo:rDuEE46nM70:D7DqB2pKExk"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/Torrentfreak?i=G0YJdX8RKpo:rDuEE46nM70:D7DqB2pKExk" border="0"></img></a>
</div><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~4/G0YJdX8RKpo" height="1" width="1" alt=""/>


feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=106366
title: Hollywood: Piracy Poses A Great Cybersecurity Threat
uri: Hollywood-Piracy-Poses-A-Great-Cybersecurity-Threat
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/p7JgEH0L1_c/
content:
<p><img src="media/67cd8f67.piratefish.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/piratefish.jpg" alt="piratefish" width="222" height="136" class="alignright size-large wp-image-106368">The major movie studios have been fighting piracy for decades, claiming that billions of dollars in losses are at stake. </p>
<p>Increasingly, however, Hollywood has started to bring piracy onto the political agenda by describing it as a broader cybersecurity threat.</p>
<p>Late last week the MPAA submitted its latest call to action, responding to a Department of Commerce Internet Policy Task Force (IPTF) request to identify cybersecurity threats.</p>
<p>In their comments the MPAA stresses that the Internet has proven to be a tremendous tool for creativity and commerce, but that there&#8217;s also a downside.</p>
<p>&#8220;Unfortunately, criminal enterprises are also using the Internet to hack into networks and computers for the purpose of stealing valuable data-whether personally identifiable information, trade secrets, or content,&#8221; the MPAA writes.</p>
<p>Citing an entertainment industry backed <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/pirate-sites-rife-malware-credit-card-fraud-report-claims-140430/">report</a>, the Hollywood studios note that pirate sites are using infringing content as bait for various sorts of scams.</p>
<p>&#8220;They are also using Internet ads, as well as pirated content and software or other &#8216;bait,&#8217; to fund their efforts and lure Internet users into revealing sensitive information, inadvertently download malware, or unknowingly becoming a node in a botnet,&#8221; MPAA adds.</p>
<p>To help tackle the issue, the movie studios are hoping for &#8220;voluntary&#8221; cooperation from various stakeholders including Internet providers, search engines, payment processors, advertising networks and the domain name industry.</p>
<p>As an example, the MPAA notes that search engines should promote legitimate sites in their search results, while removing or pushing down pirated content.</p>
<p>The Government can also help these efforts by encouraging cooperation between the various stakeholders, as it did with the Copyright Alert System. </p>
<p>The music industry agrees with Hollywood on most of these issues. In a separate set of comments the RIAA also stresses the importance of tackling the piracy problem in order to keep the public safe.</p>
<p>&#8220;&#8230;rogue operators use the offer of infringing versions of our members’ sound recordings and music videos as the &#8216;candy&#8217; to attract users that are necessary for them to create and exploit cyber vulnerabilities,&#8221; RIAA writes.</p>
<p>&#8220;In light of this, any discussion addressing malvertising or trusted downloads should also address some of the roots of these problems.&#8221; </p>
<p>In other words, both the RIAA and MPAA suggest that if the Government wants to increase cybersecurity, it has to help fight piracy. </p>
<p>The question is, however, whether the movie studios and music labels are honestly concerned about people being infected by malware, or if they are simply using the angle to get piracy on the political agenda through the backdoor.</p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com">TorrentFreak</a>, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/top-popular-torrent-sites-2015-150104/">torrent sites</a> and <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/anonymous-vpn-service-provider-review-2015-150228/">anonymous VPN services</a>.</p>
<div class="feedflare">
<a href="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~ff/Torrentfreak?a=p7JgEH0L1_c:i_5o1_elcSg:yIl2AUoC8zA"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/Torrentfreak?d=yIl2AUoC8zA" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~ff/Torrentfreak?a=p7JgEH0L1_c:i_5o1_elcSg:D7DqB2pKExk"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/Torrentfreak?i=p7JgEH0L1_c:i_5o1_elcSg:D7DqB2pKExk" border="0"></img></a>
</div><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~4/p7JgEH0L1_c" height="1" width="1" alt=""/>


feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=106358
title: Updated: Hola VPN Already Exploited By “Bad Guys”, Security Firm Says
uri: Hola-VPN-Already-Exploited-By-Bad-Guys-Security-Firm-Says
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/ISMm9FFgZBU/
content:
<p><img src="media/61367eb2.hola-logo.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/hola-logo.jpg" width="180" height="179" class="alignright">After a flurry of reports, last week the people behind geo-unblocking software Hola were <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/hola-vpn-sells-users-bandwidth-150528/">forced to concede</a> that their users&#8217; bandwidth is being sold elsewhere for commercial purposes. But for the Israel-based company, that was the tip of the iceberg.</p>
<p>Following an initial unproofed report that the software operates as a botnet, this weekend researchers <a href="http://adios-hola.org/advisory.txt">published an advisory</a> confirming serious problems with the tool.</p>
<p>&#8220;The Hola Unblocker Windows client, Firefox addon, Chrome extension and Android application contain multiple vulnerabilities which allow a remote or local attacker to gain code execution and potentially escalate privileges on a user&#8217;s system,&#8221; the advisory reads.</p>
<p>Yesterday and after several days of intense pressure, Hola <a href="http://hola.org/blog/the-recent-events-on-the-hola-network">published a response</a> in which it quoted Steve Jobs and admitted that mistakes had been made. Hola said that it would now be making it &#8220;completely clear&#8221; to its users that their resources are being used elsewhere in exchange for a free product.</p>
<p>Hola also confirmed that two vulnerabilities found by the researchers at Adios-Hola had now been fixed, but the researchers quickly fired back.</p>
<p>&#8220;We know this to be false,&#8221; they wrote in an update. &#8220;The vulnerabilities are *still* there, they just broke our vulnerability checker and exploit demonstration. Not only that; there weren&#8217;t two vulnerabilities, there were six.&#8221;</p>
<p>With Hola saying it now intends to put things right (it says it has committed to an external audit with &#8220;one of the big 4 auditing companies&#8221;) the company stood by its claims that its software does not turn users&#8217; computers into a botnet. Today, however, an analysis by cybersecurity firm <a href="http://vectranetworks.com">Vectra</a> is painting Hola in an even more unfavorable light.</p>
<p>In its report Vectra not only insists that Hola behaves like a botnet, but it&#8217;s possible it has malicious features by design.</p>
<p>&#8220;While analyzing Hola, Vectra Threat Labs researchers found that in addition to behaving like a botnet, Hola contains a variety of capabilities that almost appear to be designed to enable a targeted, human-driven cyber attack on the network in which an Hola user’s machine resides,&#8221; the company writes.</p>
<p>&#8220;First, the Hola software can download and install any additional software without the user’s knowledge. This is because in addition to being signed with a valid code-signing certificate, once Hola has been installed, the software installs its own code-signing certificate on the user’s system.&#8221;</p>
<p>If the implications of that aren&#8217;t entirely clear, Vectra assists on that front too. On Windows machines, the certificate is added to the Trusted Publishers Certificate Store which allows *any code* to be installed and run with no notification given to the user. That is frightening.</p>
<p>Furthermore, Vectra found that Hola contains a built-in console (&#8220;zconsole&#8221;) that is not only constantly active but also has powerful functions including the ability to kill running processes, download a file and run it whilst bypassing anti-virus software, plus read and write content to any IP address or device.[see update]</p>
<p>&#8220;These capabilities enable a competent attacker to accomplish almost anything. This shifts the discussion away from a leaky and unscrupulous anonymity network, and instead forces us to acknowledge the possibility that an attacker could easily use Hola as a platform to launch a targeted attack within any network containing the Hola software,&#8221; Vectra <a href="http://blog.vectranetworks.com/blog/technical-analysis-of-hola">says</a>.</p>
<p>Finally, Vectra says that while analyzing the protocol used by Hola, its researchers found five different malware samples on VirusTotal that contain the Hola protocol. Worryingly, they existed <em>before</em> the recent bad press.</p>
<p>&#8220;Unsurprisingly, this means that bad guys had realized the potential of Hola before the recent flurry of public reports by the good guys,&#8221; the company adds.[see update]</p>
<p>For now, Hola is making a big show of the updates being made to its <a href="https://hola.org/faq">FAQ</a> as part of its efforts to be more transparent. However, items in the FAQ are still <a href="https://hola.org/faq#in_whatis_pvp_vpn">phrased in a manner</a> that portrays criticized elements of the service as positive features, something that is likely to mislead non-tech oriented users.</p>
<p>&#8220;Since [Hola] uses real peers to route your traffic and not proxy servers, it makes you more anonymous and more secure than regular VPN services,&#8221; one item reads. </p>
<p>How Hola will respond to Vectra&#8217;s latest analysis remains to be seen, but at this point there appears little that the company can say or do to pacify much of the hardcore tech community. That being said, if Joe Public still can&#8217;t see the harm in a free &#8220;community&#8221; VPN operating a commercial division with full access to his computer, Hola might settle for that.</p>
<p><strong>Update:</strong> Vectra have not only <a href="http://blog.vectranetworks.com/blog/technical-analysis-of-hola#additions-clarifications">published an update</a> to their analysis but have also made a few quiet edits which appear to put Hola in a better light.</p>
<p>They also appear to have retracted their advice to uninstall Hola and are now suggesting that organizations should  &#8220;determine if Hola is active in their network and decide whether the risks highlighted in this blog are acceptable.&#8221;</p>
<p>Following the edits, Hola emailed TF to offer yet more clarity.</p>
<p>&#8220;One of the pieces that we wanted to clarify as it relates to your article is that even though there is evidence Hackers has been on the network, there is no evidence that the network was exploited before the 8chan attack,&#8221; Hola told TF. &#8220;[Vectra] compare it to proof that burglars were trying to copy your key, but not that they got in the house.&#8221;</p>
<p>Hola also says that the vulnerabilities in Zconsole have now been fixed.</p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com">TorrentFreak</a>, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/top-popular-torrent-sites-2015-150104/">torrent sites</a> and <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/anonymous-vpn-service-provider-review-2015-150228/">anonymous VPN services</a>.</p>
<div class="feedflare">
<a href="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~ff/Torrentfreak?a=ISMm9FFgZBU:sRu4XsyZfNg:yIl2AUoC8zA"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/Torrentfreak?d=yIl2AUoC8zA" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~ff/Torrentfreak?a=ISMm9FFgZBU:sRu4XsyZfNg:D7DqB2pKExk"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/Torrentfreak?i=ISMm9FFgZBU:sRu4XsyZfNg:D7DqB2pKExk" border="0"></img></a>
</div><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~4/ISMm9FFgZBU" height="1" width="1" alt=""/>


feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=106378
title: Russia Orders ISPs to Block The Pirate Bay
uri: Russia-Orders-ISPs-to-Block-The-Pirate-Bay
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/4LG9NF4Y40U/
content:
<p><img src="media/2a43984f.pirate-bay.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/pirate-bay.jpg" alt="pirate bay" width="200" height="207" class="alignright size-full wp-image-53470">As the arch-rival of many copyright groups, The Pirate Bay has become one of the most censored websites on the Internet in recent years.</p>
<p>Courts all around the world have ordered Internet providers to block subscriber access to the torrent site and the list continues to expand.</p>
<p>This week Russia&#8217;s telecommunications watchdog Roskomnadzor issued an update to the country&#8217;s blocklist adding two Pirate Bay domain names.</p>
<p>Following a complaint from <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mosfilm">Mosfilm</a>, one of the largest European movie studios, Russian ISPs are now required to block access to thepiratebay.se and thepiratebay.mn.</p>
<p>Interestingly, there is no separate court order against The Pirate Bay. Instead, the domains <a href="http://www.vedomosti.ru/technology/articles/2015/06/02/594717-roskomnadzor-razobralsya-s-piratami-bez-suda">were added</a> to an existing injunction targeting tushkan.net, which was offering a pirated copy of Mosfilm&#8217;s movie &#8220;The Road to Berlin.&#8221;</p>
<p>Under Russian law, copyright holders can add domain names to an injunction if their content appears on other sites as well. In addition to The Pirate Bay domains, a dozen other sites were added in the same update.</p>
<p>Technically, The Pirate Bay can request a removal from the blocklist after they remove all links to the film in question. But considering the site&#8217;s stance on taking down content, this is not going to happen.</p>
<p><center><strong>Pirate Bay Blocked</strong><br></br></center><center><img src="media/750711cb.russiablocked.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/russiablocked.png" alt="russiablocked" width="574" height="154" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-106392"></center></p>
<p>While the order aims to deprive millions of Russians from visiting the popular torrent site, it will be rather ineffective for now. Two weeks ago The Pirate Bay added <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/pirate-bay-loses-new-domain-name-hydra-lives-on-150522/">several new domain names</a> and four of those remain readily accessible.</p>
<p>It is clear, however, that Russia is not averse to taking measures against websites that are accused of facilitating copyright infringement. Hundreds of websites have been blocked in recent years and <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/vpn-and-tor-ban-looming-on-the-horizon-for-russia-150212/">there are calls</a> to ban various circumvention tools including VPNs and TOR as well. </p>
<p>The first step in this direction was set last week when an anti-censorship website from a local human rights group <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/vpn-and-tor-ban-looming-on-the-horizon-for-russia-150212/">was blocked</a>, and similar crackdowns may follow in the near future.</p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com">TorrentFreak</a>, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/top-popular-torrent-sites-2015-150104/">torrent sites</a> and <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/anonymous-vpn-service-provider-review-2015-150228/">anonymous VPN services</a>.</p>
<div class="feedflare">
<a href="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~ff/Torrentfreak?a=4LG9NF4Y40U:XLOcSa-6NUU:yIl2AUoC8zA"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/Torrentfreak?d=yIl2AUoC8zA" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~ff/Torrentfreak?a=4LG9NF4Y40U:XLOcSa-6NUU:D7DqB2pKExk"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/Torrentfreak?i=4LG9NF4Y40U:XLOcSa-6NUU:D7DqB2pKExk" border="0"></img></a>
</div><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~4/4LG9NF4Y40U" height="1" width="1" alt=""/>


feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=106349
title: Kim Dotcom Thwarts Huge U.S. Government Asset Grab
uri: Kim-Dotcom-Thwarts-Huge-U-S-Government-Asset-Grab
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/IeMxxBRTAzc/
content:
<p><img src="media/37e6b3c4.megaupload-logo.jpg" data-original-source="https://torrentfreak.com/images/megaupload-logo.jpg" width="250" height="208" class="alignright">In the long-running case of the U.S. Government versus Kim Dotcom, almost every court decision achieved by one side is contested by the other. A big victory for the U.S. back in March 2015 is no exception.</p>
<p>After claiming that assets seized during the 2012 raid on Megaupload were obtained through copyright and money laundering crimes, last July the U.S. government asked the court to forfeit bank accounts, cars and other seized possessions connected to the site&#8217;s operators.</p>
<p>Dotcom and his co-defendants protested, but the Government deemed them fugitives and therefore disentitled to seek relief from the court. As a result District Court Judge Liam O’Grady ordered a <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/u-s-government-wins-dozens-of-millions-from-kim-dotcom-150326/">default judgment</a> in favor of the U.S. Government against assets worth an estimated $67m.</p>
<p>Following a subsequent request from the U.S., New Zealand&#8217;s Commissioner of Police moved to have the U.S. forfeiture orders registered locally, meaning that the seized property would become the property of the Crown. Authorization from the Deputy Solicitor-General was granted April 9, 2015 and an application for registration was made shortly after.</p>
<p>In response, Kim Dotcom and co-defendant Bram Van der Kolk requested a judicial review of the decision and sought interim orders that would prevent the Commissioner from progressing the registration application, pending a review. The Commissioner responded with an application to stop the judicial review.</p>
<p>In a lengthy decision handed down this morning, Justice Ellis denied the application of the Commissioner while handing a significant interim victory to Kim Dotcom.</p>
<p>Noting that the &#8220;fugitive disentitlement&#8221; doctrine forms no part of New Zealand common law, Justice Ellis highlighted the predicament faced by those seeking to defend themselves while under its constraints.</p>
<p>&#8220;The application of the fugitive disentitlement doctrine to a person who is exercising a bi-laterally recognized right to defend an eligibility hearing, with the result that he is deprived of the financial means to mount that defense, is to put that person on the horns of a most uncomfortable and (the plaintiffs would say) unconstitutional dilemma,&#8221; Justice Ellis writes.</p>
<p>Recognizing that Dotcom and Van der Kolk have a &#8220;substantial position to preserve&#8221;, Justice Ellis says there would be &#8220;very real consequences&#8221; if they were unable to do so.</p>
<p>&#8220;If the provisional view I have formed about the unavailability of post-registration relief is correct, authorizing the registration application to proceed now might deprive the plaintiffs of any ability to defend the extradition or to pursue their appeals against the forfeiture order in the United States,&#8221; Justice Ellis said.</p>
<p>&#8220;I have little hesitation in concluding that interim relief should therefore be granted.&#8221;</p>
<p>The New Zealand Commissioner of Police is now barred from taking further action to register the U.S. forfeiture orders until the court indicates otherwise.</p>
<p>Kim Dotcom informs TorrentFreak that his New Zealand legal team are &#8220;relieved&#8221; by the decision and can&#8217;t wait to &#8220;get back to work and beat this bogus extradition case.&#8221;</p>
<p>Elsewhere, the battle continues. Dotcom says that the decisions handed down in New Zealand will be presented in Hong Kong in an attempt to get more assets unfrozen there. Over in the U.S. there is also much work to be done.</p>
<p>&#8220;Our US lawyers are still bound by the US forfeiture judgment and won&#8217;t be allowed to accept funds from my unfrozen assets without a significant risk to them, unless the US government allows that, which is unlikely. But we have appealed the US Forfeiture judgment in the US and the team is optimistic that we will prevail,&#8221; he notes.</p>
<p>Megaupload&#8217;s U.S.-based lawyer Ira Rothken joined Dotcom in welcoming today&#8217;s ruling.</p>
<p>&#8220;We are grateful that the NZ court ruled in favor of fairness, natural justice, and due process today by stopping US efforts to take Kim Dotcom&#8217;s NZ assets for doing nothing more than opposing extradition to the US &#8211; a country he has never been to,&#8221; Rothken said.</p>
<p>In closing, a fiery Dotcom reiterated his intention to keep battling.</p>
<p>&#8220;The big fights are yet to come and I can&#8217;t wait to expose the US government and Hollywood for the most unlawful and corrupt law enforcement action ever taken against an Internet service provider. US attorney Jay Prabhu, the DOJ clown who <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/seized-megaupload-domains-link-to-scam-ads-and-malware-150528/">lost control of the Megaupload domain</a> recently, will only find a job at the MPAA after we are done with him,&#8221; Dotcom concludes.</p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com">TorrentFreak</a>, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/top-popular-torrent-sites-2015-150104/">torrent sites</a> and <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/anonymous-vpn-service-provider-review-2015-150228/">anonymous VPN services</a>.</p>
<div class="feedflare">
<a href="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~ff/Torrentfreak?a=IeMxxBRTAzc:s83tOwBpxyw:yIl2AUoC8zA"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/Torrentfreak?d=yIl2AUoC8zA" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~ff/Torrentfreak?a=IeMxxBRTAzc:s83tOwBpxyw:D7DqB2pKExk"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/Torrentfreak?i=IeMxxBRTAzc:s83tOwBpxyw:D7DqB2pKExk" border="0"></img></a>
</div><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~4/IeMxxBRTAzc" height="1" width="1" alt=""/>


feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=106429
title: Google Takes MPAA to Court Over Secret Censorship Plans
uri: Google-Takes-MPAA-to-Court-Over-Secret-Censorship-Plans
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/rgoSnQt6cIo/
content:
<p><img src="media/c6c36e0a.googlepop.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/googlepop.jpg" alt="googlepop" width="250" height="141" class="alignright size-large wp-image-106435"><a href="http://torrentfreak.com/google-mpaa-publicly-slam-each-other-over-piracy-141219/">Helped by the MPAA</a>, Mississippi State Attorney General Jim Hood launched a secret campaign to revive SOPA-like censorship efforts in the United States.</p>
<p>The MPAA and Hood want Internet services to bring website blocking and search engine filtering back to the table after the controversial law failed to pass.</p>
<p>In response to the looming threat Google filed a complaint against Hood last December, asking the court to prevent Hood from enforcing a subpoena that addresses Google’s failure to take down or block access to illegal content, including pirate sites.</p>
<p>This resulted in <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/google-mpaa-censorship-150303/">a victory for Google</a> with District Court Judge Henry Wingate putting the subpoena on hold. At the same time Google requested additional details from the Attorney General and various other parties involved in the scheme, including the MPAA.</p>
<p>Thus far, however, these requests haven&#8217;t proven fruitful. In a motion to compel directed at the MPAA (<a href="media/7ebff70c.mpaa-compel.pdf" data-original-source="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/images/mpaa-compel.pdf">pdf</a>), Google explains that the movie industry group and other petitioned parties have yet to hand over the requested information.</p>
<p>&#8220;To date, the subpoenaed parties have produced nothing,&#8221; Google&#8217;s lawyers inform the court. </p>
<p>&#8220;They have inexplicably delayed producing the few documents they agreed to turn over, and have objected that many of their documents, including internal notes or summaries of meetings with AG Hood, are irrelevant or protected by some unsubstantiated privilege.&#8221;</p>
<p>In addition to the MPAA, Google has also filed similar motions against the MPAA&#8217;s law firm Jenner &#038; Block, Digital Citizens Alliance, 21st Century Fox, NBC Universal and Viacom.</p>
<p>All parties thus far have refused to hand over the requested information, which includes communication with and prepared for the Attorney General, as well as emails referencing Google. </p>
<p>According to the MPAA this information is &#8220;irrelevant&#8221; or privileged, but Google disagrees.</p>
<p>&#8220;The relevance objections are meritless. As Judge Wingate has already held, there is substantial evidence that the Attorney General&#8217;s actions against Google were undertaken in bad faith and for a retaliatory purpose,&#8221; the motion reads. </p>
<p>According to Google&#8217;s legal team the documents will shine a light on how the MPAA and others encouraged and helped the Attorney General to push for Internet censorship.</p>
<p>&#8220;Google expects the documents will show that the Attorney General, the Subpoenaed Parties, and their lobbyists understood that his actions invaded the exclusive province of federal law,&#8221; the motion reads. </p>
<p>&#8220;More fundamentally, the documents are likely to show that the Attorney General&#8217;s investigation was intended not to uncover supposed violations of Mississippi law, but instead to coerce Google into silencing speech that Viacom, Fox, and NBC do not like&#8230;&#8221;  </p>
<p>District Court Judge James Boasberg has referred the case to a magistrate judge (<a href="media/85cebf04.gov.uscourts.dcd.172032.3.0.pdf" data-original-source="http://ia601509.us.archive.org/10/items/gov.uscourts.dcd.172032/gov.uscourts.dcd.172032.3.0.pdf">pdf</a>), who will discuss the matter in an upcoming hearing. Considering the stakes at hand, the players involved will leave no resource untapped to defend their positions.</p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com">TorrentFreak</a>, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/top-popular-torrent-sites-2015-150104/">torrent sites</a> and <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/anonymous-vpn-service-provider-review-2015-150228/">anonymous VPN services</a>.</p>
<div class="feedflare">
<a href="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~ff/Torrentfreak?a=rgoSnQt6cIo:V0w9Pwetwrk:yIl2AUoC8zA"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/Torrentfreak?d=yIl2AUoC8zA" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~ff/Torrentfreak?a=rgoSnQt6cIo:V0w9Pwetwrk:D7DqB2pKExk"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/Torrentfreak?i=rgoSnQt6cIo:V0w9Pwetwrk:D7DqB2pKExk" border="0"></img></a>
</div><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~4/rgoSnQt6cIo" height="1" width="1" alt=""/>


feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=106461
title: Pirate Bay Block Doesn’t Boost Sales, Research Shows
uri: Pirate-Bay-Block-Doesn-t-Boost-Sales-Research-Shows
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/qgXoRcfqlwk/
content:
<p><img src="media/2a43984f.pirate-bay.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/pirate-bay.jpg" alt="pirate bay" width="200" height="207" class="alignright size-full wp-image-53470">The Pirate Bay is the most censored website on the Internet. Countries all around the world have ordered Internet providers to block subscriber access to the torrent site, with Russia being the <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/russia-orders-isps-to-block-the-pirate-bay-150603/">latest addition</a>.</p>
<p>The idea behind these blockades is that they will help to decrease online piracy. However, a new study published by Carnegie Mellon University and Wellesley College researchers, suggests that blocking one site isn&#8217;t very effective. </p>
<p>The researchers used data collected by an anonymous Internet consumer panel tracking company to compare the browsing habits of UK citizens, both before and after The Pirate Bay was blocked by major ISPs <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/uk-isps-must-censor-the-pirates-bay-high-court-rules-120430/">in 2012</a>. </p>
<p>After comparing the results to a control group and ruling out various other variables, the researchers conclude that there is no significant effect on legal consumption. </p>
<p>Instead, Pirate Bay users chose to circumvent the measures by using VPNs, proxies, or switching to other pirate sites.</p>
<p>&#8220;Our results show that blocking The Pirate Bay had little impact on consumption through legal channels — instead, consumers seemed to turn to other piracy sites, Pirate Bay &#8216;mirror&#8217; sites, or Virtual Private Networks that allowed them to circumvent the block.&#8221;   </p>
<p>While the above findings support the many opponents of website blocking, it&#8217;s only part of the story. The researchers also analysed data after a subsequent blockade that covered <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/top-bittorrent-and-music-download-sites-pushed-underground-in-the-uk-131030/">more than a dozen</a> large pirate sites at once.</p>
<p>The results here were quite different, with a significant uptick in the number of visits (of &#8216;pirates&#8217;) to legal movie services such as Netflix. </p>
<p>&#8220;&#8230;blocking 19 different major piracy sites caused users of those sites to increase their usage of paid legal streaming sites such as Netflix by 12% on average,&#8221; the researchers <a href="http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2612063">write</a>.  </p>
<p>This effect was most pronounced for people who used the pirate sites most frequently. According to the researchers this makes sense as they were most affected by the blockade.</p>
<p>&#8220;The lightest users of the blocked sites increased their clicks on paid streaming sites by 3.5% while the heaviest users of the blocked sites increased their paid streaming clicks by 23.6%, strengthening the causal interpretation of the results.&#8221;</p>
<p>Overall the results show that blocking The Pirate Bay in isolation is futile. For website blockades to have a serious impact they should be directed at a broad selection of pirate sites, making it harder for people to find illegal alternatives.</p>
<p>&#8220;Our results suggest that website blocking requires persistent blocking of a number of piracy sites in order to effectively migrate pirates to legal channels,&#8221; the researchers note.</p>
<p>Perhaps just as importantly, the researchers add that copyright holders should also make legal content more attractive in order to convert pirates into paying customers.</p>
<p>It has to be noted that the research was carried out as part of Carnegie Mellon University’s Initiative for Digital Entertainment Analytics (IDEA), which received a generous donation from the MPAA. However, the researchers suggest that their work is carried out independently.</p>
<p>The results may not help efforts to demand isolated Pirate Bay blockades, which is common in most countries. However, they can be used as ammunition to demand wider website blockades, which is arguably even better from a copyright holder perspective.</p>
<p><center><strong>Effective?</strong><br></br></center><center><img src="media/1675c052.blocktpb1.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/blocktpb1.jpg" alt="FCT ty" width="553" height="413" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-87047"></center></p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com">TorrentFreak</a>, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/top-popular-torrent-sites-2015-150104/">torrent sites</a> and <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/anonymous-vpn-service-provider-review-2015-150228/">anonymous VPN services</a>.</p>
<div class="feedflare">
<a href="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~ff/Torrentfreak?a=qgXoRcfqlwk:WdSL1ZMLeaA:yIl2AUoC8zA"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/Torrentfreak?d=yIl2AUoC8zA" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~ff/Torrentfreak?a=qgXoRcfqlwk:WdSL1ZMLeaA:D7DqB2pKExk"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/Torrentfreak?i=qgXoRcfqlwk:WdSL1ZMLeaA:D7DqB2pKExk" border="0"></img></a>
</div><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~4/qgXoRcfqlwk" height="1" width="1" alt=""/>


feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=106456
title: My Daughter is a Netflix VPN Thief, Media Boss Confesses
uri: My-Daughter-is-a-Netflix-VPN-Thief-Media-Boss-Confesses
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/rzg7zHS3DOo/
content:
<p><img src="media/8d252f04.sadpirate.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/sadpirate.jpg" alt="sadpirate" width="160" height="187" class="alignright size-full wp-image-47490">While the video entertainment business needs to do better, Netflix is definitely going some way to filling the online movie and TV show streaming void. Nevertheless, even when consumers put their hands in their pockets for the service, elements of the industry still find cause to complain.</p>
<p>The issue is one of geo-location. Essentially, users of Netflix in the United States get a more content-rich service than those accessing it from elsewhere. These restrictions are easily overcome by using a VPN service to tunnel in to the U.S. from outside but that annoys content companies no end. Licensing deals are to be respected, they argue.</p>
<p>Just lately critics of the phenomenon have switched from using terms such as &#8220;geo-blocking&#8221;, favoring the emotive &#8220;Netflix piracy&#8221; and &#8220;Netflix theft&#8221; instead. Yesterday another heavyweight poured more fuel on the fire and pointed the finger at her own family while doing so.</p>
<p>Mary Ann Turcke is the new boss of BCE Inc.’s Bell Media division in Canada. In a keynote speech to the Canadian Telecom Summit yesterday, Turcke raised the issue of Netflix but surprisingly relayed a story from within her own household, triggered by a &#8216;Life Pro Tip&#8217; from her own daughter.</p>
<p>“Mom, did you know that you can hack into U.S. Netflix and get sooo many more shows?” Turcke&#8217;s 15-year-old-daughter revealed.</p>
<p>But far from mom being impressed at the ingenuity of her child, mom found her actions tantamount to theft.</p>
<p>“She is 15 and she was stealing,” Turcke told the Toronto audience. “Suffice to say, there is no more VPNing.”</p>
<p>For the teenager and probably most adults, this must be a frustrating concept to grasp. After shunning the lure of The Pirate Bay and its first-run movies on tap &#8211; for free, someone in the household has done the &#8216;right&#8217; thing and bought Netflix. Yet someone, somewhere, has deemed Canadians to be unworthy of the full service and when that injustice gets addressed, mom plays the &#8216;thief&#8217; card.</p>
<p>“It takes behavioral change and it is the people — friend to friend, parent to child, coworker to coworker — that set the cultural framework for acceptable and unacceptable behaviour,” Turcke <a href="http://www.calgaryherald.com/technology/Bell+Media+leader+urges+public+shaming+combat+piracy+have+tell/11106028/story.html">said</a>.</p>
<p>“It has to become socially unacceptable to admit to another human being that you are VPNing into U.S. Netflix. Like throwing garbage out of your car window, you just don’t do it. We have to get engaged and tell people they’re stealing.”</p>
<p>Despite Ms. Turcke&#8217;s enthusiasm for establishing geo-busting as a crime, Canadian law professor Michael Geist previously <a href="http://www.michaelgeist.ca/2014/07/canadians-access-u-s-netflix-may-legal-grey-zone-stealing/">rejected</a> the assertion, an opinion also shared by Ottawa intellectual property lawyer Howard Knopf.</p>
<p>“This is another manifestation of that good old Canadian phenomenon known as cross-border shopping in a free market,&#8221; Knopf <a href="http://www.theglobeandmail.com/technology/what-is-a-vpn-are-they-legal-and-whos-not-happy-canadians-are-using-them/article22363040/">said</a>.</p>
<p>“‎Some Canadian rights owners and licensees seem to think it’s smart to limit Canadian choice and raise Canadian prices. Maybe they are being shortsighted or greedy but that’s what they try to do.&#8221;</p>
<p>While Turcke sees her own child as the thief, she also lays blame at the door of Netflix for not doing more to stop so-called &#8216;VPN pirates&#8217;.</p>
<p>“Digital-rights management is one of the most sophisticated and heavily negotiated relationship aspects of our deals with Hollywood,&#8221; Turcke said.</p>
<p>&#8220;As an industry, the players up and down the value chain can’t allow Netflix to continue doing what they’re doing, and Netflix has a choice to stop it. This is a business model decision on Netflix’s part. It’s not a technical problem.”</p>
<p>But while Turcke criticizes Netflix for allowing people to access what they like, the notion of providing content on customer-friendly terms is certainly not alien to the entertainment industry veteran.</p>
<p>“We, Bell Media, we, the industry, need to make our content more accessible. Viewers are demanding simplicity. And they will seek it out,&#8221; she said.</p>
<p>Noting that consumers are simply not willing to tolerate restrictions surrounding online streaming rights, &#8216;windowing&#8217; and national borders, Turcke warned the audience:</p>
<p>&#8220;It is enough to drive anyone to the dreaded Netflix. Legally or illegally.”</p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com">TorrentFreak</a>, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/top-popular-torrent-sites-2015-150104/">torrent sites</a> and <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/anonymous-vpn-service-provider-review-2015-150228/">anonymous VPN services</a>.</p>
<div class="feedflare">
<a href="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~ff/Torrentfreak?a=rzg7zHS3DOo:1zGd7RvyYsk:yIl2AUoC8zA"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/Torrentfreak?d=yIl2AUoC8zA" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~ff/Torrentfreak?a=rzg7zHS3DOo:1zGd7RvyYsk:D7DqB2pKExk"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/Torrentfreak?i=rzg7zHS3DOo:1zGd7RvyYsk:D7DqB2pKExk" border="0"></img></a>
</div><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~4/rzg7zHS3DOo" height="1" width="1" alt=""/>


feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=106537
title: Netflix Chief: Piracy Prepared Internet Users For Us
uri: Netflix-Chief-Piracy-Prepared-Internet-Users-For-Us
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/N3ckfAOKCRk/
content:
<p><img src="media/b310fc7c.netflix-logo.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/netflix-logo.png" alt="netflix-logo" width="200" height="121" class="alignright size-full wp-image-69714">For years the global entertainment industries have bemoaned the state of Spanish market. Rampant online piracy meant that the country was regularly described as a piracy haven and its Internet generation a bunch of common thieves.</p>
<p>Struggling economy aside, part of the problem in Spain (particularly on the video front) has been the lack of decent legal alternatives. Back in August 2011, rumors spread that Netflix was about to launch in the country after successes in the U.S. and Canada, but that never came to pass.</p>
<p>Instead, just months later Spain was <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/us-threatened-to-blacklist-spain-for-not-implementing-site-blocking-law-120105/">told by the United States</a> that it would end up on a trade blacklist if it didn&#8217;t reel in piracy. In the years that followed the country did what it could to comply and earlier this year <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/spanish-government-orders-pirate-bay-blockade-150127/">ordered the blocking</a> of The Pirate Bay.</p>
<p>Now, four years after its first attempt at breaking into the country, Netflix has confirmed it will launch in Spain later this year. Speaking in an interview with Spanish publication <em>El Mundo</em>, Netflix CEO Reed Hastings says he&#8217;s excited for the launch which he believes will be one of the company&#8217;s best so far.</p>
<p>&#8220;I think Spain will be one of our most successful countries. There is a high rate of Internet connectivity and a population that is accustomed to the use of electronic commerce and that has shown signs of being interested in our product. We are very optimistic,&#8221; Hastings says.</p>
<p>But of course, piracy is a big part of the puzzle. Tech-savvy Spaniards have a long history of using every conceivable file-sharing system to grab content, in some cases a full decade before official vendors turned up in their country. However, the Netflix CEO isn&#8217;t fazed by the piracy problem. In fact, the company probably has a lot to be grateful for.</p>
<p>&#8220;Well, you can call it a problem, but the truth is that [piracy] has also created a public that is now used to viewing content on the Internet,&#8221; Hastings says.</p>
<p>He has a point. Pirates certainly have a clearer idea of what to expect from an online service so for many the switch could be fairly seamless. However, Hastings believes that on the convenience front, Netflix could even beat the pirates at their own game.</p>
<p>&#8220;We offer a simpler and more immediate alternative to finding a torrent,&#8221; Hastings says.</p>
<p>&#8220;In Holland we had a similar situation. That too was a country with a high rate of piracy. And the same thing happened in Canada. In both countries we are a successful service.&#8221;</p>
<p>Somewhat refreshingly (and in contrast to the claims of most entertainment companies) Netflix isn&#8217;t scared of competing against &#8216;free&#8217; either.</p>
<p>&#8220;We can think of this as the bottled water business. Tap water can be drunk and is free, but there is still a public that demands bottled water,&#8221; Hastings <a href="http://www.elmundo.es/tecnologia/2015/06/03/556f12a4268e3e9e438b457f.html">says</a>.</p>
<p>Perhaps unsurprisingly, the service set to launch in Spain later this year won&#8217;t be the &#8216;full fat&#8217; version consumers elsewhere (in varying degrees) are accustomed to. There will be a lot of content, but Hastings says that subscribers should expect a line up similar to that offered previously during the launch of the service in France and Germany.</p>
<p>&#8220;In each country we have to start with a smaller catalog and begin to expand gradually as the number of registered users grows. In the UK, for example, we now have a fairly extensive catalog of TV series and movies after three years of activity there,&#8221; Hastings explains.</p>
<p>&#8220;Our offering is expansive in Latin America too, but it is much easier to negotiate and acquire rights when you buy for a large subscriber base as we now have in the United States.&#8221;</p>
<p>Only time will tell if the arrival of Netflix will begin to turn the piracy tide in Spain. For a cash-strapped nation with high unemployment every penny counts, but at an expected eight euros per month, Netflix should be within reach of a significant number of households.</p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com">TorrentFreak</a>, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/top-popular-torrent-sites-2015-150104/">torrent sites</a> and <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/anonymous-vpn-service-provider-review-2015-150228/">anonymous VPN services</a>.</p>
<div class="feedflare">
<a href="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~ff/Torrentfreak?a=N3ckfAOKCRk:5eTUgh5YamE:yIl2AUoC8zA"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/Torrentfreak?d=yIl2AUoC8zA" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~ff/Torrentfreak?a=N3ckfAOKCRk:5eTUgh5YamE:D7DqB2pKExk"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/Torrentfreak?i=N3ckfAOKCRk:5eTUgh5YamE:D7DqB2pKExk" border="0"></img></a>
</div><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~4/N3ckfAOKCRk" height="1" width="1" alt=""/>


feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=106459
title: Court Orders Cloudflare to Disconnect ‘New’ Grooveshark
uri: Court-Orders-Cloudflare-to-Disconnect-New-Grooveshark
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/4lHKvs03cB8/
content:
<p><img src="media/4a535cc9.cloudflare.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/cloudflare.png" alt="cloudflare" width="275" height="188" class="alignright size-full wp-image-96401">Last month the long running lawsuit between the RIAA and Grooveshark <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/grooveshark-shuts-down-apologizes-to-the-riaa-150501/">came to an end</a>. However, within days a new site was launched <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/resurrected-grooveshark-is-actually-an-mp3juices-clone-150506/">aiming to take its place</a>. </p>
<p>The RIAA wasn&#8217;t happy with this development and quickly <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/record-labels-sue-new-grooveshark-seize-domains-150515/">obtained a restraining order</a>, preventing domain registrars and hosting companies from offering their services to the site. </p>
<p>This was somewhat effective, as Namecheap quickly suspended the original domain name. However, not all parties were as cooperative. </p>
<p>Popular CDN-service CloudFlare refused to take action on the basis that it is not “aiding and abetting” piracy. The RIAA disagreed and asked New York District Court Judge Alison Nathan to rule on the matter. </p>
<p>In an order (<a href="media/1befa093.order1.pdf" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/order1.pdf">pdf</a>) just published, Judge Nathan agrees with the music group.</p>
<p>CloudFlare argued that they were not bound to the restraining order since they were not in &#8220;active concert or participation&#8221; due to the automated nature of its services. In addition, the company countered that even if it disconnected Grooveshark, the site would still be accessible. </p>
<p>In her order Nathan notes that she finds neither argument persuasive. The fact that CloudFlare is aware of the infringements and provides services that help the public to easily access the infringing site, shows otherwise. </p>
<p>&#8220;Connecting internet users to grooveshark.li in this manner benefits Defendants and quite fundamentally assists them in violating the injunction because, without it, users would not be able to connect to Defendants&#8217; site unless they knew the specific IP address for the site,&#8221; Judge Nathan writes. </p>
<p>&#8220;Beyond the authoritative domain name server, CloudFlare also provides additional services that it describes as improving the performance of the grooveshark.li site,&#8221; she adds.</p>
<p>The argument that the &#8216;new&#8217; Grooveshark will still be around after CloudFlare suspends the account was found to be irrelevant. A third-party can still be bound by a restraining order even if terminating its services doesn&#8217;t render a website inaccessible. </p>
<p>&#8220;&#8230; just because another third party could aid and abet the Defendants in violating the injunction does not mean that CloudFlare is not doing so,&#8221; the order reads.</p>
<p>Finally, the Judge agrees that there may be other services that are not covered by the order. However, in this case CloudFlare is directly facilitating Grooveshark, with specific knowledge of the accounts that are responsible.</p>
<p>For CloudFlare the ruling comes as a disappointment, opening the door for a slew of similar requests. The CDN has several of the largest pirate sites as clients, including The Pirate Bay, which is now a relatively easy target. </p>
<p>At the time of writing Grooveshark.li is no longer accessible, suggesting that CloudFlare has already complied with the order.</p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com">TorrentFreak</a>, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/top-popular-torrent-sites-2015-150104/">torrent sites</a> and <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/anonymous-vpn-service-provider-review-2015-150228/">anonymous VPN services</a>.</p>
<div class="feedflare">
<a href="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~ff/Torrentfreak?a=4lHKvs03cB8:bA1M1FT3leQ:yIl2AUoC8zA"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/Torrentfreak?d=yIl2AUoC8zA" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~ff/Torrentfreak?a=4lHKvs03cB8:bA1M1FT3leQ:D7DqB2pKExk"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/Torrentfreak?i=4lHKvs03cB8:bA1M1FT3leQ:D7DqB2pKExk" border="0"></img></a>
</div><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~4/4lHKvs03cB8" height="1" width="1" alt=""/>


