# articles

feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=162734
title: Movie & TV Show ‘Piracy Protection’ Insurance Now Available
uri: Movie-TV-Show-Piracy-Protection-Insurance-Now-Available
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/LRdYIFTu_Kc/
content:
<p><a href="media/cdef4830.copyright-blood.jpg" data-original-source="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/images/copyright-blood.jpg"><img src="media/bd0abf4c.copyright-blood.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/copyright-blood.jpg" alt="" width="225" height="151" class="alignright size-full wp-image-120567"></a>For almost two decades, peer-to-peer file-sharing networks have been a rich source of content for those who prefer not to pay the going rates for movies, TV shows, music, software, and video games.</p>
<p>For almost as long, entertainment industry companies and groups have been trying to stem the tide. Litigation against P2P software companies was soon accompanied by lawsuits against end users, with the latter gaining in popularity in more recent times after it became clear that money is to be made from the practice.</p>
<p>Over the years, hundreds of so-called &#8216;copyright troll&#8217; cases have been reported and countless thousands of individuals have chosen to pay a settlement fee, in order to make a supposed lawsuit disappear. For some companies, the practice has proven lucrative but others have found it less so, with more knowledgeable defendants fighting back, causing costs to rise and profits to plummet.</p>
<p>In the UK, several companies have attempted to generate revenue from alleged file-sharers. The business model doesn&#8217;t appear to have varied much since its inception around 2006, with most players seemingly backing away in the face of adverse publicity and informed defendants fighting their corners.</p>
<p>In 2015, a company called Hatton and Berkeley <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/copyright-trolls-announce-uk-anti-piracy-invasion-151002/">entered the arena</a>. Working with well-known copyright troll partner MaverickEye and several movie producers, the company threatened a huge wave of lawsuits. After an initial flurry of developments over several months, things went quiet. However, there are signs the company is eyeing the space once more.</p>
<p>In a recent email to TorrentFreak, Hatton and Berkeley founder <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/copyright-troll-partner-kicked-uber-driver-in-the-head-160923/">Robert Croucher</a> pointed us to a somewhat tricky to digest article, but with an undoubtedly interesting core.</p>
<p>&#8220;A ‘mutual assured destruction’ scenario was previously an inevitable outcome to any civil litigation in the UK, bringing with it the real risk of creating a zero-sum game where both claimant and defendant would be equally penalized financially creating an economic ‘non-solution’,&#8221; the <a href="https://www.hattonandberkeley.com/hatton-and-berkeley-news/2018/10/9/game-changer">piece</a> reads.</p>
<p>&#8220;To counter the potential risk to rights holders, we opted for an attritional loss model, a proxy battle of sorts, designed to consolidate intellectual property interests &#8211; focussing combined efforts and greatly reducing adverse risk exposure to get over of the zero-sum hurdle.&#8221;</p>
<p>In common with previous announcements from the company, straightforward language is eschewed in favor of an elaborate overview. However, the main take-home from the release is that there is a new facet to be considered in the mass litigation landscape &#8211; Internet piracy insurance. </p>
<p>Offered via UK-based insurance broker <a href="https://integrogroup.com/uk/">Integro</a> and sourced from an unnamed &#8220;‘A’ rated, multinational insurer&#8221;, Piracy Protection cover claims to assist copyright holders to recover lost revenues by making mass litigation against file-sharers (read: BitTorrent users) a less risky exercise.</p>
<p>&#8220;This Insurance is the first of its kind to cover the Rights Holder in their pursuit of Copyright Infringers against three main elements of risk: ISP Adverse Costs; Defendants Costs; Own Court Fees on Loss,&#8221; Integro writes <em>(<a href="media/a00e4e69.Integro-PiracyProtectionCoverFAQscopy.pdf" data-original-source="https://static1.squarespace.com/static/5450c906e4b0eb13d278fe35/t/5bbcd7ebe4966bf6621b271b/1539102701447/Integro+-+Piracy+Protection+Cover+FAQs+copy.pdf">pdf</a>)</em>.</p>
<p>&#8220;Previously Rights Holders have pursued defendants through court, however until now, they have had to bear the significant risk of Adverse Costs which in many cases would be too high to consider.</p>
<p>&#8220;By purchasing this Insurance, 1) you transfer all this risk to the Insurer, 2) you transfer the administrative burden to the Wrapper, and 3) our panel of Specialist<br>
Tier 1 Intellectual Property Lawyers will pursue the infringers through IPEC (Intellectual Property Enterprise Court – A division of the High Court) on your behalf,&#8221; the broker adds.</p>
<p>Croucher informs TF that the &#8216;Wrapper&#8217; is a limited liability partnership (LLP), an entity incorporated to run a business with two or members. Those members can be people or even a company. </p>
<p>&#8220;Hatton &#038; Berkeley is the architect and manager of the insurance wrapper,&#8221; he explains.</p>
<p>&#8220;The LLP is a standard insurance wrapper model, if you can imagine it is similar to managing a fund, principally &#8211; multiple capital accounts, structured reporting to members, and generally reduced overheads as the rights holders consolidate and coordinate their efforts under one banner.&#8221;</p>
<p>Or, as the UK government <a href="https://www.gov.uk/guidance/set-up-and-run-a-limited-liability-partnership-llp">phrases it</a>, &#8220;Each member pays tax on their share of the profits, as in an ‘ordinary’ business partnership, but isn’t personally liable for any debts the business can’t pay.&#8221; Instead, liability is limited to the capital members invest into the LLP.</p>
<p>We put it to Croucher that while there have been plenty of threats to take file-sharers to court, in reality it rarely happens in the UK. It appears that this new type of insurance could be aiming to change that.</p>
<p>&#8220;The scarcity of applications to the Courts (specifically in the UK) are born of the high cost and risk associated with issuing litigious proceedings. This is something that rights holders have been battling against for years, and the core of our involvement to date has been to fix this very problem,&#8221; Croucher notes.</p>
<p>One of the key business areas of Hatton and Berkeley appears to be the formation of companies and indeed, LLPs.</p>
<p>The idea of piracy insurance isn&#8217;t new. More than a decade ago, a Swedish company offered insurance to file-sharers for around $20 per year, in the event they were ever sued for copyright infringement. It wasn&#8217;t particularly popular, mainly because people didn&#8217;t think they were likely to be sued. Croucher seems to believe the new product can be more successful.</p>
<p>&#8220;This type of insurance (Before The Event / After The Event / Legal Expenses hybrid) shares lots of commonality with litigation funding, which is essentially what it is.</p>
<p>&#8220;Attritional loss models are quite common, this is however the first in the world market like this that targets torrent activity specifically and is leveraged to fund legal action at court, and of course covers any adverse risk of loss to the rights holder,&#8221; he concludes.</p>
<p>Whether this type of approach will prove attractive to rightsholders will remain to be seen, as will its effectiveness under pressure. On the other side, the best risk management strategy for current and future BitTorrent users is not to get monitored doing something illegal in the first place.</p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/">TF</a>, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/top-10-most-popular-torrent-sites-of-2018-180107/">torrent sites</a> and more. We also have <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-services-keep-anonymous-2018/">VPN reviews, </a><a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-discount-coupon-offer-torguard-nordvpn-expressvpn-pia/">discounts, offers and coupons</a>.</p>
<div class="feedflare">
<a href="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~ff/Torrentfreak?a=LRdYIFTu_Kc:lLGKnwELk88:yIl2AUoC8zA"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/Torrentfreak?d=yIl2AUoC8zA" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~ff/Torrentfreak?a=LRdYIFTu_Kc:lLGKnwELk88:D7DqB2pKExk"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/Torrentfreak?i=LRdYIFTu_Kc:lLGKnwELk88:D7DqB2pKExk" border="0"></img></a>
</div><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~4/LRdYIFTu_Kc" height="1" width="1" alt=""/>


feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=162181
title: TorrentGalaxy Aims to Bridge the Gap Between Torrents and Streaming
uri: TorrentGalaxy-Aims-to-Bridge-the-Gap-Between-Torrents-and-Streaming
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/y2pThc535zE/
content:
<p><img src="media/ef0d7190.torrentgalax.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/torrentgalax.png" alt="" width="275" height="62" class="alignright size-full wp-image-163523">Roughly a decade ago torrent sites ruled the piracy landscape. </p>
<p>In recent years, however, the public has started to shift to streaming, through authorized services like Netflix but also streaming pirate sites.</p>
<p>Globally, streaming piracy has outgrown torrent sites, many of which still offer pretty much the same deal as ten years ago. While torrents remain an important source for many pirate streams, there has been very little innovation. </p>
<p>Yes, some torrent clients have built-in streaming, and <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/mpaa-we-shut-down-ytsyify-and-popcorn-time-151103/">Popcorn-Time</a> used to be all the rage, for a while at least. But aside from <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/pirate-bay-transforms-into-the-worlds-biggest-streaming-site-160205/">an occasional flirt</a> with torrent-based streams, big players such as The Pirate Bay stick to torrents. </p>
<p>This is something <a href="https://torrentgalaxy.org/">TorrentGalaxy</a> is hoping to change. </p>
<p>For those who haven&#8217;t heard, TorrentGalaxy is a new torrent site that&#8217;s only a few months old. The idea for the site came from ExtraTorrent members and staffers, who were left homeless after it shut down. They were later joined by a number of WWT staffers, with the goal to create a unique torrent site.</p>
<p>While there are already dozens of torrent sites out there, TorrentGalaxy hopes to set itself apart by maintaining an active community and experimenting with new features. This includes streaming, something most torrent sites stay clear of.</p>
<p>&#8220;Torrent sites and their communities feel torrenting is &#8216;better&#8217; than streaming sites and their followers feel the opposite. To us, that whole premise is wrong. That&#8217;s why we came up with the idea to merge streaming into a torrent site,&#8221; TorrentGalaxy informs us.</p>
<p>&#8220;This way users don&#8217;t have to choose a camp, but can use the convenience of streaming while still retaining the quality and portability of torrenting all under the same roof.&#8221; </p>
<p>Since last week, the site has begun offering more than 1,100 active streams. These are not pulled from a shared database but are automatically uploaded to an external stream provider (e.g. Openload) by the site&#8217;s own bots, which also distribute the other [TGx] releases. This means that they are all &#8216;fresh&#8217;. </p>
<p>Technically, it&#8217;s also possible to offer torrent-based streams in the browser, but the site has chosen a centrally hosted alternative instead. This offers more stability and works even if the torrent has no seeds. </p>
<p>&#8220;All new SD TV uploads by TGx bots have an online stream available minutes after the torrent is uploaded. This process is fully automated. Later on, we intend to include TV HD and movies as well,&#8221; we were told.</p>
<p>For die-hard torrent users it may be odd to see a streaming video next to a torrent link. While &#8220;fake&#8221; streaming buttons are a common sight, these ones actually seem to work, without having to jump through hoops. </p>
<p><center><img src="media/70c91310.clicktowatch.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/clicktowatch.png" alt="" width="539" height="58" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-163602"></center></p>
<p>Torrents that have a stream are marked with a separate icon in the torrent listings, and on the detail page, there&#8217;s a &#8220;click to stream&#8221; button that leads visitors to the streaming page. </p>
<p><center><strong>Streaming video, highlighed by TorrentGalaxy</strong><br></br></center><center><img src="media/9ffdc2e0.watchgalaxy.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/watchgalaxy.jpg" alt="" width="600" height="330" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-163603"></center></p>
<p>With the demise of several torrent sites, including the criminal investigation of KickassTorrents, it&#8217;s clear that operating a torrent site is a severe liability. And users who use them to access infringing content are obviously doing so without permission. </p>
<p>Copyright holders, who have grown increasingly worried about streaming sites, are not going to like this development. However, this doesn&#8217;t appear to affect the TorrentGalaxy team. Their prime motivation is to move forward.</p>
<p>&#8220;Our goal is to focus on progress, set the bar higher. Rise the ranks fairly that way. Or at the very least, give a kick up and force the others to start working again. That is why this is not just a new site feature, but important progress in torrent site world.&#8221; </p>
<p>This hasn’t been without controversy either. Just a few weeks ago TGx was <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/ettv-feeds-eztv-fake-torrents-stop-ridding-our-releases-180922/">called out</a> by ETTV who accused the group of ‘taking’ some of its releases. While the site doesn’t deny that they used scene releases that were distributed by ETTV early on, they say they&#8217;ve stopped doing so <a href="https://torrentgalaxy.org/forums.php?action=viewtopic&#038;topicid=411&#038;page=1#post18476">a long time ago</a>, something our research tends to confirm.</p>
<p>Whether the hybrid model will be welcomed by others has yet to be seen. Traditionally there has been quite a bit of competition between torrent and streaming sites, but according to TorrentGalaxy, it&#8217;s time to bury the hatchet.</p>
<p>&#8220;There is somewhat of a wedge between torrent and streaming audiences and it is a mistake if we do not try to unify those. The tight release organizing and quality control of the torrent standards combined with the convenience of streaming is powerful progress.&#8221; </p>
<p>Whether users want to use torrents or streams is entirely up to them, TorrentGalaxy says. In some cases, an SD streaming video may be more suited to get a quick glance, while an HD download may be preferred for others. </p>
<p>&#8220;It should not have to be a one or the other choice. Now that&#8217;s the power of a hybrid torrent/streaming site. And I would very much like to see that becoming the standard for all large-scale general piracy sites,&#8221; TorrentGalaxy concludes.</p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/">TF</a>, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/top-10-most-popular-torrent-sites-of-2018-180107/">torrent sites</a> and more. We also have <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-services-keep-anonymous-2018/">VPN reviews, </a><a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-discount-coupon-offer-torguard-nordvpn-expressvpn-pia/">discounts, offers and coupons</a>.</p>
<div class="feedflare">
<a href="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~ff/Torrentfreak?a=y2pThc535zE:hvaIS6syi6k:yIl2AUoC8zA"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/Torrentfreak?d=yIl2AUoC8zA" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~ff/Torrentfreak?a=y2pThc535zE:hvaIS6syi6k:D7DqB2pKExk"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/Torrentfreak?i=y2pThc535zE:hvaIS6syi6k:D7DqB2pKExk" border="0"></img></a>
</div><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~4/y2pThc535zE" height="1" width="1" alt=""/>


feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=163697
title: Anti-Piracy Group SAFACT is Shutting Down Following Scandal
uri: Anti-Piracy-Group-SAFACT-is-Shutting-Down-Following-Scandal
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/bcorY-uudkE/
content:
<p><img src="media/23487428.safact.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/safact.png" alt="" width="261" height="151" class="alignright size-full wp-image-163699">Founded in 1999, the Southern African Federation Against Copyright Theft (<a href="https://www.saf-act.co.za/">SAFACT</a>) has been fighting piracy for nearly two decades. </p>
<p>The group was long supported by a variety of media industry groups, but in recent years, things have gone downhill. </p>
<p>While the group still <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/copyright-holders-want-isps-to-police-pirate-sites-and-issue-warnings-171124/">lobbied for</a> tougher anti-piracy measures recently, SAFACT&#8217;s official website and social media accounts have been quiet for years. </p>
<p>In recent months matters took a turn for the worse. MyBroadband <a href="https://mybroadband.co.za/news/business/282923-safact-shutting-down-amid-management-scandal.html">reports</a> that the anti-piracy group is shutting down after several members decided to pull their funding.</p>
<p>Employees were informed about the decision to retrench in a letter they received mid-October. They were asked to vacate their offices and were promised one week in severance pay for every year served.</p>
<p>“The SAFACT board of directors do not believe that there is any compelling reasons that an organization such as SAFACT should still be in existence,” the letter, seen by MyBroadband, reads.</p>
<p>“It is not anticipated by the directors of SAFACT that any new members will want to fund SAFACT. SAFACT has effectively become dormant as it cannot operate without any funding.”</p>
<p>While no further details on the sudden course change were provided, recent scandals at the organization didn&#8217;t help. </p>
<p>Two of SAFACT&#8217;s female employees have accused a senior executive of sexual harassment. The executive refused to participate in the resulting disciplinary proceedings and resigned instead. </p>
<p>In addition, MyBroadband reports that a large sum of money disappeared and that there were various accusations of administrative and mismanagement. The company&#8217;s official records still list various directors who are no longer with the organization, for example. </p>
<p>Peter Dignan, Managing Director for United International Pictures in South Africa, is the current chair. When asked about the trouble he pointed to the lack of funding, without providing more detail. </p>
<p>Reportedly, all members &#8211; including the MPA, Disney Africa, and Multichoice &#8211; have either withdrawn their funding or indicated that they planned to do so. This left SAFACT with no other option than to close shop. </p>
<p>Over the past several years, the anti-piracy group has been in the news on several occasions, booking some successes locally. For example, it was the driving force behind South Africa&#8217;s first online piracy case, where a Pirate Bay user was <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/landmark-case-sees-pirate-bay-user-hit-with-5-year-sentence-140417/">sentenced to five years in prison</a>.</p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/">TF</a>, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/top-10-most-popular-torrent-sites-of-2018-180107/">torrent sites</a> and more. We also have <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-services-keep-anonymous-2018/">VPN reviews, </a><a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-discount-coupon-offer-torguard-nordvpn-expressvpn-pia/">discounts, offers and coupons</a>.</p>
<div class="feedflare">
<a href="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~ff/Torrentfreak?a=bcorY-uudkE:81WDrUgLQfg:yIl2AUoC8zA"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/Torrentfreak?d=yIl2AUoC8zA" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~ff/Torrentfreak?a=bcorY-uudkE:81WDrUgLQfg:D7DqB2pKExk"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/Torrentfreak?i=bcorY-uudkE:81WDrUgLQfg:D7DqB2pKExk" border="0"></img></a>
</div><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~4/bcorY-uudkE" height="1" width="1" alt=""/>


feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=163691
title: Top 10 Most Pirated Movies of The Week on BitTorrent – 11/05/18
uri: Top-10-Most-Pirated-Movies-of-The-Week-on-BitTorrent-11-05-18
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/aHtQDn2Kxog/
content:
<p><img src="media/d54195ff.theequalizer2.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/theequalizer2.jpg" alt="" width="300" height="209" class="alignright size-full wp-image-163693">This week we have five newcomers in our chart.</p>
<p>Incredibles 2 is the most downloaded movie.</p>
<p>The data for our weekly download chart is estimated by TorrentFreak, and is for informational and educational reference only. All the movies in the list are Web-DL/Webrip/HDRip/BDrip/DVDrip unless stated otherwise.</p>
<p><a href="http://TorrentFreak.com/category/dvdrip/feed/"><strong>RSS feed</strong></a> for the articles of the recent weekly movie download charts.</p>
<h5>This week&#8217;s most downloaded movies are:</h5>
<table class="css hover">
<thead>
<tr>
<th width="12%"><strong>Movie Rank</strong></th>
<th width="15%"><strong>Rank <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/top-10-pirated-movies-week-bittorrent-10-29-18/">last week</a></strong></th>
<th><strong>Movie name</strong></th>
<th width="18%"><strong>IMDb Rating / Trailer</strong></th>
</tr>
</thead>
<tfoot>
<tr>
<td colspan="4">Most downloaded movies via torrents</td>
</tr>
</tfoot>
<tbody>
<tr>
<td><strong>1</strong></td>
<td>(&#8230;)</td>
<td><a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt3766354/">The Equalizer 2</a> </td>
<td><a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt3766354/">6.9</a> / <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HyNJ3UrGk_I">trailer</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><strong>2</strong></td>
<td>(&#8230;)</td>
<td><a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt4779682/">The Meg</a> </td>
<td><a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt4779682/">5.9</a> / <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HXCMAGLJWwU">trailer</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><strong>3</strong></td>
<td>(1)</td>
<td><a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt3606756/">Incredibles 2</a> </td>
<td><a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt3606756/">8.0</a> / <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i5qOzqD9Rms">trailer</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><strong>4</strong></td>
<td>(&#8230;)</td>
<td><a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt5814060/">The Nun</a> (subbed HDRip)</td>
<td><a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt5814060/">5.7</a> / <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pzD9zGcUNrw&#038;t=4s">trailer</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><strong>5</strong></td>
<td>(&#8230;)</td>
<td><a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt4560436/">Mile 22</a> </td>
<td><a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt4560436/">6.1</a> / <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ton2-vP99VQ">trailer</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><strong>6</strong></td>
<td>(3)</td>
<td><a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt4244998/">Alpha</a> </td>
<td><a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt4244998/">6.9</a> / <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uIxnTi4GmCo">trailer</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><strong>7</strong></td>
<td>(&#8230;)</td>
<td><a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt5093026/">Papillon</a> </td>
<td><a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt5093026/">7.0</a> / <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xqj7XOv9mC8">trailer</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><strong>8</strong></td>
<td>(2)</td>
<td><a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt6663582/">The Spy Who Dumped Me</a> </td>
<td><a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt6663582/">6.2</a> / <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kjaHhduqS5o">trailer</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><strong>9</strong></td>
<td>(10)</td>
<td><a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt7349662/">BlacKkKlansman</a> </td>
<td><a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt7349662/">7.7</a> / <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fQNZhs0QKq0">trailer</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><strong>10</strong></td>
<td>(4)</td>
<td><a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt4575576/">Christopher Robin</a> </td>
<td><a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt4575576/">7.6</a> / <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0URpDxIjZrQ">trailer</a></td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/">TF</a>, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/top-10-most-popular-torrent-sites-of-2018-180107/">torrent sites</a> and more. We also have <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-services-keep-anonymous-2018/">VPN reviews, </a><a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-discount-coupon-offer-torguard-nordvpn-expressvpn-pia/">discounts, offers and coupons</a>.</p>
<div class="feedflare">
<a href="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~ff/Torrentfreak?a=aHtQDn2Kxog:yHzB3bND-KA:yIl2AUoC8zA"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/Torrentfreak?d=yIl2AUoC8zA" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~ff/Torrentfreak?a=aHtQDn2Kxog:yHzB3bND-KA:D7DqB2pKExk"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/Torrentfreak?i=aHtQDn2Kxog:yHzB3bND-KA:D7DqB2pKExk" border="0"></img></a>
</div><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~4/aHtQDn2Kxog" height="1" width="1" alt=""/>


feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=163705
title: Man From Earth Director Slams Pirates, Promotional Love Affair Over
uri: Man-From-Earth-Director-Slams-Pirates-Promotional-Love-Affair-Over
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/xVY0cZgdENA/
content:
<p><img src="media/5eb6ecee.manfromearth.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com//images/manfromearth.jpg" width="175" height="225" class="alignright size-large">With a backdrop of Hollywood waging war on pirates and pirate sites, 2007 delivered a ray of light for BitTorrent users and filmmakers alike. </p>
<p>After being produced on a tiny budget, an almost unknown independent sci-fi film called “The Man From Earth” appeared on pirate sites after someone obtained a promotional screener and uploaded it to the Internet, weeks before its official release.</p>
<p>While this type of development is often labeled as disastrous by movie executives, The Man From Earth director Richard Schenkman was very upbeat indeed.</p>
<p>“A week or two before the DVD’s ‘street date’, we jumped 11,000% on the IMDb ‘Moviemeter’ and we were shocked,” Schenkman <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/producer-thanks-pirates-for-stealing-his-film-071113/">told</a> TorrentFreak at the time.</p>
<p>Piracy had been labeled as a great promotional vehicle before but the team behind the movie really embraced it, with producer Eric Wilkinson writing to the operators of RLSlog, a once-popular piracy links site – to thank them for their support.</p>
<p>“Our independent movie had next to no advertising budget and very little going for it until somebody ripped one of the DVD screeners and put the movie online for all to download,&#8221; Wilkinson said.</p>
<p>&#8220;Most of the feedback from everyone who has downloaded ‘The Man From Earth’ has been overwhelmingly positive. People like our movie and are talking about it, all thanks to piracy on the net!&#8221;</p>
<p>The Man From Earth went on to win multiple awards and did really well on Netflix, so it was a nice development when the movie&#8217;s sequel &#8211; The Man from Earth: Holocene &#8211; appeared on The Pirate Bay upon release earlier this year. This time, however, the team had decided to &#8216;leak&#8217; the movie themselves, hoping to follow the success of the original more than ten years earlier.</p>
<p>“It was going to get uploaded regardless of what we did or didn’t do, and we figured that as long as this was inevitable, we would do the uploading ourselves and explain why we were doing it,” Schenkman told TF.</p>
<p>“And, we would once again reach out to the filesharing community and remind them that while movies may be free to watch, they are not free to make, and we need their support.”</p>
<p>The team hoped that pirates would flock to the movie&#8217;s &#8216;tip jar&#8217; while using word-of-mouth advertising to ensure that the sequel did as well as the original. When speaking to TF in January 2018, Schenkman was really upbeat and enthusiastic but somewhere on the way, something went wrong &#8211; very wrong indeed.</p>
<p>In a new piece published by pro-industry, anti-piracy alliance <a href="https://creativefuture.org/richard-schenkman/">Creative Future</a>, Schenkman rips into pirates big and small. While noting that the sci-fi sequel has been downloaded almost a million times with uncounted streaming views on top, just 7,000 people supported it with donations.</p>
<p>&#8220;If each one of the illegal downloaders (to say nothing of the streamers) had donated just one dollar, we would have already broken even on Holocene and been well on the road toward making our next film. Alas, most people aren’t willing – or able – to pay even that much,&#8221; Schenkman says.</p>
<p>But while individual pirates didn&#8217;t dig as deeply as Schenkman would&#8217;ve liked, he says his venture also fell victim to commercially motivated pirates who took his movie, hired actors, and had it professionally dubbed in Russian &#8211; all without permission.</p>
<p>&#8220;[I] learned through this experiment that there are people who don’t merely pirate a film, but who are willing to take full advantage of producers like us – who, remember, are offering our movie for free – for their own profit,&#8221; he explains.</p>
<p>&#8220;I’m talking about Green Ray, a Russian &#8216;distribution company&#8217; that created a dubbed version of Holocene and offered it on their website. Not only did they do so without any permission, but they removed my donation preface and replaced it with an advertisement so they could monetize it.&#8221;</p>
<p>Schenkman says he wrote to Green Ray&#8217;s operators, suggesting that in the absence of them leaving the donation elements intact, a revenue-sharing arrangement might be in order. To date, the site has not offered a response. </p>
<p>While it could be argued that Green Ray&#8217;s adaption of The Man from Earth: Holocene ensured the movie could be enjoyed by a new audience, the commercial exploitation of the movie in this manner is extremely blatant, to say the least, so it&#8217;s hardly a surprise that Schenkman is disappointed.</p>
<p>&#8220;Clearly, there is an audience in Russia who cares about seeing a high-quality version of our movie. Perhaps this same audience would have even been willing to pay the actual filmmakers behind the movie to watch it. Now, we will never know,&#8221; he says.</p>
<p>Despite his early love affair with pirates (which appeared to still exist early this year), the director now finds himself singing the same anti-piracy tune as the majority of film creators around him. Movies aren&#8217;t free to make, he points out, so people need to understand they can&#8217;t be free to watch either.</p>
<p>&#8220;The lion’s share of films that get released aren’t studio blockbusters, but super low-budget projects from independent filmmakers who struggled just to get their films produced in the first place – and who are very lucky if they break even on them,&#8221; he says.</p>
<p>Of course, it&#8217;s difficult for Schenkman to deny that the original movie benefited greatly from pirates and that his team believed that the sequel could follow in its footsteps. But now, barely 10 months on, he&#8217;s done a complete 180, noting that if there&#8217;s no financial support for the people who make them, movies like his won&#8217;t be made.</p>
<p>&#8220;We need to educate our audience to understand that we are the same as them: working people who love cinema. Piracy poses an existential threat to all of us,&#8221; he concludes.</p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/">TF</a>, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/top-10-most-popular-torrent-sites-of-2018-180107/">torrent sites</a> and more. We also have <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-services-keep-anonymous-2018/">VPN reviews, </a><a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-discount-coupon-offer-torguard-nordvpn-expressvpn-pia/">discounts, offers and coupons</a>.</p>
<div class="feedflare">
<a href="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~ff/Torrentfreak?a=xVY0cZgdENA:wm0i2E7Lt5w:yIl2AUoC8zA"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/Torrentfreak?d=yIl2AUoC8zA" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~ff/Torrentfreak?a=xVY0cZgdENA:wm0i2E7Lt5w:D7DqB2pKExk"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/Torrentfreak?i=xVY0cZgdENA:wm0i2E7Lt5w:D7DqB2pKExk" border="0"></img></a>
</div><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~4/xVY0cZgdENA" height="1" width="1" alt=""/>


feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=163736
title: Chrome Update Targets ‘Abusive’ Ads Used on Some Pirate Sites
uri: Chrome-Update-Targets-Abusive-Ads-Used-on-Some-Pirate-Sites
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/ULpq-F3D5Ng/
content:
<p><a href="media/1d5ba269.chrome.jpg" data-original-source="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/images/chrome.jpg"><img src="media/53764347.chrome.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/chrome.jpg" alt="" width="222" height="222" class="alignright size-full wp-image-100967" srcset="https://torrentfreak.com/images/chrome.jpg 222w, https://torrentfreak.com/images/chrome-150x150.jpg 150w" sizes="(max-width: 222px) 100vw, 222px"></a>More than a decade ago, users visiting torrent and file-hosting platforms were often greeted with the same quality of ads present on many regular sites.</p>
<p>Leading companies and brands had few problems with their marketing appearing on major &#8216;pirate&#8217; sites, with visitors to The Pirate Bay, for example, regularly viewing ads indirectly placed by huge corporations.</p>
<p>Over the years, as anti-piracy groups have sought to deprive &#8216;pirate&#8217; platforms of their revenue streams, many sites have found themselves pushed towards lower grade ad networks that they previously wouldn&#8217;t have considered. This has not only led to a decrease in ad quality but often reduced revenues for the sites in question.</p>
<p>Perhaps inevitably, undesirable ads sometimes creep through the net, including popups, popunders, fake download buttons and forced downloads. These can often be prevented with a good ad-blocker but Google itself has taken steps with measures built directly into Chrome, targeting malicious ads on all platforms, not just pirate sites.</p>
<p>Google&#8217;s Safe Browsing initiative was launched more than ten years ago and in 2016, the company <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/google-targets-fake-download-and-play-buttons-160204/">announced steps</a> to hit fake &#8216;download&#8217; and &#8216;play&#8217; buttons. Last November, Google <a href="https://blog.chromium.org/2017/11/expanding-user-protections-on-web.html">said</a> that Chrome version 68 would try to prevent unexpected redirects to a new page in a new tab, a phenomenon many streaming site users will be familiar with.</p>
<p><center><strong>&#8220;A play button that sends a user to an unwanted APK (left) and a close<br>
button that triggers popups (right)&#8221;</strong><br></br></center><center><img src="media/2dc6fda3.popups.gif" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/popups.gif" alt="" width="300" height="300" class="alignleft size-full wp-image-163743"><img src="media/b973c8be.apk.gif" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/apk.gif" alt="" width="300" height="300" class="alignright size-full wp-image-163744"></center></p>
<p>While these efforts had some effect, a new announcement from Google suggests that the systems built into Chrome need to be improved.</p>
<p>&#8220;These protections blocked pop-ups and new window requests from sites with certain abusive experiences like redirecting pages. However, we&#8217;ve learned since then that this approach did not go far enough,&#8221; <a href="https://blog.chromium.org/2018/11/further-protections-from-harmful-ad.html?m=1">says</a> Google Product Manager Vivek Sekhar.</p>
<p>&#8220;In fact, more than half of these abusive experiences are not blocked by our current set of protections, and nearly all involve harmful or misleading ads. These ads trick users into clicking on them by pretending to be system warnings or &#8216;close&#8217; buttons that do not actually close the ad. Further, some of these abusive ad experiences are used by scammers and phishing schemes to steal personal information.&#8221;</p>
<p>As a result, Google has announced that starting in December, Chrome 71 will remove ALL ads on the &#8220;small number of sites&#8221; with persistent abusive experiences, something which will hopefully encourage a speedy response to potential issues.</p>
<p>Site owners will be able to check their own sites against the &#8216;<a href="https://www.google.com/webmasters/tools/abusive-experience-unverified">Abusive Experiences Report</a>&#8216; in their Google Search Console to check if they are affected. If changes aren&#8217;t made within 30 days, Chrome will remove all of their ads.</p>
<p>Google stresses that it always wants users to be in control of their own browsing experiences. So, if they choose, Chrome users will be able to disable &#8216;abusive site filtering&#8217; by toggling it off in the browser&#8217;s settings.</p>
<p>TorrentFreak spoke with a small number of &#8216;pirate&#8217; site owners about the update but none expressed particular concern. That being said, the sites that are most likely to fall into Google&#8217;s traps are often the least likely to respond to our questions, so time will tell how they fare following the update.</p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/">TF</a>, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/top-10-most-popular-torrent-sites-of-2018-180107/">torrent sites</a> and more. We also have <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-services-keep-anonymous-2018/">VPN reviews, </a><a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-discount-coupon-offer-torguard-nordvpn-expressvpn-pia/">discounts, offers and coupons</a>.</p>
<div class="feedflare">
<a href="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~ff/Torrentfreak?a=ULpq-F3D5Ng:45xLPLTAStQ:yIl2AUoC8zA"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/Torrentfreak?d=yIl2AUoC8zA" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~ff/Torrentfreak?a=ULpq-F3D5Ng:45xLPLTAStQ:D7DqB2pKExk"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/Torrentfreak?i=ULpq-F3D5Ng:45xLPLTAStQ:D7DqB2pKExk" border="0"></img></a>
</div><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~4/ULpq-F3D5Ng" height="1" width="1" alt=""/>


feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=163800
title: AT&T to Terminate First Customers Over Piracy Accusations
uri: AT-T-to-Terminate-First-Customers-Over-Piracy-Accusations
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/Tb8dyjchxlA/
content:
<p><img src="media/f2bfe741.pirate-running.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/pirate-running.jpg" alt="" width="222" height="204" class="alignright size-full wp-image-78717">For roughly two decades, copyright holders have been sending ISPs takedown notices to alert account holders that their connections are being used to share copyrighted material.</p>
<p>These notices are traditionally nothing more than a warning, hoping to scare file-sharers into giving up their habit. In recent years, this has slowly changed. </p>
<p>In the past, AT&#038;T and other ISPs said that they would never terminate accounts of customers <a href="https://www.cnet.com/news/is-at-t-violating-dmca-by-not-booting-repeat-infringers/">without a court order</a>, arguing that only a court can decide what constitutes a repeat infringement. </p>
<p>However, after rightsholders filed several <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/cox-communications-sued-for-not-disconnecting-pirates-141128/">high profile</a> lawsuits against ISPs, many companies have revised their policies. This also appears to be the case at AT&#038;T, which reportedly plans to terminate its first customers over piracy allegations.</p>
<p>The ISP, which is the third-largest broadband provider in the US, plans to terminate over a dozen persistent &#8216;pirates&#8217; next week, <a href="https://www.axios.com/scoop-att-to-terminate-service-over-piracy-for-first-time-1541465187-749442e3-7b71-4cc7-a694-865779b6fb96.html">Axios reports</a>. </p>
<p>The customers in question have received repeated warnings. AT&#038;T states that it reached out to educate them about copyright infringement and prevent the issue from reoccurring, apparently without result.   </p>
<p>&#8220;A small number of customers who continue to receive additional copyright infringement notifications from content owners despite our efforts to educate them, will have their service discontinued,” an AT&#038;T spokesperson said, commenting on the news.</p>
<p>AT&#038;T is by no means the only ISP that terminates persistent pirates, but it&#8217;s a noteworthy step since the company is no longer convinced that a court order is required to do so. </p>
<p>This lack of clarity is, in part, due to the language in the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) that deals with takedown notices. </p>
<p>The DMCA requires ISPs to <em>“… adopt and reasonably implement a policy that provides for the termination in appropriate circumstances of subscribers and account holders of the service provider’s system or network who are repeat infringers.”</em></p>
<p>The term &#8220;repeat infringer&#8221; is open to interpretation. Are these infringers by a court&#8217;s standards, or merely based on allegations from copyright holders? </p>
<p>Where AT&#038;T previously said that a court order was needed, it will now terminate customers based on allegations from copyright holders. </p>
<p>There is little doubt that many of the repeatedly flagged subscribers have a &#8216;pirate&#8217; in their household. That said, without a proper judicial review of the evidence, there&#8217;s more room for error.</p>
<p>AT&#038;T and several other ISPs previously took part in the <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/the-us-six-strikes-anti-piracy-scheme-is-dead-170128/">Copyright Alert System</a>. Together with the MPAA and RIAA, they agreed to send warning notices to alleged pirates, escalating repeat infringers through a series of &#8220;mitigation&#8221; measures.</p>
<p>Ironically, this scheme didn&#8217;t require any of the ISPs to terminate any subscribers, although <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/att-threatens-persistent-pirates-with-account-termination-130913/">AT&#038;T threatened to do so</a>.</p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/">TF</a>, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/top-10-most-popular-torrent-sites-of-2018-180107/">torrent sites</a> and more. We also have <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-services-keep-anonymous-2018/">VPN reviews, </a><a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-discount-coupon-offer-torguard-nordvpn-expressvpn-pia/">discounts, offers and coupons</a>.</p>
<div class="feedflare">
<a href="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~ff/Torrentfreak?a=Tb8dyjchxlA:lg-42WE5rWs:yIl2AUoC8zA"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/Torrentfreak?d=yIl2AUoC8zA" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~ff/Torrentfreak?a=Tb8dyjchxlA:lg-42WE5rWs:D7DqB2pKExk"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/Torrentfreak?i=Tb8dyjchxlA:lg-42WE5rWs:D7DqB2pKExk" border="0"></img></a>
</div><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~4/Tb8dyjchxlA" height="1" width="1" alt=""/>


feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=163760
title: Romanian ISPs to Block The Pirate Bay Following Hollywood Complaint
uri: Romanian-ISPs-to-Block-The-Pirate-Bay-Following-Hollywood-Complaint
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/r0o-8_xaOpI/
content:
<p><a href="media/fd06f581.pirate-bay.jpg" data-original-source="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/images/pirate-bay.jpg"><img src="media/2a43984f.pirate-bay.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/pirate-bay.jpg" alt="" width="200" height="207" class="alignright size-full wp-image-53470"></a>While Hollywood has yet to have any &#8216;pirate&#8217; sites blocked by Internet service providers in the United States, over in Europe the picture is rather more intense.</p>
<p>At least 17 countries in the European Union now have active site-blocking programs, at last count blocking more than 1,800 sites and 5,300 related domains. This week, action by several major Hollywood studios came to fruition, adding Romania to the list.</p>
<p>In July 2017, Twentieth Century Fox, Universal City Studios, Universal Cable, Warner Bros., Paramount Pictures, Disney, Columbia Pictures, and Sony Pictures targeted multiple Romanian ISPs with demands to block three pirate sites.</p>
<p>Of course, top of the list was The Pirate Bay, the torrent site with a reputation for being the galaxy&#8217;s most resilient, despite being blocked all around the world by dozens of ISPs. Also targeted were Filmehd.net and Filmeonline2013.biz, two movie and TV show streaming portals that are particularly popular with locals.</p>
<p>According to a brief decision published by the Romanian Ministry of Justice, several ISPs including market leader RCS &#038; RDS, Telekom Romania, UPC Romania, Digital Cable Systems, AKTA Telecom, and Nextgen Communication were defendants in the case and are now required to block a long list of domains <em>(see below)</em>.</p>
<p>The decision, which is underpinned by a <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/pirate-bay-facilitates-piracy-and-can-be-blocked-top-eu-court-rules-170614/">ruling on site-blocking</a> handed down by the European Court of Justice in 2017, is the first of its kind in Romania.</p>
<p>The decision is not yet final and can be appealed within 30 days to the Bucharest Court of Appeal. It is not clear if any of the ISPs intend to do so.</p>
<p>The decision requires the defendant ISPs to implement what appears to be a straightforward DNS blocking regime on fixed-line services. This means that customers of the affected ISPs may be able to switch to a secondary DNS provider (such as Google or OpenDNS) to evade the blocks, once they&#8217;ve been put in place.</p>
<p>As <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/mpa-reveals-scale-of-worldwide-pirate-site-blocking-180410/">revealed</a> earlier this year, The Pirate Bay is now being blocked in at least 19 countries, including Argentina, Australia, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, France, Greece, Iceland, Indonesia, Ireland, Italy, Malaysia, Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, and the United Kingdom.</p>
<p>As a result of this widespread blocking, there are now hundreds of ways to access the site, via alternative domains, mirrors, proxies, <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-services-keep-anonymous-2018/">VPNs</a> and even Tor. A huge ecosystem of third-party sites has sprung up to facilitate access to the site, with new domains appearing on a regular basis.</p>
<p>That goes some way to explaining why the Romanian order is so lengthy. Not only does it block ThePirateBay.org, but dozens of other domains, as listed below.</p>
<p><strong><em>Domains to be blocked according to the latest Romanian decision</em></strong></p>
<p><em>FilmeHD &#8211; filmehd.net</p>
<p>FilmeOnline2013 &#8211; filmeonline2013.biz</p>
<p>The Pirate Bay &#8211; thepiratebay.org, http://fbay.maik.rocks, http://bayproxy.net, http://thepiratebayz.org, http://tpb.portalimg.com, https://fastpiratebay.co.uk, https://gameofbay.org, https://ikwilthepiratebay.org, https://oldbayproxy.eu, https://pirate.trade, https://piratebay.click, https://piratebay.red, https://piratebayblocked.corn, https://piratebaymirror.eu, https://piratebayproxy.be, https://piratebayproxy.tf, https://piratebays.co, https://piratebays.co. uk, https://pirateproxy.cam, https://pirateproxy.dick, https://pirateproxy.sh, https://pirateproxy.tf, https://pirateproxy.wf, https://pirateproxy.yt, https://thebay.tv, https://thehiddenbay.cc, https://thehiddenbay.fi, https://thehiddenbay.info, https://thehiddenbay.ws, https://thepiratebay.bypassed.st, https://thepiratebay.co.in, https://thepiratebay.rocks, https://thepiratebay.uk.net, https://thepiratebay.unblocker.cc, https://thepiratebay-proxy.com, https://tpbbay.eu, https://tpbmirror.us, https://tpbunblocked.org, https://ukpirate.dick, https://ukpirate.org, https://ukpirateproxy.xyz, https://unblockedbay.info, https://urbanproxy.eu</em></p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/">TF</a>, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/top-10-most-popular-torrent-sites-of-2018-180107/">torrent sites</a> and more. We also have <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-services-keep-anonymous-2018/">VPN reviews, </a><a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-discount-coupon-offer-torguard-nordvpn-expressvpn-pia/">discounts, offers and coupons</a>.</p>
<div class="feedflare">
<a href="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~ff/Torrentfreak?a=r0o-8_xaOpI:JUkIjxTtix8:yIl2AUoC8zA"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/Torrentfreak?d=yIl2AUoC8zA" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~ff/Torrentfreak?a=r0o-8_xaOpI:JUkIjxTtix8:D7DqB2pKExk"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/Torrentfreak?i=r0o-8_xaOpI:JUkIjxTtix8:D7DqB2pKExk" border="0"></img></a>
</div><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~4/r0o-8_xaOpI" height="1" width="1" alt=""/>


feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=163825
title: Google’s Anti-Piracy Efforts Pass IPO’s Test With Flying Colors
uri: Google-s-Anti-Piracy-Efforts-Pass-IPO-s-Test-With-Flying-Colors
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/RMcf3Fd6FM8/
content:
<p><img src="media/2c148e3b.howgooglefights.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/howgooglefights.png" alt="" width="250" height="229" class="alignright size-full wp-image-163828">The entertainment industries have repeatedly accused Google of not doing enough to limit piracy while demanding tougher action.</p>
<p>For its part, Google regularly publishes updates on the extensive measures it takes to limit piracy on its platforms. </p>
<p>The company has today released the latest iteration of its “How Google Fights Piracy” report. It highlights how the company generates billions in revenue for the entertainment industries while at the same time takes measures to counter copyright infringement.</p>
<p>The company explains that its anti-piracy efforts are guided by five principles, starting with more and better legal alternatives. </p>
<p>&#8220;Piracy often arises when consumer demand goes unmet by legitimate supply. The best way to battle piracy is with better, more convenient, legitimate alternatives to piracy, which can do far more than attempts at enforcement can,&#8221; Google writes.</p>
<p>The other principles include a &#8220;follow-the-money&#8221; approach, effective and scalable anti-piracy solutions, protection against abuse such as fabricated copyright infringement allegations, and transparency. </p>
<p>A large portion of the report describes Google&#8217;s policies and results regarding web search. The company stresses that it doesn&#8217;t want to link to any pirated content, but that it relies on copyright holders to pinpoint these URLs.</p>
<p>&#8220;Google does not want to include links to infringing material in our search results, and we make significant efforts to prevent infringing webpages from appearing,&#8221; the company writes.</p>
<p>&#8220;The heart of those efforts is cooperation with creators and rightsholders to identify and remove results that link to infringing content and to present legitimate alternatives.&#8221;</p>
<p>Aside from removing more than three billion URLs in recent years, the search engine also helps to promote legal alternatives. This includes &#8220;knowledge cards&#8221; (which, incidentally, <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/google-promotes-pirate-movie-ratings-in-search-snippet-160531/">have featured pirate links too</a>), as well as offering copyright holders SEO advice. </p>
<p>Earlier this year we reported that the number of takedown notices was <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/google-search-receives-fewer-takedown-notices-than-before-180414/">starting to decrease</a> for the first time in years, and Google confirms that observation in its report.</p>
<p>&#8220;The number of URLs listed in takedown requests decreased by 9%, reversing a long-term trend where the number of URLs requested for removal increased year-over-year,&#8221; the company writes. </p>
<p>Last year, Google was asked to remove 882 million URLs in total, of which 95% were removed. In addition, more than <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/google-downranks-65000-pirate-sites-in-search-results-180629/">65,000 sites</a> that were flagged persistently have been demoted in search results, lowering their visibility.</p>
<p>This demotion measure is &#8220;extremely effective&#8221; according to the search giant. </p>
<p>&#8220;Immediately upon launching improvements to our demotion signal in 2014, one major torrent site acknowledged traffic from search engines had dropped by 50% within the first week,&#8221; Google notes, citing <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/googles-new-downranking-hits-pirate-sites-hard-141023/">a TorrentFreak report</a>. </p>
<p>Perhaps more importantly, Google&#8217;s demotion measures also passed the tests that were carried out under the <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/search-engines-and-rightsholders-sign-landmark-anti-piracy-deal-170220/">Voluntary Code of Practice</a> that Google entered into alongside Microsoft and major UK rightsholder organizations.</p>
<p>This agreement was signaled by the rightsholders as a landmark deal and, reportedly, Google is doing well. </p>
<p>Thus far, four rounds of tests have been carried out to check whether search engines sufficiently limit the availability of infringing content. These are based on guidelines set by the UK&#8217;s Intellectual Property Office (IPO). Google passed them all.</p>
<p>&#8220;Thanks to the demotion signal and our other efforts to surface legitimate results in response to media-related queries, Google Search has passed the test every time with flying colors — scoring considerably under the thresholds agreed with the IPO,&#8221; Google reveals.</p>
<p>This suggests that the search engine doesn&#8217;t have much to fear from the UK Government, which previously warned that &#8220;legislative&#8221; measures could follow if search engines didn&#8217;t step up their game.</p>
<p>While Google says that it&#8217;s doing its best, the company is convinced that search is not a major driver to pirate sites and stresses that they don&#8217;t control what is on the web.</p>
<p>The company reiterates its earlier position that removing entire domains from search results is unacceptable, as that would restrict access to legitimate content as well. Similarly, &#8220;filtering&#8221; the entire web for pirated content is not an option either.</p>
<p>&#8220;It is a myth that Google could create a tool to filter the web for allegedly infringing material and remove images, video, and text from our search results proactively. Such a system is both infeasible and unnecessary,&#8221; Google writes. </p>
<p>Aside from search, Google has also removed content from its other services including YouTube, Google Drive, and Google images. Some of these services were <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/google-has-a-hard-time-keeping-streaming-pirates-at-bay-170527/">extensively abused</a> by streaming sites last year, but Google says it has taken steps to counter this.</p>
<p>Finally, no anti-piracy report these days would be complete without a Kodi mention. The streaming software, which is perfectly legal in its own right, is regularly used in combination with third-party piracy add-ons. </p>
<p>Google, which banned the term Kodi <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/google-adds-kodi-to-autocomplete-piracy-filter-180328/">from its auto-complete feature</a>, says it removed several set-top boxes with &#8220;suspicious&#8221; add-ons from Google Shopping. In addition, the Play Store is closely monitored to flag apps with pre-installed pirate Kodi add-ons before they appear online.</p>
<p>In closing, Google notes that it remains committed to fighting piracy on all fronts, albeit not at all costs.</p>
<p>&#8220;Through continued innovation and partnership, we’re committed to rolling back bad actors while empowering the creative communities who make everything we love about the internet today.&#8221;</p>
<p><em>&#8212;</p>
<p>A copy of the most recent &#8220;How Google Fights Piracy&#8221; report <a href="media/9bec759a.GO806_Google_FightsPiracy_eReader_final.pdf" data-original-source="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/images/GO806_Google_FightsPiracy_eReader_final.pdf">is available here (pdf)</a>.</em></p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/">TF</a>, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/top-10-most-popular-torrent-sites-of-2018-180107/">torrent sites</a> and more. We also have <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-services-keep-anonymous-2018/">VPN reviews, </a><a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-discount-coupon-offer-torguard-nordvpn-expressvpn-pia/">discounts, offers and coupons</a>.</p>
<div class="feedflare">
<a href="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~ff/Torrentfreak?a=RMcf3Fd6FM8:7xc48DTOYaA:yIl2AUoC8zA"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/Torrentfreak?d=yIl2AUoC8zA" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~ff/Torrentfreak?a=RMcf3Fd6FM8:7xc48DTOYaA:D7DqB2pKExk"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/Torrentfreak?i=RMcf3Fd6FM8:7xc48DTOYaA:D7DqB2pKExk" border="0"></img></a>
</div><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~4/RMcf3Fd6FM8" height="1" width="1" alt=""/>


feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=163879
title: Denuvo Cites Huge ‘Losses’ For AAA Game Not Using its Anti-Piracy Tech
uri: Denuvo-Cites-Huge-Losses-For-AAA-Game-Not-Using-its-Anti-Piracy
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/gvxWcA7bua0/
content:
<p><a href="media/05d838b7.denuvo.jpg" data-original-source="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/images/denuvo.jpg"><img src="media/fe5f698e.denuvo.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/denuvo.jpg" alt="" width="210" height="109" class="alignright size-full wp-image-116067"></a>Ever since computer and video games have been available to the masses, players have been able to pirate them. From the early days of cassettes and floppy disks to today&#8217;s digital downloads, games are pirated as quickly as pirates can manage.</p>
<p>Over the years, dozens of anti-piracy mechanisms have attempted to stem the tide, with one thing in common &#8211; all have eventually failed to prevent piracy. With billions in revenue at stake, it&#8217;s a huge and competitive market that games companies wish to protect.</p>
<p>In recent years, one particular product has found itself on the frontlines. Denuvo&#8217;s anti-tamper technology protects perhaps the most vulnerable of titles &#8211; PC games &#8211; and for the longest time managed to thwart even the most competent of games &#8216;crackers&#8217; </p>
<p>However, in recent years, the technology has been under attack, mainly because of its deployment on the world&#8217;s most popular games but partially because the technology presents such a challenge to those attempting to circumvent it. Slowly but surely, the unstoppable Denuvo has proven to be fallible, with several cracking groups unpicking its digital locks.</p>
<p>With the period of Denuvo protection diminishing from many, many months down to a few days in some cases, the company has attempted to position itself not as invulnerable, but the people to turn to if protecting early sales are important. And, according to a new statement by the company, they are very important indeed.</p>
<p>In a statement issued by Denuvo owner Irdeto (the <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/denuvo-has-been-sold-to-global-anti-piracy-outfit-irdeto-180123/">latter acquired the former</a> earlier this year), the company states that it tracked pirate downloads of an unnamed &#8216;AAA&#8217; (big budget, major studio) title during the first few days after its release. Without Denuvo protection it was quickly cracked and made available on P2P networks and from there, pirates did their thing.</p>
<p>&#8220;Irdeto tracked the downloads of a major sports title on P2P networks after the title, which did not include anti-tamper protection, was cracked on the same day of its release,&#8221; the company says.</p>
<p>&#8220;During the first two weeks, Irdeto detected 355,664 torrent downloads of the illegal copy of the title. Given the retail price of the game, this puts the total potential loss of revenue from P2P downloads at $21,336,283.&#8221;</p>
<p>Irdeto highlights the first 14 days following release as the most critical for such a game, claiming that up to 80% of sales take place during the period. An impressive 50% of those sales take place within the first four days, the company adds.</p>
<p>It&#8217;s worth noting that while Denuvo games are often cracked very quickly, it&#8217;s definitely not uncommon for protection to stand up to the first two weeks of attacks. Denuvo can <em>usually</em> hold off crackers for the first four days, so these figures are obvious marketing tools for a technology that has been somewhat diminished after various cracking groups began taking its challenge personally.</p>
<p>But just in case Denuvo only manages a single day of protection, owner Irdeto suggests that the effort is worth it &#8211; even dropping down to the importance of standing firm for an hour.</p>
<p>&#8220;The research also found that the first day of release alone is crucial for the protection of a AAA title, as 12% of the illegal P2P downloads occurred within the first day of the cracked copy appearing on the P2P networks (and a substantial number of these in the first hour),&#8221; the company adds.</p>
<p>During the past couple of years, with many Denuvo-protected games finding themselves cracked within days and weeks, the company has positioned itself as a necessary speedbump, one that can make a difference straight after launch. With Denuvo limiting the above statistics to the first two weeks, there&#8217;s a suggestion that&#8217;s where its confidence lies.</p>
<p>“Piracy is a threat that is firmly established in the games industry and, as our research suggests, it can result in potentially huge revenue losses for publishers if their games are compromised within the 14-day window following release,” said Reinhard Blaukovitsch, Managing Director of Denuvo, Irdeto.</p>
<p>“With this in mind, it is crucial for publishers to implement security strategies that make their games as difficult as possible to crack and reverse engineer. This way they will be able to better protect the revenues that allow them to continue to create such compelling games.”</p>
<p>While the challenge presented by Denuvo protection has never proven popular with pirates, many hoped that the technology would prove unpopular with developers and publishers too. However, as a sarcastic graphic posted by a Reddit <a href="https://www.reddit.com/user/StellarBull">user</a> yesterday shows, there doesn&#8217;t appear to be much lack of uptake.</p>
<p><Center><b>New game contains Denuvo? We know&#8230;..</b><a href="media/1ef3eee1.denuvo-aaa.png" data-original-source="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/images/denuvo-aaa.png"><img src="media/d5769da5.denuvo-aaa.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/denuvo-aaa.png" alt="" width="568" height="730" class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-163892"></a></center></p>
<p>All that said, it appears that no variant of Denuvo is invulnerable. Even since the company managed to <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/voksi-retires-cyberpolice-raid-cracker-after-denuvo-criminal-complaint-180726/">shut down Bulgarian cracker Voksi</a> earlier this year, new and old players have been taking the company&#8217;s protection apart.</p>
<p>According to a useful table published by <a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/CrackWatch/comments/9c16zi/crack_watch_games/">/r/crackwatch</a>, cracking group CODEX recently defeated the protection on Dragon Quest XI in 13 days while Soul Caliber 6 took them just four. <em>(Note: There&#8217;s that four-day period mentioned by Irdeto above)</em></p>
<p>A previously unheard of group &#8216;FCKDRM&#8217; appeared on the scene in November, defeating Mega Man 11 in just over a month and Football Manager 2019 in just four days <em>(there it is again)</em>. Notably, these two latter titles used Denuvo&#8217;s latest technology, labeled as 5.1 and 5.2.</p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/">TF</a>, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/top-10-most-popular-torrent-sites-of-2018-180107/">torrent sites</a> and more. We also have <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-services-keep-anonymous-2018/">VPN reviews, </a><a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-discount-coupon-offer-torguard-nordvpn-expressvpn-pia/">discounts, offers and coupons</a>.</p>
<div class="feedflare">
<a href="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~ff/Torrentfreak?a=gvxWcA7bua0:mlMMd0dZcyQ:yIl2AUoC8zA"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/Torrentfreak?d=yIl2AUoC8zA" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~ff/Torrentfreak?a=gvxWcA7bua0:mlMMd0dZcyQ:D7DqB2pKExk"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/Torrentfreak?i=gvxWcA7bua0:mlMMd0dZcyQ:D7DqB2pKExk" border="0"></img></a>
</div><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~4/gvxWcA7bua0" height="1" width="1" alt=""/>


feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=163908
title: Dutch Govt Agency Warns Against Fake ‘Piracy’ Fines
uri: Dutch-Govt-Agency-Warns-Against-Fake-Piracy-Fines
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/vcbQJH1OuyU/
content:
<p><img src="media/af175f74.scamkey.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/scamkey.jpg" alt="" width="250" height="167" class="alignright size-full wp-image-140925">It is no secret that copyright holders are monitoring unauthorized downloads around the world.</p>
<p>In most cases this results in harmless takedown notices but increasingly, these warnings are triggering <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/more-than-35000-pirates-targeted-in-swedish-lawsuits-this-year-180911/">settlement demands</a> or <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/new-automated-dmca-notices-hit-movie-pirates-300-fines-170311/">automated fines</a>.</p>
<p>Rightsholders in the Netherlands are planning similar action. Dutch Filmworks initially said it would send the first settlement demands <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/piracy-fines-for-dutch-pirates-starting-this-autumn-170828/">last Autumn</a> but a year later, this is yet to happen. </p>
<p>Local anti-piracy group BREIN also <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/anti-piracy-group-brein-plans-to-target-frequent-seeders-180713/">announced</a> a similar effort, targeting frequent seeders. This campaign isn&#8217;t live either.</p>
<p>Considering the above, it came as a surprise when several people received emails demanding a &#8216;fine&#8217; over alleged illegal downloading in recent days. The emails in question claim to be from the Dutch Government&#8217;s <a href="https://www.agentschaptelecom.nl">Telecom Agency</a> (Agentschap Telecom), which carries some weight. </p>
<p>The emails may look pretty legitimate, especially to people who are unfamiliar with these type of demands, but the Telecom Agency <a href="https://www.telecompaper.com/nieuws/agentschap-telecom-waarschuwt-voor-valse-e-mails-met-downloadboetes--1268393">issued</a> a <a href="https://www.agentschaptelecom.nl/actueel/nieuws/2018/november/08/let-op-nepmails-in-omloop">warning</a> today which explains that they are fake.</p>
<p>&#8220;There appear to be fake emails in circulation that supposedly come from the Telecom Agency. These are fake e-mails regarding fines for illegal downloading of films. These are bogus e-mails. They are not from the Telecom Agency,&#8221; the warning notes.</p>
<p>&#8220;Have you received such an e-mail? Do not respond to the message, do not click on any links and never leave your details behind.&#8221;</p>
<p>It appears that the scammers are using the news that &#8216;fines&#8217; will soon be sent out to alleged pirates to add legitimacy to their efforts. Interestingly, this isn&#8217;t the first time that this has happened.</p>
<p>Last year we reported on a similar scheme where fake piracy fines were sent out, supposedly on behalf of Dutch Filmworks. This was a scam as well and the movie distributor advised recipients to throw the letters in the trash.</p>
<p>“There is a fake letter in circulation. This letter is NOT sent by Dutch Filmworks. Do not pay and throw the letter away,” the movie Dutch Filmworks <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/movie-company-issues-warning-over-fake-piracy-fines-170224/">warned</a> at the time. </p>
<p>Being a Government agency, it&#8217;s unlikely that the Telecom Agency will ever send out piracy fines. These are more likely to come from rightsholders or their representatives.</p>
<p>How far along BREIN and Dutch Filmworks are with their real &#8216;fine&#8217; schemes remains unknown.</p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/">TF</a>, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/top-10-most-popular-torrent-sites-of-2018-180107/">torrent sites</a> and more. We also have <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-services-keep-anonymous-2018/">VPN reviews, </a><a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-discount-coupon-offer-torguard-nordvpn-expressvpn-pia/">discounts, offers and coupons</a>.</p>
<div class="feedflare">
<a href="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~ff/Torrentfreak?a=vcbQJH1OuyU:PUI49Fj1FtM:yIl2AUoC8zA"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/Torrentfreak?d=yIl2AUoC8zA" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~ff/Torrentfreak?a=vcbQJH1OuyU:PUI49Fj1FtM:D7DqB2pKExk"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/Torrentfreak?i=vcbQJH1OuyU:PUI49Fj1FtM:D7DqB2pKExk" border="0"></img></a>
</div><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~4/vcbQJH1OuyU" height="1" width="1" alt=""/>


feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=163872
title: Publishing Giants Ask to Join Landmark Anti-Piracy Agreement
uri: Publishing-Giants-Ask-to-Join-Landmark-Anti-Piracy-Agreement
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/ZAfZcy2eagw/
content:
<p><a href="media/b1f5c834.books1.jpg" data-original-source="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/images/books1.jpg"><img src="media/028cc1b2.books1.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/books1.jpg" alt="" width="200" height="228" class="alignright size-full wp-image-38808"></a>Several Russian tech giants and media companies signed a landmark anti-piracy agreement last week. It&#8217;s designed to make infringing content less visible by sanitizing search results and rapidly removing content.</p>
<p>The memorandum was signed by media companies Channel One, the National Media Group, Gazprom-Media, the Internet Video Association, and the Association of Film and Television Producers. Yandex, Rambler Group, Mail.Ru Group, vKontakte, and RuTube signed on the tech platform side.</p>
<p>A centralized database, populated with links to sites that the entertainment industry groups claim are infringing their intellectual property, will be created in a matter of weeks. Search engines and hosting platforms will query the database every five minutes and remove infringing content with six hours.</p>
<p>While the agreement had broad support, Russia&#8217;s publishing companies were not present during the initial signing. However, telecoms regular Roscomndazor indicated that other rightsholders and tech companies were welcome to join following a successful application.</p>
<p>The publishers have now shown their hand in a letter from the Russian Book Union to Roscomnadzor head Alexander Zharov.</p>
<p>“I ask you to assist in organizing the signing of a memorandum with the Internet Copyright Association [AZAPI] representing the interests of most major Russian publishing houses,” the letter <a href="https://rns.online/internet/Rossiiskii-knizhnii-soyuz-poprosil-vklyuchit-knigoizdatelei-v-antipiratskii-memorandum-2018-11-06/">reads</a>.</p>
<p>“Direct communications between the Internet Copyright Association (AZAPI) and Roskomnadzor will remove links from search engines issued on the basis of a constructive dialogue, without waiting for the adoption of the law to develop an optimal test model.</p>
<p>The memorandum signed last week is valid until September 1, 2019. By then, the signatories expect new copyright legislation to be introduced, enshrining the terms of the memorandum in law.</p>
<p>In recent months, Yandex, in particular, has been under increasing pressure to do something about the large amounts of pirate content appearing in search results. Early September, before the signing of the memorandum, the battle again moved to the legal system.</p>
<p>In <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/russia-to-amend-copyright-law-after-yandex-forced-to-remove-pirate-tv-content-180915/">lawsuits</a> filed with the Moscow City Court, Gazprom-Media outlets including TNT, TV-3, 2×2, complained that Yandex should &#8220;stop creating technical conditions that ensure the placement of [copyrighted] works on the Yandex.ru website.&#8221;</p>
<p>While that matter is still pending, the agreement reached last week (Yandex and Gazprom-Media both signed) could mean that GazProm-Media withdraws its complaints against Yandex. Speaking with TASS, spokesperson Ekaterina Trofimova declined to rule out the possibility of peace breaking out before the trial, provisionally arranged for December 5, 2018.</p>
<p>Meanwhile, the Russian <a href="https://ipchain.global/possibilities/">IPChain Association</a>, which earlier this year signed an agreement to digitize the patent archives of Kyrgyzstan using blockchain technology, has said it&#8217;s ready to provide a technological solution for the anti-piracy database detailed in the memorandum.</p>
<p>&#8220;The main infrastructure solution for implementing the conditions of the memorandum is, of course, distributed registry technology,&#8221; said a letter penned by Maxim Proksh of the government-backed innovation group, <a href="https://sk.ru/foundation/about/">Skolkovo Foundation</a>.</p>
<p>&#8220;Based on this technology, a number of projects have already been created that have passed the pilot stage and have been commercialized. This is how the IPChain intellectual property management system would work to provide a technological solution for the implementation of the memorandum.&#8221;</p>
<p>Through the use of blockchain technology, it&#8217;s envisioned that trust will be built between companies like Yandex and Gazprom-Media.</p>
<p>&#8220;It is important that the blockchain will create and cultivate an environment of trust between search engines and rightsholders. Flat registries in the form of tables are hopelessly outdated, both technologically and morally,&#8221; Proksh <a href="https://tass.ru/ekonomika/5761854">added</a>.</p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/">TF</a>, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/top-10-most-popular-torrent-sites-of-2018-180107/">torrent sites</a> and more. We also have <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-services-keep-anonymous-2018/">VPN reviews, </a><a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-discount-coupon-offer-torguard-nordvpn-expressvpn-pia/">discounts, offers and coupons</a>.</p>
<div class="feedflare">
<a href="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~ff/Torrentfreak?a=ZAfZcy2eagw:tOZMcp2xy8Y:yIl2AUoC8zA"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/Torrentfreak?d=yIl2AUoC8zA" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~ff/Torrentfreak?a=ZAfZcy2eagw:tOZMcp2xy8Y:D7DqB2pKExk"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/Torrentfreak?i=ZAfZcy2eagw:tOZMcp2xy8Y:D7DqB2pKExk" border="0"></img></a>
</div><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~4/ZAfZcy2eagw" height="1" width="1" alt=""/>


feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=163881
title: Greek ISPs Ordered to Block 38 Domains, Including The Pirate Bay
uri: Greek-ISPs-Ordered-to-Block-38-Domains-Including-The-Pirate-Bay
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/FI7Qpyx2rlU/
content:
<p><img src="media/2a43984f.pirate-bay.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/pirate-bay.jpg" alt="" width="200" height="207" class="alignright size-full wp-image-53470">Copyright holders are increasingly demanding that ISPs should block access to pirate sites in order to protect their business.</p>
<p>As the bastion of online piracy, The Pirate Bay has become one of the main targets. The site has been blocked in roughly two-dozen countries already, mostly in Europe.</p>
<p>Earlier this week we reported that Romania had joined in on the action, following a <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/romanian-isps-to-block-the-pirate-bay-following-hollywood-complaint-181107/">court order</a>, and only a few days later Greek Internet providers are now ordered to block the notorious torrent site as well. </p>
<p>The blocking request was filed this spring by the Society for the Protection of Audiovisual Works (EPOE), a local anti-piracy group which represents the interests of major Greek copyright holders. </p>
<p>The group filed an application with the IPPC, a special commission that falls under the Greek Ministry of Culture and Sports, which decided that ISPs must block a total of 38 domain names.  </p>
<p>The targeted sites include The Pirate Bay, 1337x, YTS, as well as several popular local sites, such as Xrysoi, Gamatotv, and  Tainiomania. With Subztv.club, Subtitles.gr, and others, subtitle sites are thrown into the mix as well.</p>
<p>According to the Government-affiliated commission, it is apparent that all the targeted sites are involved in large-scale copyright infringement.</p>
<p>The commission has set a tight deadline of 48 hours for ISPs to comply with the order. Those who fail to do so face a fine of 850 euros per day, Lawspot <a href="https://www.lawspot.gr/nomika-nea/diakoptetai-i-prosvasi-sto-pirate-bay-kai-alles-37-istoselides-stin-ellada">reports</a>.</p>
<p>The order stands for three years and it specifically states that offenses committed by users are not covered.</p>
<p>It&#8217;s worth noting that this wasn&#8217;t the first attempt to block The Pirate Bay and other pirate sites in Greece. AEPI previously launched a civil court case, but at the time the court ruled that pirate site blocks were <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/torrent-site-blockades-are-disproportional-greek-court-rules-150121/">disproportionate and unconstitutional</a>. </p>
<p>It&#8217;s questionable whether this would hold up today, though, as the EU Court of Justice ruled otherwise <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/pirate-bay-facilitates-piracy-and-can-be-blocked-top-eu-court-rules-170614/">last year</a>.</p>
<p>Whether the current blockades will help to deter piracy in a meaningful way has yet to be seen. As usual, there are several options to bypass ISP blockades, and the targeted sites themselves often offer alternative domains. </p>
<p><em>&#8212;</p>
<p>The full list of domain names is posted below and a copy of the order can be <a href="https://opi.gr/index.php/epitropi-edppi/apofaseis-edppi">found here</a>. </p>
<p>1. https://xrysoi.online<br>
2. xrysoi.se<br>
3. xrysoi.eu<br>
4. http://gamatotv.me<br>
5. thegmtv.org,<br>
6. gamatotv.to<br>
7. https: //onlinemoviestar.xyz<br>
8. onlinemoviestar.com<br>
9. tainies.online<br>
10. tenies.online<br>
11. https://tenies-online.com<br>
12. teniesonline.ucoz.com<br>
13. https: // oipeirates .online<br>
14. oipeirates.eu<br>
15. oipeirates.se<br>
16. http://tainio-mania.com<br>
17. tainiomania.ucoz.com<br>
18. https: // liomen oi.com<br>
19. moviecinema.gr<br>
20. moviecinematv.online<br>
21. http://tainiesonline.tv<br>
22. https://magico.info<br>
23. http://www.subs4free.com<br>
24. small-industry.com<br>
25. rnedium-industry.com<br>
26. https://subztv.club<br>
27. http: // www .greeksubtitles.info<br>
28. htt  : // www.subtitles.gr<br>
29. https://thepiratebay.org<br>
30. thepiratebay.se<br>
31. thepiratebay.me<br>
32. thepiratebay3.org<br>
33. https://yts.am<br>
34. https: //www.1337x.to<br>
35. 1337x.st<br>
36. 1337x.ws<br>
37. 1337x.eu<br>
38. 1337x.se </em></p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/">TF</a>, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/top-10-most-popular-torrent-sites-of-2018-180107/">torrent sites</a> and more. We also have <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-services-keep-anonymous-2018/">VPN reviews, </a><a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-discount-coupon-offer-torguard-nordvpn-expressvpn-pia/">discounts, offers and coupons</a>.</p>
<div class="feedflare">
<a href="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~ff/Torrentfreak?a=FI7Qpyx2rlU:tyNiI4vYqtA:yIl2AUoC8zA"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/Torrentfreak?d=yIl2AUoC8zA" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~ff/Torrentfreak?a=FI7Qpyx2rlU:tyNiI4vYqtA:D7DqB2pKExk"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/Torrentfreak?i=FI7Qpyx2rlU:tyNiI4vYqtA:D7DqB2pKExk" border="0"></img></a>
</div><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~4/FI7Qpyx2rlU" height="1" width="1" alt=""/>


feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=163868
title: MPAA Considers a ‘Makeover’ As It Faces Shrinking Budget
uri: MPAA-Considers-a-Makeover-As-It-Faces-Shrinking-Budget
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/TthiKo9akvA/
content:
<p><img src="media/aef711a6.mpaa-new.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/mpaa-new.png" alt="" width="252" height="182" class="alignright size-full wp-image-158950">The Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) has protected Hollywood&#8217;s interest for nearly a century now. </p>
<p>In recent years the organization&#8217;s anti-piracy efforts have made the headlines repeatedly. Not just domestically, but around the world, through its site-blocking efforts for example.</p>
<p>Traditionally, the MPAA obtains most of its revenue from the six major Hollywood studios. The latest public filings show that these membership dues totaled nearly $50 million. </p>
<p>This number is significantly less than before, as <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/mpaa-revenue-drops-20-as-movie-studios-cut-back-180527/">we reported earlier</a>, but new information suggests that it may drop even further. </p>
<p>As a result of Disney&#8217;s acquisition of 20th Century Fox, the MPAA stands to lose one-sixth of its membership dues. Disney promised to pay Fox&#8217;s share for another year after the deal is finalized, but what happens next is uncertain. </p>
<p>According to a <a href="https://www.theinformation.com/articles/facing-budget-shortfall-movie-lobby-group-eyes-tech-firms">report</a> from The Information, the MPAA is now discussing a makeover of the organization. </p>
<p>While no crystalized plans have been released, several insiders said that the group is considering accepting new members, including streaming services such as Netflix and Amazon. This would add more revenue, but also broaden the organization&#8217;s mandate. </p>
<p>It is unknown how concrete these plans are or whether the MPAA approached potential new members already. Whatever the eventual direction may be, it won&#8217;t be an easy task. </p>
<p>“This can’t just be an economic exercise,” one of the people familiar with the discussions told The Information. “It has to be a come-to-Jesus moment.” </p>
<p>Although Amazon and Netflix have a shared interest with Hollywood on some fronts, both have their differences as well. The MPAA has been at odds with major tech companies over the years, companies that are closely aligned with the streaming giants.</p>
<p>That said, Amazon, Netflix, and the MPAA already work together in another anti-piracy initiative. They are all part of the Alliance for Creativity and Entertainment (ACE), which counts 30 companies in total. </p>
<p>The ACE coalition is, in fact, <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/inside-the-mpaa-netflix-amazon-global-anti-piracy-alliance-170918/">running on the MPAA&#8217;s anti-piracy resources</a>, including personnel. That brings up the next makeover option. </p>
<p>If the MPAA can&#8217;t continue in its current form and is unable to add more members, whether those are traditional movie studios or streaming providers, some people suggested that it could fold into ACE. </p>
<p>That&#8217;s an even more complex path, perhaps, since the MPAA does more than fighting piracy. But in theory, the MPAA could continue as is in a slimmed down version, while its anti-piracy efforts move to ACE. </p>
<p>For now, it&#8217;s all just speculation. But it&#8217;s clear that the MPAA has more on its mind than fighting pirates.  </p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/">TF</a>, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/top-10-most-popular-torrent-sites-of-2018-180107/">torrent sites</a> and more. We also have <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-services-keep-anonymous-2018/">VPN reviews, </a><a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-discount-coupon-offer-torguard-nordvpn-expressvpn-pia/">discounts, offers and coupons</a>.</p>
<div class="feedflare">
<a href="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~ff/Torrentfreak?a=TthiKo9akvA:NuZ3q6DLLi0:yIl2AUoC8zA"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/Torrentfreak?d=yIl2AUoC8zA" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~ff/Torrentfreak?a=TthiKo9akvA:NuZ3q6DLLi0:D7DqB2pKExk"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/Torrentfreak?i=TthiKo9akvA:NuZ3q6DLLi0:D7DqB2pKExk" border="0"></img></a>
</div><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~4/TthiKo9akvA" height="1" width="1" alt=""/>


feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=163780
title: Researchers Report Elsevier to EU Anti-Competition Authority
uri: Researchers-Report-Elsevier-to-EU-Anti-Competition-Authority
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/QwYBBtsqa24/
content:
<p><img src="media/af17be3e.elsevierlogo.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/elsevierlogo.jpg" alt="" width="250" height="250" class="alignright size-full wp-image-163885">Academia certainly isn&#8217;t our prime focus here at TorrentFreak, but we have mentioned Elsevier repeatedly throughout the years.</p>
<p>With a net income of roughly $3 billion and operating profits exceeding $1 billion, Elsevier is one of the largest academic publishers in the world. One that protects its business <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/elsevier-wants-cloudflare-to-expose-pirate-sites-160917/">with vigor</a>.</p>
<p>The company <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/elsevier-cracks-down-on-pirated-scientific-articles-150609/">has sued</a> &#8216;pirate&#8217; sites &#8220;Sci-Hub and &#8220;LibGen&#8221; for the unauthorized distribution of millions of scientific papers, for example. </p>
<p>This resulted in a <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/elsevier-wants-15-million-piracy-damages-from-sci-hub-and-libgen-170518/">million dollar verdict</a> in favor of the publisher, which was also able to seize several domain names. While Sci-Hub and LibGen are <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/sci-hub-loses-domain-names-but-remains-resilient-171122/">still around</a>, Elsevier recently stepped up its game by obtaining an ISP blocking order against the sites in question. </p>
<p>So far, these efforts run parallel to what we see in the media piracy world. Torrent sites such as The Pirate Bay have been sued as well, and are now blocked in countries all over the world. </p>
<p>There is a significant difference though. The major movie studios who sue pirates sites have a good reputation in the industry, while Elsevier is heavily criticized by universities and researchers.</p>
<p>This criticism is <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/the-sci-hub-effect-prominent-research-councils-push-open-access-180909/">far from new</a>, but where the battle was previously fought in op-eds and on social media, it&#8217;s now on the agenda of the European Union as well. Pressure is mounting. </p>
<p>The first <a href="https://zenodo.org/record/1472045#.W98HkZP0lPY">complaint</a> comes from researchers Dr. Jonathan Tennant and Prof. Dr. Björn Brembs, who referred Elsevier&#8217;s parent company <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RELX_Group">RELX Group</a> to the EU Anti-Competition Authority late last month.</p>
<p>A serious allegation, but it turned out to be just the start.</p>
<p>This week, it was followed by a similar call from the European University Association (EUA), which represents over 800 higher education institutions in 47 countries throughout Europe. </p>
<p>In a letter (<a href="media/21969aaf.eua-on-competition-market-in-scholarly-publishing.pdf" data-original-source="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/images/eua-on-competition-market-in-scholarly-publishing.pdf">pdf</a>) to the European Commission, the organization shares its concern about the lack of transparency and competition in Europe&#8217;s academic publishing sector, mentioning Elsevier and similar publishers. </p>
<p>One of the main frustrations is that researchers and universities provide the manpower and articles for these publishers, work that&#8217;s often funded with public money. This is then sold back to them by the publishers at high prices. </p>
<p>Or as EUA puts it: </p>
<p>&#8220;As a well-known allegory says: &#8216;Imagine a farmer who owns, feeds and milks his cow in order to give away the milk for free to a dairy company – and then finally buys it back in a milk carton at a very high price&#8217;. This is the business model of big research publishers.&#8221;</p>
<p>While publishers such as Elsevier use copyrights to protect and exploit their work, the nature of the &#8220;competition&#8221; issue is more complex. </p>
<p><a href="https://twitter.com/Protohedgehog">Jonathan Tennant</a>, who filed the first complaint with the EU Anti-Competition Authority, tells TorrentFreak that competition is hard to achieve when every academic article is unique and valuable. The articles are not substitutable, you either have access to it or you don&#8217;t. </p>
<p>The second problem is that Elsevier and others keep their pricing agreements secret, often through non-disclosure agreements, which is widely seen as an anti-competitive practice.</p>
<p>&#8220;Both of these things together, as well as issues to do with copyright, &#8216;marketplace&#8217; concentration, obscenely high profits, and vendor lock-in all create an unsuitable &#8216;market&#8217; around scholarly publishing, which has a negative impact across the entire research sector,&#8221; Tennant tells us. </p>
<p>Tennant and Brembs don&#8217;t provide any recommendations in their report. They&#8217;re leaving it up to the European Commission to decide what&#8217;s appropriate, but they believe that banning non-disclosure clauses and providing more transparency are two possible steps. </p>
<p>In an ideal world, one could argue that all academic research should be available for free. In the current system, many researchers don&#8217;t have access to some of the research in their field due to financial reasons, which hinders the progress of science. </p>
<p>This is also the main reason why Alexandra Elbakyan started the pirate research library Sci-Hub several years ago. Many researchers rely on it as a source, but Tennant says that he has some sort of love-hate relationship with the controversial pirate library.</p>
<p>&#8220;I think what Alexandra and Sci-Hub have done is phenomenal in emphasing the incredible dysfunction in research access from a greedy corporate publishing sector. It has demonstrated that access to knowledge is simple to provide.</p>
<p>&#8220;I think it also helps to level the playing field, from an industry whose business model is based on knowledge discrimination based on elite/financial status. For these things, and for being a symptom of a broken industry, I think it is wonderful,&#8221; he adds.</p>
<p>However, Tennant argues that it has also had some negative consequences. As founder of <a href="https://opensciencemooc.eu/">Open Science MOOC</a>, he is a strong supporter of Open Access research, where papers are published without paywalls, and believes Sci-Hub may hinder the progress of this movement.</p>
<p>&#8220;Because Sci-Hub provides a simple, easy shortcut to free access (not Open Access), it removes some of the incentives for researchers to engage with Open Access in a more sustainable manner. For example, by self-archiving their work for free,&#8221; he notes. </p>
<p>That said, Tennant doesn&#8217;t think that terms such as &#8216;piracy&#8217; and &#8216;theft&#8217; necessarily apply to Sci-Hub. At least, not any more than it could apply to some of the major publishers themselves.</p>
<p>&#8220;Sometimes I think that it is the scholarly publishing industry themselves who are the thieves, blackmailing content/copyright from researchers and then preventing access to it as their business model.</p>
<p>&#8220;Depends which side of the ethical fence you fall on &#8211; private or public gain,&#8221; he adds.</p>
<p>Tennant hopes that the European Commission will pick up the ball to end to what he sees as an abuse of power and copyright. Where Sci-Hub tries to &#8220;tear down the paywalls&#8221; through force, ultimately he believes that it&#8217;s more sustainable to change the publishing system itself. </p>
<p>Tennant, who was at a blockchain for science conference this week, has some ideas of his own. Ideally, the future of academic publishing should be open, flexible, and relying on modern technologies. </p>
<p>&#8220;My ideal scenario would be a much more granular and lightweight system of continuous editing and review &#8211; something like GitHub combined with Stack Exchange combined with Wikipedia,&#8221; he says. </p>
<p>&#8220;Community-owned, low cost, open source, open everything, sustainable, inherently reproducible, less biased, non-profit, collaborative, instantaneous, fair, and equitable. </p>
<p>&#8220;Something like that would be inherently easy to create, should we start again from scratch today,&#8221; Tennant concludes. </p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/">TF</a>, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/top-10-most-popular-torrent-sites-of-2018-180107/">torrent sites</a> and more. We also have <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-services-keep-anonymous-2018/">VPN reviews, </a><a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-discount-coupon-offer-torguard-nordvpn-expressvpn-pia/">discounts, offers and coupons</a>.</p>
<div class="feedflare">
<a href="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~ff/Torrentfreak?a=QwYBBtsqa24:JRZ-hUkAhL8:yIl2AUoC8zA"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/Torrentfreak?d=yIl2AUoC8zA" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~ff/Torrentfreak?a=QwYBBtsqa24:JRZ-hUkAhL8:D7DqB2pKExk"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/Torrentfreak?i=QwYBBtsqa24:JRZ-hUkAhL8:D7DqB2pKExk" border="0"></img></a>
</div><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~4/QwYBBtsqa24" height="1" width="1" alt=""/>


feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=163794
title: Corel Wrongly Accuses Licensed User of Piracy, Disables Software Remotely
uri: Corel-Wrongly-Accuses-Licensed-User-of-Piracy-Disables-Software-Remot
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/0c7QbPqY4hI/
content:
<p><img src="media/05f3eb05.corelfair.png" data-original-source="https://torrentfreak.com/images/corelfair.png" width="275" height="219" class="alignright size-large">While the majority of computing devices come with sophisticated operating systems installed, users will almost certainly need to buy additional software to meet their needs.</p>
<p>Open Source software can usually be obtained for free but millions of users opt for paid products that need to be licensed by the companies offering them.</p>
<p>Of course, piracy is a significant problem for the developers behind the majority of premium products. Most are available from torrent sites or file-hosting platforms, often arriving with a &#8216;crack&#8217; that allows users to enjoy without paying.</p>
<p>Companies often have sophisticated systems to detect unlicensed products, sometimes with the reasonable aim of attempting to convert pirates into paying consumers. Earlier this year we reported on Corel&#8217;s efforts in this space after the company <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/corel-patents-system-to-monetize-software-piracy-180105/">obtained a patent</a> for a system which is able to offer an amnesty to illegal users via a popup.</p>
<p>“The amnesty offer may, for example, agree not to bring criminal charges in exchange for the user purchasing a legitimate copy of the product,” Corel&#8217;s patent reads.</p>
<p>“In this manner, the user of the pirated version is given the opportunity to purchase a legitimate copy which, if acted on, increases revenue for the manufacturer.”</p>
<p>While this is fair enough, what happens when it all goes wrong? Earlier this week, TorrentFreak was contacted by an angry Corel customer who was witnessing first hand what can happen when a piracy detection system blows a fuse.</p>
<p>&#8220;I am a valid and licensed user and Corel support has records of my license key and right to use this software on my work PC,&#8221; he told us.</p>
<p>Despite paying the company as required, he received the following popup instead.</p>
<p><center><b>Scary message from Corel</b><a href="media/05019747.corel-warning.png" data-original-source="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/images/corel-warning.png"><img src="media/ffffcdcd.corel-warning.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/corel-warning.png" alt="" width="600" height="767" class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-163833"></a></center></p>
<p>The message couldn&#8217;t be more clear. Corel states that the copy in use is illegal and as a result, its functionality has been severely limited. &#8220;All save, export and print features will be permanently disabled,&#8221; it warns.</p>
<p>According to Corel, all of these problems can be solved with a click of the blue &#8220;BUY A LEGAL COPY NOW&#8221; button, something that made our contact extremely angry.</p>
<p>&#8220;I get this extortion popup and threat to my means to make a living. I feel like Corel has hijacked my computer, my artwork and images and is preventing me from making a living just to sell another upgrade. This is wrong, and something needs to be done about his practice,&#8221; he told us.</p>
<p>It&#8217;s not surprising that the user was upset at Corel remotely disabling his software. Aside from having a valid license, his work ground to a halt. Initial emails back and forth had him messing around in his computer&#8217;s registry in an effort to fix the problem but all the time he was unable to carry on with his job.</p>
<p>&#8220;I have owned a licensed copy of Corel PrintShop Pro since 9/2016 and use it multiple times each day for work. I use it for editing and creating graphics and logos for customers that host events and in the medical field for patient wristbands at hospitals and clinics,&#8221; he told TF.</p>
<p>&#8220;These images are used to identify and even categorize different types of patients and attendees at events. At this time, I’m unable to meet the needs of my customers because I can’t save any new artwork for them. This has now gone on for more than 24 hours.&#8221;</p>
<p>Eventually, after lengthy email exchanges, the problem got fixed, albeit after Corel&#8217;s customer had been unable to use his software for an extended period. He says that the problem has left a bad taste in his mouth and wonders how many other people are getting the message and, crucially, whether less technical users are paying to have the anti-piracy message removed.</p>
<p>&#8220;I’m not sure how [the steps Corel took] corrected my license issue or if it just took me off the &#8216;hit list&#8217; of victims of what I still feel was some kind of scam. Still no apology from Corel for the problems caused or the delays it forced on me,&#8221; he added.</p>
<p>TorrentFreak contacted Corel requesting information and received a response from Gerard Metrailler, EVP of Global Products, whose name is on the patent issued earlier this year.</p>
<p>&#8220;Our anti-piracy measures are designed specifically to protect our IP. And as part of this process, we offer an amnesty program on many of our products that gives users an easy way to purchase a legitimate version of our software at an affordable price,&#8221; Metrailler explained.</p>
<p>&#8220;Unfortunately, some users who believe they are running legitimate versions of our software are surprised to receive a notification that their license is invalid. In many of these cases, the products were purchased from online marketplaces, often at very low prices, and the users were not aware they were buying illegitimate software.</p>
<p>&#8220;It&#8217;s critical to note that customers should always purchase our software from authorized resellers or Corel directly,&#8221; he added. </p>
<p>Given comments on Corel&#8217;s forums about unlicensed resellers, early in the week TF checked with the user where he&#8217;d obtained his license. According to an original purchase receipt reviewed by TF, it was obtained from the company&#8217;s own online store and everything was in order.</p>
<p>Corel did, however, suggest that a customer could receive the anti-piracy warning in error and said any customers who believe they are affected should contact the company right away.</p>
<p>&#8220;[I]n the very rare event of a mis-identification, I can assure you that we will work quickly to get the issue corrected. We agree that even one customer affected by a mistake like this is one customer too many,&#8221; Metrailler said.</p>
<p>We asked Corel how many customers take them up on their offer of reduced price software as part of an amnesty but the company provided no details. We asked if there were any safeguards to prevent licensed users paying up in error but received no response.</p>
<p>Corel did, however, give TF a contact email address so that their customer can get directly in touch, and we&#8217;ve forwarded that to him. In the meantime, directly with the customer and independently of our discussions with him and the company, Corel support offered him a 5% discount on future purchases.</p>
<p>&#8220;I want to ask them if that 5% is good for Photoshop,&#8221; the customer commented dryly.</p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/">TF</a>, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/top-10-most-popular-torrent-sites-of-2018-180107/">torrent sites</a> and more. We also have <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-services-keep-anonymous-2018/">VPN reviews, </a><a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-discount-coupon-offer-torguard-nordvpn-expressvpn-pia/">discounts, offers and coupons</a>.</p>
<div class="feedflare">
<a href="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~ff/Torrentfreak?a=0c7QbPqY4hI:KPWB_GzRrWU:yIl2AUoC8zA"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/Torrentfreak?d=yIl2AUoC8zA" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~ff/Torrentfreak?a=0c7QbPqY4hI:KPWB_GzRrWU:D7DqB2pKExk"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/Torrentfreak?i=0c7QbPqY4hI:KPWB_GzRrWU:D7DqB2pKExk" border="0"></img></a>
</div><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~4/0c7QbPqY4hI" height="1" width="1" alt=""/>


feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=163718
title: MPAA: Switzerland Remains “Extremely Attractive” For Pirate Sites
uri: MPAA-Switzerland-Remains-Extremely-Attractive-For-Pirate-Sites
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/G8v65HVmoPg/
content:
<p><img src="media/b5826ddb.swissknife.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/swissknife.jpg" alt="" width="277" height="175" class="alignright size-full wp-image-163731">While the European Union has worked hard to strengthen its copyright laws in recent years, one country in the heart of the continent chooses its own path. </p>
<p>Switzerland is not part of the EU, which means that its policies deviate quite a bit from its neighbors. According to Hollywood, that&#8217;s not helping creators. </p>
<p>Responding to recent submission to the United States Trade Representative (USTR), the MPAA has identified several foreign &#8220;trade barriers&#8221; around the world. In Hollywood&#8217;s case, many of these are related to piracy. </p>
<p>One of the countries that&#8217;s highlighted, in rather harsh terms, is Switzerland. According to the MPAA, the country&#8217;s copyright law is &#8220;wholly inadequate&#8221; which, among other things, makes it &#8220;extremely attractive&#8221; to host illegal sites.</p>
<p>&#8220;Switzerland’s copyright law is wholly inadequate, lacking crucial mechanisms needed for enforcement in the digital era,&#8217; MPAA writes. </p>
<p>&#8220;Switzerland lacks meaningful remedies and effective enforcement against online copyright infringement. Switzerland’s inadequate legal framework and robust technical infrastructure make it an extremely attractive host for illegal sites.&#8221;</p>
<p>One of the concerns is that the Swiss currently have no requirement for Internet services to remove infringing content. In addition, services can&#8217;t be held liable for infringements of customers. </p>
<p>The Hollywood group says this should change, adding that it also wants ISPs to aid their piracy battle, and to make sure that &#8220;copying&#8221; from unauthorized sources is outlawed. The MPAA proposes several changes the Swiss should implement, which include: </p>
<p><em>1) Ensuring liability under Swiss law for parties who facilitate, encourage, and profit from widespread infringement<br>
2) Engaging ISPs in the fight against online piracy<br>
3) Affirming that current law does not permit copying from unauthorized sources<br>
4) Implementing adequate civil and criminal enforcement tools</em></p>
<p>While this sounds like a rather pressing matter, these recommendations and the associated problems are far from new. The MPAA&#8217;s submission does at times read like a broken record, using the exact same language as four years ago, as seen below. </p>
<p><center><strong>From the MPAA&#8217;s 2014 report</strong><br></br></center><center><img src="media/41c45f1a.wordforword.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/wordforword.png" alt="" width="600" height="349" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-163734"></center></p>
<p>These &#8216;copied&#8217; sections appear throughout the report, also affecting other countries. For example, Hollywood still wants tougher penalties for Australian camcording pirates, <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/hollywood-demands-tougher-penalties-for-aussie-pirates-141114/">using the same text as in 2014</a>.</p>
<p>This suggests that, in some cases, no progress has been made at all. In Switzerland, however, that&#8217;s not the case. </p>
<p>With a <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/swiss-copyright-law-proposals-good-news-for-pirates-bad-for-pirate-sites-171124/">new copyright law</a> proposed last year, the Swiss aim to address the critique. </p>
<p>For example, the country addresses the hosting problem by introducing a “take-down-and-stay-down” policy. Internet services will be required to remove infringing content from their platforms and prevent that same content from reappearing. Failure to comply will result in prosecution.</p>
<p>In addition, the controversial Logistep ruling, which prevents companies from harvesting the IP addresses of file-sharers, will also be addressed. </p>
<p>The MPAA is far from impressed though. In a freshly written paragraph, it notes that the new law is still insufficient.</p>
<p>The Hollywood group explains that under the proposed law it will remain legal for people to download or stream pirated content privately, while website blocking remains unavailable.</p>
<p>&#8220;The draft Copyright Act shows significant shortcomings and will not significantly improve copyright protection. The Swiss government has refused to introduce basic elements of internationally accepted anti-piracy legislation into Swiss law,&#8221; the MPAA writes.</p>
<p>&#8220;For instance, the government dropped any access blocking mechanisms from the draft. Instead of proposing a legal source requirement for private use, the draft cements the understanding that private use of illegal sources is permitted.&#8221;</p>
<p>It&#8217;s clear that Hollywood is not happy with how things are going in Switzerland, and it hopes that the US Government can help to steer things in the right direction.</p>
<p>Unless that happens, we might see the same text appear again in the years to come. Copied from an authorized source, of course.</p>
<p>&#8212;</p>
<p><em>A copy of the MPAA&#8217;s comments is available <a href="media/67cd4512.MPAA_NTE_comments_Oct_2018.pdf" data-original-source="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/images/MPAA_NTE_comments_Oct_2018.pdf">here (pdf)</a>.</em></p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/">TF</a>, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/top-10-most-popular-torrent-sites-of-2018-180107/">torrent sites</a> and more. We also have <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-services-keep-anonymous-2018/">VPN reviews, </a><a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-discount-coupon-offer-torguard-nordvpn-expressvpn-pia/">discounts, offers and coupons</a>.</p>
<div class="feedflare">
<a href="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~ff/Torrentfreak?a=G8v65HVmoPg:nXNx08yBffk:yIl2AUoC8zA"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/Torrentfreak?d=yIl2AUoC8zA" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~ff/Torrentfreak?a=G8v65HVmoPg:nXNx08yBffk:D7DqB2pKExk"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/Torrentfreak?i=G8v65HVmoPg:nXNx08yBffk:D7DqB2pKExk" border="0"></img></a>
</div><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~4/G8v65HVmoPg" height="1" width="1" alt=""/>


feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=163770
title: Pro-Copyright Bias is Alive, Well, and Still Hiding the Full Story
uri: Pro-Copyright-Bias-is-Alive-Well-and-Still-Hiding-the-Full-Story
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/aQK78IoYvqc/
content:
<p><a href="media/19001b33.censored-china.jpg" data-original-source="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/images/censored-china.jpg"><img src="media/7fb31033.censored-china.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/censored-china.jpg" alt="" width="277" height="191" class="alignright size-full wp-image-153780"></a>In 2007, the movie The Man From Earth <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/producer-thanks-pirates-for-stealing-his-film-071113/">leaked</a> on file-sharing networks, with unexpected results. Instead of proving nothing but damaging, the title gained almost universal praise, rocketing the sci-fi flick to stardom via word-of-mouth advertising.</p>
<p>Director Richard Schenkman and producer Eric Wilkinson embraced the development and enthused over the attention their work was receiving online. Given the positive experience, during January 2018 the team deliberately &#8216;leaked&#8217; the sequel &#8211; The Man from Earth: Holocene &#8211; on The Pirate Bay.</p>
<p>Given that filmmakers tend to view piracy as the enemy, TorrentFreak enthusiastically reported both events. Sadly, we had less positive news to convey this week when, out of the blue, Schenkman published an article on the site of pro-industry, anti-piracy alliance CreativeFuture, in which he heavily <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/man-from-earth-director-slams-pirates-promotional-love-affair-over-181105/">criticized piracy</a>.</p>
<p>There can be little doubt that the piece was a gift to CreativeFuture and everyone who viewed Schenkman and Wilkinson&#8217;s place in the piracy debate as something positive for unauthorized sharing. The movie&#8217;s story had become a ray of light and here it was being shredded, a disastrous episode from which nothing good had come.</p>
<p>At TorrentFreak, however, we had our doubts about the tone of the piece. Never before had we seen such a turnaround, particularly when reviewing all previous correspondence with Schenkman. Something didn&#8217;t add up.</p>
<p>Mainly due to timezone differences, Schenkman responded to our questions after our article was published. However, his responses only served to increase our suspicions that what had been published on CreativeFuture wasn&#8217;t representative of his overall position on piracy.</p>
<p>First of all, Schenkman was rightfully furious about his movie being distributed in Russia after being professionally dubbed, with his donation requests removed from the resulting copy. That, most people will agree, is a flat-out insult to someone who has bent over backward to accommodate piracy.</p>
<p>He had every right to be annoyed but it&#8217;s worth noting that his anger was directed at one site, not necessarily pirates in general. In fact, Schenkman told us that plenty of positives have come out of the releases of both movies.</p>
<p>&#8220;The only reason that people all over the world knew and loved the original &#8216;Man from Earth&#8217; was because of piracy, so while I&#8217;m disappointed that we&#8217;ve (still) made so little money from the first film, I&#8217;m deeply grateful that so many people have been able to <em>see</em> my movie,&#8221; he told TF this week.</p>
<p>&#8220;I&#8217;m still quite enthusiastic about, and deeply grateful for, the thousands of people who have written to us with kind words about the films, and who have made donations, large or small,&#8221; he added.</p>
<p>&#8220;I well understand that once we released the movie into the pirate ecosystem, nobody was under any obligation whatsoever to send us one penny, so the fact that so many have made donations is stunning to me, and I&#8217;ll never cease to be appreciative and impressed by the number of people who embraced the honor system. And luckily, donations continue to come in every day.&#8221;</p>
<p>For those wondering whether Schenkman&#8217;s piece in CreativeFuture and his comments to us might&#8217;ve been penned by a different author, assumption forgiven. From our contacts with him in 2007 right through to the present day, we have found Schenkman to be an honest man and a pleasure to deal with. He has never said anything to suggest that piracy is an &#8220;existential threat&#8221; to creators as mentioned in his piece. So why the sudden negativity?</p>
<p>We all know that life events can shape perceptions, so when the movie&#8217;s website and donation portal were hacked around six weeks ago, things began to take a turn for the worse. No revenue for weeks (and thousands in costs to bring it back) appear to have negatively affected the experience for the director. Then other types of piracy happened, ones that ensured that donations would be reduced.</p>
<p>&#8220;I learned that there were other people who ignored our requests to share only the version we uploaded, and ripped the movie from BluRay, so that there are versions floating around without my donation preface, even though we DID upload a full HD (BD quality) version of the picture,&#8221; Schenkman told TorrentFreak.</p>
<p>Even given the above events, however, the piece in CreativeFuture appears unnecessarily one-sided for a man who still had confidence in the piracy ecosystem a few months ago. Indeed, Schenkman told us this week that his team planned hard for the &#8216;pirate&#8217; release of Holocene.</p>
<p>&#8220;In the case of the new film, we worked for months to promote awareness, so that there would be a groundswell of interest from fans of the original film. I would say that this effort at least partially worked,&#8221; he explained.</p>
<p>&#8220;In the first week of the pirate release, many thousands of people a day downloaded it, so there was a clear pent-up demand. And we&#8217;ve seen more donations come from the &#8216;Holocene&#8217; release than we ever did from [Man From Earth] alone. So yes, in that sense, the &#8216;authorized leak&#8217; of the new film has definitely helped spread awareness. </p>
<p>&#8220;The movie would have been pirated regardless; by doing it ourselves, we were, to some degree, able to control the narrative, and indeed it became more of a &#8216;story&#8217;, just the same way that &#8216;producers thank pirates&#8217; became a story at the time of the original film&#8217;s release,&#8221; he added.</p>
<p>In a long email exchange, Schenkman told us that plenty of fans who didn&#8217;t even particularly like his sequel contacted him to congratulate him on choosing the honor system, while donating $5 as a &#8216;thank you&#8217;.</p>
<p>&#8220;You&#8217;d be surprised at how many of those messages I&#8217;ve gotten,&#8221; he told us.</p>
<p>But while Schenkman might be surprised at this generosity, we certainly aren&#8217;t surprised that none of this came out in the CreativeFuture piece.</p>
<p>It&#8217;s understandable that CreativeFuture want to fight their corner with a flawless, polished, and invulnerable anti-piracy narrative, but thankfully we aren&#8217;t afraid of calling out both sides of this war, when it&#8217;s called for. People deserve that honesty.</p>
<p>For example, Schenkman wanted to speak about some of his frustrations with movie distribution in his article. He believes that the international distribution system is flawed because there isn&#8217;t an efficient and fair commercial way to make an indie movie available everywhere, on the same day, unless Netflix buys it.</p>
<p>Those sentiments didn&#8217;t make the CreativeFuture piece but we&#8217;re happy to let him have a voice here.</p>
<p>&#8220;Even now, there isn&#8217;t a fair, equitable way for an indie filmmaker like me to make their movie available everywhere around the world at once. Even Amazon, which is in virtually every country, doesn&#8217;t allow you to simply upload your movie and with the click of a button make it available everywhere,&#8221; he says.</p>
<p>&#8220;I think they&#8217;ll eventually get there, but not anytime soon. If Netflix buys your movie, great &#8212; but if they don&#8217;t, you&#8217;re back to the antiquated system of going to international film markets and trying to sell you film country by country, a costly, inefficient, and time-consuming process (and again, you&#8217;re totally at the mercy of the &#8216;gatekeepers&#8217;).</p>
<p>&#8220;When we first released &#8216;Holocene&#8217; we also made it available at Vimeo and MovieSaints, two platforms which allow access to viewers from most countries. Moviesaints has a unique system allowing both for a partial refund if you don&#8217;t like the movie, as well as a &#8216;tip the filmmaker&#8217; function if you want to provide more support,&#8221; he adds.</p>
<p>And then comes an even stronger hint as to why Schenkman&#8217;s important comments didn&#8217;t make his own article.</p>
<p>&#8220;While we&#8217;ve seen revenue from both of these platforms, it doesn&#8217;t approach the total we&#8217;ve earned from donations. So the good news is that thousands of people who watched &#8216;Holocene&#8217; via the pirate ecosystem have kindly, generously made donations to help support independent film,&#8221; he says.</p>
<p>Of course, in the interests of fair reporting we&#8217;re absolutely unafraid of publishing the not-so-good news too, so here it is &#8211; warts and all.</p>
<p>&#8220;The bad news is that hundreds of thousands (or millions) more have not, and thus we are still a long way from breaking even on this very low-budget movie. I really don&#8217;t see a sustainable business model for a truly independent filmmaker creating these kinds of thoughtful, serious movies, although I remain open to ideas!&#8221; Schenkman concludes.</p>
<p>While CreativeFuture are absolutely entitled to publish whatever they see fit on their own site, it seems clear from Schenkman&#8217;s article (and his comments to us spanning more than a decade) that they are only interested in a tightly-controlled narrative that leaves room for criticism of piracy, but none to detail some of the self-inflicted reasons behind much of it.</p>
<p>Piracy is certainly controversial and it can be bad, we&#8217;ve acknowledged as much in this piece. But hiding important parts of the full story &#8211; especially when they highlight flaws in the distribution system that contributes to piracy&#8217;s existence &#8211; is just as corrosive.</p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/">TF</a>, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/top-10-most-popular-torrent-sites-of-2018-180107/">torrent sites</a> and more. We also have <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-services-keep-anonymous-2018/">VPN reviews, </a><a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-discount-coupon-offer-torguard-nordvpn-expressvpn-pia/">discounts, offers and coupons</a>.</p>
<div class="feedflare">
<a href="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~ff/Torrentfreak?a=aQK78IoYvqc:x41dljMFoGw:yIl2AUoC8zA"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/Torrentfreak?d=yIl2AUoC8zA" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~ff/Torrentfreak?a=aQK78IoYvqc:x41dljMFoGw:D7DqB2pKExk"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/Torrentfreak?i=aQK78IoYvqc:x41dljMFoGw:D7DqB2pKExk" border="0"></img></a>
</div><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~4/aQK78IoYvqc" height="1" width="1" alt=""/>


feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=164002
title: Top 10 Most Pirated Movies of The Week on BitTorrent – 11/12/18
uri: Top-10-Most-Pirated-Movies-of-The-Week-on-BitTorrent-11-12-18
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/Tsr3GplKnm0/
content:
<p><img src="media/c43031b8.missionfallout.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/missionfallout.jpg" alt="" width="300" height="180" class="alignright size-full wp-image-164005">This week we have three newcomers in our chart.</p>
<p>Mission: Impossible &#8211; Fallout is the most downloaded movie.</p>
<p>The data for our weekly download chart is estimated by TorrentFreak, and is for informational and educational reference only. All the movies in the list are Web-DL/Webrip/HDRip/BDrip/DVDrip unless stated otherwise.</p>
<p><a href="http://TorrentFreak.com/category/dvdrip/feed/"><strong>RSS feed</strong></a> for the articles of the recent weekly movie download charts.</p>
<h5>This week&#8217;s most downloaded movies are:</h5>
<table class="css hover">
<thead>
<tr>
<th width="12%"><strong>Movie Rank</strong></th>
<th width="15%"><strong>Rank <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/top-10-pirated-movies-week-bittorrent-11-05-18/">last week</a></strong></th>
<th><strong>Movie name</strong></th>
<th width="18%"><strong>IMDb Rating / Trailer</strong></th>
</tr>
</thead>
<tfoot>
<tr>
<td colspan="4">Most downloaded movies via torrents</td>
</tr>
</tfoot>
<tbody>
<tr>
<td><strong>1</strong></td>
<td>(&#8230;)</td>
<td><a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt4912910/">Mission: Impossible &#8211; Fallout</a> </td>
<td><a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt4912910/">8.0</a> / <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XiHiW4N7-bo&#038;t=20s">trailer</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><strong>2</strong></td>
<td>(1)</td>
<td><a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt3766354/">The Equalizer 2</a> </td>
<td><a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt3766354/">6.9</a> / <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HyNJ3UrGk_I">trailer</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><strong>3</strong></td>
<td>(2)</td>
<td><a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt4779682/">The Meg</a> </td>
<td><a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt4779682/">5.9</a> / <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HXCMAGLJWwU">trailer</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><strong>4</strong></td>
<td>(3)</td>
<td><a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt3606756/">Incredibles 2</a> </td>
<td><a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt3606756/">8.0</a> / <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i5qOzqD9Rms">trailer</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><strong>5</strong></td>
<td>(5)</td>
<td><a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt4560436/">Mile 22</a> </td>
<td><a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt4560436/">6.1</a> / <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ton2-vP99VQ">trailer</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><strong>6</strong></td>
<td>(&#8230;)</td>
<td><a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt6679794/">Outlaw king</a> </td>
<td><a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt6679794/">7.1</a> / <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q-G1BME8FKw">trailer</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><strong>7</strong></td>
<td>(6)</td>
<td><a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt4244998/">Alpha</a> </td>
<td><a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt4244998/">6.9</a> / <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uIxnTi4GmCo">trailer</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><strong>8</strong></td>
<td>(4)</td>
<td><a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt5814060/">The Nun</a> (subbed HDRip)</td>
<td><a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt5814060/">5.7</a> / <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pzD9zGcUNrw&#038;t=4s">trailer</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><strong>9</strong></td>
<td>(&#8230;)</td>
<td><a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt6017942/">Kin</a> </td>
<td><a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt6017942/">5.6</a> / <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ac5wrM2uYbk">trailer</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><strong>10</strong></td>
<td>(9)</td>
<td><a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt7349662/">BlacKkKlansman</a> </td>
<td><a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt7349662/">7.7</a> / <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fQNZhs0QKq0">trailer</a></td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/">TF</a>, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/top-10-most-popular-torrent-sites-of-2018-180107/">torrent sites</a> and more. We also have <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-services-keep-anonymous-2018/">VPN reviews, </a><a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-discount-coupon-offer-torguard-nordvpn-expressvpn-pia/">discounts, offers and coupons</a>.</p>
<div class="feedflare">
<a href="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~ff/Torrentfreak?a=Tsr3GplKnm0:GgP_TVSsAYk:yIl2AUoC8zA"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/Torrentfreak?d=yIl2AUoC8zA" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~ff/Torrentfreak?a=Tsr3GplKnm0:GgP_TVSsAYk:D7DqB2pKExk"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/Torrentfreak?i=Tsr3GplKnm0:GgP_TVSsAYk:D7DqB2pKExk" border="0"></img></a>
</div><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~4/Tsr3GplKnm0" height="1" width="1" alt=""/>


feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=163997
title: Hitman 2’s Denuvo Protection Cracked Three Days Before Launch
uri: Hitman-2-s-Denuvo-Protection-Cracked-Three-Days-Before-Launch
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/XeRvE488qn8/
content:
<p><a href="media/05d838b7.denuvo.jpg" data-original-source="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/images/denuvo.jpg"><img src="media/fe5f698e.denuvo.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/denuvo.jpg" alt="" width="210" height="109" class="alignright size-full wp-image-116067"></a>Protecting video games from piracy has become big business over the years. The latest games consoles from Sony and Microsoft appear relatively secure but the same cannot be said about PC titles.</p>
<p>Due to the fact that PC games are loaded onto a platform that is instantly accessible to hackers, it&#8217;s almost inevitable that any games worth having will have their piracy protections removed at some point and leak online for all to download.</p>
<p>The company on the anti-piracy frontlines is Denuvo. Its anti-tamper technology is fiendishly difficult to crack and as such it regularly finds its way on to many of the gaming world&#8217;s most cherished titles. However, Denuvo is not infallible so regularly finds itself targeted by crackers.</p>
<p>This weekend, the technology suffered yet another disappointing blow. The long-awaiting stealth game Hitman 2 &#8211; which comes &#8216;protected&#8217; by the latest variant of Denuvo (v5.3) &#8211; leaked online. Aside from having its protection circumvented, this happened three days before the title&#8217;s official launch on November 13.</p>
<p>It appears that a relatively new cracking group called FCKDRM (more on them in a moment) obtained a version of Hitman 2 that was only available to those who pre-ordered the game. There are some reports of the crack failing at times on some machines but nevertheless, this leak is important on a number of fronts.</p>
<p>Firstly, the game leaked online three days early, rendering the protection when the game finally comes out much less useful. Secondly, presuming the original copy of the game was obtained on Friday when the pre-order copy was delivered, it took just a single day for the group to crack Denuvo&#8217;s latest protection.</p>
<p>Considering an <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/denuvo-cites-huge-losses-for-aaa-game-not-using-its-anti-piracy-tech-181108/">announcement</a> made by Denuvo just last week, this is a pretty embarrassing turn of events. Denuvo&#8217;s aim is to protect games in their initial release window and according to the company, having no protection can result in millions of dollars in potential lost revenue in just a couple of weeks.</p>
<p>To be on the safe side, however, the company also highlighted the importance of protecting games for just four days (notably a couple of Denuvo-protected titles recently withstood attack for the same number period). Winding back further still, the company said that even providing protection for an hour is worthwhile. Clearly, minus three days didn&#8217;t figure into Denuvo&#8217;s plans.</p>
<p>While several groups have been chipping away at Denuvo for some time, FCKDRM is a new entrant (at least by branding) to the cracking scene. Notably, FCKDRM isn&#8217;t a &#8216;Scene&#8217; group but one that works in P2P circles. At least for now, their identities remain a secret but their choice of name is interesting.</p>
<p>FCKDRM is the official name for the <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/gog-launches-fckdrm-to-promote-drm-free-art-and-media-180822/">anti-DRM initiative</a> recently launched by GOG, a digital distribution platform for DRM-free video games and video. </p>
<p>There&#8217;s no suggestion at all that GOG is involved in the cracking of Denuvo, of course, but the FCKDRM group are using GOG&#8217;s <a href="media/45134ab6.fckdrm-e1534920396939.png" data-original-source="https://torrentfreak.com/images/fckdrm-e1534920396939.png">FCKDRM logo</a> when announcing releases, which certainly has the potential to confuse casual pirates.</p>
<p>Given that Denuvo 5.3 was cracked so quickly (some crashing issues aside) it raises questions about other upcoming titles set to use similar technology. They include Battlefield V from EA/DICE, which has its official full release on November 20 but is already available to early access players.</p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/">TF</a>, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/top-10-most-popular-torrent-sites-of-2018-180107/">torrent sites</a> and more. We also have <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-services-keep-anonymous-2018/">VPN reviews, </a><a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-discount-coupon-offer-torguard-nordvpn-expressvpn-pia/">discounts, offers and coupons</a>.</p>
<div class="feedflare">
<a href="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~ff/Torrentfreak?a=XeRvE488qn8:x9ZeKRVvRjY:yIl2AUoC8zA"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/Torrentfreak?d=yIl2AUoC8zA" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~ff/Torrentfreak?a=XeRvE488qn8:x9ZeKRVvRjY:D7DqB2pKExk"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/Torrentfreak?i=XeRvE488qn8:x9ZeKRVvRjY:D7DqB2pKExk" border="0"></img></a>
</div><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~4/XeRvE488qn8" height="1" width="1" alt=""/>


feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=164033
title: YouTube CEO Says That Videos May Be Blocked Due to EU Copyright Law
uri: YouTube-CEO-Says-That-Videos-May-Be-Blocked-Due-to-EU-Copyright-Law
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/SEgAHHNXpBM/
content:
<p><a href="media/c0ea239b.youtubeface.jpg" data-original-source="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/images/youtubeface.jpg"><img src="media/a5365da2.youtubeface.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/youtubeface.jpg" alt="" width="222" height="158" class="alignright size-full wp-image-107705"></a>Two years ago the European Commission announced plans to modernize EU copyright law.</p>
<p>Some of the proposals were hugely controversial. Article 13, for example, would see the liability for infringing content switched from users of sites like YouTube to the platform itself.</p>
<p>But, despite warnings, in September the European Parliament <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/eu-parliament-adopts-controversial-upload-filter-proposal-180912/">voted in favor of proposals</a> put forward by <a href="http://www.europarl.europa.eu/meps/en/96761/AXEL_VOSS/home">Axel Voss</a>’ EPP group.</p>
<p>This is a revised version of the original proposal, but one that would still pave the way for upload filters, to prevent infringing content from reaching sites like YouTube in the first place. However, speaking today in Financial Times <em>(<a href="https://www.ft.com/content/266e6c2a-e42e-11e8-a8a0-99b2e340ffeb">paywall</a>)</em>, YouTube CEO Susan Wojcicki says that blocking videos may be the platform&#8217;s only option.</p>
<p>&#8220;While we support the goals of article 13, the European Parliament’s current proposal will create unintended consequences that will have a profound impact on the livelihoods of hundreds of thousands of people,&#8221; Wojcicki writes.</p>
<p>&#8220;The parliament’s approach is unrealistic in many cases because copyright owners often disagree over who owns what rights. If the owners cannot agree, it is impossible to expect the open platforms that host this content to make the correct rights decisions.&#8221;</p>
<p>Using the hit &#8220;Despacito&#8221; as an example, Wojcicki says that the track contains multiple copyrights including sound recording and publishing rights. YouTube has agreements with several parties to license the video but other rightsholders remain unknown. This could present a situation so complex that YouTube might have to stop hosting the video altogether.</p>
<p>&#8220;That uncertainty means we might have to block videos like this to avoid liability under article 13. Multiply that risk with the scale of YouTube, where more than 400 hours of video are uploaded every minute, and the potential liabilities could be so large that no company could take on such a financial risk,&#8221; she adds.</p>
<p>While the rest of the world appears to be safe from such blocking, YouTube&#8217;s CEO warns that it is EU residents that will be affected. During the last month alone, videos were viewed by citizens more than 90 billion times.</p>
<p>Wojcicki says her company wants to work with policymakers and the industry to develop Article 13 in a way that protects rightsholders but without stifling the creative economy. That might including broader licensing agreements, improved collaboration with rightsholders, and technical solutions, similar to Content ID.</p>
<p>&#8220;Platforms that follow these rules, and make a good effort to help rights holders identify their content, shouldn’t be held directly liable for every single piece of content that a user uploads,&#8221; Wojcicki writes.</p>
<p>&#8220;We ask policymakers to find a solution that protects rights holders and creators alike, and listen to the growing number of EU voices, including some member countries, who agree there’s a better way forward.&#8221;</p>
<p>In a <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/googles-anti-piracy-efforts-pass-ipos-test-with-flying-colors-181107/">report last week</a> detailing how Google fights piracy, the company <a href="https://www.blog.google/outreach-initiatives/public-policy/protecting-what-we-love-about-internet-our-efforts-stop-online-piracy/">noted</a> that between October 2017 to September 2018, YouTube had paid more than $1.8 billion to the music industry from  in advertising revenue alone.</p>
<p>Last Friday, however, that figure was challenged by IFPI Chief Executive, Frances Moore.</p>
<p>“We welcome Google’s recognition that it and Google’s YouTube need to operate responsibly and properly value creators and their work. However, the figures in Google’s anti-piracy paper don’t match our own,&#8221; Moore said.</p>
<p>“It is difficult to get any clarity on Google’s claims as it doesn’t explain its methodology, but IFPI data shows that revenue returning to the record industry through video streaming services (including but not limited to YouTube) with 1.3 billion users amounted to US $856 million in 2017 – less than half of Google’s claim and less than US $1 per user per year.&#8221;</p>
<p>It seems clear that YouTube and the music industry are yet to see eye to eye on this problem but with the platform suggesting that blocking might be the only option, as we <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/will-internet-services-block-europeans-to-avoid-upload-filters-181028/">envisioned earlier</a>, the pressure is increasing on supporters of Article 13 to avoid this worst-case scenario.</p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/">TF</a>, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/top-10-most-popular-torrent-sites-of-2018-180107/">torrent sites</a> and more. We also have <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-services-keep-anonymous-2018/">VPN reviews, </a><a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-discount-coupon-offer-torguard-nordvpn-expressvpn-pia/">discounts, offers and coupons</a>.</p>
<div class="feedflare">
<a href="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~ff/Torrentfreak?a=SEgAHHNXpBM:n3MqwS_bOBA:yIl2AUoC8zA"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/Torrentfreak?d=yIl2AUoC8zA" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~ff/Torrentfreak?a=SEgAHHNXpBM:n3MqwS_bOBA:D7DqB2pKExk"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/Torrentfreak?i=SEgAHHNXpBM:n3MqwS_bOBA:D7DqB2pKExk" border="0"></img></a>
</div><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~4/SEgAHHNXpBM" height="1" width="1" alt=""/>


feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=164007
title: Nintendo ‘Wins’ $12 Million From Pirate ROM Site Operators
uri: Nintendo-Wins-12-Million-From-Pirate-ROM-Site-Operators
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/Q-0u42143JU/
content:
<p><img src="media/f24e33a6.nintendologo.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/nintendologo.png" alt="" width="250" height="139" class="alignright size-full wp-image-121992">This summer, Nintendo made it totally clear that websites offering access to its retro-games and ROMs will not be tolerated.</p>
<p>The Japanese game developer <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/nintendo-sues-console-rom-sites-for-mass-copyright-infringement-180720/">filed a complaint</a> at a federal court in Arizona, accusing LoveROMS.com and LoveRETRO.co of massive copyright and trademark infringement.</p>
<p>Faced with millions of dollars in potential damages, the operator of the sites, Jacob Mathias, swiftly took the platforms offline. The legal action also led to the shutdown several other ROM sites, who feared they could be next.</p>
<p>It quickly became clear that the Mathias and his wife, who was later added to the complaint, were not looking forward to a drawn-out legal battle. Instead, they engaged in settlement discussions with Nintendo, hoping to resolve the matter without too much bloodshed. </p>
<p>Today we can report that both sides have indeed reached a deal. They agreed to a consent judgment and a permanent injunction that will resolve all outstanding disputes. </p>
<p>Paperwork obtained by TorrentFreak shows that Mathias and his wife admit that their involvement with the websites constituted direct and indirect copyright and trademark infringement, which caused Nintendo irreparable injury.</p>
<p>However, on paper, the married couple won&#8217;t be getting off cheaply. On the contrary, they actually agreed to a judgment that exceeds $12 million. </p>
<p>&#8220;Plaintiff is hereby awarded judgment against all Defendants, jointly and severally, in the amount of $12,230,000,&#8221; the proposed language reads.</p>
<p><center><strong>Unsigned final judgment</strong><br></br></center><center><img src="media/b801c7dc.yettobesignedorder.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/yettobesignedorder.png" alt="" width="566" height="251" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-164034"></center></p>
<p>It seems unlikely that the couple has this kind of money in the bank, or that a jury would have reached a similar figure. So why the high amount? </p>
<p>We can only speculate but it&#8217;s possible that Nintendo negotiated such a high number, on paper, to act as a deterrent for other site operators. In practice, the defendants could end up paying much less. </p>
<p>It wouldn&#8217;t be the first time that a judgment in court is more than what the parties agreed to privately. This happened before in the MPAA&#8217;s lawsuit against Hotfile, where a $80 million judgment in court translated to <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/mpaa-secretly-settled-hotfile-4-million-80-million-141224/">$4 million</a> behind the scenes settlement.</p>
<p>In addition to the monetary judgment, both parties also agreed on a permanent injunction. This will prevent the couple from infringing Nintendo&#8217;s copyrights going forward. </p>
<p>They further have to hand over all Nintendo games and emulators they have, at their own expense. On top of that, the permanent injunction requires them to sign over LoveROMs.com and LoveRETRO.co to the Japanese company.</p>
<p>The documents have yet to be signed off by a judge but considering that both parties agree with it, that should be a formality. After that, it&#8217;s game over.</p>
<p><em>&#8212;</p>
<p>Here are copies of the yet-to-be-signed <a href="media/79a68c0d.romsinjunc.pdf" data-original-source="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/images/romsinjunc.pdf">permanent injunction (pdf)</a> and <a href="media/01cd5969.romsjudg.pdf" data-original-source="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/images/romsjudg.pdf">final judgment (pdf)</a>.</em></p>
<p><center><strong>LoveROMS</strong><br></br></center><center><img src="media/1986cbe3.loveroms1.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/loveroms1.png" alt="" width="459" height="217" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-160308"></center></p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/">TF</a>, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/top-10-most-popular-torrent-sites-of-2018-180107/">torrent sites</a> and more. We also have <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-services-keep-anonymous-2018/">VPN reviews, </a><a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-discount-coupon-offer-torguard-nordvpn-expressvpn-pia/">discounts, offers and coupons</a>.</p>
<div class="feedflare">
<a href="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~ff/Torrentfreak?a=Q-0u42143JU:Dl7sDxEfYP8:yIl2AUoC8zA"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/Torrentfreak?d=yIl2AUoC8zA" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~ff/Torrentfreak?a=Q-0u42143JU:Dl7sDxEfYP8:D7DqB2pKExk"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/Torrentfreak?i=Q-0u42143JU:Dl7sDxEfYP8:D7DqB2pKExk" border="0"></img></a>
</div><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~4/Q-0u42143JU" height="1" width="1" alt=""/>


feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=164071
title: SETTV IPTV Service Ordered to Pay DISH $90,000,000 in Piracy Damages
uri: SETTV-IPTV-Service-Ordered-to-Pay-DISH-90-000-000-in-Piracy-Damages
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/ugqfZf3BWY0/
content:
<p><a href="media/7fbf0f89.dishc.jpg" data-original-source="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/images/dishc.jpg"><img src="media/5559745f.dishc.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/dishc.jpg" alt="" width="244" height="150" class="alignright size-full wp-image-160937"></a>Back in April, the Alliance for Creativity and Entertainment, the global anti-piracy alliance featuring several Hollywood studios, Amazon, Netflix, and dozens of other entertainment companies, <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/netflix-amazon-and-hollywood-sue-set-tv-over-iptv-piracy-180422/">sued Florida-based SET Broadcast, LLC</a>.</p>
<p>The popular unauthorized IPTV was accused of being a piracy tool offering copyright-infringing streams to a large number of subscribers. Early June, <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/set-tv-suddenly-goes-offline-but-is-the-ace-lawsuit-to-blame-180611/">SETTV went offline</a> after a second lawsuit was filed against the company.</p>
<p>In a Florida court, DISH Network and encryption partner NagraStar sued several individuals, companies and trusts collectively doing business as SETTV via the domain SETTVNOW.com. The plaintiffs stated that the complex business structure was designed to frustrate enforcement efforts and hide profits made by SET Broadcast and various individuals.</p>
<p>&#8220;Defendants created a pirate streaming television service they have branded &#8216;SET TV&#8217;,&#8221; the complaint reads, citing offenses under the Federal Communications Act (FCA).</p>
<p>&#8220;Defendants sell subscriptions and devices for the SET TV pirate streaming service, which includes numerous television channels that were received without authorization from DISH&#8217;s satellite service and were subsequently retransmitted without authorization on the SET TV pirate streaming service.&#8221;</p>
<p>DISH and NagraStar alleged that &#8220;for only $20 per month&#8221;, SET TV gave users access to more than 500 live channels, including on-demand content and PPV broadcasts. The company also sold pre-configured hardware devices that came pre-loaded with the SET TV application. As a result, the plaintiffs demanded a permanent injunction plus huge damages.</p>
<p>In an agreed judgment handed down by a Florida court (the merits of the case were not considered), the demands of DISH and NagraStar have now been met.</p>
<p>&#8220;DISH is awarded statutory damages of $90,199,000 under the FCA. The statutory damages are calculated at the parties’ agreed upon $500 for each of the 180,398 subscribers that were acquired directly by Defendants and provided with unauthorized access to DISH’s television programming using Defendants’ SetTV streaming service. Defendants are jointly and severally liable for all damages awarded herein,&#8221; the judgment reads.</p>
<p>The defendants in the case (and anyone acting in concert with them) are also permanently enjoined from &#8220;receiving, retransmitting, or copying, or assisting others in receiving, retransmitting, or copying, any of DISH’s satellite or over-the-top Internet transmissions of television programming or any content contained therein without authorization&#8221;, and having any dealings with infringing subscriptions, set-top devices, or applications.</p>
<p>DISH also won the right to take ownership of all SETTV-branded set-top boxes, similar devices sold through resellers and affiliates, plus subscription codes, passwords and applications relating to the SETTV service.</p>
<p>Additionally, SETTV is required to hand over any domains relating to its service, including but not limited to SETTVNOW.com and SETBROADCAST.com.</p>
<p>&#8220;The judgment and injunction against the SetTV service marks a significant victory in the ongoing fight against pay-TV piracy, and a win for consumers who subscribe to legitimate pay-TV services,&#8221; DISH said in a statement.</p>
<p>&#8220;Following extensive discovery, DISH and the SetTV Defendants reached a confidential settlement agreement. Pursuant to that agreement, the Parties filed stipulated facts and admissions of liability by the SetTV Defendants, along with an agreed judgment and permanent injunction that was entered by the Court on October 24, 2018.</p>
<p>&#8220;In compliance with the Court’s injunction, the SetTV service has been shut down permanently and the websites used to operate the service, along with all remaining inventory of receivers and subscription codes, will be forfeited for destruction.&#8221; </p>
<p>In common with similarly large damages rulings, it&#8217;s unlikely that SETTV will pay anything like the amount cited by the Court. However, the $90m judgment makes great headlines and is likely to act as a deterrent to all but the most aggressive US-based pirates.</p>
<p>The original complaint and subsequent judgment can be found <a href="media/a0829cb0.DISH-v-SET-complaint.pdf" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/DISH-v-SET-complaint.pdf">here</a> and <a href="media/bc9c202f.DISH-v-SET-judgment.pdf" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/DISH-v-SET-judgment.pdf">here</a> <em>(pdf)</em></p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/">TF</a>, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/top-10-most-popular-torrent-sites-of-2018-180107/">torrent sites</a> and more. We also have <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-services-keep-anonymous-2018/">VPN reviews, </a><a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-discount-coupon-offer-torguard-nordvpn-expressvpn-pia/">discounts, offers and coupons</a>.</p>
<div class="feedflare">
<a href="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~ff/Torrentfreak?a=ugqfZf3BWY0:J9iaqBUHo8U:yIl2AUoC8zA"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/Torrentfreak?d=yIl2AUoC8zA" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~ff/Torrentfreak?a=ugqfZf3BWY0:J9iaqBUHo8U:D7DqB2pKExk"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/Torrentfreak?i=ugqfZf3BWY0:J9iaqBUHo8U:D7DqB2pKExk" border="0"></img></a>
</div><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~4/ugqfZf3BWY0" height="1" width="1" alt=""/>


feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=163146
title: Domain Registrars and Registries Don’t Want to ‘Police’ Piracy
uri: Domain-Registrars-and-Registries-Don-t-Want-to-Police-Piracy
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/DWO7nA15Muo/
content:
<p><img src="media/a585da8e.piratemusiccasset.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/piratemusiccasset.png" alt="" width="234" height="152" class="alignright size-full wp-image-135510">There are plenty of options for copyright holders to frustrate the operations of pirate sites, but one of the most effective is to attack their domain names.</p>
<p>In recent years, various entertainment industry groups have called on the domain name industry to help out on this front. </p>
<p>As a result, the MPAA signed a <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/inside-the-mpaas-piracy-deal-with-the-donuts-domain-registry-160210/">landmark agreement</a> with the Donuts registry under which the movie industry group acts as a “trusted notifier” of “pirate” domains. A similar deal was later announced <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/mpaa-signs-anti-piracy-deal-with-large-domain-registry-160413/">with the Radix</a> registry.</p>
<p>This was later followed by a much more ambitious plan. Last year, the <a href="https://icannwiki.org/The_Domain_Name_Association">Domain Name Association</a>, which counts prominent registrars and registries among its members, <a href="https://thedna.org/domain-name-association-unveils-healthy-domains-initiative-practices/">unveiled</a> its Healthy Domains Initiative, a voluntary self-regulation scheme to tackle all kinds of abuse.  </p>
<p>According to the initially <a href="media/4fa6977a.DNA_Healthy_Practices_2017.pdf" data-original-source="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/images/DNA_Healthy_Practices_2017.pdf">published outline</a>, it would institute a copyright arbitration policy to deal with pervasive instances of copyright infringement. This would allow copyright holders to request that domain names be taken offline, without going to court.</p>
<p>This plan, also referred to as SCDRP, was listed as a proposal from the Public Internet Registry (<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Public_Interest_Registry">PIR</a>). PIR oversees the registrations of .org domains, including ThePirateBay.org, which was a likely candidate for this arbitration process.</p>
<p>According to Idaho Law Professor Annemarie Bridy, who recently published a <a href="https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=3264879">handbook chapter</a> on developments in copyright-related domain and DNS regulation, the arbitration plan would dwarf that of the MPAA’s trusted notifier agreements.</p>
<p>&#8220;If PIR were to implement the SCDRP, the RIAA would almost certainly succeed in having the Pirate Bay quietly shut down without subjecting itself to the expense and publicity associated with a lawsuit against its longtime nemesis,&#8221; Bridy writes.</p>
<p><center><strong>Original peoposal</strong><br></br></center><center><img src="media/7c54f067.PIRoposal.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/PIRoposal.png" alt="" width="598" height="260" class="alignright size-full wp-image-163544"></center></p>
<p>However, more than a year has passed and the proposed arbitration scheme appears to have vanished. </p>
<p>The Domain Name Association&#8217;s Healthy Domains Initiative <a href="https://thedna.org/healthy-domain-practices/">is still alive</a> and taking proactive steps against abuse, but the copyright arbitration proposal has been removed from the earlier document. </p>
<p>So what&#8217;s going on here? As it turns out, many prominent players in the domain name industry felt that the copyright arbitration plans went a step too far. </p>
<p>Registries and registrars believe it&#8217;s their role to help the public set up domain names and manage DNS entries, but they don&#8217;t want to take an active role as copyright enforcers of content they don&#8217;t &#8216;host&#8217;.</p>
<p>&#8220;It was really strongly pointed out to the working group that the hosting services are not necessarily in the same division or even same company, and that such things are entirely outside of the registration process,&#8221; Jothan Frakes, Domain Name Association&#8217;s Executive Director, informs TorrentFreak.  </p>
<p>&#8220;The registry or registrar thus are really not part of that content hosting process, and injecting them into that process or putting registrar or registry in the role (and costs and potential legal exposure) of content policing,&#8221; he adds.</p>
<p>That said, under the Healthy Domain Initiative, these companies do take action against domain names with other problematic content. This includes domains pointing to “rogue” pharmacies and child abuse.</p>
<p>Many registrars and registries clearly felt that the copyright arbitration plan went too far though. </p>
<p>The Public Internet Registry (PIR) shares this observation. The organization&#8217;s general counsel <a href="http://domainincite.com/21517-the-pirate-bay-likely-to-be-sunk-as-org-adopts-udrp-for-copyright">previously said</a> that they are not happy with The Pirate Bay&#8217;s presence on an .org domain, and that it&#8217;s a prime candidate to be removed under the right conditions.</p>
<p>However, PIR is not happy with initiatives such as the MPAA&#8217;s trusted notifier scheme and after discussions with other stakeholders, it felt that the copyright arbitration plan lacks support as well. </p>
<p>This means that PIR will not implement SCADR, despite repeated calls from rightsholders and governments to engage registrars and registries in potential content regulation.</p>
<p>“Public Interest Registry is an advocate for a free, open, safe and secure internet. To that end, we believe that any effort to mitigate content-related abuses should be tightly circumscribed and keenly focused on fostering these principles and ensuring due process,” PIR informs TorrentFreak.</p>
<p>And so ThePirateBay.org and many other domains are safe, for now.</p>
<p>The decision to remove the arbitration plans obviously comes as a huge disappointment to copyright industry groups such as the MPAA and RIAA. While they can still take action against domain names, they will have to go to court instead. </p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/">TF</a>, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/top-10-most-popular-torrent-sites-of-2018-180107/">torrent sites</a> and more. We also have <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-services-keep-anonymous-2018/">VPN reviews, </a><a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-discount-coupon-offer-torguard-nordvpn-expressvpn-pia/">discounts, offers and coupons</a>.</p>
<div class="feedflare">
<a href="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~ff/Torrentfreak?a=DWO7nA15Muo:CoKbaRsM0NA:yIl2AUoC8zA"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/Torrentfreak?d=yIl2AUoC8zA" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~ff/Torrentfreak?a=DWO7nA15Muo:CoKbaRsM0NA:D7DqB2pKExk"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/Torrentfreak?i=DWO7nA15Muo:CoKbaRsM0NA:D7DqB2pKExk" border="0"></img></a>
</div><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~4/DWO7nA15Muo" height="1" width="1" alt=""/>


feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=164000
title: Piracy Debt Collectors Back Off After Massive Backlash in Finland
uri: Piracy-Debt-Collectors-Back-Off-After-Massive-Backlash-in-Finland
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/GgD3SIb5PCI/
content:
<p><img src="media/17a592c8.trollsign.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/trollsign.jpg" alt="" width="250" height="167" class="alignright size-full wp-image-108977">For more than a decade, alleged file-sharers around the world have been pressured to pay significant settlement fees.</p>
<p>These so-called copyright-trolling efforts are fairly straightforward. Copyright holders obtain a list of ‘pirating’ IP-addresses and then request a subpoena from the court, compelling ISPs to hand over the associated customer data.</p>
<p>In recent years, several news reports have appeared on these cases in the US, Canada, Sweden, Denmark and elsewhere. In Finland, they have been a common sight since 2013.</p>
<p>Adultia is one of the companies that&#8217;s active in the Nordic country which, as its name suggests, deals with adult content. Helped by the Cyprus-based company M.I.C.M, it obtained personal details of thousands of Finnish subscribers, asking them to pay up, or face legal action.</p>
<p>At the start of this year, the company appeared to have halted its practices. No new letters were being reported, which was carefully celebrated as a win by copyright troll opponents, many of whom are active in the local <a href="https://murobbs.muropaketti.com/threads/hedman-partnersilta-kiristyskirje.1213329/">MuroBBS community</a>. </p>
<p>However, the excitement didn&#8217;t last as the letters returned after a few months, albeit in a different form. </p>
<p>At the end of September, several people who were previously targeted by Adultia started to receive <a href="http://www.ritvapuolakka.fi/440979809">new letters</a>. While the accusations and details were the same as before, they were sent by KTC Finland Oy this time, which is a local debt collection agency.</p>
<p><center><strong>Example of a new letter</strong><br></br></center><center><img src="media/3403b734.KTCletter.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/KTCletter.png" alt="" width="602" height="419" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-164092"></center></p>
<p>The letters were reported in the MuroBBS forum where they raised eyebrows. According to several activists, these &#8220;debt collection bills&#8221; were not lawful, as the earlier letters from Adultia were not official debts, but accusations. </p>
<p>In response, several opponents helped to draft <a href="https://murobbs.muropaketti.com/posts/1718600147/">template response letters</a>, accusing the debt collecting company of breaking the rules. These were sent to the debt collection outfit, as well as government officials.</p>
<p>After a few weeks, this had the desired effect. Late last month, Timo Korhonen, chief investigator of Finland&#8217;s Regional State Administrative Agencies (AVI) in Finland, wrote <a href="https://murobbs.muropaketti.com/posts/1718611317/">a post</a> on MuroBBS stating that KTC&#8217;s actions were now under investigation.</p>
<p>AVI&#8217;s involvement has weight as it ensures that companies, including debt collectors, follow local rules and regulations. In case of severe violations, it also has the power to revoke licenses of debt collectors.</p>
<p>The pressure was building, as AVI&#8217;s involvement was also picked up by the local news site  <a href="https://www.tivi.fi/Kaikki_uutiset/viranomainen-syynaa-piraattikirjeiden-lahettajan-toimintaa-6747131">Tivi</a> and <a href="https://www.is.fi/digitoday/art-2000005885356.html">Ilta-Sanomat</a>. Last week, KTC announced that it will withdraw from the copyright debt collection business.</p>
<p>&#8220;Because of the widespread attention, we have decided to stop collecting these debts. Because of our high standards, we are now concentrating on serving our other customers and thus we leave control over these copyright matters to companies that are specialized in it,&#8221; KTC writes on its website.</p>
<p>KTC maintains that its practices are in accordance with the law and encourages people who received a legitimate demand to pay. However, no new letters will go out.</p>
<p>While the anti-trolling activists at MuroBBS see this decision as a clear win, they hope that AVI&#8217;s investigation will pay off, noting that copyright trolling remains a problem. Law firm Hedman Partners is reportedly still active, for example, using the court to go after alleged pirates. </p>
<p>TorrentFreak spoke to activist &#8216;Don MC&#8217; who notes that details behind 200,000 IP-addresses have already been handed out. While there are signs the court is more reserved now when it comes to these cases, copyright trolling remains a problem.</p>
<p>&#8220;Lately, and perhaps even by the influence of the civil activists on the MuroBBS board, the Market Court has tightened its criteria and no longer hands out these addresses en masse,&#8221; Don MC explains.</p>
<p>&#8220;The MuroBBS community is working hard to end copyright trolling in Finland once and for all. The fight against the trolls will hopefully go on until the last single troll is weeded out.&#8221;</p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/">TF</a>, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/top-10-most-popular-torrent-sites-of-2018-180107/">torrent sites</a> and more. We also have <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-services-keep-anonymous-2018/">VPN reviews, </a><a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-discount-coupon-offer-torguard-nordvpn-expressvpn-pia/">discounts, offers and coupons</a>.</p>
<div class="feedflare">
<a href="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~ff/Torrentfreak?a=GgD3SIb5PCI:fs7fOLRipZI:yIl2AUoC8zA"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/Torrentfreak?d=yIl2AUoC8zA" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~ff/Torrentfreak?a=GgD3SIb5PCI:fs7fOLRipZI:D7DqB2pKExk"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/Torrentfreak?i=GgD3SIb5PCI:fs7fOLRipZI:D7DqB2pKExk" border="0"></img></a>
</div><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~4/GgD3SIb5PCI" height="1" width="1" alt=""/>


feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=164122
title: ‘Pirate’ Set-Top Boxes Used By 45% of Online Thai Consumers
uri: Pirate-Set-Top-Boxes-Used-By-45-of-Online-Thai-Consumers
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/qguVvtmoDb4/
content:
<p><a href="media/cf654c6a.piratekay.jpg" data-original-source="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/images/piratekay.jpg"><img src="media/0fe8e43a.piratekay.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/piratekay.jpg" alt="" width="275" height="188" class="alignright size-full wp-image-108106"></a>This morning, the Asia Video Industry Association’s (AVIA) Coalition Against Piracy (CAP), which represents the interests of groups including <a href="https://asiavia.org/membership/members-corporate/">the MPA and other major companies</a>, revealed the results of a commissioned YouGov survey.</p>
<p>&#8220;In a recent study of the content viewing behavior of Thai consumers, it was revealed that 45% of consumers use a TV box which can be used to stream pirated television and video content,&#8221; CAP writes.</p>
<p>&#8220;These TV boxes, also known as Illicit Streaming Devices (ISDs), allow users to access hundreds of pirated television channels and video-on-demand content, usually with a low annual fee.&#8221;</p>
<p>In the above paragraph, the precise definition of &#8220;consumer&#8221; isn&#8217;t particularly clear. Also, the use of the phrase &#8220;can be used&#8221; is open to ambiguity. TorrentFreak spoke with Neil Gane, General Manager of CAP, who was happy to clarify on both fronts.</p>
<p>&#8220;The survey focused on Internet-connected/online consumers. [T]he survey also included consumers who are online and yet don’t view video content, as all respondents were given the option to select &#8216;Not applicable &#8211; I don&#8217;t watch television and video content&#8217;,&#8221; Gain explained.</p>
<p>Gane further clarified that the 45% of consumers does not include users who use general &#8220;piracy-capable&#8221; devices such as computers, laptops, mobile phones, or Firestick/Chromecast dongles etc. </p>
<p>CAP&#8217;s General Manager added that while most devices &#8220;can be used&#8221; to stream pirated content, the survey was &#8220;solely focused on TV boxes pre-loaded with infringing app(s), which by definition would make them illicit streaming devices (ISDs).&#8221;</p>
<p>Examples of &#8216;pirate applications&#8217; found on such devices include Mango TV, HD Playbox, and U Play, which provide access to streaming movies and TV shows, mainly on Android.</p>
<p>With the details established, the claims of the effects of piracy-enabled devices are more easily digested. CAP says that of the 45% of consumers who bought such a device, &#8220;more than two in three (69%) stated that they canceled all or some of their subscriptions to legal pay TV services.&#8221;</p>
<p>The YouGov research also established that younger people are attracted to piracy-configured devices. They are particularly popular among 18 to 24-year-olds, &#8220;with more than three in four (77%) canceling legitimate subscription services as a result of owning ISDs, especially international online subscriptions (40%).&#8221;</p>
<p>Of course, no recent anti-piracy announcement would be complete without claims about malware running riot.</p>
<p>“The damage that piracy does to the creative industries is without dispute,&#8221; Gane explains.</p>
<p>&#8220;However, the damage done to consumers themselves, because of the nexus between content piracy and malware, is only beginning to be recognized. Piracy websites and applications typically have a &#8216;click happy&#8217; user base, and, as such, are being used more and more as clickbait to distribute malware.&#8221;</p>
<p>There is little doubt that many users of pirate websites are indeed &#8220;click happy&#8221; in their quest for free content and that can lead them into trouble. However, we&#8217;ve covered malware issues before (specifically in <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/rampant-kodi-malware-its-time-to-either-put-up-or-shut-up-190610/">respect of so-called &#8220;Kodi Boxes&#8221;</a>) and found nothing to suggest that there is a significant risk to consumers.</p>
<p>Of course, that doesn&#8217;t mean there isn&#8217;t a risk with other software pre-installed on set-top boxes &#8211; it&#8217;s a computer after all, and all such devices are vulnerable to infection. That means that as a minimum, all users should consider running anti-virus software on all devices capable of doing so.</p>
<p>That being said, set-top boxes are isolated machines that rarely carry much of value to malware distributors. Most people don&#8217;t browse on these machines, send email, or enter any personal or banking information. There is always some risk involved, but in the set-top box environment, it&#8217;s almost certainly minimized.</p>
<p>Speaking with TF, Neil Gane said that the study wasn&#8217;t related to malware but he stands by his references to the &#8220;piracy/malware nexus&#8221;. He also pointed us to a <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/eu-publishes-research-into-malware-pups-on-pirate-sites-180920/">September 2018 EU report</a> that found that trojans and malware can be found on pirate sites, leading to &#8220;not only financial losses, but also theft of personal data and other risks of unwanted access and control.&#8221;</p>
<p>While that&#8217;s true, the same report also stated that copyright-infringing websites and streaming services are not normally considered to be dominant sources of malware.</p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/">TF</a>, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/top-10-most-popular-torrent-sites-of-2018-180107/">torrent sites</a> and more. We also have <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-services-keep-anonymous-2018/">VPN reviews, </a><a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-discount-coupon-offer-torguard-nordvpn-expressvpn-pia/">discounts, offers and coupons</a>.</p>
<div class="feedflare">
<a href="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~ff/Torrentfreak?a=qguVvtmoDb4:MlxHJbYRDKY:yIl2AUoC8zA"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/Torrentfreak?d=yIl2AUoC8zA" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~ff/Torrentfreak?a=qguVvtmoDb4:MlxHJbYRDKY:D7DqB2pKExk"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/Torrentfreak?i=qguVvtmoDb4:MlxHJbYRDKY:D7DqB2pKExk" border="0"></img></a>
</div><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~4/qguVvtmoDb4" height="1" width="1" alt=""/>


feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=164141
title: New “Warsaw Declaration” Promises International Anti-Piracy Cooperation
uri: New-Warsaw-Declaration-Promises-International-Anti-Piracy-Cooper
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/dc6pTeo5_BM/
content:
<p><img src="media/811ada83.europeconnectcooperati.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/europeconnectcooperati.jpg" alt="" width="280" height="177" class="alignright size-full wp-image-164148">Last month, many key players in the entertainment industries <a href="http://www.sygnal.org.pl/Icps2018-pl/Conference_1667436/index.html">took part</a> in the International Content Protection Summit in Warsaw, Poland. </p>
<p>The summit was organized by the Sygnał Association, supported by the EU&#8217;s Intellectual Property Office (EUIPO), with an agenda featuring the latest threats and developments in anti-piracy enforcement. </p>
<p>While these type of gatherings are not new, several of the participants used the opportunity to strengthen their ties. International cooperation, they believe, is a key component for successful anti-piracy enforcement efforts. </p>
<p>To stress their commitment to this goal, 34 participants signed a new memorandum of cooperation titled the Warsaw Declaration. </p>
<p>The signees, including BBC Studios, BREIN, Discovery, FACT, HBO Europe, LaLiga, MPA, NBCUniversal, Sky Deutschland, and the Spanish National Police, state that they &#8220;acknowledge and understand the need for regular international involvement of major stakeholders.&#8221;</p>
<p><center><img src="media/03b0db42.declawarshaw.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/declawarshaw.png" alt="" width="600" height="448" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-164146" srcset="https://torrentfreak.com/images/declawarshaw.png 677w, https://torrentfreak.com/images/declawarshaw-200x150.png 200w" sizes="(max-width: 600px) 100vw, 600px"></center></p>
<p>According to the summit&#8217;s organizers, the “Warsaw Declaration” can help to target the major piracy threats more effectively. This includes the increasingly global reach of cybercrime, new distribution methods, and the use of cryptocurrencies as payment methods.</p>
<p>“Piracy is currently a highly profitable undertaking with a complicated network of relations. There is proof of its connections to other types of crime. said Teresa Wierzbowska, President the Sygnał Association&#8217;s board.</p>
<p>&#8220;The alarming figures concerning the scale of theft and illegal trade of audiovisual content are a motivating factor to take action,&#8221; she adds.</p>
<p>The declaration itself doesn&#8217;t include a concrete plan of action. Apart from acknowledging and understanding the need for more collaboration, there&#8217;s not much more to it. </p>
<p>What it does say is that the signees hope to increase &#8220;awareness&#8221; of the &#8220;negative impact of piracy on the global economy&#8221; among &#8220;decision-makers, opinion leaders, media and society,&#8221; and persuade them to counteract this.</p>
<p>Speaking with TorrentFreak, Sygnał Association’s Anna Słoboda notes that the declaration is just the first step. The next stage is to turn it into action.</p>
<p>&#8220;For us, it was very important to let people from western and eastern Europe meet each other in one place to exchange experiences and contacts. I am sure that it will soon bring results,&#8221; she says.</p>
<p><em>&#8212;</p>
<p>A copy of the Warsaw declaration is available <a href="media/0aced795.DeclarationEN.pdf" data-original-source="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/images/DeclarationEN.pdf">here (pdf)</a> and a full list of the signees can be found below as well.</p>
<p>-A+E Networks<br>
-Anti-Piracy Protection<br>
-Association &#8220;For Legal Content!&#8221;<br>
-Association of Commercial Television in Europe (ACT)<br>
-Audiovisual Anti-Piracy Alliance (AAPA)<br>
-BBC Studios<br>
-BREIN Foundation<br>
-CANAL + Group<br>
-NDS<br>
-Clear Sky Initiative<br>
-Cyfrowy Polsat<br>
-Discovery<br>
-Federation Against Copyright Theft (FACT)<br>
-Federazione per la Tutela dei Contenuti Audiovisivi e Multimediali (FAPAV)<br>
-Group-IB<br>
-Guardia di Finanza<br>
-HBO Europe<br>
-International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI)<br>
-ITI Neovision<br>
-Kreatywna Polska<br>
-LaLiga<br>
-Motion Picture Association EMEA<br>
-NAGRA/Kudelski Group<br>
-NBCUniversal International<br>
-OSN<br>
-RettighedsAlliancen<br>
-Sky Deutschland<br>
-Sky Italia<br>
-Sygnał Association<br>
-TeRaPro<br>
-The Spanish National Police<br>
-TVN<br>
-United Media<br>
-Warner Bros. Entertainment</p>
<p></em></p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/">TF</a>, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/top-10-most-popular-torrent-sites-of-2018-180107/">torrent sites</a> and more. We also have <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-services-keep-anonymous-2018/">VPN reviews, </a><a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-discount-coupon-offer-torguard-nordvpn-expressvpn-pia/">discounts, offers and coupons</a>.</p>
<div class="feedflare">
<a href="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~ff/Torrentfreak?a=dc6pTeo5_BM:sOYmNVA29-8:yIl2AUoC8zA"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/Torrentfreak?d=yIl2AUoC8zA" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~ff/Torrentfreak?a=dc6pTeo5_BM:sOYmNVA29-8:D7DqB2pKExk"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/Torrentfreak?i=dc6pTeo5_BM:sOYmNVA29-8:D7DqB2pKExk" border="0"></img></a>
</div><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~4/dc6pTeo5_BM" height="1" width="1" alt=""/>


feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=164194
title: Film Group Asks Court to Stop Arrests of Theater Owners Over Piracy
uri: Film-Group-Asks-Court-to-Stop-Arrests-of-Theater-Owners-Over-Piracy
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/IiqXfwbP1Eo/
content:
<p><a href="media/23be6eda.cinema.jpg" data-original-source="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/images/cinema.jpg"><img src="media/72ea8c10.cinema.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/cinema.jpg" alt="" width="200" height="143" class="alignright size-full wp-image-40568"></a>While Hollywood has its own problems with movie piracy, the position in India is arguably more pressing.</p>
<p>Many of the country&#8217;s top movie titles are immediately pirated and placed online, much to the disappointment of film companies nationwide. Aggressive site-blocking appears to have little effect so, in association with the authorities, the problem is being tackled at the source.</p>
<p>Many leaks happen when individuals or groups illegally record movies in cinemas, which is often simply a case of finding a screen and pointing a camcorder or phone towards it. In tandem, there are concerns that in some cases, theater owners themselves may be part of the piracy conspiracy. That, however, is leading to what appears to be overzealous policing.</p>
<p>When movies are shown, it&#8217;s common for watermarks to be embedded in the performance, which allows content security companies to trace where recordings take place. Armed with this information, copyright holders are then filing complaints against theater owners, who are reportedly being arrested by police, in the absence of evidence they&#8217;re even involved.</p>
<p>This has led to a plea to the Madras High Court by the Film Exhibitors Association (FEA), requesting that police are restrained from making arrests without evidence that theater owners are directly involved with unauthorized &#8216;camming&#8217; of theatrical performances.</p>
<p>&#8220;The film producers were filing complaints against theater owners falsely accusing the latter as being responsible for such piracy and the resulting losses caused to the film producers,&#8221; the Times of India <a href="https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/chennai/hc-govt-film-industry-must-discuss-to-end-video-piracy/articleshow/66597306.cms">reports</a>, citing the FEA.</p>
<p>&#8220;Police were arresting or attempting to arrest the theater owners merely on the basis of such complaints, without any inquiry. This makes the theater owner to run from pillar to post to obtain appropriate bail or anticipatory bail. The theater owners cannot be made responsible for all cases of piracy.&#8221; </p>
<p>The FEA added that it&#8217;s impossible to search all members of an audience for hidden cameras, whether they&#8217;re present in phones, pens, or even spectacles. Public prosecutor A Natarajan countered, telling the court that calls for a blanket ban on arrests can&#8217;t be entertained and should be denied.</p>
<p>With that, Justice Puspha Sathyanarayana issued an interim direction, ordering the  Tamil Nadu Home Secretary and the Director General of Police to organize a meeting of affected stakeholders (film companies, distributors, exhibitors) to try and reach an amicable solution.</p>
<p>The case was adjourned until November 28, 2018.</p>
<p>In an effort to reduce camcorder piracy, last month the Tamil Nadu Theater Owners Association laid down a strict set of rules designed to prevent pirates from recording the latest movies and uploading them to the Internet.</p>
<p>All cinemas in the southern state of Tamil Nadu <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/india-cinemas-put-on-lockdown-to-prevent-cam-piracy-181024/">were told</a> to saturate their entire sites with CCTV cameras, including projection rooms and customer seating areas plus parking and entrance areas. It is not yet clear whether that has happened or if the measures are having any effect.</p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/">TF</a>, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/top-10-most-popular-torrent-sites-of-2018-180107/">torrent sites</a> and more. We also have <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-services-keep-anonymous-2018/">VPN reviews, </a><a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-discount-coupon-offer-torguard-nordvpn-expressvpn-pia/">discounts, offers and coupons</a>.</p>
<div class="feedflare">
<a href="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~ff/Torrentfreak?a=IiqXfwbP1Eo:DMQZ8Mh_wjk:yIl2AUoC8zA"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/Torrentfreak?d=yIl2AUoC8zA" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~ff/Torrentfreak?a=IiqXfwbP1Eo:DMQZ8Mh_wjk:D7DqB2pKExk"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/Torrentfreak?i=IiqXfwbP1Eo:DMQZ8Mh_wjk:D7DqB2pKExk" border="0"></img></a>
</div><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~4/IiqXfwbP1Eo" height="1" width="1" alt=""/>


feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=164214
title: Article 13: YouTube CEO is Now Lobbying FOR Upload Filters
uri: Article-13-YouTube-CEO-is-Now-Lobbying-FOR-Upload-Filters
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/i5mTMDk6494/
content:
<p><a href="media/6542fb40.eu-copyright.jpg" data-original-source="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/images/eu-copyright.jpg"><img src="media/19bd259d.eu-copyright.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/eu-copyright.jpg" alt="" width="250" height="167" class="alignright size-full wp-image-136985"></a>As the heated debate over the EU&#8217;s controversial Article 13 proposals continues, YouTube is becoming ever more vocal.</p>
<p>Relatively silent in the run-up to the September vote which saw the European Parliament vote in favor of proposals put forward by Axel Voss’ EPP group, YouTube now seems very concerned over the possibility of being held liable for infringing content uploaded to its platform.</p>
<p>“While we support the goals of article 13, the European Parliament’s current proposal will create unintended consequences that will have a profound impact on the livelihoods of hundreds of thousands of people,” Wojcicki wrote in blog post earlier this week.</p>
<p>Wojcicki&#8217;s statement carried a stark warning that liability for YouTube under Article 13 could force the platform to block content from EU citizens. No company could take on such a financial risk, she said.</p>
<p>Thus far, the Article 13 debate has been polarized, with the entertainment industries hugely in favor and companies like YouTube and pro-Internet freedom groups strongly against. Now, however, a new development has created an interesting split in the ranks, with Julia Reda, MEP for the Pirate Party, warning that YouTube is now lobbying <em>in favor of upload filters</em>.</p>
<p>As detailed in a release from Reda&#8217;s office this morning, YouTube CEO Susan Wojcicki has made a number of <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/youtube-ceo-says-that-videos-may-be-blocked-due-to-eu-copyright-law-181112/">statements</a> in recent weeks that indicate that the video hosting platform is in favor of pre-filtering content before it&#8217;s made available to the public.</p>
<p>Of course, Google has its ContentID filtering system already in place, meaning that it would be in pole position to further dominate the video hosting space, if the filtering option is adopted by the EU.</p>
<p>&#8220;The fact that Youtube is now publicly lobbying for mandatory upload filters is not surprising in the least. By introducing ContentID, YouTube has already proven that is is very much capable of developing filters for certain types of content, such as music,&#8221; Reda explains.</p>
<p>&#8220;If the entire market was obliged to install such filters, YouTube would not only be miles ahead in of its competitors in the development of such technologies, it would also be in a position to sell its filters to smaller platforms. Large platforms such as YouTube would grow further and be presented with an entirely new business model. The significantly smaller EU competition would be left behind.&#8221;</p>
<p>In common with many activists, Reda is passionately against the idea of content being filtered. The MEP points to numerous failures of YouTube&#8217;s ContentID system that have led to entirely legal content being blocked or deleted from the platform. Reda also warns of a slippery slope where filtering leads to other unintended consequences, such as the stifling of copyright exceptions including parody or quotation.</p>
<p>During October, Wojcicki <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/youtube-new-eu-copyright-law-could-drastically-change-the-internet-181023/">posted</a> on the company&#8217;s blog, warning that Article 13 could &#8220;drastically change the Internet.&#8221; The piece was effectively a rallying cry to millions of YouTube creators, who were urged to take to social media to protest the proposed legislation.</p>
<p>Now, however, Reda is warning YouTubers against taking YouTube&#8217;s stance as their own, noting that its CEO has been in Strasbourg lobbying in favor of upload filters and is only interested in avoiding legal liability.</p>
<p>&#8220;The fear of many YouTubers that internet culture and independent creatives will be sacrificed in this reform is certainly justified. They should however not make the mistake of singing from YouTube&#8217;s hymn sheet, whose CEO has only been outspoken against the liability of platforms for copyright infringements, while presenting mandatory upload filters as a reasonable compromise,&#8221; Reda says.</p>
<p>&#8220;If you look more closely at the countless videos, it&#8217;s apparent that most YouTubers are warning of the exact problems that YouTube&#8217;s ContentID upload filters are already causing today: unjustified copyright strikes and the automated deletion of entirely legal creative content. YouTube and its YouTubers have very different interests in this debate.&#8221;</p>
<p>The fact that Julia Reda is now speaking out so clearly against YouTube is likely to prove somewhat of a conundrum to the music industry critics who have been regularly attacking her on Twitter.</p>
<p>While she has risen above many embarrassingly childish accusations, some have claimed &#8211; without any evidence &#8211; that she&#8217;s somehow shilling for YouTube-owner Google in respect of Article 13.</p>
<p>Clearly, the battle lines in this war aren&#8217;t so easily drawn.</p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/">TF</a>, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/top-10-most-popular-torrent-sites-of-2018-180107/">torrent sites</a> and more. We also have <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-services-keep-anonymous-2018/">VPN reviews, </a><a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-discount-coupon-offer-torguard-nordvpn-expressvpn-pia/">discounts, offers and coupons</a>.</p>
<div class="feedflare">
<a href="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~ff/Torrentfreak?a=i5mTMDk6494:KfLSZVmrKQE:yIl2AUoC8zA"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/Torrentfreak?d=yIl2AUoC8zA" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~ff/Torrentfreak?a=i5mTMDk6494:KfLSZVmrKQE:D7DqB2pKExk"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/Torrentfreak?i=i5mTMDk6494:KfLSZVmrKQE:D7DqB2pKExk" border="0"></img></a>
</div><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~4/i5mTMDk6494" height="1" width="1" alt=""/>


feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=164168
title: Google Meets Russian Govt Body to Discuss Ongoing Piracy Issues
uri: Google-Meets-Russian-Govt-Body-to-Discuss-Ongoing-Piracy-Issues
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/s3QCq07mk68/
content:
<p><a href="media/ec295b70.googlelogo.png" data-original-source="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/images/googlelogo.png"><img src="media/367885e7.googlelogo.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/googlelogo.png" alt="" width="250" height="83" class="alignright size-full wp-image-135049"></a>On November 1, 2018, Russia&#8217;s most powerful technology and entertainment companies signed a Memorandum of Cooperation to tackle online piracy.</p>
<p>The <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/landmark-anti-piracy-database-agreement-signed-in-moscow-181101/">agreement</a>, designed to rid all major platforms of infringing content, saw movie, television, and Internet companies agree to the formation of a central database of infringing sites, which will provide information on what content should be deleted.</p>
<p>While Channel One, the National Media Group, Gazprom-Media, the Internet Video Association, the Association of Film and Television Producers, Yandex, Rambler Group, Mail.Ru Group, vKontakte, and RuTube signed up, Google did not. However, telecoms watchdog Roscomnadzor suggested that Google would be welcome to join, when the time is right.</p>
<p>To that end, discussions continued in Moscow Wednesday, with Deputy Head of Roscomnadzor Vadim Subbotin meeting with Doron Avni, Google’s Director of Public Policy &#038; Government Relations for Europe, Middle East &#038; Africa Emerging Markets.</p>
<p>During the meeting, Google was officially invited to join the anti-piracy memorandum, which in some respects is already aligned with the requirements of the DMCA. However, instead of Google receiving complaints directly from copyright holders, the memorandum requires that details of infringing content are held in a database administered by Roscomnadzor.</p>
<p>The plan is for the database to be queried every five minutes by the signatories, who will use the data to remove infringing content from search results and hosting services. No further information in respect of Google has been released by Roscomnadzor so it remains unclear whether the US-based company is prepared to deviate from its current takedown notice procedure under the DMCA.</p>
<p>Another topic of discussion was Google&#8217;s failure to connect its systems to another centralized database that contains a list of permanently blocked websites. Search engines operating in Russia are <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/russian-govt-approves-fines-for-search-engines-linking-to-banned-vpns-180608/">obliged to connect</a> to the resource but to date, Google has not.</p>
<p>Several weeks ago, Roscomnadzor contacted Google with a demand that it begins filtering its search results using data obtained from the country&#8217;s ‘FGIS’ blacklist. Google did not comply, which led the telecoms watchdog to declare that the search giant is in breach of federal law.</p>
<p>That left Google vulnerable to an administrative fine of between 500,000 and 700,000 rubles (US$7,611 to US$10,656). While insignificant in monetary terms, the matter will have to be decided by a court, with Roscomnazor considering its position thereafter. Following the meeting, however, there&#8217;s a sign that things may be progressing.</p>
<p>&#8220;The meeting discussed a wide range of issues on the implementation by Google of the provisions of Russian legislation,&#8221; a Roscomnadzor statement reads.</p>
<p>&#8220;One of the key points of the talks was to discuss the situation around the violation by the company of the requirements of Russian law to ensure the filtering of Google search results of information prohibited in Russia.</p>
<p>&#8220;Doron Avni will present the proposed mechanisms for resolving the situation at Google’s corporate center in California,&#8221; the watchdog added.</p>
<p>In other news concerning the anti-piracy memorandum, work on the centralized database is already underway. Head of Gazprom-Media Dmitry Chernyshenko told reporters that copyright holders were working hard to establish the resource.</p>
<p>“I know that those creating this platform are working with might and main. The preliminary filling of the database is already beginning,” Chernyshenko <a href="https://tass.ru/ekonomika/5781463">said</a>.</p>
<p>According to the media boss, the full database should be completed in around three months&#8217; time although it will need to be continually updated.</p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/">TF</a>, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/top-10-most-popular-torrent-sites-of-2018-180107/">torrent sites</a> and more. We also have <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-services-keep-anonymous-2018/">VPN reviews, </a><a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-discount-coupon-offer-torguard-nordvpn-expressvpn-pia/">discounts, offers and coupons</a>.</p>
<div class="feedflare">
<a href="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~ff/Torrentfreak?a=s3QCq07mk68:mxWbv8OYDKo:yIl2AUoC8zA"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/Torrentfreak?d=yIl2AUoC8zA" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~ff/Torrentfreak?a=s3QCq07mk68:mxWbv8OYDKo:D7DqB2pKExk"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/Torrentfreak?i=s3QCq07mk68:mxWbv8OYDKo:D7DqB2pKExk" border="0"></img></a>
</div><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~4/s3QCq07mk68" height="1" width="1" alt=""/>


feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=164221
title: US Court Lists ‘DNS’ and ‘Routing’ Services in Broad Anti-Piracy Order
uri: US-Court-Lists-DNS-and-Routing-Services-in-Broad-Anti-Pira
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/aqQtHI-DxVU/
content:
<p><img src="media/7bbce88c.courtorderjustice.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/courtorderjustice.jpg" alt="" width="256" height="171" class="alignright size-full wp-image-147326">In recent years, a wide variety of companies have filed lawsuits against sellers of pirate set-top boxes. </p>
<p>Several of these cases target devices that cater to the Asian market and haven&#8217;t received a lot of press, but a recent order against the company behind the BTV set-top box caught our eye. </p>
<p>The case in question was filed by a group of rightsholders including Asia TV, Star India, Viacom18, and Dish Network. In their complaint, they accuse Hong Kong-based &#8216;Dibia Networks Limited&#8217; of running a pirate broadcasting network by retransmitting copyrighted channels.</p>
<p>&#8220;Dibia has built its business model around blatant copyright infringement, brazenly advertising and promoting the capability of the BTV device to provide users with infringing streams of the Copyrighted Programs,&#8221; it reads.</p>
<p>As is often the case in piracy-related lawsuits, Dibia did not defend itself. As a result, the rightsholders moved for a default judgment which includes a rather broad permanent injunction.</p>
<p>The companies requested the maximum statutory damages for 44 separate TV episodes and that is exactly what they got. In a recent order, New York District Court Judge George Daniels awarded a total of $6.6 million in damages. </p>
<p>It&#8217;s questionable whether the rightsholders will ever see a penny, but an associated permanent junction gives them a lot of options to make sure that the BTV set-top boxes remain offline.</p>
<p>Aside from restraining Dibia from engaging in any infringing activities, it directs domain name registrars and registries to disable BTV&#8217;s websites, and transfer the domains to the rightsholders. This includes BTVBox.com, which has been signed over to Dish Network.</p>
<p>These domain takeovers are not new but the injunction goes further than that, mentioning various third-party intermediaries who are compelled to cut their ties with servers or sites that are linked to BTV the boxes or apps.</p>
<p>This includes companies that are involved in &#8220;sales, distribution, shipping or logistics services,&#8221; for the set-top boxes, but also &#8220;back-end service providers, service providers routing traffic or providing bandwidth, content delivery networks, and domain name server systems,&#8221; for the associated sites. </p>
<p>This order is rather broad, particularly in respect of the companies that route traffic, which could include the Tier1 networks that form the Internet&#8217;s backbone. The term &#8216;DNS systems&#8217; can be interpreted broadly as well, adding virtually every ISP into the mix. </p>
<p>Whether this is the intention of the rightsholders is unclear, as they list CloudFlare, Incapsula, and DNSPod as examples. The latter two don&#8217;t offer DNS servers, but host DNS entries for customers instead. </p>
<p><center><strong>From the injunction</strong><br></br></center><center><img src="media/c9eb8d5e.enjoined.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/enjoined.png" alt="" width="593" height="336" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-164236"></center></p>
<p>The injunction goes on to mention several other third-party intermediaries, including &#8220;content hosting websites,&#8221; &#8220;domain name registration privacy protection services,&#8221; &#8220;providers of social media services,&#8221; &#8220;user-generated and online content services,&#8221; and &#8220;data security services.&#8221;</p>
<p>Again, it lists examples of services that are covered by the language above, such as GitHub, Twitter, Facebook, and YouTube. </p>
<p>While the language is very broad, we have to keep in mind that this is a default judgment. The defendant chose not to fight the case, and none of the mentioned intermediaries had their say. </p>
<p>At the time of writing, there is no indication that any of these intermediaries are being or will be approached to enforce the order. This may not be needed, as BTV&#8217;s websites appear to be offline.</p>
<p>That said, the order opens the door for similar broad requests.</p>
<p>Interestingly, this is not the first time this kind of language has been seen in US courts. The MPAA&#8217;s member studios previously requested a similar order in their case against MovieTube. However, this didn&#8217;t make it into the final permanent injunction, as happened here. </p>
<p>At the time, the <a href="https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2015/08/movie-studios-seek-sopapower-through-broad-site-blocking-order">EFF warned</a> that such an order would give movie studios &#8220;the power to force practically every Internet company within the reach of U.S. law to help them disappear the MovieTube websites.&#8221;</p>
<p>In the present case, the order passed quietly. RapidTVNews picked it up <a href="https://www.rapidtvnews.com/2018111554180/us-court-orders-btv-to-pay-broadcasters-6-6mn-for-copyright-infringement.html">this week</a>, but surprisingly little attention is being paid to the order thus far.</p>
<p><em>&#8212;</p>
<p>A copy of the default judgment and injunction is available </em><a href="media/873539db.BTVorder.pdf" data-original-source="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/images/BTVorder.pdf">here (pdf)</a>.</p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/">TF</a>, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/top-10-most-popular-torrent-sites-of-2018-180107/">torrent sites</a> and more. We also have <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-services-keep-anonymous-2018/">VPN reviews, </a><a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-discount-coupon-offer-torguard-nordvpn-expressvpn-pia/">discounts, offers and coupons</a>.</p>
<div class="feedflare">
<a href="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~ff/Torrentfreak?a=aqQtHI-DxVU:uiXlPnL5H38:yIl2AUoC8zA"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/Torrentfreak?d=yIl2AUoC8zA" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~ff/Torrentfreak?a=aqQtHI-DxVU:uiXlPnL5H38:D7DqB2pKExk"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/Torrentfreak?i=aqQtHI-DxVU:uiXlPnL5H38:D7DqB2pKExk" border="0"></img></a>
</div><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~4/aqQtHI-DxVU" height="1" width="1" alt=""/>


feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=164267
title: Netflix Dominates Internet Traffic Worldwide, BitTorrent Ranks Fifth
uri: Netflix-Dominates-Internet-Traffic-Worldwide-BitTorrent-Ranks-Fifth
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/Ye1RxNEmaHk/
content:
<p><img src="media/e12f98ba.netflixlogonew.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/netflixlogonew.png" alt="" width="267" height="152" class="alignright size-full wp-image-145677">Over the years we have closely followed various reports on Internet traffic changes, specifically in relation to BitTorrent.</p>
<p>Many of these came from the Canadian broadband management company <a href="http://sandvine.com">Sandvine</a>, which often focused on the popularity of different types of traffic in specific regions. </p>
<p>That was also the case a few weeks ago when its latest report <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/pirate-site-openload-generates-more-traffic-than-hulu-or-hbo-go-181002/">revealed</a> which sources generate most upload and download traffic in various regions of the world. This revealed that BitTorrent is <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/bittorrent-traffic-is-not-dead-its-making-a-comeback-180926/">far from dead</a>.</p>
<p>What it didn&#8217;t reveal, however, is which traffic sources consume the most traffic worldwide when both upstream and downstream traffic are combined.  This broad overview was missing from earlier reports as well, but in a new update Sandvine now fills this gap. </p>
<p>When all traffic from sources worldwide is combined, Netflix comes out as the clear winner with 13.75% of the total traffic share. The streaming giant is followed by HTTPS Media data (12.25%) and YouTube (10.51%) respectively. </p>
<p>BitTorrent comes in fifth place with 4.10% of all Internet traffic globally, which is mostly driven by the EMEA (Europe, the Middle East and Africa) and APAC (Asia-Pacific) regions. </p>
<p><center><strong>The full picture, courtesy of Sandvine</strong><br></br></center><center><img src="media/347e08e3.sandfull.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/sandfull.png" alt="" width="600" height="384" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-164272"></center></p>
<p>&#8220;As expected, the top four applications are all video, and also not surprisingly, BitTorrent is fifth overall &#8211; strongly boosted by the utter dominance on the upstream in EMEA and APAC,&#8221; Sandvine&#8217;s Cam Cullen <a href="https://www.sandvine.com/blog/global-internet-phenomena-worldwide-and-regional-total-internet-traffic-share-video-and-file-sharing-are-tops">notes</a>. </p>
<p>&#8220;This is a pretty significant number since downstream traffic is an order of magnitude larger than the upstream traffic totals worldwide.&#8221; </p>
<p>Looking at the upstream and downstream totals in various regions, we see that Netflix accounts for nearly 17% of all traffic from the Americas. Interestingly, BitTorrent doesn&#8217;t make it into the top 10, sitting well below 2%. </p>
<p>BitTorrent traffic is most popular in the APAC region where it sits in second place with 7.87%, generating more traffic than both Netflix and YouTube.</p>
<p>It&#8217;s interesting to see the bigger picture, where both upload and download traffic is combined on both fixed and mobile connections. </p>
<p>This offers a unique snapshot of Internet traffic sources in 2018. Hopefully, Sandvine will continue to make these data available going forward, so we can track changes over time. </p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/">TF</a>, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/top-10-most-popular-torrent-sites-of-2018-180107/">torrent sites</a> and more. We also have <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-services-keep-anonymous-2018/">VPN reviews, </a><a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-discount-coupon-offer-torguard-nordvpn-expressvpn-pia/">discounts, offers and coupons</a>.</p>
<div class="feedflare">
<a href="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~ff/Torrentfreak?a=Ye1RxNEmaHk:M-zfLt2F3eo:yIl2AUoC8zA"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/Torrentfreak?d=yIl2AUoC8zA" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~ff/Torrentfreak?a=Ye1RxNEmaHk:M-zfLt2F3eo:D7DqB2pKExk"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/Torrentfreak?i=Ye1RxNEmaHk:M-zfLt2F3eo:D7DqB2pKExk" border="0"></img></a>
</div><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~4/Ye1RxNEmaHk" height="1" width="1" alt=""/>


feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=164012
title: Cyberpolice Raid Pirate Site For Infringing Universal’s Copyrights
uri: Cyberpolice-Raid-Pirate-Site-For-Infringing-Universal-s-Copyrights
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/tKyVWVJRomg/
content:
<p><a href="media/096bd33d.streamingkey.jpg" data-original-source="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/images/streamingkey.jpg"><img src="media/468f0769.streamingkey.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/streamingkey.jpg" alt="" width="250" height="167" class="alignright size-full wp-image-125426"></a>For many years, Ukraine has been openly criticized for not doing enough to tackle both online and offline piracy.</p>
<p>The country is known for its high piracy rates but enforcement against local pirate and gray-area hosting platforms has been sporadic and largely ineffective.</p>
<p>According to an announcement from Ukraine&#8217;s Ministry of Internal Affairs, however, fresh action has taken down at least one and possibly many piracy-linked Internet resources.</p>
<p>The Ministry says that officers from the Kiev Department of Cyberpolicies, together with investigators from the Vasylkivsky police department, have executed a warrant in the south-eastern city of Zaporizhzhia. Their target was a 24-year-old man suspected of running the pirate streaming portal OneMov.net and several other pirate sites.</p>
<p><center><strong>OneMov.net &#8211; shutdown notice </strong><em>(Image credit: Ukraine Government)</em><br></br></center><center><a href="media/c56c7264.cyberpolice_z1-e1542023133854.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/cyberpolice_z1-e1542023133854.jpg"><img src="media/c56c7264.cyberpolice_z1-e1542023133854.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/cyberpolice_z1-e1542023133854.jpg" alt="" width="600" height="405" class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-164013"></a></center></p>
<p>The authorities say that the individual &#8220;reproduced and distributed audiovisual works&#8221; belonging to Universal City Studios LLLP, which is represented locally by the Ukrainian Anti-Piracy Association.</p>
<p>The government department says that OneMov attracted attention due to its international appeal. Although it was administered from Ukraine, the platform carried movies that were mostly in English, with titles later appearing in Ukrainian and Russian.</p>
<p>After carrying out what is being described as an &#8220;authorized search&#8221;, police say they discovered items linking the man to the platform.</p>
<p>&#8220;In his apartment, the system unit of a personal computer containing an electronic control panel of the site was removed. In addition, a router was found that was used to administer the specified web resource and bank cards, which included funds from advertising on the specified site,&#8221; the Ministry of Internal Affairs said.</p>
<p><center><strong>An officer searching the suspect&#8217;s PC </strong><em>(Image credit: Ukraine Government)</em><br></br></center><center><a href="media/342e5ece.cyberpolice_z2-e1542023613819.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/cyberpolice_z2-e1542023613819.jpg"><img src="media/342e5ece.cyberpolice_z2-e1542023613819.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/cyberpolice_z2-e1542023613819.jpg" alt="" width="600" height="498" class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-164016"></a></center></p>
<p>The authorities claim that the arrested man could also be the brains behind another 10 pirate sites but at the time of writing, the names of those sites haven&#8217;t been released. However, a screenshot of what appears to be the suspect&#8217;s computer reveals links not only to OneMov, but also MovDB.net and OneStream.cc, both of which are currently inaccessible.</p>
<p>The arrested man is being investigated for offenses under Part 3, <a href="http://www.intellect.ua/eng/copyright/law/code/criminalcode/176">Article 176</a> of the Criminal Code of Ukraine (Infringement of Copyright and Related Rights) and could receive a prison sentence of up to six years.</p>
<p>Earlier this year the United States Trade Representative (USTR) kept Ukraine on its <a href="media/865dd9ff.2018-Special-301.pdf" data-original-source="https://torrentfreak.com/images/2018-Special-301.pdf">Priority Watch List</a> <em>(pdf)</em>, accusing government agencies of using pirated software and a &#8220;failure to implement an effective means to combat the <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/us-calls-out-dozens-of-countries-on-yearly-piracy-watchlist-180430/">widespread online infringement</a> of copyright in Ukraine.&#8221; </p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/">TF</a>, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/top-10-most-popular-torrent-sites-of-2018-180107/">torrent sites</a> and more. We also have <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-services-keep-anonymous-2018/">VPN reviews, </a><a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-discount-coupon-offer-torguard-nordvpn-expressvpn-pia/">discounts, offers and coupons</a>.</p>
<div class="feedflare">
<a href="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~ff/Torrentfreak?a=tKyVWVJRomg:SiAsVoWA1g4:yIl2AUoC8zA"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/Torrentfreak?d=yIl2AUoC8zA" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~ff/Torrentfreak?a=tKyVWVJRomg:SiAsVoWA1g4:D7DqB2pKExk"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/Torrentfreak?i=tKyVWVJRomg:SiAsVoWA1g4:D7DqB2pKExk" border="0"></img></a>
</div><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~4/tKyVWVJRomg" height="1" width="1" alt=""/>


feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=164113
title: MPAA: Making All Domain WHOIS Data Public Will Advance Privacy
uri: MPAA-Making-All-Domain-WHOIS-Data-Public-Will-Advance-Privacy
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/eFz9LyxwQ3w/
content:
<p><img src="media/9b13b8a6.privacy.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/privacy.jpg" alt="" width="250" height="170" class="alignright size-full wp-image-135982">A few weeks ago, the US National Telecommunications and Information Administration (<a href="https://www.ntia.doc.gov/">NTIA</a>), asked the public for input on ways to improve consumer privacy.</p>
<p>The NTIA wants to increase the privacy of users through more transparency, user control, minimization of data collection, and security, among other things. This is particularly important when it comes to online platforms.</p>
<p>&#8220;Often, especially in the digital environment, these products and services depend on the collection, retention, and use of personal data about their users,&#8221; NTIA wrote. </p>
<p>&#8220;Users must therefore trust that organizations will respect their interests, understand what is happening with their personal data, and decide whether they are comfortable with this exchange.&#8221;</p>
<p>The request came a few months after the EU&#8217;s new privacy regulation, the GDPR, was implemented. The GDPR requires many online services and tools to tighten their privacy policies, which also affects domain registrars. </p>
<p>As of June 2018, ICANN implemented a temporary measure to restrict access to personal data that would previously have been available through WHOIS, unless explicit permission is given. A welcome privacy change to many domain registrants, but anti-piracy groups are not happy.</p>
<p>While the limited WHOIS data is supposed to improve user privacy, the MPAA tells the NTIA that the opposite is true. They believe that opening it up again &#8220;will advance privacy while protecting prosperity and innovation,&#8221; in line with NTIA&#8217;s aims.</p>
<p>The MPAA is taking a different approach when compared to most of the other comments we&#8217;ve seen. For example, more transparency is generally seen as services being more open about what personal information they collect and share. </p>
<p>Or, as the NTIA puts it: &#8220;Users should be able to easily understand how an organization collects, stores, uses, and shares their personal information.&#8221;</p>
<p>The MPAA says that when it comes to WHOIS data, sharing more personal data in public &#8211; as it was in the past &#8211; benefits the public at large. Sharing personal data of all website owners allows visitors to check who they are dealing with.</p>
<p>&#8220;Users are not &#8216;reasonably informed&#8217; or &#8217;empowered to meaningfully express privacy preferences&#8217; if they cannot determine the entity behind a website,&#8221; the MPAA explains.</p>
<p>&#8220;Continued access to WHOIS data will help consumers identify domain name registrants and web site operators when necessary, advancing the NTIA’s user-centric outcome of transparency.&#8221;</p>
<p>In other words, the MPAA believes that it is important for WHOIS data to be &#8216;transparent&#8217; so the public can decide whether they can trust a website with their personal details. That&#8217;s a bit of a shift when compared to how other commenters approached this question.</p>
<p>Of course, there&#8217;s also a downside to public WHOIS data. In the past, other organizations have warned that WHOIS details may make it easier for criminals to harass website owners, as their digital and real-life addresses are listed publicly.</p>
<p>The Hollywood group realizes that there are possible concerns. It notes, however, that a risk analysis weighs in favor of restoring full WHOIS access, adding that registrants only have to provide &#8220;mundane&#8221; information.  </p>
<p>&#8220;The risk to registrants is also comparatively small, as they, too, have long operated with these types of obligations and the information they must provide is relatively mundane data used to contact them,&#8221; MPAA writes. </p>
<p>The group, therefore, calls on the NTIA to ensure that the original WHOIS requirements are restored. Not just to help Hollywood to fight piracy, but also to address other crimes, including sex trafficking and illegal drug sales.</p>
<p>&#8220;This overbroad application of the GDPR is already hindering the ability of law enforcement agencies and others to investigate illicit behavior — including sex trafficking, unlawful sale of opioids, cyber-attacks, identity theft, and theft of intellectual property,&#8221; the MPAA warns. </p>
<p>Concerns about limited WHOIS data are not new. Previously, a group of 50 organizations <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/whois-limits-under-gdpr-will-make-pirates-harder-to-catch-groups-fear-180413/">warned</a> that it makes pirates harder to catch, which is of course the MPAA&#8217;s main stake in the matter.</p>
<p><em>&#8212;</p>
<p>A copy of MPAA&#8217;s full submission is available <a href="media/db72863a.A-WHOIS-comments-in-NTIA-privacy-principles-proceeding-FINAL.pdf" data-original-source="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/images/181109-MPAA-WHOIS-comments-in-NTIA-privacy-principles-proceeding-FINAL.pdf">here (pdf)</a>.</em></p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/">TF</a>, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/top-10-most-popular-torrent-sites-of-2018-180107/">torrent sites</a> and more. We also have <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-services-keep-anonymous-2018/">VPN reviews, </a><a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-discount-coupon-offer-torguard-nordvpn-expressvpn-pia/">discounts, offers and coupons</a>.</p>
<div class="feedflare">
<a href="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~ff/Torrentfreak?a=eFz9LyxwQ3w:IJcmjOetN7k:yIl2AUoC8zA"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/Torrentfreak?d=yIl2AUoC8zA" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~ff/Torrentfreak?a=eFz9LyxwQ3w:IJcmjOetN7k:D7DqB2pKExk"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/Torrentfreak?i=eFz9LyxwQ3w:IJcmjOetN7k:D7DqB2pKExk" border="0"></img></a>
</div><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~4/eFz9LyxwQ3w" height="1" width="1" alt=""/>


feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=164174
title: Is There a Mysterious Criminal Case Against WatchAsap?
uri: Is-There-a-Mysterious-Criminal-Case-Against-WatchAsap
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/IEoE6rGhbiA/
content:
<p><img src="media/610d0c3f.watchasaplogo.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/watchasaplogo.png" alt="" width="279" height="167" class="alignright size-full wp-image-163712">At the start of this year, pirate streaming site 123movies, also known as 123movieshub and GoMovies, was one of the largest pirate streaming sites on the web.</p>
<p>The site received millions of visitors per day which prompted none other than the MPAA <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/mpaa-brands-123movies-as-the-worlds-most-popular-illegal-site-180316/">to label it</a> “the most popular illegal site in the world.”</p>
<p>The site offered access to pretty much all popular movies and TV shows, most in reasonable quality. However, it also advertised another site, <a href="https://watchasap.com/">WatchAsap.com</a>, which offered the best video quality for a monthly subscription. </p>
<p>Many people believed that both sites were closely connected. While that may have been the case, WatchAsap remained online when 123movies <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/pirate-streaming-giant-123movies-announces-shutdown-180319/">decided to shut down</a> earlier this year.</p>
<p>The shutdown happened just days after the MPAA visited Vietnamese officials. Not entirely coincidentally, perhaps, as we later learned that the site folded in response to a <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/123movies-was-shut-down-following-a-criminal-investigation-181005/">criminal investigation</a> by the authorities of Vietnam, where the site&#8217;s owners were allegedly based. </p>
<p>“An important development in 2018 was the shuttering of a ring of piracy services that had operated under the names 123movies, 123movieshub, gostream, and gomovies following the launch of a criminal investigation in Vietnam and significant industry engagement,” the MPAA explained.</p>
<p>While WatchAsap remained online for several months, the site&#8217;s homepage changed drastically this month. Instead of paid access to HD streams, users are now welcomed by an ominous seizure banner.</p>
<p>“This domain name associated with the website WatchAsap.com has been seized pursuant to an order issued by the U.S. District Court,” it reads, adding that a federal grand jury indicted several individuals for related crimes.</p>
<p><center><strong>Seized?</strong><br></br></center><center><img src="media/6f8c76cf.watchasapbanner-1.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/watchasapbanner-1.jpg" alt="" width="600" height="450" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-164212" srcset="https://torrentfreak.com/images/watchasapbanner-1.jpg 600w, https://torrentfreak.com/images/watchasapbanner-1-200x150.jpg 200w" sizes="(max-width: 600px) 100vw, 600px"> </center></p>
<p>This type of banner has been used in the past for criminal investigations. In fact, the banner previously displayed at Megaupload.com was identical, apart from the name of the website. </p>
<p>As far as we can see the image hasn&#8217;t been doctored and WatchAsap.com shouldn&#8217;t have any reason to implicate itself in a crime, but thus far we haven&#8217;t seen any public announcement of a related indictment. </p>
<p>Further complicating the matter is the fact that the domain WHOIS hasn&#8217;t been updated to indicate a seizure. Also, the site still uses Cloudflare&#8217;s nameservers, which is unusual as well, compared to previous domain takeovers. </p>
<p>In theory, a Federal Court may have instructed Cloudflare to point the site to a server that&#8217;s controlled by the feds, of course, but there&#8217;s no confirmation of that either. </p>
<p>To resolve this mystery, TorrentFreak reached out to the Department of Justice and the IPR Center, whose seals are prominently featured on the shutdown banner. After a week had passed a reminder was sent, but we have yet to hear back. </p>
<p>It might be that we received no response because the court records are still sealed, or that it&#8217;s all an elaborate hoax. Either way, it&#8217;s highly unusual. </p>
<p>What we do know is that whoever is responsible for placing that banner didn&#8217;t do a very good job. </p>
<p>As it turns out, they forgot to redirect the site&#8217;s www traffic. At the time of writing, people who type in <a href="https://www.watchasap.com/">www.watchasap.com</a> are sent to another pirate site called YesMovies instead. That site is not too dissimilar from the original 123movies&#8230;</p>
<p>The mystery continues. </p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/">TF</a>, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/top-10-most-popular-torrent-sites-of-2018-180107/">torrent sites</a> and more. We also have <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-services-keep-anonymous-2018/">VPN reviews, </a><a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-discount-coupon-offer-torguard-nordvpn-expressvpn-pia/">discounts, offers and coupons</a>.</p>
<div class="feedflare">
<a href="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~ff/Torrentfreak?a=IEoE6rGhbiA:hdH-pyi7u4Q:yIl2AUoC8zA"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/Torrentfreak?d=yIl2AUoC8zA" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~ff/Torrentfreak?a=IEoE6rGhbiA:hdH-pyi7u4Q:D7DqB2pKExk"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/Torrentfreak?i=IEoE6rGhbiA:hdH-pyi7u4Q:D7DqB2pKExk" border="0"></img></a>
</div><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~4/IEoE6rGhbiA" height="1" width="1" alt=""/>


feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=163960
title: Popular Cuevana Pirate Site to Be Blocked Following Hollywood Complaint
uri: Popular-Cuevana-Pirate-Site-to-Be-Blocked-Following-Hollywood-Complain
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/VnYpGzI4vgU/
content:
<p><a href="media/1b97a33a.deniedblocked.jpg" data-original-source="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/images/deniedblocked.jpg"><img src="media/f6cbbbd7.deniedblocked.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/deniedblocked.jpg" alt="" width="270" height="199" class="alignright size-full wp-image-143825"></a>For well over a decade, content industry groups &#8211; mainly representing movie and music companies &#8211; have petitioned courts around the world to limit access to so-called pirate sites.</p>
<p>The theory is that by blocking sites that host or link to infringing content, piracy rates will go down, thus leading to increased sales. However, not much evidence is available to say that blocking is effective in achieving the latter two objectives, even if direct visits to pirate sites are reduced.</p>
<p>Nevertheless, entertainment groups continue to press ahead with blockades in many countries against a huge number of sites. Their latest target, streaming site Cuevana, is not only very popular in South America but also a bit of a veteran in the piracy scene.</p>
<p>Offering a wide range of movie and TV show content for instant viewing, Cuevana has been a Hollywood and TV company irritant for almost a decade. In 2012, an administrator of one variant of the site <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/streaming-site-admin-freed-but-agrees-1-year-hiatus-with-hbo-120509/">was arrested</a> in Chile following a complaint by HBO, but not even that managed to kill the platform.</p>
<p>Available now via a number of domains, a partial solution to the Cuevana problem appears to be blocking. To that end, Disney, Fox, Paramount, Columbia, and others filed a complaint against the popular platform in Argentina, hoping that the courts would render the site inaccessible in the region. According to <a href="https://www.similarweb.com/website/cuevana2.com">SimilarWeb data</a>, Cuevana2.com is the country&#8217;s 109th most-popular site.</p>
<p>Following an initial application by rightsholders, the National Chamber in Criminal and Correctional Matters has now reversed an earlier ruling and ordered a provisional blockade of Cuevana.</p>
<p>Due to the site providing unlicensed access to works owned by the plaintiffs, the Court found that the site is in breach of <a href="http://servicios.infoleg.gob.ar/infolegInternet/anexos/40000-44999/42755/texact.htm">Law 11.723</a>, which covers intellectual property matters. Article 79 reportedly allows measures to prevent further infringement.</p>
<p>Like many popular under-siege pirate sites, Cuevana also relies on multiple domains and addresses to keep itself online and accessible. With this in mind, the Hollywood companies have filed requests to have all Cuevana-related domains blocked in Argentina, to prevent circumvention of their injunction.</p>
<p>Much like The Pirate Bay, Cuevana appears to have many namesakes which may, or may not, be linked to the official platform.</p>
<p>According to local media <a href="https://losandes.com.ar/article/view?slug=la-justicia-bloqueo-cuevana-el-popular-sitio-para-ver-peliculas-y-series-gratis">reports</a>, the court found that blocking &#8216;pirate&#8217; websites is an &#8220;appropriate and proportional measure&#8221; to prevent infringement, particularly in the case of Cuevana which has been infringing copyrights for many years.</p>
<p>While Cuevana variants have always been popular in South America and other Spanish-speaking regions, the platform attracted international attention in 2014 when the <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/mpaa-reports-top-pirate-sites-u-s-government-141027/">MPAA reported it</a> to the United States Trade Representative.</p>
<p>Following the success of its web-based portal, the pirate site began offering <a href="https://github.com/Cuevana/storm">Cuevana Storm</a>, a Popcorn Time-like streaming solution, utilizing torrents under the hood. It now appears to have reverted largely to web-based streaming, relying on file-hosting sites for content.</p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/">TF</a>, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/top-10-most-popular-torrent-sites-of-2018-180107/">torrent sites</a> and more. We also have <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-services-keep-anonymous-2018/">VPN reviews, </a><a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-discount-coupon-offer-torguard-nordvpn-expressvpn-pia/">discounts, offers and coupons</a>.</p>
<div class="feedflare">
<a href="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~ff/Torrentfreak?a=VnYpGzI4vgU:rgUzBIfy05Y:yIl2AUoC8zA"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/Torrentfreak?d=yIl2AUoC8zA" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~ff/Torrentfreak?a=VnYpGzI4vgU:rgUzBIfy05Y:D7DqB2pKExk"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/Torrentfreak?i=VnYpGzI4vgU:rgUzBIfy05Y:D7DqB2pKExk" border="0"></img></a>
</div><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~4/VnYpGzI4vgU" height="1" width="1" alt=""/>


feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=164297
title: Top Torrent Site 1337x Blocked By MalwareBytes For Alleged ‘Fraud’
uri: Top-Torrent-Site-1337x-Blocked-By-MalwareBytes-For-Alleged-Fraud
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/UBpZwjh0sz0/
content:
<p><a href="media/c6795184.malwarebytes1.jpg" data-original-source="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/images/malwarebytes1.jpg"><img src="media/82bbf090.malwarebytes1.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/malwarebytes1.jpg" alt="" width="200" height="200" class="alignright size-full wp-image-107528"></a>People browsing the Internet on a Windows-based computer should always presume that their machines are vulnerable to attack.</p>
<p>From using a decent firewall to anti-virus and similar tools, prevention is always better than cure when it comes to the various threats lurking in the online space.</p>
<p>For people who frequent torrent and streaming sites, the rules are no different. Anti-virus, anti-malware, and sometimes aggressive ad-blocking tools are considered a must, to ensure that rogue adverts or booby-trapped downloads don&#8217;t gain traction on a user&#8217;s machine.</p>
<p>One of the most popular tools in this space is MalwareBytes. In addition to dealing with malware already present on a user&#8217;s machine, its premium product also offers real-time protection, ensuring that users aren&#8217;t even allowed to visit dangerous or untrustworthy websites by blocking them automatically.</p>
<p>In normal and sensible use, MalwareBytes is generally hard to trigger but during the past few days, the software has been preventing access to a pair of popular &#8216;pirate&#8217; sites.</p>
<p>The first brought to our attention was PCgames-download.com, a portal that specializes in downloads of the latest PC games. During the middle of last week, MalwareBytes declared the site dangerous, preventing all users from visiting the platform.</p>
<p>Worryingly, MalwareBytes flagged the site as &#8220;fraud&#8221;, declaring it is a &#8220;scam&#8221; that tries to &#8220;steal your information or credit card details.&#8221; Given that the site isn&#8217;t known for such activity and tests via Google&#8217;s malware checker gave it a clean bill of health, TorrentFreak contacted MalwareBytes asking for more information. We received no response.</p>
<p>We did, however, have an email exchange with the operator of PCgames-download.com who told us that he wasn&#8217;t surprised at the block, given that MalwareBytes has done this to similar sites in the past. He pointed out that none of the main anti-virus vendors has a problem with his site, going on to detail the measures taken to ensure that rogue advertising networks aren&#8217;t allowed.</p>
<p>While a single blocking issue isn&#8217;t particularly surprising, we&#8217;ve now learned that one of the world&#8217;s most popular torrent sites is also being blocked for the same reason. As the screenshot below shows, 1337x.to is also being flagged for &#8220;fraud&#8221;, with MalwareBytes users blocked from visiting the site.</p>
<p><center><strong>Blocked for alleged &#8216;fraud&#8217;</strong><br></br></center><center><a href="media/18dd06a4.1337x-fraud.png" data-original-source="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/images/1337x-fraud.png"><img src="media/88f92801.1337x-fraud.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/1337x-fraud.png" alt="" width="515" height="308" class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-164299"></a></center></p>
<p>Again, 1337x.to &#8211; which at the start of the year was <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/top-10-most-popular-torrent-sites-of-2018-180107/">placed 3rd in our annual overview</a> of the world&#8217;s most-visited torrent sites &#8211; doesn&#8217;t have a reputation for engaging in malicious or abusive behavior. </p>
<p>However, according to MalwareBytes, the site is being blocked due to the reason shown in the screenshot below.</p>
<p><center><strong>1337x.to blocked for alleged &#8216;fraud&#8217;</strong><br></br></center><center><a href="media/4273f260.1337x-fraud-mb-e1542549167731.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/1337x-fraud-mb-e1542549167731.png"><img src="media/4273f260.1337x-fraud-mb-e1542549167731.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/1337x-fraud-mb-e1542549167731.png" alt="" width="650" height="544" class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-164300"></a></center></p>
<p>Since MalwareBytes has been unresponsive to our requests for clarification, we have no idea why the 1337x.to is being blocked or whether the claims have substance or are the result of a false positive. However, when cross-checking the domain with Google&#8217;s sophisticated malware checker tool, we can see that 1337x (just like PCgames-download.com) is given a clean bill of health.</p>
<p><center><strong>Google has no issue with 1337x.to</strong><br></br></center><center><a href="media/ae57b33d.1337x-google.png" data-original-source="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/images/1337x-google.png"><img src="media/903fa4ab.1337x-google.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/1337x-google.png" alt="" width="559" height="430" class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-164302"></a></center></p>
<p>If MalwareBytes do get round to answering our questions we&#8217;ll update this article with their comments. In the meantime, however, it might be worth the company providing more information when it decides to block an entire website.</p>
<p>Anti-virus companies display the names of the viruses they find to inform users, so doing the same for visitors to allegedly fraudulent websites would certainly clear up some of the confusion. Fraud is a big allegation and should be backed up with some evidence, whenever possible.</p>
<p><strong>Update:</strong> In the case of 1337x, MalwareBytes is blocking the IP address 104.31.16.3, which is registered to Cloudflare. It is shared by more than 150 other sites, which could also be subject to blocking and the same message about fraud.</p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/">TF</a>, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/top-10-most-popular-torrent-sites-of-2018-180107/">torrent sites</a> and more. We also have <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-services-keep-anonymous-2018/">VPN reviews, </a><a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-discount-coupon-offer-torguard-nordvpn-expressvpn-pia/">discounts, offers and coupons</a>.</p>
<div class="feedflare">
<a href="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~ff/Torrentfreak?a=UBpZwjh0sz0:BWOdiO8db8M:yIl2AUoC8zA"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/Torrentfreak?d=yIl2AUoC8zA" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~ff/Torrentfreak?a=UBpZwjh0sz0:BWOdiO8db8M:D7DqB2pKExk"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/Torrentfreak?i=UBpZwjh0sz0:BWOdiO8db8M:D7DqB2pKExk" border="0"></img></a>
</div><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~4/UBpZwjh0sz0" height="1" width="1" alt=""/>


feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=164311
title: Top 10 Most Pirated Movies of The Week on BitTorrent – 11/19/18
uri: Top-10-Most-Pirated-Movies-of-The-Week-on-BitTorrent-11-19-18
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/hfbPgqAQ9uY/
content:
<p><img src="media/c43031b8.missionfallout.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/missionfallout.jpg" alt="" width="300" height="180" class="alignright size-full wp-image-164005">This week we have three newcomers in our chart.</p>
<p>Mission: Impossible &#8211; Fallout is the most downloaded movie.</p>
<p>The data for our weekly download chart is estimated by TorrentFreak, and is for informational and educational reference only. All the movies in the list are Web-DL/Webrip/HDRip/BDrip/DVDrip unless stated otherwise.</p>
<p><a href="http://TorrentFreak.com/category/dvdrip/feed/"><strong>RSS feed</strong></a> for the articles of the recent weekly movie download charts.</p>
<h5>This week&#8217;s most downloaded movies are:</h5>
<table class="css hover">
<thead>
<tr>
<th width="12%"><strong>Movie Rank</strong></th>
<th width="15%"><strong>Rank <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/top-10-pirated-movies-week-bittorrent-11-05-18/">last week</a></strong></th>
<th><strong>Movie name</strong></th>
<th width="18%"><strong>IMDb Rating / Trailer</strong></th>
</tr>
</thead>
<tfoot>
<tr>
<td colspan="4">Most downloaded movies via torrents</td>
</tr>
</tfoot>
<tbody>
<tr>
<td><strong>1</strong></td>
<td>(1)</td>
<td><a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt4912910/">Mission: Impossible &#8211; Fallout</a> </td>
<td><a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt4912910/">8.0</a> / <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XiHiW4N7-bo&#038;t=20s">trailer</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><strong>2</strong></td>
<td>(3)</td>
<td><a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt4779682/">The Meg</a> </td>
<td><a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt4779682/">5.9</a> / <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HXCMAGLJWwU">trailer</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><strong>3</strong></td>
<td>(2)</td>
<td><a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt3766354/">The Equalizer 2</a> </td>
<td><a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt3766354/">6.9</a> / <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HyNJ3UrGk_I">trailer</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><strong>4</strong></td>
<td>(4)</td>
<td><a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt3606756/">Incredibles 2</a> </td>
<td><a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt3606756/">8.0</a> / <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i5qOzqD9Rms">trailer</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><strong>5</strong></td>
<td>(&#8230;)</td>
<td><a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1517451/">A Star is Born</a> </td>
<td><a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1517451/">8.2</a> / <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nSbzyEJ8X9E">trailer</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><strong>6</strong></td>
<td>(5)</td>
<td><a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt4560436/">Mile 22</a> </td>
<td><a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt4560436/">6.1</a> / <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ton2-vP99VQ">trailer</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><strong>7</strong></td>
<td>(6)</td>
<td><a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt6679794/">Outlaw king</a> </td>
<td><a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt6679794/">7.1</a> / <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q-G1BME8FKw">trailer</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><strong>8</strong></td>
<td>(&#8230;)</td>
<td><a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt6412452/">The Ballad of Buster Scruggs</a> </td>
<td><a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt6412452/">7.4</a> / <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_2PyxzSH1HM">trailer</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><strong>9</strong></td>
<td>(7)</td>
<td><a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt4244998/">Alpha</a> </td>
<td><a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt4244998/">6.9</a> / <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uIxnTi4GmCo">trailer</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><strong>10</strong></td>
<td>(&#8230;)</td>
<td><a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt3104988/">Crazy Rich Indians</a> </td>
<td><a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt3104988/">7.2</a> / <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZQ-YX-5bAs0">trailer</a></td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/">TF</a>, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/top-10-most-popular-torrent-sites-of-2018-180107/">torrent sites</a> and more. We also have <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-services-keep-anonymous-2018/">VPN reviews, </a><a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-discount-coupon-offer-torguard-nordvpn-expressvpn-pia/">discounts, offers and coupons</a>.</p>
<div class="feedflare">
<a href="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~ff/Torrentfreak?a=hfbPgqAQ9uY:yneJn7Sl9Xc:yIl2AUoC8zA"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/Torrentfreak?d=yIl2AUoC8zA" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~ff/Torrentfreak?a=hfbPgqAQ9uY:yneJn7Sl9Xc:D7DqB2pKExk"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/Torrentfreak?i=hfbPgqAQ9uY:yneJn7Sl9Xc:D7DqB2pKExk" border="0"></img></a>
</div><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~4/hfbPgqAQ9uY" height="1" width="1" alt=""/>


feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=164307
title: Pirate Streaming Site HDS.to Shuts Down
uri: Pirate-Streaming-Site-HDS-to-Shuts-Down
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/Rr3eP7f9GVQ/
content:
<p><img src="media/0160f607.hdslo.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/hdslo.png" alt="" width="255" height="122" class="alignright size-full wp-image-164347">While HDS.to may not be known to most English-oriented pirates, it became one of the premier streaming sites in French-speaking countries this year. </p>
<p>It is ranked among the 30 most-visited sites in Belgium, for example, and gathered a significant user base in France, Canada, and Switzerland too. </p>
<p>A few days ago the position began to change. As the weekend began the site went offline, and it didn&#8217;t take long before users noticed that something wasn&#8217;t quite right.</p>
<p>Instead of a gateway to hundreds of free movies and TV-shows, a rather grim message appeared, stating that the site was closing for good. </p>
<p>&#8220;HDS-TO is permanently closed,&#8221; it read, translated from French. &#8220;Thank you for your understanding and goodbye.&#8221;</p>
<p>This notice got the rumor mill going and according to some, the site was still accessible with a VPN. However, a follow-up message posted on HDS.to made it clear that this was not the case.</p>
<p>&#8220;Warning! We do not have any accounts on social networks (Twitter, Facebook&#8230;). Announcements made by so-called official accounts are misleading,&#8221; the message read.</p>
<p>&#8220;Be careful also of sites that offer you to subscribe to a VPN to access the site, their goal is simply to earn money through an affiliate program when you subscribe to a VPN. Please understand that the site is permanently closed, there is no (VPN, account&#8230;) way to access it.&#8221;</p>
<p><center><strong>Shutting down</strong><br></br></center><center><img src="media/d94cd2a4.hds1.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/hds1.png" alt="" width="442" height="230" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-164362">  </center></p>
<p>At the time of writing this message has also disappeared. Instead, it&#8217;s been replaced with a standard &#8220;404 Not Found&#8221; error.  </p>
<p>The shutdown is especially painful for those who paid to access the site. It appears that HDS.to, in some cases, <a href="https://twitter.com/search?f=tweets&#038;vertical=default&#038;q=hds.to%20sms&#038;src=typd&#038;lang=en">charged 3.99 euros</a> per month for unlimited access. Although this could be bypassed by switching IP-addresses, there are plenty of people who handed over money. </p>
<p>It remains unclear why the operators of the site decided to close shop. There is currently no indication that it&#8217;s the result of legal issues. If more information appears we will update this article accordingly. </p>
<p>While it appears that HDS.to is not coming back, there will not be any shortage of copycat sites trying to take its place. We&#8217;ve already observed HDSS.to jumping in, and there are bound to be more initiatives similar to that.</p>
<p><center><strong>HDS.to in better days</strong><br></br></center><center><img src="media/3d37dc0c.hds.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/hds.jpg" alt="" width="588" height="455" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-164346"></center></p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/">TF</a>, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/top-10-most-popular-torrent-sites-of-2018-180107/">torrent sites</a> and more. We also have <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-services-keep-anonymous-2018/">VPN reviews, </a><a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-discount-coupon-offer-torguard-nordvpn-expressvpn-pia/">discounts, offers and coupons</a>.</p>
<div class="feedflare">
<a href="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~ff/Torrentfreak?a=Rr3eP7f9GVQ:-hJ28oay7yY:yIl2AUoC8zA"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/Torrentfreak?d=yIl2AUoC8zA" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~ff/Torrentfreak?a=Rr3eP7f9GVQ:-hJ28oay7yY:D7DqB2pKExk"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/Torrentfreak?i=Rr3eP7f9GVQ:-hJ28oay7yY:D7DqB2pKExk" border="0"></img></a>
</div><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~4/Rr3eP7f9GVQ" height="1" width="1" alt=""/>


feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=164314
title: Labels Sue PokerNews over Copyright-Infringing Tracks in Podcasts
uri: Labels-Sue-PokerNews-over-Copyright-Infringing-Tracks-in-Podcasts
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/QsAAh8jGWLc/
content:
<p><img src="media/5754afba.pokernews.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/pokernews.jpg" alt="" width="255" height="185" class="alignright size-full wp-image-164321">Many podcasts use music to spice up their recordings. </p>
<p>This is fine when a track is properly licensed, or if it is <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Podsafe">podsafe</a>, but using substantial portions of tracks without permission can become problematic. </p>
<p>This is what iBus Media, the company behind <a href="https://www.pokernews.com/">PokerNews</a> &#8211; the self-proclaimed &#8220;largest poker website in the world&#8221; &#8211; just discovered. Last Friday the company was sued for willful copyright infringement in a California federal court. </p>
<p>The complaint was filed by a group of record labels and music publishers including UMG Recordings, Capitol Records, Universal Music, and PolyGram. They accuse PokerNews of distributing podcasts through its site and app, using significant portions of their tracks.</p>
<p>&#8220;Among the content made available by iBus Media on PokerNews, and through other forums, are hundreds of podcasts that intentionally incorporate significant portions of Plaintiffs’ copyrighted musical works,&#8221; the complaint reads.</p>
<p>This shouldn&#8217;t really come as a surprise, according to the music companies, who explain that PokerNews&#8217; parent company was already notified of the issue several years ago. </p>
<p>&#8220;iBus Media was notified that it was infringing Plaintiffs’ copyrighted works nearly three years ago. Nevertheless, iBus Media continues to infringe. iBus Media’s infringement is therefore willful and deliberate,&#8221; they write.</p>
<p><center><strong>Some allegedly infringing podcasts</strong><br></br></center><center><img src="media/bde74348.infpod.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/infpod.png" alt="" width="585" height="387" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-164327"></center></p>
<p>The complaint lists hundreds of podcasts where infringing tracks allegedly appear. This has resulted in &#8220;substantial&#8221; and &#8220;irreparable harm,&#8221; the labels say, adding that PokerNews profits from this unauthorized use. </p>
<p>&#8220;In each of the Infringing Podcasts, Plaintiffs’ copyrighted works are prominently featured and undoubtedly used with the intention of making the podcasts more appealing to listeners,&#8221; the complaint reads.</p>
<p>PokerNews said it has taken steps to remove certain infringing content, but according to the music companies, the problem persists. They, therefore, demand $150,000 in statutory damages per infringed work. </p>
<p>With 46 copyrighted songs listed in the complaint, the maximum statutory damages go well beyond $6 million, but it&#8217;s possible that even more titles could be added when the case proceeds. </p>
<p>In addition, the music companies also request a preliminary and permanent injunction preventing PokerNews and any other iBus Media properties from infringing its copyrights going forward.</p>
<p><em>&#8212;</p>
<p>A copy of the complaint, obtained by TorrentFreak, is available <a href="media/34dabf5e.rl-pokernews.pdf" data-original-source="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/images/rl-pokernews.pdf">here (pdf)</a>.</em></p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/">TF</a>, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/top-10-most-popular-torrent-sites-of-2018-180107/">torrent sites</a> and more. We also have <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-services-keep-anonymous-2018/">VPN reviews, </a><a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-discount-coupon-offer-torguard-nordvpn-expressvpn-pia/">discounts, offers and coupons</a>.</p>
<div class="feedflare">
<a href="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~ff/Torrentfreak?a=QsAAh8jGWLc:DLvRtOGaYsU:yIl2AUoC8zA"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/Torrentfreak?d=yIl2AUoC8zA" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~ff/Torrentfreak?a=QsAAh8jGWLc:DLvRtOGaYsU:D7DqB2pKExk"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/Torrentfreak?i=QsAAh8jGWLc:DLvRtOGaYsU:D7DqB2pKExk" border="0"></img></a>
</div><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~4/QsAAh8jGWLc" height="1" width="1" alt=""/>


feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=164369
title: Upload Filters & Article 13: The Latest EU Proposals
uri: Upload-Filters-Article-13-The-Latest-EU-Proposals
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/_IQeQE66WkQ/
content:
<p><a href="media/6542fb40.eu-copyright.jpg" data-original-source="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/images/eu-copyright.jpg"><img src="media/19bd259d.eu-copyright.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/eu-copyright.jpg" alt="" width="250" height="167" class="alignright size-full wp-image-136985"></a>If the world&#8217;s leading record labels are to be believed, YouTube is the world&#8217;s largest repository of infringing content, content which makes YouTube lots of money.</p>
<p>YouTube counters with arguments that it always abides by the law (it does) by taking down infringing content as the DMCA required, when advised by rightsholders. It licenses content from the labels too, paying them billions in the process. However, the labels say that YouTube doesn&#8217;t pay them a fair rate.</p>
<p>To solve this problem, the labels are desperate to remove the safe harbor protections that YouTube currently enjoys. They want YouTube to become liable for infringing content on its platform while paying them rates similar to those paid by Spotify, for example. This position has proven impossible to achieve through negotiations so rightsholders headed to EU lawmakers instead.</p>
<p><a href="https://torrentfreak.com/?s=article+13">Article 13</a>, which needs little introduction, is currently winding its way through the EU&#8217;s corridors of power, hoping to solve all of these problems in one fell swoop. However, with giant companies pulling in opposite directions, negotiations have been drawn out, to say the least.</p>
<p>The latest proposals dated November 9 have now been published online and they give a pretty good indication of where things are going.</p>
<p>&#8220;Member States shall provide that an online content sharing service provider performs an act of communication to the public or an act of making available to the public when it gives the public access to copyright protected works or other protected subject matter uploaded by its users,&#8221; the proposal begins.</p>
<p>&#8220;An online content sharing service provider shall obtain an authorization [from rightsholders] in order to communicate or make available to the public works or other subject matter.&#8221;</p>
<p>Now, here&#8217;s the bit that&#8217;s scaring YouTube.</p>
<p>&#8220;When an online content sharing service provider performs an act of communication to the public or an act of making available to the public, it shall not be eligible for the exemption of liability provided for in <a href="https://eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexUriServ.do?uri=CELEX:32000L0031:en:HTML">Article 14 of Directive 2000/31/EC</a> for unauthorized acts of communication to the public and making available to the public..[..].&#8221;</p>
<p>YouTube can currently avoid liability for infringing content being made available to the public as long as it removes that content once it&#8217;s made aware of its existence. Under the statements above, YouTube would have no protection. This massive liability was referenced recently by YouTube&#8217;s CEO, who warned of <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/youtube-ceo-says-that-videos-may-be-blocked-due-to-eu-copyright-law-181112/">dire consequences</a>.</p>
<p>The latest proposals detail two options &#8211; Option 1 and Option 2 &#8211; that set out requirements for cooperation between rightsholders and the consequences of not doing so.</p>
<p><strong>Option 1</strong></p>
<blockquote><p><em>In the absence of the authorization [from rightsholders, referenced above], Member States shall provide that online content sharing service providers and rightsholders have to cooperate with each other according to professional diligence to ensure that there are no unauthorized acts of communication to the public or making available to the public within the meaning of this Article of specific works or other subject matter identified by rightsholders for which the rightsholders have provided the service with relevant and necessary information&#8230;.</em></p></blockquote>
<p>In other words, &#8220;here&#8217;s a list of all our content and do not make it make it available to the public without obtaining an appropriate license first &#8211; or else.&#8221;</p>
<p>The &#8220;or else&#8221; is laid out in the subsequent paragraph of &#8216;Option 1&#8217;, along with potential exceptions.</p>
<blockquote><p><em>Member States shall provide that an online sharing service provider is liable for unauthorized acts of communication to the public or making available to the public within the meaning of this Article of specific works or other subject matter identified by the rightsholders and for which the rightsholders have provided the service with relevant and necessary information unless it shows it has taken effective and proportionate steps to ensure that those works or other subject matter are not available on its service&#8230;..</em></p></blockquote>
<p><strong>Option 2</strong></p>
<blockquote><p><em>In the absence of the authorization [from rightsholders, referenced above], Member States shall provide that an online content sharing service provider is liable for unauthorized acts of communication to the public or making available to the public within the meaning of this Article unless it cooperates with rightsholders according to professional diligence by taking effective and proportionate steps to avoid the availability on its service of specific unauthorized works or other subject matter identified by rightsholders and for which the rightsholders have provided the service with relevant and necessary information&#8230;</em></p></blockquote>
<p>Both Option 1 and Option 2 add potential exemptions for small platforms, consideration for the amount and type of work uploaded by users, the availability of &#8220;suitable and effective technologies&#8221; (filtering such as YouTube&#8217;s Content ID), the financial burden on a platform, and the number of copyright infringement notices received. </p>
<p>In any event, both options require online sharing providers to &#8220;act expeditiously to remove or disable to access to works or other subject matter&#8221; when unauthorized content is made available and both require that providers. They must then make &#8220;best efforts to prevent their future uploads in cooperation with rightsholders.&#8221; Phrased differently, it&#8217;s a take down and stay down regime.</p>
<p>Given the above, it&#8217;s easier to understand YouTube&#8217;s current stance <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/article-13-youtube-ceo-is-now-lobbying-for-upload-filters-181115/">in favor of upload filtering</a> via its own established Content ID system. With this technology, the company seems in a position to deal with the key issues Article 13 presents. Whether this will force it to pay the labels a &#8220;fair price&#8221; for their content (in order to close the so-called &#8216;Value Gap&#8217;) will remain to be seen.</p>
<p>Further analysis from Julia Reda MEP <a href="https://juliareda.eu/2018/11/eu-council-upload-filters/">here</a> and the latest proposal document <a href="media/2352a151.SPOLITICO-18111319020.pdf" data-original-source="https://www.politico.eu/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/SPOLITICO-18111319020.pdf">here</a> <em>(pdf)</em> via <a href="https://www.politico.eu/">Politico Europe</a>.</p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/">TF</a>, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/top-10-most-popular-torrent-sites-of-2018-180107/">torrent sites</a> and more. We also have <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-services-keep-anonymous-2018/">VPN reviews, </a><a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-discount-coupon-offer-torguard-nordvpn-expressvpn-pia/">discounts, offers and coupons</a>.</p>
<div class="feedflare">
<a href="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~ff/Torrentfreak?a=_IQeQE66WkQ:adMO41z4QW4:yIl2AUoC8zA"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/Torrentfreak?d=yIl2AUoC8zA" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~ff/Torrentfreak?a=_IQeQE66WkQ:adMO41z4QW4:D7DqB2pKExk"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/Torrentfreak?i=_IQeQE66WkQ:adMO41z4QW4:D7DqB2pKExk" border="0"></img></a>
</div><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~4/_IQeQE66WkQ" height="1" width="1" alt=""/>


feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=164387
title: Torrent9’s Disappearing Downloads Boosted VPN ‘Referrals’
uri: Torrent9-s-Disappearing-Downloads-Boosted-VPN-Referrals
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/EYhDKDnUgPc/
content:
<p><img src="media/382a968f.torrent99.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/torrent99.png" alt="" width="208" height="110" class="alignright size-full wp-image-164393">Founded less than three years ago, <a href="https://torrent9.ph/">Torrent9</a> swiftly became one of the most popular torrent indexes around.</p>
<p>The site is most popular in French-speaking countries, which is the target audience. This includes France, but also Cameroon and Gabon, where it&#8217;s among the ten most-visited websites locally. </p>
<p>With millions of weekly visitors, the site was doing rather well. However, for reasons that remain unexplained, Torrent9 disabled the option to download torrent files a few days ago.</p>
<p>&#8220;Torrent9 will no longer offer downloads,&#8221; a message posted on the torrent site reads instead. </p>
<p>Right above that, there&#8217;s a prominent banner encouraging visitors to use a VPN. Specifically, a &#8220;Torrent9&#8221; VPN which can help to prevent outsiders from monitoring their downloads.</p>
<p><center><strong>Use a VPN (translated from French)</strong><br></br></center><center><img src="media/b7bb758a.torrent9vpn.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/torrent9vpn.png" alt="" width="600" height="415" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-164397"></center></p>
<p><em>Update: After finishing the article the &#8220;Torrent9 will no longer offer downloads&#8221; message changed to a &#8220;maintenance&#8221; notice. The VPN advertisement was also removed. We adjusted the article to reflect this.</em></p>
<p>This VPN recommendation caused some confusion, as many visitors assume that the download links will reappear when they connect through the VPN. However, that is not the case, TorrentFreak confirmed. </p>
<p>The advertisement no longer listed people&#8217;s IP-address when they were connected to the VPN, showing &#8220;<a href="media/50d2a10f.hidden.png" data-original-source="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/images/hidden.png">hidden</a>&#8221; instead, but the download option remained unavailable. It&#8217;s just an ad really.</p>
<p>This is also corroborated by French news site <a href="https://www.numerama.com/pop-culture/440729-piratage-incertitudes-sur-lavenir-du-site-de-liens-bittorrent-torrent9.html">Numerama</a>, which quotes several users who experienced the same issue.</p>
<p>The advertised VPN is <a href="https://trust.zone/">Trust.Zone</a> which, unlike Torrent9 suggests, has nothing to do with the torrent site. In fact, Trust.zone is not happy with the unwanted promotion, labeling it as misleading.</p>
<p>&#8220;We got major damage from this action because users now think that Trust.Zone is connected to Torrent9, which is definitely NOT TRUE,&#8221; a Trust.Zone representative informed us.</p>
<p>&#8220;The actions of Torrent9 are misleading. We have already sent a request via their contact form to remove the Trust.Zone warning message immediately,&#8221; the company adds.</p>
<p>Over the past few days, Trust.Zone received a lot of complaints and requests for refunds. The company informs us that it had to hire additional personnel to deal with the sudden surge.</p>
<p>Initially, the company couldn&#8217;t figure out what was going on. The VPN doesn&#8217;t use any tracking tools, so it was hard to identify the source of the traffic.</p>
<p>The company eventually figured out that Torrent9 is a member of its affiliate program at trustaffs.com, among 120,000 others. Trust.Zone hoped that the situation will soon be resolved, and considering the recent removal of the ad today, this may indeed be the case.</p>
<p>TorrentFreak also reached out to the operator of Torrent9 to hear his side of the story, but we have yet to receive a response. </p>
<p>For now, it remains unclear why the download links initially disappeared and if they will come back now the message changed to &#8220;maintenance&#8221;. In theory, it&#8217;s possible that Torrent9 was hacked or otherwise compromised, or perhaps there was a legal threat that motivated the site&#8217;s owner to take this action.</p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/">TF</a>, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/top-10-most-popular-torrent-sites-of-2018-180107/">torrent sites</a> and more. We also have <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-services-keep-anonymous-2018/">VPN reviews, </a><a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-discount-coupon-offer-torguard-nordvpn-expressvpn-pia/">discounts, offers and coupons</a>.</p>
<div class="feedflare">
<a href="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~ff/Torrentfreak?a=EYhDKDnUgPc:4u5aH9nRtfw:yIl2AUoC8zA"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/Torrentfreak?d=yIl2AUoC8zA" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~ff/Torrentfreak?a=EYhDKDnUgPc:4u5aH9nRtfw:D7DqB2pKExk"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/Torrentfreak?i=EYhDKDnUgPc:4u5aH9nRtfw:D7DqB2pKExk" border="0"></img></a>
</div><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~4/EYhDKDnUgPc" height="1" width="1" alt=""/>


feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=164468
title: Google Criticizes Aussie Site-Blocking Plan, Village Roadshow Attacks Google
uri: Google-Criticizes-Aussie-Site-Blocking-Plan-Village-Roadshow-Attacks
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/jzYE6rMkryk/
content:
<p><a href="media/c5e87d4f.aus.jpg" data-original-source="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/images/aus.jpg"><img src="media/dbb74c88.aus.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/aus.jpg" alt="" width="250" height="159" class="alignright size-full wp-image-96798"></a>Section 115a of Australia’s Copyright Act allows copyright holders to apply for injunctions that force ISPs to block &#8216;pirate&#8217; sites. It&#8217;s been in force since 2015 and dozens of platforms have been blocked since.</p>
<p>Now, however, the Australian government (with plenty of encouragement from rightsholders) is seeking to strengthen the law with a <a href="https://parlinfo.aph.gov.au/parlInfo/search/display/display.w3p;page=0;query=BillId:r6209%20Recstruct:billhome">series of amendments</a>.</p>
<p>ISPs are currently required to block sites listed in an injunction but the amendments go further, enabling sites that “have started to provide access to the online location after the injunction is made,” to be added after, without oversight of the Federal Court.</p>
<p>Additionally, another amendment allows rightsholders to apply for injunctions that will not only target infringing ‘online locations’ but also their appearances in searches. This, of course, opens up the possibility that Google will have to censor its search results.</p>
<p>In a new submission to the Senate Standing Committee on Environment and Communications, Google&#8217;s Public Policy and Government Relations Manager Derek Slater pours cold water on both proposals.</p>
<p>&#8220;While Google supports effective industry led measures to fight piracy, Google does not support the proposed amendments foreshadowed in the Extended Site Blocking Bill,&#8221; Google writes.</p>
<p>&#8220;In particular, Google opposes Section 115(2B)(a)(ii) and (b)(ii) of the Bill, which would have the effect of removing the direct oversight of the Federal Court over the site blocking process and instead leave it to commercial entities to decide which websites Australian users may access.&#8221;</p>
<p>Slater says that Google is concerned that the bill is being rushed forward in the absence of evidence that current legislation isn&#8217;t doing its job. The company is also concerned that there hasn&#8217;t been a &#8220;thorough, comprehensive and independent review&#8221; of the alleged problems with existing law and whether the amendments will prove effective.</p>
<p>Google&#8217;s submission notes that, to its knowledge, the Federal Court always grants injunctions when appropriate and that follow-on orders (to block newly-surfaced mirrors and proxies, for example) are neither slow nor expensive for rightsholders.</p>
<p>The search giant adds that there is no &#8220;cogent evidence&#8221; to support the theory that extending the site-blocking regime will have an impact on the already-decreasing piracy rate in Australia. It also criticizes proposals to extend blocking to search engines.</p>
<p>&#8220;Google also notes that the proposal to extend the Site Blocking Scheme to search engines has not been adopted by any other country in the world. Presumably this is because other countries have long recognized that there is no utility in extending site blocking schemes beyond ISPs to other online service providers,&#8221; the company writes.</p>
<p>While Google may be referencing the proposal using precise parameters, <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/landmark-anti-piracy-database-agreement-signed-in-moscow-181101/">Russia recently implemented a similar scheme</a> to prevent permanently blocked sites appearing in results. Currently, Google is not involved in the voluntary program, but that could <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/google-meets-russian-govt-body-to-discuss-ongoing-piracy-issues-181116/">change in the future</a>.</p>
<p>Much of the remainder of Google&#8217;s submission reflects on the company&#8217;s own <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/googles-anti-piracy-efforts-pass-ipos-test-with-flying-colors-181107/">voluntary measures</a> to fight piracy within search results, including its overall takedown regime, Trusted Copyright Removal Program (which allows around 178 partners to submit takedowns directly), <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/google-blocks-pirated-search-results-prophylactically-180103/">proactive takedowns</a>, and <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/google-downranks-65000-pirate-sites-in-search-results-180629/">site downranking</a> based on the number of copyright notices received.</p>
<p>Importantly, the company also comments that if site-blocking is effective, Australians shouldn&#8217;t be able to access pirate sites anyway, since they can be blocked through the existing site-blocking mechanism.</p>
<p>&#8220;On that basis, it is entirely unclear how expanding Australia’s existing Site Blocking Scheme to search engines would be of any practical assistance in the fight against piracy. It would however result in additional regulatory burden for new participants and as such would appear to go against the Government’s stated deregulation agenda,&#8221; Google <a href="https://www.aph.gov.au/DocumentStore.ashx?id=3391ccc4-cfc1-41df-8d93-a74aa9ce64c0&#038;subId=662868">adds</a>.</p>
<p>In conclusion, the company says it supports constructive and meaningful attempts to combat piracy but it feels that current legislation is adequate. Of course, there are plenty of rightsholders who disagree, including Village Roadshow, the local movie company that has been most vocal on piracy and its supposed effects on Australian businesses.</p>
<p>&#8220;Google say they are up for the fight against piracy. This is a sham,&#8221; <a href="https://www.aph.gov.au/DocumentStore.ashx?id=1f411ed0-459e-408a-86a8-425daff6239e&#038;subId=662824">writes</a> Village Roadshow CEO Graham Burke.</p>
<p>&#8220;There [sic] sole interest is using a treasure trove of stolen movies as part of attracting people to a business model that is strengthened by theft. [Google] auto complete and search are used to steal movies. This is no different from stealing a loaf of bread from a 7-11 store.&#8221;</p>
<p>The Village Roadshow submission features many of the tried-and-tested arguments the company has used before, stating that pirates pay no tax, steal people&#8217;s credit card details, hold their computers to ransom, while advertising illegal gambling, drugs, sex aids and prostitution.&#8221;</p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/">TF</a>, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/top-10-most-popular-torrent-sites-of-2018-180107/">torrent sites</a> and more. We also have <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-services-keep-anonymous-2018/">VPN reviews, </a><a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-discount-coupon-offer-torguard-nordvpn-expressvpn-pia/">discounts, offers and coupons</a>.</p>
<div class="feedflare">
<a href="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~ff/Torrentfreak?a=jzYE6rMkryk:ffOXWAElVtY:yIl2AUoC8zA"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/Torrentfreak?d=yIl2AUoC8zA" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~ff/Torrentfreak?a=jzYE6rMkryk:ffOXWAElVtY:D7DqB2pKExk"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/Torrentfreak?i=jzYE6rMkryk:ffOXWAElVtY:D7DqB2pKExk" border="0"></img></a>
</div><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~4/jzYE6rMkryk" height="1" width="1" alt=""/>


feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=164496
title: YouTube Amps Up Article 13 Protest With Pop-Ups
uri: YouTube-Amps-Up-Article-13-Protest-With-Pop-Ups
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/3TotD_AfFqU/
content:
<p><img src="media/07e4147a.saveinter.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/saveinter.jpg" alt="" width="277" height="167" class="alignright size-full wp-image-164505">Two years ago the European Commission announced plans <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/eu-proposes-mandatory-piracy-filters-for-online-services-160914/">to modernize EU copyright law</a>.</p>
<p>Initially, the idea didn&#8217;t receive a lot of press, but in recent months the attention has been massive. </p>
<p>Article 13, in particular, has been controversial. The latest version, <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/eu-parliament-adopts-controversial-upload-filter-proposal-180912/">adopted</a> by the European Commission in September, could make large Internet services liable for infringing content uploaded to their platforms.</p>
<p>The music industry has widely supported this proposal, hoping that it will help them to negotiate better licensing deals. YouTube, in particular, is seen as the main target, according to the major music companies.</p>
<p>Interestingly, YouTube initially remained mostly on the sidelines. The company only got publicly involved <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/youtube-chief-says-article-13-undermines-creative-economy-180906/">fairly recently</a>, but is now ramping up the pressure. </p>
<p>Following comments from YouTube CEO Susan Wojcicki, who warned that Article 13 may force YouTube to block videos for EU visitors, this week the platform launched a pop-up campaign to inform the public.  </p>
<p>As <a href="https://www.theverge.com/2018/11/20/18104535/yotuube-pop-up-article-13-copyright-european-union-eu-warning">noted by</a> The Verge, several European YouTube users spotted a popup stating that &#8220;article 13 could have unintended consequences,&#8221; pointing them to the company&#8217;s &#8220;<a href="https://www.youtube.com/saveyourinternet/">saveyourinternet&#8221; campaign page</a>.</p>
<p><center><strong>The pop-up</strong><br></br></center><center><img src="media/95c8a041.article13learn.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/article13learn.png" alt="" width="438" height="195" class="alignnone size-medium wp-image-164503"></center></p>
<p>YouTube notes that creators and users will be directly impacted if the current version of Article 13 passes, but adds that there&#8217;s a &#8220;better way.&#8221; While this message isn&#8217;t new, it&#8217;s the first time that YouTube has actively mobilized its users with pop-ups. </p>
<p>It&#8217;s worth noting that YouTube is not against the intended goal of Article 13. In fact, it even believes that upload filters (such as its own Content-ID) can be part of it. However, platforms should only be held liable if copyright holders help platforms to identify infringing content. </p>
<p>Or as YouTube puts it: &#8220;Platforms should only be held liable for content identified to them using tools like Content ID or through notice and takedown.&#8221;</p>
<p>This is a compromise and one that not all opponents of Article 13 agree with. Just last week, Pirate Party MEP Julia Reda said that YouTube&#8217;s pro-filter stance is no surprise, as this may actually benefit the company. </p>
<p>“If the entire market was obliged to install such filters, YouTube would not only be miles ahead in of its competitors in the development of such technologies, it would also be in a position to sell its filters to smaller platforms,&#8221; <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/article-13-youtube-ceo-is-now-lobbying-for-upload-filters-181115/">Reda said</a>. </p>
<p>YouTube, meanwhile, doubled down this week. In an op-ed <a href="https://www.musicbusinessworldwide.com/lyor-cohen-article-13-could-mean-less-money-for-artists-and-songwriters/">for MBW</a> Lyor Cohen, Global Head of Music, warned that tomorrow&#8217;s generation of European artists is at stake. </p>
<p>&#8220;Rather than drive more value to artists, major labels and small, independent artists would get less money and less promotion from open platforms like YouTube,&#8221; Cohen wrote.</p>
<p>These comments didn&#8217;t sit well with the UK music group BPI. In a reply, Chief Executive Geoff Taylor <a href="https://www.bpi.co.uk/news-analysis/bpi-response-to-youtube-blog-on-article-13-of-the-copyright-directive/">notes</a> that he is happy that YouTube also believes that artists and labels should be paid fairly, but it doesn&#8217;t agree with its tactics.</p>
<p>&#8220;[T]his is difficult to square with its ongoing carpet-bombing propaganda against that provision, which feels like a challenge to the legitimacy of the democratic process,&#8221; Taylor says.</p>
<p>&#8220;Article 13 has been carefully scrutinised over four years by the European Commission, Council and Parliament. YouTube now seems to be trying to scaremonger the EU into reversing decisions taken after a full debate, because it doesn’t like the outcome.&#8221;</p>
<p>Various stakeholders are currently discussing the final wording of Article 13 which will be voted on early next year. According to the first signs, the latest draft still calls for upload filters, <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/upload-filters-article-13-the-latest-eu-proposals-181120/">albeit indirectly</a>. </p>
<p>It is expected that both supporters and opponents of the plans will continue to raise their voices during the weeks to come. One side is calling to support artists&#8217; livelihoods, and the other is urging the EU not to ban memes. </p>
<p>Considering the latter, the European Commission&#8217;s social media team came out with a reassuring message on Instagram this week.</p>
<p>&#8220;Don’t worry about the memes, we are not banning them. To be more precise, memes are already legally protected in the EU, and will continue to be so,&#8221; it wrote.  </p>
<p>But of course, not everyone will be happy with that explanation. To be continued&#8230; </p>
<p><center><strong>Memes are safe</strong><br></br></center><center><img src="media/a26b70d4.memsaved.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/memsaved.png" alt="" width="627" height="354" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-164511"></center></p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/">TF</a>, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/top-10-most-popular-torrent-sites-of-2018-180107/">torrent sites</a> and more. We also have <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-services-keep-anonymous-2018/">VPN reviews, </a><a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-discount-coupon-offer-torguard-nordvpn-expressvpn-pia/">discounts, offers and coupons</a>.</p>
<div class="feedflare">
<a href="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~ff/Torrentfreak?a=3TotD_AfFqU:gVWrRRCwMuk:yIl2AUoC8zA"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/Torrentfreak?d=yIl2AUoC8zA" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~ff/Torrentfreak?a=3TotD_AfFqU:gVWrRRCwMuk:D7DqB2pKExk"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/Torrentfreak?i=3TotD_AfFqU:gVWrRRCwMuk:D7DqB2pKExk" border="0"></img></a>
</div><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~4/3TotD_AfFqU" height="1" width="1" alt=""/>


feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=164432
title: Cloudflare Sued for Failing to Terminate Repeat Infringers
uri: Cloudflare-Sued-for-Failing-to-Terminate-Repeat-Infringers
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/d7Eqy_qFUyc/
content:
<p><img src="media/ac6a767e.cloudflarelogo.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/cloudflarelogo.png" alt="" width="260" height="135" class="alignright size-full wp-image-137767">As one of the leading CDN and DDoS protection services, Cloudflare is used by millions of websites across the globe.</p>
<p>This includes thousands of “copyright-infringing” sites, including the likes of The Pirate Bay, which rely on the U.S.-based company to keep server loads down and their location unknown.</p>
<p>This is a thorn in the side of many copyright holders who have repeatedly complained about Cloudflare&#8217;s role. While the major entertainment giants generally take a diplomatic approach, others are taking their grievance to court.</p>
<p>In 2016 Cloudflare was sued for contributory copyright infringement by adult publisher ALS Scan. This case ended in a <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/cloudflare-settles-dangerous-piracy-liability-lawsuit-180621/">confidential settlement</a> this summer, but now there&#8217;s more trouble on the horizon for the company. </p>
<p>The new threat doesn&#8217;t come from any of the major entertainment industry players, but from two manufacturers and wholesalers of wedding dresses. Not a typical &#8220;piracy&#8221; lawsuit, but it&#8217;s a copyright case that could have broad effects. </p>
<p>In a complaint filed at a federal court in California, Mon Cheri Bridals and Maggie Sottero Designs argue that Cloudflare fails to terminate sites of counterfeit vendors after multiple warnings. This makes Cloudflare liable for the associated copyright infringements, they add.</p>
<p>&#8220;Plaintiffs have filed hundreds of &#8216;takedown notices&#8217; with CloudFlare, consistent with the Digital Millenium Copyright Act (DMCA), but CloudFlare has failed and/or refused to respond to those notices by terminating its services to infringers,&#8221; the complaint reads.</p>
<p>&#8220;As such, CloudFlare is liable for the infringements committed by its customers.&#8221; </p>
<p>The counterfeit websites selling fake goods are not a new problem. In recent years the American Bridal &#038; Prom Industry Association has filed lawsuits against hundreds of counterfeit sites, resulting in the shutdown of over 1,500 domain names. </p>
<p>What is new, however, is that the wedding dress manufacturers are now trying to hold a third-party intermediary liable. The complaint also targets the unnamed &#8216;does&#8217; behind the allegedly infringing sites, but the CDN provider is the main focus.</p>
<p>Mon Cheri Bridals and Maggie Sottero state that Cloudflare &#8220;shields pirate sites and their hosts from legal recourse by copyright owners&#8221; and that it&#8217;s &#8220;unable or unwilling to remove any infringing content.&#8221;</p>
<p>The allegations are similar to those made in the <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/cloudflare-faces-lawsuit-for-assisting-pirate-sites-160823/">ALS lawsuit</a>. At the time the CDN provider countered that it was merely caching files and that the infringing content would still be there if Cloudflare was taken out of the equation. </p>
<p>The Court <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/cloudflares-cache-can-substantially-assist-copyright-infringers-court-rules-180314/">disagreed</a> with this assessment, noting that Cloudflare’s cache can be seen as a substantial infringement by itself, which is something the company has control over. That said, it wasn&#8217;t determined whether the company itself can be held liable. </p>
<p>In the present lawsuit, the two wedding dress manufacturers clearly believe that can be possible. They used the company&#8217;s &#8220;Counterfeit Technology&#8221; to send thousands of DMCA takedown notices, and even though terminating repeat infringers is an option under Cloudflare&#8217;s terms, nothing happened.</p>
<p><center><strong>Part of one of the thousands of notices.</strong><br></br></center><center><img src="media/df594cef.anagowns.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/anagowns.png" alt="" width="598" height="348" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-164440"></center></p>
<p>&#8220;Cloudflare has persisted in offering CDN and related services to pirate websites, notwithstanding these numerous notifications of infringement on such sites,&#8221; the complaint reads.</p>
<p>&#8220;In this fashion, Cloudflare has induced, contributed to, profited from, and aided and abetted multiple infringements of Plaintiffs’ copyrights, failing and refusing all along to implement or enforce a repeat infringer policy, and is thus liable for the infringements alleged herein.&#8221;</p>
<p>In closing, Mon Cheri Bridals and Maggie Sottero demand damages for the losses they&#8217;ve suffered as well preliminary and permanent injunctive relief to stop all infringing activity.</p>
<p>While the case has nothing to do with traditional pirate sites, a ruling could spill over, which means that the entertainment industries will watch this case closely. </p>
<p><em>&#8212;</p>
<p>A copy of the complaint filed by Mon Cheri Bridals and Maggie Sottero Designs is available <a href="media/4aff52db.cloudflarebridals.pdf" data-original-source="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/images/cloudflarebridals.pdf">here (pdf)</a>.</em></p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/">TF</a>, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/top-10-most-popular-torrent-sites-of-2018-180107/">torrent sites</a> and more. We also have <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-services-keep-anonymous-2018/">VPN reviews, </a><a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-discount-coupon-offer-torguard-nordvpn-expressvpn-pia/">discounts, offers and coupons</a>.</p>
<div class="feedflare">
<a href="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~ff/Torrentfreak?a=d7Eqy_qFUyc:R_NsS0BFuJY:yIl2AUoC8zA"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/Torrentfreak?d=yIl2AUoC8zA" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~ff/Torrentfreak?a=d7Eqy_qFUyc:R_NsS0BFuJY:D7DqB2pKExk"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/Torrentfreak?i=d7Eqy_qFUyc:R_NsS0BFuJY:D7DqB2pKExk" border="0"></img></a>
</div><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~4/d7Eqy_qFUyc" height="1" width="1" alt=""/>


feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=164424
title: Flixtor Offline Following Mysterious Domain Updates
uri: Flixtor-Offline-Following-Mysterious-Domain-Updates
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/4RIv4tFVKLo/
content:
<p><img src="media/468f0769.streamingkey.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/streamingkey.jpg" alt="" width="250" height="167" class="alignright size-full wp-image-125426">By offering acces to high quality movies and TV-shows, steaming site <a href="https://flixtor.to/">Flixtor</a> has steadily grown its userbase in recent years. </p>
<p>The site, not to be confused with the defunct torrent streaming app Flixtor, has been operating with minimal downtime. This week that changed. </p>
<p>On Tuesday morning the site moved away from CDN provider Cloudflare. Flixtor&#8217;s domain nameservers were changed from to those of its registrar Njalla, and the A records were removed. </p>
<p>As a result, anyone who tried to access the site would see an error message in their browser. After a few hours, the site added an A record, setting it to localhost (127.0.0.1), which means that it&#8217;s still unusable. </p>
<p>Since the trouble started there have been no updates from the operators. </p>
<p>While the trouble may be due to a technical or hosting issue, it&#8217;s worth noting that Flixtor&#8217;s backup domains, including Flixtor.is and Flixtor.se, are also suffering the same problem. </p>
<p><center><strong>Flixtor</strong><br></br></center><center><img src="media/136843d3.flixtor-1.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/flixtor-1.jpg" alt="" width="600" height="477" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-164541"></center></p>
<p>TorrentFreak reached out to Flixtor&#8217;s domain registrar Njalla who noted that the domain name is technically working just fine, as it resolves to the listed IP-address. In this case, that&#8217;s an unusable address, but it suggests that any changes were made by a person in control of the domain names.</p>
<p>Whatever the reason may be, Flixtor&#8217;s users will have to miss their favorite streaming site, for now. </p>
<p>That&#8217;s especially painful for the users that paid for VIP access, which started at $14.95 per month. Some hope to get a refund, but it&#8217;s uncertain if that will ever happen. </p>
<p>&#8220;Refund would be great, I paid for 2 years just a few weeks ago, but I wouldn&#8217;t count on it, I guess just a learning for me to never pay anything like this anymore,&#8221; one user commented <a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/flixtor/comments/9ytw5j/flixtorto_vip_account_doesnt_work_anymore/">on Reddit</a>. </p>
<p>While the downtime has lasted for more than three days, the site may eventually reappear. TorrentFreak has reached out to a contact address associated with Flixtor, but at the time of writing, we have yet to hear back. </p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/">TF</a>, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/top-10-most-popular-torrent-sites-of-2018-180107/">torrent sites</a> and more. We also have <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-services-keep-anonymous-2018/">VPN reviews, </a><a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-discount-coupon-offer-torguard-nordvpn-expressvpn-pia/">discounts, offers and coupons</a>.</p>
<div class="feedflare">
<a href="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~ff/Torrentfreak?a=4RIv4tFVKLo:RlrIz-A-294:yIl2AUoC8zA"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/Torrentfreak?d=yIl2AUoC8zA" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~ff/Torrentfreak?a=4RIv4tFVKLo:RlrIz-A-294:D7DqB2pKExk"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/Torrentfreak?i=4RIv4tFVKLo:RlrIz-A-294:D7DqB2pKExk" border="0"></img></a>
</div><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~4/4RIv4tFVKLo" height="1" width="1" alt=""/>


feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=164536
title: Mexico Piracy is Rampant But Spotify Uptake is Huge
uri: Mexico-Piracy-is-Rampant-But-Spotify-Uptake-is-Huge
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/CWyE0sMy_gE/
content:
<p><a href="media/3bdfeafa.piratemusiccasset.png" data-original-source="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/images/piratemusiccasset.png"><img src="media/a585da8e.piratemusiccasset.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/piratemusiccasset.png" alt="" width="234" height="152" class="alignright size-full wp-image-135510"></a>When it comes to piracy, Mexico is high on the list of illicit global content consumers. The country has been criticized in numerous USTR reports, with enforcement progress rated low.</p>
<p>Reports suggest that piracy is still a big deal in Mexico. Data <a href="https://www.forbes.com.mx/ilegales-y-orgullosos-asi-consumen-pirateria-los-mexicanos/">cited</a> in local media sourced from the American Chamber of Commerce (<a href="https://www.amcham.org.mx/">AmCham</a>) indicates that eight out of ten Mexicans who consume pirate content believe that it&#8217;s not a serious offense. AmCham sees things differently, however, citing huge losses to local entertainment industries.</p>
<p>If the headline figures are to be believed, music piracy is a particular problem. A staggering 97% say they&#8217;ve obtained music illegally, with 50% claiming to have used stream-ripping tools and services to acquire music from YouTube. Globally, Mexico is in the top five piracy-consuming nations, says Alfredo Tourné, general director of the Association for the Protection of Phonographic Rights (APDIF).</p>
<p>With this apparent doomsday scenario playing out, it&#8217;s interesting to note that not everyone sees the situation as negative.</p>
<p>A report from <a href="https://www.billboard.com/articles/business/8486121/mexico-city-streaming-music-capital-spotify">Billboard</a> yesterday suggests that Spotify is extremely happy with customers in Mexico, labeling Mexico City as the &#8220;streaming music capital&#8221; of the world. The 22 million population city has more Spotify listeners than New York, London, or any other city. </p>
<p>After launching in Mexico during 2013, Spotify says that the Latin American country now has &#8220;the biggest listener base in the world.&#8221; This suggests that the situation is pretty healthy nationwide, not just in the capital, even in the face of high piracy rates.</p>
<p>But despite the success in music, other rightsholders are still disappointed with piracy of their products.</p>
<p>According to Ana Maria Magaña, director of Motion Picture Association, 77% of Mexican Internet users have watched movies illegally online, with 64% declaring themselves proud of their illicit consumption. Indeed, Mexico was recently named as a prime source of illegally recorded movies.</p>
<p>&#8220;Mexico is now reportedly the second largest foreign source of unauthorized camcords in the world, fueling unlawful availability of first-run movies online, which damages the market for new releases,&#8221; the International Trade Administration of the U.S. Department of Commerce <a href="https://www.export.gov/article?id=Mexico-Protecting-IP">reported</a> in October.</p>
<p>&#8220;Although Mexico ratified the WIPO Internet Treaties in 2002, Mexico has not enacted legislation to protect against the circumvention of TPM [Technical Protection Measures] and RMI [Rights Management Information. Investigation and prosecution of IP crimes, particularly regarding online IP crimes, continues to be inadequate, due in part to continued government-wide budget cuts.&#8221;</p>
<p>Back in August, the US Government <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/us-and-mexico-modernize-copyright-protection-in-new-trade-deal-180828/">reached</a> a new NAFTA trade agreement with Mexico. The arrangement is supposed to provide strong and effective copyright protection and enforcement, including criminal sanctions against movie cammers. </p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/">TF</a>, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/top-10-most-popular-torrent-sites-of-2018-180107/">torrent sites</a> and more. We also have <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-services-keep-anonymous-2018/">VPN reviews, </a><a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-discount-coupon-offer-torguard-nordvpn-expressvpn-pia/">discounts, offers and coupons</a>.</p>
<div class="feedflare">
<a href="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~ff/Torrentfreak?a=CWyE0sMy_gE:QrEsO3qEBC8:yIl2AUoC8zA"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/Torrentfreak?d=yIl2AUoC8zA" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~ff/Torrentfreak?a=CWyE0sMy_gE:QrEsO3qEBC8:D7DqB2pKExk"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/Torrentfreak?i=CWyE0sMy_gE:QrEsO3qEBC8:D7DqB2pKExk" border="0"></img></a>
</div><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~4/CWyE0sMy_gE" height="1" width="1" alt=""/>


feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=164637
title: Singapore High Court Blocks Access to ‘Pirate’ Set-Top Box Apps
uri: Singapore-High-Court-Blocks-Access-to-Pirate-Set-Top-Box-Apps
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/u8mKqGS4Gf8/
content:
<p><a href="media/1b97a33a.deniedblocked.jpg" data-original-source="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/images/deniedblocked.jpg"><img src="media/f6cbbbd7.deniedblocked.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/deniedblocked.jpg" alt="" width="270" height="199" class="alignright size-full wp-image-143825"></a>Configurable set-top boxes are a continuing thorn in the side of entertainment industry groups everywhere.</p>
<p>Such devices often come pre-loaded with software applications that provide access to infringing copies of movies, TV shows, and other content. They&#8217;re also the weapon of choice for pirates looking to obtain live television, particularly sports, without paying the going rates from official suppliers.</p>
<p>As a result, content companies around the world are responding to the threat, either by tackling app developers head on or via applications for Internet service provider blocking orders.</p>
<p>Over in Singapore, the latter has now been achieved. On November 2, 2018, the High Court ordered several local ISPs to block access to several popular &#8216;pirate&#8217; applications.</p>
<p>The order has not yet been made public but Neil Gane, General Manager of AVIA’s Coalition Against Piracy (CAP), informs TorrentFreak that the plaintiffs were Singnet PTE Ltd, Fox Networks Group Singapore PTE Ltd, NGC Network Asia LLC, Fox International Channels (US) Inc, and The Football Association Premier League Limited. </p>
<p>The applications to be blocked will be revealed in due course but Gain says the application was heard earlier this month.</p>
<p>&#8220;The motion was heard at the Singapore High Court on 2nd November. Judicial Commissioner Dedar Singh Gill subsequently granted the proposed Orders against eight authentication server domains,&#8221; Gain explains.</p>
<p>“Singapore has been considered a bastion of Intellectual Property rights across the region, and the court’s decision to block access to popular illegal applications preloaded onto ISDs and sold in Singapore reaffirms this contention.&#8221;</p>
<p>Moving forward, Gain says the content industry will continue its efforts to &#8220;prevent and disrupt&#8221; illegal feeds featuring live sports, TV channels, and VOD content, which are currently being monetized by &#8220;crime syndicates.&#8221;</p>
<p>&#8220;Consumers who buy ISDs are not only funding crime groups, but also wasting their money when the channels stop working. ISDs do not come with a ‘service guarantee’, no matter what the seller may claim,” he adds.</p>
<p>While the plaintiffs listed above are members of AVIA&#8217;s Coalition Against Piracy, the group&#8217;s reach is more extensive. In addition to the above, members include beIN Sports, Discovery, The Walt Disney Company, FOX Networks Group, HBO Asia, La Liga, NBCUniversal, Netflix, BBC Worldwide, CANAL+, the NBA, Sony, and several other content providers.</p>
<p>As far as public records show, this is the third blocking injunction handed down by the High Court in Singapore in recent months.</p>
<p>Back in May, it was <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/singapore-isps-block-53-pirate-sites-following-mpaa-legal-action-180521/">revealed</a> that ISPs had blocked dozens of torrent and streaming platforms (including The Pirate Bay plus KickassTorrents and Solarmovie variants) following a successful application from the MPAA.</p>
<p>Early October, a so-called &#8216;<a href="https://torrentfreak.com/mpaa-granted-dynamic-pirate-site-blocking-order-in-singapore-181006/">dynamic</a>&#8216; blocking order was made public, with Hollywood studios given the ability to block sites more efficiently when they attempt to circumvent the earlier order.</p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/">TF</a>, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/top-10-most-popular-torrent-sites-of-2018-180107/">torrent sites</a> and more. We also have <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-services-keep-anonymous-2018/">VPN reviews, </a><a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-discount-coupon-offer-torguard-nordvpn-expressvpn-pia/">discounts, offers and coupons</a>.</p>
<div class="feedflare">
<a href="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~ff/Torrentfreak?a=u8mKqGS4Gf8:p-1YQM_-ZiA:yIl2AUoC8zA"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/Torrentfreak?d=yIl2AUoC8zA" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~ff/Torrentfreak?a=u8mKqGS4Gf8:p-1YQM_-ZiA:D7DqB2pKExk"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/Torrentfreak?i=u8mKqGS4Gf8:p-1YQM_-ZiA:D7DqB2pKExk" border="0"></img></a>
</div><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~4/u8mKqGS4Gf8" height="1" width="1" alt=""/>


feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=164641
title: Steal This Show S04E09: ‘Is The Future Of Secrets Shared?’
uri: Steal-This-Show-S04E09-Is-The-Future-Of-Secrets-Shared
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/3xZjLdNbU1U/
content:
<p><img src="media/d01749d9.stslogo180.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/stslogo180.png" alt="" width="180" height="180" class="alignright size-full wp-image-113928">After a series of high-profile hacks, trusting social media corporations to store and safeguard our personal information looks an increasingly bad idea. And many are understandably wary about letting platforms look after their cryptocurrency investments. Custody of our digital assets, it seems, is shaping up to be a key issue for network citizens.</p>
<p>Enter <a href="https://darkcrystal.pw/">Dark Crystal</a>, an Ethereum Foundation-funded project enabling users to store private keys — from Bitcoin to email encryption and beyond — with and inside their communities and social networks.  To do this, Dark Crystal makes use of the mathematical magic behind Shamir’s Shared Secret, allowing groups of friends to safely store different ‘shards’ of a key,  bringing it together as and when needed.</p>
<p>In this episode, we meet Peg and Kieran from Dark Crystal to discuss the implications of the project: what happens when custody of our most precious digital resources can be taken away from banks and megacorps and entrusted to friends, family and community? And do projects like Dark Crystal signal the beginning of a new, cryptography-based ‘information commons’?</p>
<p>&#8212;</p>
<p><a href="https://stealthisshow.com">Steal This Show</a> aims to release bi-weekly episodes featuring insiders discussing crypto, privacy, copyright and file-sharing developments. It complements our regular reporting by adding more room for opinion, commentary, and analysis. </p>
<p><strong>Host:</strong> Jamie King</p>
<p><strong>Guest:</strong> Peg and Kieran</p>
<p><center><iframe width="100%" height="180px" src="//stealthisshow.com/?lpe-frame=1&#038;lpe-season=4&#038;lpe-episode=09" frameborder="0"></iframe></center></p>
<p><strong><sup><em>If you enjoy this episode, consider becoming a patron and getting involved with the show. <a href="https://patreon.com/user?u=4275705">Check out Steal This Show&#8217;s Patreon campaign</a>: support us and get all kinds of&nbsp;fantastic benefits!</em></sup></strong></p>
<p><strong>Produced </strong> <em>by </em>Jamie King<br>
<strong>Edited &#038; Mixed</strong> <em>by</em> Lucas Marston<br>
<strong>Original Music</strong> <em>by</em> David Triana<br>
<strong>Web Production</strong> <em>by</em> Eric Barch</p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/">TF</a>, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/top-10-most-popular-torrent-sites-of-2018-180107/">torrent sites</a> and more. We also have <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-services-keep-anonymous-2018/">VPN reviews, </a><a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-discount-coupon-offer-torguard-nordvpn-expressvpn-pia/">discounts, offers and coupons</a>.</p>
<div class="feedflare">
<a href="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~ff/Torrentfreak?a=3xZjLdNbU1U:njMlH2y2Yjc:yIl2AUoC8zA"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/Torrentfreak?d=yIl2AUoC8zA" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~ff/Torrentfreak?a=3xZjLdNbU1U:njMlH2y2Yjc:D7DqB2pKExk"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/Torrentfreak?i=3xZjLdNbU1U:njMlH2y2Yjc:D7DqB2pKExk" border="0"></img></a>
</div><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~4/3xZjLdNbU1U" height="1" width="1" alt=""/>


feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=164655
title: NordVPN Shares Results of ‘No-Log’ Audit
uri: NordVPN-Shares-Results-of-No-Log-Audit
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/ZE9S5AWtO6k/
content:
<p><img src="media/aaa773ac.nordvpn-2.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/nordvpn-2.png" alt="" width="243" height="103" class="alignright size-medium wp-image-164660">Earlier this year a series of allegations were lodged against NordVPN. </p>
<p>The company was being linked to Lithuanian tech company Tesonet, which offers a wide range of services and products. According to the allegations, Tesonet owns NordVPN, a claim the latter denied. </p>
<p>The issue raised alarm bells with some people because Tesonet is involved in data mining practices, and the company also runs a residential proxy network. There is no evidence that NordVPN is involved in any of that, but it was enough to feed speculation.</p>
<p>When we <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/nordvpn-responds-to-privacy-sensitive-allegations-180830/">reported</a> on the saga, NordVPN committed to hiring a prominent third-party auditing firm to test its &#8220;no-logging&#8221; claims. The result of this audit was released with customers yesterday, and a few journalists also got a chance to read it. </p>
<p>As part of an agreement with the auditing firm, the report can&#8217;t be published in public. NordVPN can&#8217;t cite from it either so the company released a <a href="https://nordvpn.com/blog/nordvpn-audit/">blog post</a> with a summary instead. </p>
<p>&#8220;The auditors’ goal was to see if our service lives up to our claims of providing a no-logs VPN service, and we believe we’ve passed the test,&#8221; NordVPN&#8217;s Daniel Markuson writes.</p>
<p>TorrentFreak has seen a copy of the report which is relatively concise. It&#8217;s limited in the sense that it only reviews the situation at the time of the audit, which may change at any given time. </p>
<p>Overall, it confirms that the company doesn&#8217;t store personal IP-address logs of users, nor does it keep track of subscribers&#8217; Internet activities. This is what&#8217;s typically understood to be a &#8216;no-log&#8217; policy. </p>
<p>That said, NordVPN, like other VPNs, does process some personal information. For example, it keeps track of the user&#8217;s concurrent active user sessions. This information is stored for 15 minutes. There is no sign of any proxying services. </p>
<p>It&#8217;s unfortunate that the information can&#8217;t be shared with a broader public. However, users who had a NordVPN account before November 1st can read it in full in their user panel. </p>
<p>According to NordVPN, this is the first time a VPN&#8217;s no-logging policy has been audited. However, VPN audits are not uncommon. Earlier today, Surfshark <a href="https://surfshark.com/blog/blog-surfshark-browser-extensions-stand-out-for-their-robust-security-independent-investigation-revealed">announced the results</a> of an audit of its browser extensions, for example. To date, TunnelBear has also conducted <a href="https://www.tunnelbear.com/blog/tunnelbear-completes-2nd-annual-independent-security-audit/">two security audits</a>.</p>
<p>While these efforts are laudable, the various audits are not hard to compare. NordVPN focused on its logs, not looking at security flaws, while the other audits are more security focused. Such audits may help to build trust, of course, but there are no guarantees. </p>
<p>Even if a company&#8217;s own services and policies are all in check, it is possible that some vulnerabilities will remain. </p>
<p>While audits have some value, it&#8217;s not a given that audited companies are any better than non-audited ones. In this case, NordVPN wanted to reassure users following several damning allegations.</p>
<p><em>&#8212;</p>
<p>TF note: We don&#8217;t intend to make a habit of reporting on audits. Considering the earlier controversy and the fact that NordVPN is one of our sponsors, we chose to address it in this case. This article was written independently, as per standard TF policy.</em>.</p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/">TF</a>, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/top-10-most-popular-torrent-sites-of-2018-180107/">torrent sites</a> and more. We also have <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-services-keep-anonymous-2018/">VPN reviews, </a><a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-discount-coupon-offer-torguard-nordvpn-expressvpn-pia/">discounts, offers and coupons</a>.</p>
<div class="feedflare">
<a href="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~ff/Torrentfreak?a=ZE9S5AWtO6k:oWNPEtYmhl0:yIl2AUoC8zA"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/Torrentfreak?d=yIl2AUoC8zA" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~ff/Torrentfreak?a=ZE9S5AWtO6k:oWNPEtYmhl0:D7DqB2pKExk"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/Torrentfreak?i=ZE9S5AWtO6k:oWNPEtYmhl0:D7DqB2pKExk" border="0"></img></a>
</div><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~4/ZE9S5AWtO6k" height="1" width="1" alt=""/>


feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=164427
title: US Judge Slams Copyright Troll For Using His Court “Like an ATM”
uri: US-Judge-Slams-Copyright-Troll-For-Using-His-Court-Like-an-ATM
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/1IV1MUdm7GQ/
content:
<p><a href="media/67ffec03.trollsign.jpg" data-original-source="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/images/trollsign.jpg"><img src="media/17a592c8.trollsign.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/trollsign.jpg" alt="" width="250" height="167" class="alignright size-full wp-image-108977"></a>Strike 3 Holdings is one of the most active copyright trolls in the United States, filing more than 1,800 copyright infringement cases in the past 13 months.</p>
<p>Its <em>modus operandi</em> is familiar &#8211; harvest allegedly infringing IP addresses from BitTorrent swarms, obtain the identities of the people behind the ISP accounts, then chase them down for a cash settlement.</p>
<p>While it&#8217;s unknown how many people have settled with the company for hundreds to thousands of dollars, the alleged &#8216;John Doe&#8217; infringer featuring in a case filed in the District of Columbia seems destined not to join their ranks.</p>
<p>In common with similar cases, Strike 3 Holdings asked the Court to help unmask the identity of an alleged pirate of the company&#8217;s porn, who used a Comcast connection to do the dirty deed. However, a scathing and entertaining memorandum opinion from Judge Royce C. Lamberth explains why that is not going to happen.</p>
<p>The Judge begins by speaking of Strike 3 in disparaging terms, noting that the company&#8217;s geolocation technology is &#8220;famously flawed&#8221;, adding that it simply cannot identify an alleged infringer. </p>
<p>&#8220;Simply put, inferring the person who pays the cable bill illegally downloaded a specific file is even less trustworthy than inferring they watched a specific TV show,&#8221; Judge Lamberth writes.</p>
<p>The Judge notes that ISPs have been forced to unmask alleged infringers in the past but says this can make the currently innocent defendant visible in a Google search, associated with the websites &#8220;Vixen, Blacked, Tushy, and Blacked Raw&#8221; through which Strike 3&#8217;s DVDs are distributed.</p>
<p>&#8220;The first two [website titles] are awkward enough, but the latter two cater to even more singular tastes,&#8221; he says.</p>
<p>&#8220;Imagine having your name and reputation publicly &#8211; and permanently &#8211; connected to websites like Tusky and Blacked Raw. (Google them at your own risk). How would an improperly accused defendant&#8217;s spouse react? His (or her) boss? The head of the local neighborhood watch?</p>
<p>&#8220;The risk of a false accusation are real; the consequences are hard to overstate and even harder to undo. And Strike 3&#8217;s flawed identification method cannot bear such great weight.&#8221;</p>
<p>Going on to criticize Strike 3 for filing 1,849 cases in the past thirteen months, including 40 in his district, Judge Lamberth says that such serial litigants prey on low-hanging fruit then run away at the first sign of resistance.</p>
<p>&#8220;They don&#8217;t seem to care about whether defendant actually did the infringing, or about developing the law. If a Billy Goat Gruff moves to confront a copyright troll in court, the troll cuts and runs back under its bridge,&#8221; he writes.</p>
<p>&#8220;Perhaps the trolls fear a court disrupting their rinse-wash-and-repeat approach: file a deluge of complaints, ask the court to compel disclosure of the account holders; settle as many claims as possible; abandon the rest.&#8221;</p>
<p>Unfortunately for Strike 3, Judge Lamberth doesn&#8217;t intend to play ball. He explains that Strike 3&#8217;s call for discovery does not outweigh the potentially non-infringing defendant&#8217;s right to be anonymous, while denying Strike 3&#8217;s <em>ex parte</em> motion to subpoena Comcast for the defendant&#8217;s identity and dismissing the case without prejudice.</p>
<p>According to the Judge, Strike 3 has little chance of identifying a defendant who can be sued without resorting to aggressive discovery, including examinations of all computers, phones, and tablets belonging to the owner of the home and anyone who used its Internet connection.</p>
<p>In further detailing why he denied Strike 3&#8217;s request, the Judge notes that of the forty cases filed in his district, none have reached the Court of Appeals. A total of 22 were voluntarily dismissed, with all but one following the same formula.</p>
<p>&#8220;Strike 3 files a complaint (identical in every case except for the infringing IP address). A few weeks later, Strike 3 files a motion to subpoena the anonymous defendant&#8217;s ISP,&#8221; the Judge writes.</p>
<p>&#8220;Satisfied by Strike 3&#8217;s showing of likely personal jurisdiction, the court grants the motion, usually providing at least twenty days for the defendant to move to quash the subpoena and sometimes providing for the defendant&#8217;s continued anonymity. Nothing happens for a few weeks, and then Strike 3 voluntarily dismisses the suit.&#8221;</p>
<p>In the one case that bucked the trend, a defendant was allowed by the court to proceed anonymously &#8211; but then Strike 3 dropped the case.</p>
<p>In his conclusion, Judge Lamberth takes one final swipe at Strike 3, describing the troll outfit in some of the most explicit terms ever used in court and leaving little to the imagination.</p>
<p>&#8220;Armed with hundreds of cut-and-pasted complaints and boilerplate discovery motions, Strike 3 floods this courthouse (and others around the country) with lawsuits smacking of extortion. It treats this Court not as a citadel of justice, but as an ATM.</p>
<p>&#8220;Its feigned desire for legal process masks what it really seeks: for the Court to oversee this high-tech shakedown. This Court declines,&#8221; the Judge concludes.</p>
<p><em>The full memorandum opinion can be found <a href="media/999f4d6b.Strike-3-slam.pdf" data-original-source="https://torrentfreak.com/images/Strike-3-slam.pdf">here</a> (pdf)</em></p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/">TF</a>, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/top-10-most-popular-torrent-sites-of-2018-180107/">torrent sites</a> and more. We also have <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-services-keep-anonymous-2018/">VPN reviews, </a><a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-discount-coupon-offer-torguard-nordvpn-expressvpn-pia/">discounts, offers and coupons</a>.</p>
<div class="feedflare">
<a href="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~ff/Torrentfreak?a=1IV1MUdm7GQ:wMWh_wt9zvg:yIl2AUoC8zA"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/Torrentfreak?d=yIl2AUoC8zA" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~ff/Torrentfreak?a=1IV1MUdm7GQ:wMWh_wt9zvg:D7DqB2pKExk"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/Torrentfreak?i=1IV1MUdm7GQ:wMWh_wt9zvg:D7DqB2pKExk" border="0"></img></a>
</div><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~4/1IV1MUdm7GQ" height="1" width="1" alt=""/>


feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=164288
title: Non-Pirate Kodi Add-On is Copyright Infringing, Denuvo Owner Says
uri: Non-Pirate-Kodi-Add-On-is-Copyright-Infringing-Denuvo-Owner-Says
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/wc8WrAo-h9o/
content:
<p><a href="media/13c1e1a2.kodi-1.png" data-original-source="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/images/kodi-1.png"><img src="media/8aa05985.kodi-1.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/kodi-1.png" alt="" width="256" height="256" class="alignright size-full wp-image-144339"></a>Long before the famous Kodi media player became synonymous with illegal streaming, the totally legal platform was used by millions of happy users to access content from a central point.</p>
<p>Kodi fans have long used the software to organize their private content libraries. Indeed, plenty of add-ons allow users to consume premium content that they&#8217;ve already paid for, utilizing Kodi as a media player rather than the default access point offered by the provider.</p>
<p>Over the years, this has led to the development of add-ons dedicated to providing access to Netflix, Spotify, and BBC iPlayer, not to mention services like YouTube and SoundCloud that can be accessed free of charge and entirely legally.</p>
<p>Now, however, an interesting situation has raised its head over a Kodi add-on that wasn&#8217;t designed to break any laws and never provided illegal access to premium content.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.showmax.com/">Showmax</a> is an online video subscription service launched in South African back in 2015 as a competitor to Netflix and Amazon Video. Interestingly, it is owned by <a href="https://www.naspers.com/">Naspers</a>, the company that owns anti-piracy outfit Irdeto and by extension, Denuvo.</p>
<p>Like all similar services, Showmax can be accessed by systems provided by the company. However, for some time the company has been lobbied by customers to provide a Kodi add-on, something it was considering in the not-too-distant past, as this screenshot from Facebook suggests.</p>
<p><center><strong>Discussions about Kodi seemed friendly enough</strong><br></br></center><center><a href="media/bab1def7.showmax-kodi-FB-e1542620662479.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/showmax-kodi-FB-e1542620662479.png"><img src="media/bab1def7.showmax-kodi-FB-e1542620662479.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/showmax-kodi-FB-e1542620662479.png" alt="" width="650" height="661" class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-164341"></a></center></p>
<p>In the absence of Showmax delivering a Kodi add-on of its own, during August this year an independent developer did the work for them. New Zealand-based coder Matt Huisman released his Showmax Kodi Add-on, which he <a href="https://forum.kodi.tv/showthread.php?tid=334634">promoted on the official Kodi forum</a>.</p>
<p>It&#8217;s important to note that the add-on does not allow users to access Showmax content for free and that a valid Showmax subscription is required, as the official release notes clearly state.</p>
<p><a href="media/fe5b6041.showmax-kodi-tv-e1542622397688.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/showmax-kodi-tv-e1542622397688.png"><img src="media/fe5b6041.showmax-kodi-tv-e1542622397688.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/showmax-kodi-tv-e1542622397688.png" alt="" width="650" height="604" class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-164344"></a></p>
<p>But now, according to anti-piracy Irdeto (acting on behalf of Showmax), Huisman&#8217;s add-on is illegal. The add-on has already been taken down from Huisman&#8217;s blog and Irdeto has filed a DMCA takedown notice with Github to have the software removed from its official repo.</p>
<p>&#8220;Showmax is an online subscription video on demand service,&#8221; the notice <a href="https://github.com/github/dmca/commit/f76d40be576792a4e7694e920a8af5ddcc929205">reads</a>.</p>
<p>&#8220;The identified content provides an interface for these Applications to be used via the &#8216;KODI&#8217; Application, which is not authorized by Naspers.&#8221;</p>
<p>As mentioned earlier, Naspers owns Showmax, Irdeto, and by extension, Denuvo.</p>
<p>The notice provides no additional information as to why the Kodi add-on is illegal under the DMCA. Indeed, this type of takedown is usually reserved for software that allows users to access content such as that belonging to Showmax, but without having to pay for it. That&#8217;s not the case here.</p>
<p>In common with all such takedowns, Huisman could file a counter-notice with Github to <a href="https://github.com/matthuisman/plugin.video.showmax">challenge the claims</a> of Irdeto and Showmax. However, that could trigger a legal battle, one that would cost Huisman large sums of money to see through to its conclusion.</p>
<p>Speaking with TorrentFreak, Huisman says that&#8217;s not going to happen.</p>
<p>&#8220;I spent quite a bit of time developing the Showmax add-on. I don&#8217;t personally even use them, it was just a request from a few of their customers,&#8221; he explains.</p>
<p>&#8220;I guess it comes down to &#8211; can an API be copyrighted? They seem to think so, and I don&#8217;t have the time or money to fight it.&#8221;</p>
<p>All that said, perhaps the most interesting aspect of this takedown is how it could affect other third-party add-ons that provide similar access to legal services.</p>
<p>These are generally considered to be legal by the official Kodi team (they ban &#8216;illegal&#8217; add-ons from their site) and other repositories that offer similar add-ons in the belief they&#8217;re staying on the right side of the law.</p>
<p>Without such add-ons, Kodi could be rendered much less useful, so this is an area to watch, should the trend continue.</p>
<p><center><iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/GmO968ve4LM" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen></iframe></center></p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/">TF</a>, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/top-10-most-popular-torrent-sites-of-2018-180107/">torrent sites</a> and more. We also have <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-services-keep-anonymous-2018/">VPN reviews, </a><a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-discount-coupon-offer-torguard-nordvpn-expressvpn-pia/">discounts, offers and coupons</a>.</p>
<div class="feedflare">
<a href="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~ff/Torrentfreak?a=wc8WrAo-h9o:wufGGdEHQ_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=wc8WrAo-h9o:wufGGdEHQ_0:D7DqB2pKExk"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/Torrentfreak?i=wc8WrAo-h9o:wufGGdEHQ_0:D7DqB2pKExk" border="0"></img></a>
</div><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~4/wc8WrAo-h9o" height="1" width="1" alt=""/>


feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=164576
title: Showbox Sites Settle With Movie Companies, Warn Users of Lawsuits
uri: Showbox-Sites-Settle-With-Movie-Companies-Warn-Users-of-Lawsuits
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/MtYh9V2hW7M/
content:
<p><img src="media/77d0836e.showbox.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/showbox.png" alt="" width="261" height="222" class="alignright size-full wp-image-156005">The popular Android-based app Showbox is used by millions of people. </p>
<p>It allows users to stream movies and TV shows via torrents and direct sources, all through a Netflix-style interface.</p>
<p>Many of these videos are pirated. This is a thorn in the side of the movie industry, and some companies are doing everything in their power to contain the problem. </p>
<p>Earlier this year a large coalition of independent movie studios, including the makers of Dallas Buyers Club, filed lawsuits against several websites that distributed Showbox. </p>
<p>In one case, they <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/cloudflare-ordered-to-expose-yts-showbox-and-popcorn-time-site-operators-180919/">obtained a subpoena</a> ordering Cloudflare to reveal the identities of the operators behind Showboxbuzz.com, Showbox.software, Rawapk.com, Popcorn-time.to, Popcorntime.sh, YTS.ag, and YTS.gg.</p>
<p>In a <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/movie-studios-sue-founder-and-distributors-of-popular-pirate-app-showbox-180524/">related case</a>, GoDaddy was ordered to reveal the identity of the domain registrant of Showboxappdownload.com.</p>
<p>These requests for information triggered a response from the operators. On the same day last month, the Showboxappdownload.com operator and the person who uploaded the app to Rawapk asked the court to quash the subpoena, so they could proceed under a pseudonym.</p>
<p>Before the courts ruled on the matter, both defendants, who could be one and the same, settled their cases. As a result, both cases were dismissed last week without revealing their identities. </p>
<p>The terms of the settlements are not public. However, if we look at the sites in question they no longer link to the Showbox app. The Showbox file was <a href="https://rawapk.com/showbox-apk-download/">removed from Rawapk</a> and <a href="http://showboxappdownload.com/">showboxappdownload.com now shows a warning</a>. </p>
<p>The message, which is likely part of the settlement, makes it clear that Showbox can be used for infringing purposes. In addition, it warns users that they may be tracked. </p>
<p>&#8220;Show Box is NOT a legitimate software platform for viewing Copyright protected movies. If you use ShowBoxApp to view copyrighted movies, the movie studios may be able to see your IP address and your viewing history,&#8221; it begins.  </p>
<p>While it&#8217;s hard for copyright holders to track pirating users who use Showbox to stream from central servers, those who use torrents can indeed get in trouble. The warning makes that pretty clear as well.</p>
<p>&#8220;Movie studios are cracking down on illegal downloading and are filing lawsuits against users of ShowBox app. Websites that promote and/or distribute ShowBox are also being pursued by the movie studios for promoting illegal activity,&#8221; it adds.</p>
<p><center><strong>Warning</strong><br></br></center><center><img src="media/6fdeb8ba.showwarning.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/showwarning.png" alt="" width="600" height="142" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-164601"></center></p>
<p>The message is obviously meant to deter visitors from using the app, but there&#8217;s some truth to it. </p>
<p>The plaintiffs involved in these case include Bodyguard Productions, Cobbler Nevada, Criminal Productions, Dallas Buyers Club, and Venice PI, which have all sued individual BitTorrent users. </p>
<p>The warning message is not limited to Showboxdownload.com either. A similarly worded notice appears on <a href="https://showboxbuzz.com/">Showboxbuzz.com</a>, which was also targeted in the Cloudflare subpoena earlier.</p>
<p>With the settlements, the cases against two defendants are now over. However, the aforementioned movie companies are not done with Showbox yet. They filed an amended complaint which lists the Indian company <a href="http://www.galbatross.com/">Galbatross Technologies</a> as one of the main targets. </p>
<p>The movie companies allege that Galbatros, which describes itself as a &#8220;performance driven digital marketing agency,&#8221; is a driving force behind the showboxappdownload.co site that remains online today. </p>
<p>Based on information provided by hosting company Digital Ocean, the movie studios learned that Galbatross operates the website showbox.co, which shared a virtual server with showboxappdownload.co.</p>
<p>In addition, one of the defendants also admitted that he worked with Galbatros on the site in question. </p>
<p>&#8220;Defendant Himanshu Saxena has admitted that Defendants Galbatross, Gaurav Jaggi and he owned, hosted and were involved with showboxappdownload.co in an email communication,&#8221; the amended complaint reads.</p>
<p>The site itself lists Mark Willow as owner and Andy Crow as the supposed founder of Showbox. </p>
<p>The movie companies believe that these persons do not exist, at least not to the extent the website describes. There are no records of the associated corporation Showbox Inc, they add, noting that the California address doesn&#8217;t exist either.</p>
<p>The complaint further lists the website show-box.en.uptodown.com/android as well as several other named defendants, who are all accused of copyright infringement through their involvement with the Showbox app. </p>
<p>The movie companies hope that the lawsuit will put a dent in Showbox&#8217;s popularity. They want the sites to shut down and hope to recoup some of the claimed damages as well.</p>
<p>And perhaps they&#8217;ll put up more warnings too.</p>
<p><em>&#8212;</p>
<p>A copy of the proposed amended complaint, which has yet to be accepted by the court, is <a href="media/c7479b53.Doc-51-4-Exhibit2.pdf" data-original-source="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/images/Doc-51-4-Exhibit2.pdf">available here (pdf)</a>.</em></p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/">TF</a>, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/top-10-most-popular-torrent-sites-of-2018-180107/">torrent sites</a> and more. We also have <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-services-keep-anonymous-2018/">VPN reviews, </a><a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-discount-coupon-offer-torguard-nordvpn-expressvpn-pia/">discounts, offers and coupons</a>.</p>
<div class="feedflare">
<a href="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~ff/Torrentfreak?a=MtYh9V2hW7M:NkEMMlvxGTc:yIl2AUoC8zA"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/Torrentfreak?d=yIl2AUoC8zA" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~ff/Torrentfreak?a=MtYh9V2hW7M:NkEMMlvxGTc:D7DqB2pKExk"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/Torrentfreak?i=MtYh9V2hW7M:NkEMMlvxGTc:D7DqB2pKExk" border="0"></img></a>
</div><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~4/MtYh9V2hW7M" height="1" width="1" alt=""/>


feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=164192
title: Hollywood Wants Hosting Providers to Block Referral Traffic From Pirate Sites
uri: Hollywood-Wants-Hosting-Providers-to-Block-Referral-Traffic-From-Pirat
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/ZHUesOBnQnc/
content:
<p>Under US law, hosting companies are seen as neutral intermediaries, but according to the MPAA, these companies should take more responsibility for their role in the piracy ecosystem. </p>
<p>In a letter sent to the US <img src="media/a585da8e.piratemusiccasset.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/piratemusiccasset.png" alt="" width="234" height="152" class="alignright size-full wp-image-135510">Intellectual Property Enforcement Coordinator (IPEC) Vishal Amin last week, Hollywood’s MPAA requests the Government’s assistance in this matter.</p>
<p>The IPEC requested input from the public on the new version of its Joint Strategic Plan for Intellectual Property Enforcement to which the MPAA replied with a broad range of suggestions. </p>
<p>The group notes that while there has been a lot of progress on the legal supply side, piracy remains a problem. This is in part due to a lack of involvement from third-party Internet services, who could do more to combat piracy. </p>
<p>&#8220;Compounding matters is the lack of accountability of some major online platforms for their failure to prevent content theft and other illicit conduct over their services,&#8221; the MPAA&#8217;s Senior Vice President Neil Fried writes. </p>
<p>In its submission, the MPAA highlights that there are some voluntary agreements in place, with payment services and advertisers for example, but that&#8217;s not enough. Other platforms and intermediaries should follow suit, they argue. </p>
<p>This includes hosting providers, which have the ability to shut pirate sites down. However, according to the MPAA, many refuse to do so, voluntarily at least.</p>
<p>&#8220;Given the central role of hosting providers in the online ecosystem, it is disconcerting that many refuse to take action when notified that their hosting services are being used in clear violation of their own terms of service prohibiting intellectual property infringement and in blatant violation of the law,&#8221; the MPAA notes. </p>
<p>This should change, and the Hollywood group has some concrete examples of how these companies can improve. </p>
<p>Besides processing takedown notices and terminating repeat infringers, as they are required to do by law, the MPAA also wants hosting companies to use automated piracy filters on their servers.</p>
<p>&#8220;Hosting providers should filter using automated content recognition technology; forward DMCA notices to users, terminate repeat infringers after receipt of a reasonable number of notices, and prevent re-registration by terminated users,&#8221; the MPAA suggests.</p>
<p>In addition, hosting providers should not challenge suspension court orders, when copyright holders go up against pirate sites. Going a step further, hosts should keep an eye on high traffic volumes which may be infringing, and ban referral traffic from pirate sites outright. </p>
<p>The MPAA wants these companies to &#8220;implement download bandwidth or frequency limitations to prevent high volume traffic for particular files&#8221; to &#8220;remove files expeditiously&#8221; and &#8220;block referral traffic from known piracy sites.&#8221;</p>
<p><center><strong>Some of the MPAA&#8217;s recommendations</strong><br></br></center><center><img src="media/7ab6c671.somerecomm.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/somerecomm.png" alt="" width="600" height="356" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-164209" srcset="https://torrentfreak.com/images/somerecomm.png 600w, https://torrentfreak.com/images/somerecomm-220x130.png 220w" sizes="(max-width: 600px) 100vw, 600px"></center></p>
<p>Some of these suggestions go pretty far. The referral ban, for example, means that hosting providers would have to make sure that Pirate Bay visitors are blocked from entering one of the sites they host through a direct link, even if that site itself is perfectly legal. </p>
<p>The referral ban may be aimed at stopping pirate linking sites from using legitimate storage services for infringing content, but that would result in collateral damage as well. </p>
<p>Hosting companies are not the only web-services that can &#8216;improve&#8217; their anti-piracy policies, of course. The MPAA also wants reverse proxy servers, such as Cloudflare, to terminate infringing sites, or at least identify their true location. </p>
<p>Regular ISPs don&#8217;t have to block pirate sites, at least not voluntarily. However, the MPAA notes that this changes when they are subject to a court order in the applicable jurisdiction.</p>
<p>The Hollywood group hopes that IPEC will continue its efforts to encourage these companies to implement &#8220;voluntary&#8221; measures. It anticipates that some will argue that this violates free expression, but MPAA notes that it does the opposite.</p>
<p>&#8220;[C]urbing illegal activity promotes free expression by creating a safer environment where individuals feel comfortable to communicate and engage in commerce, and to create and lawfully access content.&#8221;</p>
<p>The push for voluntary agreements with Internet services is just the tip of the iceberg though. </p>
<p>The MPAA further asks IPEC to make sure that that access to WHOIS data should be made public again, to ensure that trade agreements include proper copyright protections, and to encourage other Government departments including the Department of Justice to beef up their anti-piracy efforts.</p>
<p><em>&#8212;-</p>
<p>MPAA&#8217;s full submission to the US Intellectual Property Enforcement Coordinator is <a href="media/921a3a52.181113-MPAA-submission-for-IPEC-joint-strategic-plan-FINAL.pdf" data-original-source="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/images/181113-MPAA-submission-for-IPEC-joint-strategic-plan-FINAL.pdf">available here (pdf)</a>.</em></p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/">TF</a>, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/top-10-most-popular-torrent-sites-of-2018-180107/">torrent sites</a> and more. We also have <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-services-keep-anonymous-2018/">VPN reviews, </a><a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-discount-coupon-offer-torguard-nordvpn-expressvpn-pia/">discounts, offers and coupons</a>.</p>
<div class="feedflare">
<a href="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~ff/Torrentfreak?a=ZHUesOBnQnc:VcP9ZCC1nr4:yIl2AUoC8zA"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/Torrentfreak?d=yIl2AUoC8zA" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~ff/Torrentfreak?a=ZHUesOBnQnc:VcP9ZCC1nr4:D7DqB2pKExk"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/Torrentfreak?i=ZHUesOBnQnc:VcP9ZCC1nr4:D7DqB2pKExk" border="0"></img></a>
</div><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~4/ZHUesOBnQnc" height="1" width="1" alt=""/>


feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=164403
title: UK Copyright Trolls Reactivate, Five Years After Alleged Movie Piracy
uri: UK-Copyright-Trolls-Reactivate-Five-Years-After-Alleged-Movie-Piracy
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/MssymblzaZI/
content:
<p><a href="media/5f0dfd25.spy.jpg" data-original-source="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/images/spy.jpg"><img src="media/3d881413.spy.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/spy.jpg" alt="" width="200" height="177" class="alignright size-full wp-image-39770"></a>During September 2014, TorrentFreak became aware of a case that had appeared before the Chancery Division of the High Court.</p>
<p>TCYK LLP v British Sky Broadcasting Ltd featured a company behind the Robert Redford movie The Company You Keep and ISP Sky. The former claimed that some of Sky&#8217;s Internet subscribers had infringed TCYK&#8217;s rights and should be pursued for damages.</p>
<p>That TCYK were testing the waters in the UK wasn&#8217;t a surprise. In the United States, TCYK LLC previously filed dozens of copyright infringement lawsuits against Internet subscribers in several states including Illinois, Colorado, Ohio, Florida and Minnesota, demanding cash settlements. </p>
<p>TCYK <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/sky-will-hand-over-customer-data-in-movie-piracy-case-150310/">prevailed</a> in its case against Sky, and the ISP warned its customers that some of their details would be handed over based on alleged infringements carried out in 2013.</p>
<p>“A company called TCYK LLC, which owns the rights to several copyrighted films, has claimed that a number of Sky Broadband customers engaged in unlawful file-sharing of some of its films,&#8221; Sky told those affected.</p>
<p>&#8220;In support of this claim, TCYK LLC says it has gathered evidence of individual broadband accounts (identified online by unique numbers called IP addresses) from which it claims the file sharing took place,” Sky told those affected.</p>
<p>In 2015, TorrentFreak became aware of letters sent to Sky customers with TCYK, in conjunction with London-based firm Hatton and Berkeley, demanding a few hundred pounds to make supposed copyright infringement cases go away. It is unknown how many people paid up but at least one <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/uk-copyright-trolls-cite-hopeless-case-to-make-people-pay-up-170916/">hopeless case was settled</a> by a defendant.</p>
<p>As is often the case, many letter recipients decided to ignore the settlement demands in 2015, perhaps believing it was some kind of scam, perhaps believing the cases would go away. For more than three years, that&#8217;s exactly what happened.</p>
<p>However, during the past couple of weeks, TCYK and partners Hatton and Berkeley took a second bite of the cherry, writing again to non-responsive letter recipients in the hope they&#8217;ll now pay up.</p>
<p>Letters reviewed by TorrentFreak were sent by Catherine Hyde who is a Consultant Solicitor at Birmingham-based law firm My Business Counsel. The letter says that Hyde is acting on behalf of H&#038;B Administration LLP and TCYK LLC. Hyde is also <a href="https://www.hattonandberkeley.com/meet-the-team/">listed</a> as &#8220;Legal Counsel&#8221; for Hatton and Berkeley.</p>
<p>&#8220;I have recently taken over the conduct of the above matter from and on behalf of my clients with regard to the copyright protection of their interest in the Work,&#8221; Hyde begins.</p>
<p>&#8220;Following my file review, I note that the last correspondence that was sent to you was in 2015 when my client notified you that there has been an instance of copyright infringement of the Work via your Sky Broadband router. Your response was never received.&#8221;</p>
<p>Hyde states that her client &#8220;does not wish to pursue this matter through the courts&#8221; and prefers to deal with the matter amicably, if possible.</p>
<p>Offering up contact details, the solicitor then asks letter recipients to get in touch, to either admit to the offense of downloading the work and/or making it available to others, or to deny the offense and provide an explanation.</p>
<p>Those who want to admit to the offense (which allegedly took place more than five years ago) are invited to sign an undertaking to secure their Internet connection and/or prevent other people in the house from &#8220;illegally downloading in the future.&#8221;</p>
<p>Unless the person signing is prepared to monitor every user in the household at all times and/or ban them from the Internet completely, that, of course, is an impossible request.</p>
<p>But what Hyde is really looking for on behalf of her clients is a cash settlement, and this is where things begin to get interesting. While demands three years ago tended to hover around the several hundred pounds mark, TCYK and Hatton and Berkeley now have a new idea up their collective sleeves.</p>
<p>Demanding amounts that invariably exceed £1,500, the letters take the price of the DVD at launch and use the size of the torrent swarm at the alleged time of infringement as a multiplier.</p>
<p>&#8220;The expert in this instance has ascertained that the swarm size you were involved in is [redacted]. The loss in this regard is therefore [£ redacted] (swarm size x £9.99 (sale price at first release (less taxes)),&#8221; the letter reads.</p>
<p>So, if a swarm size was 100 at the time of the alleged infringement, the settlement amount is 100 x £9.99 = £999. A swarm size of 200 would be double that.</p>
<p>This type of damages calculation is the first we&#8217;ve seen and upon initial view, seems a potentially reasonable way of putting a figure on precise losses, as UK law requires. However, it is potentially flawed, given the way BitTorrent works.</p>
<p>When people join a swarm (say of 100 users, or &#8216;peers&#8217; as they&#8217;re known), they will connect to other users who are all sharing the same movie. The damages claim indicates that since there are 100 peers, then the defendant must have connected to each of them, in order to share the full movie with them all. Proving this, however, is extremely difficult.</p>
<p>When a torrent client connects to a swarm, it will obtain the IP addresses of <em>potentially</em> connectable peers, but it is extremely rare for the client to connect to them all. Some clients will reject the connection request and it&#8217;s likely that of the 100, only a dozen or two will actually connect. It is also possible that only a handful will connect.</p>
<p>Perhaps more importantly, an outsider monitoring the swarm cannot see how many or which other clients any particular client is connected to and/or whether they actually shared any content with them. The theoretical position changes for an initial seeder of content (given their importance to the entire swarm), but that&#8217;s not being claimed here.</p>
<p>Connections between peers are direct and outsiders cannot intervene. The only thing a monitoring company can potentially prove is that an IP address was in a swarm at a particular time and/or connected to THEIR torrent client, which is what tends to happen at the evidence-gathering stage.</p>
<p>While this is generally enough to prove on the balance of probabilities (the threshold in a UK civil case) that some infringement has taken place, the difficult-to-prove calculation presented in the letters suggests that the alleged infringer connected to 100 to 200 peers and sent each one a full copy of the work, valued at £9.99. The chances of this happening are slim to none since all peers connect to each other and take whichever missing pieces they need.</p>
<p>The letter goes on to suggest extreme action for those who deny the claims as set out.</p>
<p>&#8220;In the event you deny the infringement, my client reserves the right to seek an Order that you provide up all equipment (including PCs, laptops, and mobile phones) with previous or current access to the IP address for forensic analysis. Alternatively, you can arrange your own forensic analysis at your own expense,&#8221; Hyde adds.</p>
<p>A recent case in the United States saw a judge pour cold water on this type of aggressive discovery, noting that all computers, phones, and tablets belonging to the owner of the home and anyone who used its Internet connection would need to be examined to find someone who could be sued.</p>
<p>While &#8220;reserving the right&#8221; and actually seeking an order are two entirely different things, it will be interesting to see if a judge in the UK would be willing to sign off on such a request after five years have passed.</p>
<p>Depriving everyone in a household of every Internet-enabled device used in the last half-decade is a staggeringly big ask, particularly when the claim has been dormant for so long. The letter claims the issue is &#8220;urgent and serious&#8221;, however.</p>
<p>Speaking with TorrentFreak, Hatton and Berkeley founder Robert Croucher confirmed that the involvement of H&#038;B Administration LLP is to provide an &#8220;insured and administrative wrapper&#8221;.</p>
<p>This mechanism, which helps to the limit the plaintiff&#8217;s exposure in the event of an adverse court ruling following a fight with an alleged infringer, was detailed in our <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/movie-tv-show-piracy-protection-insurance-now-available-181104/">earlier article</a>.</p>
<p>&#8220;I can say that these type of proceedings are to be wrapped with an insurance policy hereon providing a level of risk mitigation to rights holders seeking reparation for damages sought at trial,&#8221; Croucher said.</p>
<p>To see how this particular &#8216;wrapper&#8217; was formed, one only needs to query Companies House in the UK. </p>
<p><a href="https://beta.companieshouse.gov.uk/company/OC403458/officers">H &#038; B Administration LLP</a> (the wrapper) is a partnership involving Robert Croucher, partner Brigitta Kudor, plus TCYK LLC, which is the US company involved in similar copyright cases.</p>
<p>In accounts dated December 31, 2017, H &#038; B Administration LLP was declared as having £558 in the bank. Given the idea is to limit the liability of the partnership to the money invested in the LLP by the partners, £558 (perhaps conveniently) doesn&#8217;t stretch very far in the event of a legal disaster for the partnership.</p>
<p><em>Received a similar letter? <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/contact/">Contact TorrentFreak</a> in complete confidence.</em></p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/">TF</a>, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/top-10-most-popular-torrent-sites-of-2018-180107/">torrent sites</a> and more. We also have <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-services-keep-anonymous-2018/">VPN reviews, </a><a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-discount-coupon-offer-torguard-nordvpn-expressvpn-pia/">discounts, offers and coupons</a>.</p>
<div class="feedflare">
<a href="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~ff/Torrentfreak?a=MssymblzaZI:HbekSxjlfds:yIl2AUoC8zA"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/Torrentfreak?d=yIl2AUoC8zA" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~ff/Torrentfreak?a=MssymblzaZI:HbekSxjlfds:D7DqB2pKExk"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/Torrentfreak?i=MssymblzaZI:HbekSxjlfds:D7DqB2pKExk" border="0"></img></a>
</div><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~4/MssymblzaZI" height="1" width="1" alt=""/>


feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=164371
title: TRON’s Financial Incentives for Torrent Users Will be Private by Design
uri: TRON-s-Financial-Incentives-for-Torrent-Users-Will-be-Private-by-Des
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/tQN78Hjtdd8/
content:
<p><img src="media/f7996f8a.prohectatlas.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/prohectatlas.png" alt="" width="277" height="181" class="alignright size-full wp-image-161994">When the relatively new cryptocurrency <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/bittorrent-inc-confirms-acquisition-by-tron-foundation-180724/">TRON acquired BitTorrent</a> a few months ago, there was ample speculation on the future of the company. </p>
<p>As the main developer of both uTorrent and BitTorrent Mainline, future decisions will impact a userbase of roughly 100 million people. </p>
<p>After a brief period of silence, TRON&#8217;s founder Justin Sun assured the public that BitTorrent was not going anywhere. Instead, he proposed <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/tron-wants-to-give-bittorrent-users-financial-incentives-to-seed-180731/">a new project</a> that aims to make it even better.</p>
<p>The idea behind Project Atlas, as it&#8217;s named, is to add &#8216;currency&#8217; to the BitTorrent protocol through a series of extensions. This makes it possible to financially reward seeders, or to speed up torrents by paying for faster access. </p>
<p>While many TRON investors praised the idea, with some claiming that it will revolutionize the Internet, BitTorrent users tend to be more skeptical of this type of change. </p>
<p>At TorrentFreak, we had some questions as well, and luckily TRON&#8217;s Justin Sun was willing to fill in some blanks. </p>
<p>We already knew that the <a href="https://www.bittorrent.com/project-atlas/">Project Atlas</a> would be open for <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/bittorrent-and-tron-hope-other-clients-will-embrace-paid-seeding-180928/">other clients to use</a> and would be backwards compatible. This means that it can handle all existing torrents and talk to clients which choose not to implement it. </p>
<p>TRON&#8217;s founder confirmed this, adding that uTorrent and BitTorrent users won&#8217;t be forced to use it. </p>
<p>&#8220;There will be a setting to allow turning the feature on and off,&#8221; Sun told TorrentFreak.</p>
<p>&#8220;It will work with all existing torrents. The clients which do not have this optional protocol extension will function as before, similarly to a Project-Atlas-compatible client with the setting turned off.&#8221;</p>
<p>BitTorrent already uses a &#8220;tit-for-tat&#8221; scheme which rewards people for sharing and vice versa. TRON&#8217;s founder sees the new financial incentives as a logical extension of that.</p>
<p>&#8220;We see the Project Atlas system as an extension of this design decision — one that can persist across time and across swarms, and one where bandwidth contribution is rewarded whether you are actively downloading or seeding,&#8221; Sun tells us. </p>
<p><center><strong>The goal</strong><br></br></center><center><img src="media/20b613e7.atlaspromise.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/atlaspromise.png" alt="" width="600" height="192" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-164568"></center></p>
<p>Another question that was on people&#8217;s minds is how it will all work, privacy-wise. Are users&#8217; downloads tracked in a database? Can these be tracked back to individuals? </p>
<p>According to TRON, this is not the case. The protocol extension will be compatible with any and all torrents, but the rewards cannot be linked to specific files. The torrent client merely rewards people for how much they share. </p>
<p>&#8220;We know that privacy is very important to people, especially in the digital age, so we are designing the system with privacy in mind and an ability to opt-out of this new feature,&#8221; Sun says.</p>
<p>&#8220;The incentive system itself is not related to individual torrents. It tracks only that a certain number of tokens were transferred from one peer to another, and the details of this token transfer will not be publicly visible.&#8221;</p>
<p>It&#8217;s also important to note that Project Atlas will first be rolled out in desktop clients. This means that the new <a href="https://web.utorrent.com/">uTorrent Web</a> and the similar BitTorrent Web, which <a href="http://blog.bittorrent.com/2018/11/19/bittorrent-web-our-popular-torrent-streaming-client-for-windows-is-in-full-release/">came out this week</a>, are in the queue for now. </p>
<p>Before the TRON acquisition, BitTorrent founder Bram Cohen suggested that these web clients could eventually replace the company&#8217;s desktop versions. However, Sun stresses that there is absolutely no plan to phase out the desktop products.</p>
<p>We also asked Sun about his thoughts on the frequent associations that are made between BitTorrent and piracy. Previously the RIAA <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/riaa-asks-bittorrent-inc-to-block-infringing-content-150804/">sent a letter</a> to BitTorrent Inc, asking it to add a hash filter to block pirated content, for example. Sun, however, chose not to comment on whether this is an option or not. </p>
<p>While BitTorrent already functions very well, TRON hopes to make it even faster with its protocol extensions. Ideally, the rewards should also ensure that files are seeded for a longer period, which increases the overall availability. </p>
<p>This is also Sun&#8217;s long-term goal.  </p>
<p>&#8220;We would like to see more users, more seeds, and a protocol that represents an even faster technology. With Project Atlas, we plan to make torrenting in general faster and easier for novices and experts alike,&#8221; Sun says. </p>
<p>For now, it&#8217;s a priority to get the first version of Project Atlas out to the public. While no hard date is mentioned, this is planned for the next few months. </p>
<p>&#8220;We expect the first features of Project Atlas will be available around early 2019,&#8221; Sun concludes.</p>
<p>Whether Project Atlas will be well received by the community and if it will indeed bring about the changes TRON and BitTorrent envision, will become more clear then.</p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/">TF</a>, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/top-10-most-popular-torrent-sites-of-2018-180107/">torrent sites</a> and more. We also have <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-services-keep-anonymous-2018/">VPN reviews, </a><a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-discount-coupon-offer-torguard-nordvpn-expressvpn-pia/">discounts, offers and coupons</a>.</p>
<div class="feedflare">
<a href="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~ff/Torrentfreak?a=tQN78Hjtdd8:feRoB62xZsY:yIl2AUoC8zA"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/Torrentfreak?d=yIl2AUoC8zA" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~ff/Torrentfreak?a=tQN78Hjtdd8:feRoB62xZsY:D7DqB2pKExk"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/Torrentfreak?i=tQN78Hjtdd8:feRoB62xZsY:D7DqB2pKExk" border="0"></img></a>
</div><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~4/tQN78Hjtdd8" height="1" width="1" alt=""/>


feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=164679
title: Copyright Law Professor Urges Australia to Repeal Site-Blocking Laws
uri: Copyright-Law-Professor-Urges-Australia-to-Repeal-Site-Blocking-Laws
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/vp1F55B1jQ8/
content:
<p><img src="media/dbb74c88.aus.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/aus.jpg" alt="" width="250" height="159" class="alignright size-full wp-image-96798">Three years ago Australia amended its copyright law to pave the way for pirate site blocking injunctions. </p>
<p>Section 115a of Australia’s Copyright Act allows rightsholders to request ISP blockades of infringing sites in local courts and has been actively used since. </p>
<p>While the entertainment industries have signaled that the legislation is effective, they also see room for improvement. The Australian Government appears to agree, as it has tabled a series of amendments that will strengthen the blocking capabilities. </p>
<p>Among other things, the new plans will allow copyright holders to apply for injunctions that will not only target infringing ‘online locations’ but also their <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/australia-targets-google-with-tough-new-anti-piracy-law-181018/">appearances in searches</a>. This means that Google and other search engines can be required to remove entire domains from their search results. </p>
<p>This plan is backed by many entertainment industry companies, including the <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/google-criticizes-aussie-site-blocking-plan-village-roadshow-attacks-google-181121/">very vocal Village Roadshow</a>. </p>
<p>Google, meanwhile, has asked the Government to <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/google-criticizes-aussie-site-blocking-plan-village-roadshow-attacks-google-181121/">slow down</a>, describing an expansion at this time as premature. Similarly, the Digital Industry Group, representing Facebook, Google, and Twitter, <a href="media/77b72433.Sub25.pdf" data-original-source="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/images/Sub25.pdf">cautioned</a> against the expansions as well.  </p>
<p>Aside from directly affected stakeholders, other interested parties have also chimed in. This includes <a href="https://staff.qut.edu.au/staff/rimmer/">Matthew Rimmer</a>, Professor in Intellectual Property and Innovation Law at the Faculty of Law, at the Queensland University of Technology.</p>
<p>In his submission to the Senate Standing Committee on Environment and Communications last week, Rimmer heavily criticizes the existing site blocking efforts as well as the planned expansions.</p>
<p>The professor notes that Australia’s copyright regime is closely tied to the US copyright system, where similar site-blocking efforts were previously rejected. </p>
<p>&#8220;Given the United States Congress rejected the controversial Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) site-blocking legislation, the Australian Parliament should similarly reject the crude policy option of site-blocking,&#8221; Rimmer&#8217;s first recommendation reads.</p>
<p>According to the professor, there&#8217;s not enough evidence to indicate that the current blocking measures have been effective. The evidence that&#8217;s available comes from the entertainment industry, which seems to be a weak foundation for new copyright laws, he says.</p>
<p>Instead of expanding current site-blocking laws, Rimmer recommends repealing the original blocking measures instead. </p>
<p>&#8220;Given that the legislation has failed to fulfill its original aims and objectives, the Copyright Amendment (Online Infringement) Act 2015 (Cth) should be repealed, rather than expanded.&#8221;</p>
<p>The professor notes that the new plans to add search engines is &#8220;far too broad and wide in its intent and its impact.&#8221; This makes it open to abuse by copyright holders. </p>
<p>The blocking efforts could restrict access to public domain works, for example, and Rimmer stresses that respect for freedom of speech and freedom of expression is inadequate.</p>
<p>&#8220;The further expansion of site-blocking by the Australian Parliament will have larger implications for freedom of speech and expression in the digital age,&#8221; Rimmer cautions. </p>
<p>Instead of increasing the enforcement options for media companies, the professor calls on the Government to work on a &#8220;bill of rights&#8221; to protect the freedoms of Australian citizens instead.</p>
<p>&#8220;Australia does need a bill of rights to better protect the freedoms of Australian citizens. This is particularly important in the context of regulation of the Internet, search engines, and cloud computing,&#8221; Rimmer notes in his final recommendation.</p>
<p><em>&#8212;</p>
<p>A copy of Rimmer&#8217;s full submission can be found <a href="media/5695e67e.Sub24_Att1.pdf" data-original-source="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/images/Sub24_Att1.pdf">here (pdf)</a>.</em></p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/">TF</a>, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/top-10-most-popular-torrent-sites-of-2018-180107/">torrent sites</a> and more. We also have <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-services-keep-anonymous-2018/">VPN reviews, </a><a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-discount-coupon-offer-torguard-nordvpn-expressvpn-pia/">discounts, offers and coupons</a>.</p>
<div class="feedflare">
<a href="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~ff/Torrentfreak?a=vp1F55B1jQ8:zCIwJoJEhhM:yIl2AUoC8zA"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/Torrentfreak?d=yIl2AUoC8zA" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~ff/Torrentfreak?a=vp1F55B1jQ8:zCIwJoJEhhM:D7DqB2pKExk"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/Torrentfreak?i=vp1F55B1jQ8:zCIwJoJEhhM:D7DqB2pKExk" border="0"></img></a>
</div><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~4/vp1F55B1jQ8" height="1" width="1" alt=""/>


feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=164732
title: Top 10 Most Pirated Movies of The Week on BitTorrent – 11/26/18
uri: Top-10-Most-Pirated-Movies-of-The-Week-on-BitTorrent-11-26-18
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/rJlTjw-JkpI/
content:
<p><img src="media/881e184f.thenun.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/thenun.jpg" alt="" width="270" height="186" class="alignright size-full wp-image-164733">This week we have three newcomers in our chart.</p>
<p>The Nun is the most downloaded movie.</p>
<p>The data for our weekly download chart is estimated by TorrentFreak, and is for informational and educational reference only. All the movies in the list are Web-DL/Webrip/HDRip/BDrip/DVDrip unless stated otherwise.</p>
<p><a href="http://TorrentFreak.com/category/dvdrip/feed/"><strong>RSS feed</strong></a> for the articles of the recent weekly movie download charts.</p>
<h5>This week&#8217;s most downloaded movies are:</h5>
<table class="css hover">
<thead>
<tr>
<th width="12%"><strong>Movie Rank</strong></th>
<th width="15%"><strong>Rank <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/top-10-pirated-movies-week-bittorrent-11-19-18/">last week</a></strong></th>
<th><strong>Movie name</strong></th>
<th width="18%"><strong>IMDb Rating / Trailer</strong></th>
</tr>
</thead>
<tfoot>
<tr>
<td colspan="4">Most downloaded movies via torrents</td>
</tr>
</tfoot>
<tbody>
<tr>
<td><strong>1</strong></td>
<td>(&#8230;)</td>
<td><a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt5814060/">The Nun</a> </td>
<td><a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt5814060/">5.5</a> / <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EQRFgGwGeok">trailer</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><strong>2</strong></td>
<td>(1)</td>
<td><a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt4912910/">Mission: Impossible &#8211; Fallout</a> </td>
<td><a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt4912910/">8.0</a> / <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XiHiW4N7-bo&#038;t=20s">trailer</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><strong>3</strong></td>
<td>(&#8230;)</td>
<td><a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt6850820/">Peppermint</a> </td>
<td><a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt6850820/">6.5</a> / <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eeBMQpzoEXQ">trailer</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><strong>4</strong></td>
<td>(5)</td>
<td><a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1517451/">A Star is Born</a> </td>
<td><a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1517451/">8.2</a> / <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nSbzyEJ8X9E">trailer</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><strong>5</strong></td>
<td>(2)</td>
<td><a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt4779682/">The Meg</a> </td>
<td><a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt4779682/">5.9</a> / <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HXCMAGLJWwU">trailer</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><strong>6</strong></td>
<td>(3)</td>
<td><a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt3766354/">The Equalizer 2</a> </td>
<td><a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt3766354/">6.9</a> / <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HyNJ3UrGk_I">trailer</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><strong>7</strong></td>
<td>(6)</td>
<td><a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt4560436/">Mile 22</a> </td>
<td><a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt4560436/">6.1</a> / <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ton2-vP99VQ">trailer</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><strong>8</strong></td>
<td>(4)</td>
<td><a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt3606756/">Incredibles 2</a> </td>
<td><a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt3606756/">8.0</a> / <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i5qOzqD9Rms">trailer</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><strong>9</strong></td>
<td>(10)</td>
<td><a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt3104988/">Crazy Rich Asians</a> </td>
<td><a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt3104988/">7.2</a> / <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZQ-YX-5bAs0">trailer</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><strong>10</strong></td>
<td>(&#8230;)</td>
<td><a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1213641/">First Man</a> </td>
<td><a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1213641/">7.7</a> / <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PSoRx87OO6k">trailer</a></td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/">TF</a>, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/top-10-most-popular-torrent-sites-of-2018-180107/">torrent sites</a> and more. We also have <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-services-keep-anonymous-2018/">VPN reviews, </a><a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-discount-coupon-offer-torguard-nordvpn-expressvpn-pia/">discounts, offers and coupons</a>.</p>
<div class="feedflare">
<a href="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~ff/Torrentfreak?a=rJlTjw-JkpI:42yl2CAbxHw:yIl2AUoC8zA"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/Torrentfreak?d=yIl2AUoC8zA" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~ff/Torrentfreak?a=rJlTjw-JkpI:42yl2CAbxHw:D7DqB2pKExk"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/Torrentfreak?i=rJlTjw-JkpI:42yl2CAbxHw:D7DqB2pKExk" border="0"></img></a>
</div><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~4/rJlTjw-JkpI" height="1" width="1" alt=""/>


feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=164686
title: Court Rules MusicMonster Stream-Ripping Service Illegal
uri: Court-Rules-MusicMonster-Stream-Ripping-Service-Illegal
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/Td4Oat7rNgw/
content:
<p><a href="media/e8ed44e1.musicmonster.png" data-original-source="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/images/musicmonster.png"><img src="media/f00111ed.musicmonster.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/musicmonster.png" alt="" width="200" height="159" class="alignright size-full wp-image-164690"></a>Stream-ripping tools and services have been around for many years and are currently most closely associated with obtaining tracks from YouTube, Spotify, and Deezer.</p>
<p>However, before these undoubtedly more efficient tools came along, users with an aversion to peer-to-peer networks often used software to &#8216;record&#8217; songs from streaming Internet radio stations.</p>
<p>While more cumbersome than straightforward downloading, there are virtually no risks attached to doing so, with many considering this &#8216;private copying&#8217; and therefore completely legal.</p>
<p>Somewhere in the middle sit services like <a href="https://www.musicmonster.fm">MusicMonster.fm</a>, a Germany-based service that claims to make stream-ripping easy, by scanning Internet radio streams for the user, ripping out songs, and then making these available to the end user for download.</p>
<p>&#8220;First, you should put together a wish list &#8211; just click the button &#8216;I want!&#8217; next to your favorite songs,&#8221; MusicMonster&#8217;s site reads.</p>
<p>&#8220;If one of these songs is played in one of the web radios monitored by MusicMonster.FM, the song will be recorded automatically and digitally and will be recorded on [the site&#8217;s storage space].&#8221;</p>
<p>From here (or from Dropbox if the option is selected), songs can be downloaded to the user&#8217;s computer in MP3 format. This, the site suggests, isn&#8217;t a problem because users have already paid for the right when the stations paid their licensing fees.</p>
<p>&#8220;The ability to save music (eg: analog recording) is a paid right. The customer has already paid for it,&#8221; MusicMonster advises.</p>
<p>&#8220;If you have not noticed this in recent years, then the music industry has received payments without providing anything in return. Now this consideration will be used by you. The MP3 music file you have recorded and created is not a copy of the original piece of music, but an independent legal object.&#8221;</p>
<p>Perhaps needless to say, record labels aren&#8217;t impressed with this type of product and MusicMonster.fm eventually came to the attention of Sony Music&#8217;s lawyers.</p>
<p>In September 2017, the Munich Regional Court delivered a first instance judgment that MusicMonster itself is the creator of the copies, not the user, so in this case the act of stream-ripping represents a violation of the label&#8217;s reproduction rights.</p>
<p>Following an appeal by the service, on November 22, 2018 the Higher Regional Court of Munich agreed that the operators of the site could not rely on the private copying exception, declaring the MusicMonster platform both unlicensed and unlawful.</p>
<p>The Federal Music Industry Association (Bundesverband Musikindustrie (BVMI)) welcomed the ruling.</p>
<p>&#8220;This is a very important decision that contributes further clarification,&#8221; says BVMI Managing Director Dr. Florian Drücke, who describes MusicMonster as a service trying to generate profit using the private copying exception.</p>
<p>&#8220;The industry will continue to be consistent against such brazen business models that unfairly interfere with the legal digital market, mislead consumers, and disregard the rights of artists and their partners.&#8221;</p>
<p>René Houareau, Legal &#038; Politics Director at BVMI, adds that courts are increasingly able to identify illegal and opportunistic business models from those that are officially licensed and return revenue to the entertainment industries.</p>
<p>BVMI adds that stream-ripping is a big problem for the music industry worldwide but acknowledges that in some instances in Germany, the use of stream-ripped music sits in a legal gray area.</p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/">TF</a>, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/top-10-most-popular-torrent-sites-of-2018-180107/">torrent sites</a> and more. We also have <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-services-keep-anonymous-2018/">VPN reviews, </a><a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-discount-coupon-offer-torguard-nordvpn-expressvpn-pia/">discounts, offers and coupons</a>.</p>
<div class="feedflare">
<a href="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~ff/Torrentfreak?a=Td4Oat7rNgw:yuMvF8y3W7w:yIl2AUoC8zA"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/Torrentfreak?d=yIl2AUoC8zA" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~ff/Torrentfreak?a=Td4Oat7rNgw:yuMvF8y3W7w:D7DqB2pKExk"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/Torrentfreak?i=Td4Oat7rNgw:yuMvF8y3W7w:D7DqB2pKExk" border="0"></img></a>
</div><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~4/Td4Oat7rNgw" height="1" width="1" alt=""/>


feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=164791
title: Aussie Senate Dismisses Concerns & Approves New Tough Anti-Piracy Law
uri: Aussie-Senate-Dismisses-Concerns-Approves-New-Tough-Anti-Piracy-Law
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/PyAhU8YQYfw/
content:
<p><a href="media/c5e87d4f.aus.jpg" data-original-source="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/images/aus.jpg"><img src="media/dbb74c88.aus.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/aus.jpg" alt="" width="250" height="159" class="alignright size-full wp-image-96798"></a>Section 115a of Australia’s Copyright Act allows copyright holders to apply for injunctions to force ISPs to prevent subscribers from accessing &#8216;pirate&#8217; sites.</p>
<p>The legislation has been used on many occasions since its introduction in 2015 but copyright holders say the law needs to be tightened to prevent circumvention. Those concerns spawned the <a href="https://parlinfo.aph.gov.au/parlInfo/search/display/display.w3p;page=0;query=BillId:r6209%20Recstruct:billhome">Copyright Amendment (Online Infringement) Bill 2018</a>, which contains proposals to close the loopholes.</p>
<p>One of the key aims is to restrict access to proxy and mirror sites that appear after an injunction has been granted. However, the amendments lay out the ability to do that without court intervention, something that&#8217;s making activists and <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/copyright-law-professor-urges-australia-to-repeal-site-blocking-laws-181126/">academics</a> nervous.</p>
<p>Another is to expand grounds for an injunction. Currently &#8220;online locations&#8221; outside Australia with a &#8220;primary purpose of infringing&#8221; are targets for blocking. The amendments would see sites that have &#8220;the primary effect&#8221; of infringing or facilitating infringement also being sucked in, opening the door for blocking general purpose file-hosting sites.</p>
<p>Finally, search engines are seen as useful indexes for people looking for information to access sites that have already been blocked. The <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/australia-targets-google-with-tough-new-anti-piracy-law-181018/">amendments</a> forsee platforms like Google purging their search results of references to blocked sites.</p>
<p>Yesterday, the Senate&#8217;s Environment and Communications Legislation Committee published the results of its inquiry. Those hoping for an additional dissenting voice will be disappointed.</p>
<p>&#8220;The committee is of the view that the amendments proposed by the bill are likely to improve the operation of the injunctive scheme in section 115A of the Copyright Act, and represent a measured and proportionate response to concerns identified by stakeholders in relation to the operation of that scheme,&#8221; the report reads.</p>
<p>&#8220;In this respect, the committee also notes that the majority of submissions received by the committee supported the bill and recommended that it be passed unamended.&#8221;</p>
<p>Quantifying its decision, the Committee acknowledges concerns that &#8220;adaptive injunctions&#8221; (which allow for post-injunction proxy and mirror sites to be blocked) will be left up to copyright holders and ISPs to decide, so without intervention from the Court they could be open to abuse. However, it believes that enough safeguards are in place to ensure that does not happen.</p>
<p>&#8220;[T]he committee is of the view that the measures are appropriately circumscribed. In particular, the committee notes the evidence that the Court would maintain ultimate oversight over these injunctions, as well as the evidence that there must a sufficient nexus between the online location covered by the original injunction and the location to which the order is expanded,&#8221; the report reads.</p>
<p>Tackling the complex &#8220;primary effect&#8221; amendment, the Committee notes that it has its critics and could, in theory, encompass legitimate platforms. However, it says that there are &#8220;adequate safeguards&#8221; already present in Section 115A of the Copyright Act so &#8220;this would not occur in practice.&#8221;</p>
<p>Finally, on forcing search engines to purge their results of previously-blocked sites, the Committee again acknowledges objections from those who feel such measures are unnecessary. Again, however, the report dismisses the concerns, noting that search engines may play a role in both infringement and enforcement of copyright so the measures are &#8220;appropriate.&#8221;</p>
<p>It also notes that a voluntary arrangement between copyright holders and search engine providers may yet be reached, so if all else fails the proposed amendment will provide an &#8220;important backstop&#8221; in the event such agreements prove ineffective.</p>
<p>Summing up, the Committee offers the suggestion that the new amendments should be subject to a review two years after being put in place, a period that should allow enough time to assess whether any components need to be &#8220;clarified, rationalised or improved&#8221;</p>
<p>&#8220;The committee considers that, on balance, the benefits of the bill outweigh any potential negative impacts that could arise from the proposed amendments. The committee therefore recommends that the bill should be passed,&#8221; the report concludes.</p>
<p><em>The full report can be downloaded <a href="media/1ce162d2.report.pdf" data-original-source="https://www.aph.gov.au/Parliamentary_Business/Committees/Senate/Environment_and_Communications/OnlineInfringementBill/~/media/Committees/ec_ctte/OnlineInfringementBill/report.pdf">here</a> (pdf)</em></p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/">TF</a>, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/top-10-most-popular-torrent-sites-of-2018-180107/">torrent sites</a> and more. We also have <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-services-keep-anonymous-2018/">VPN reviews, </a><a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-discount-coupon-offer-torguard-nordvpn-expressvpn-pia/">discounts, offers and coupons</a>.</p>
<div class="feedflare">
<a href="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~ff/Torrentfreak?a=PyAhU8YQYfw:xpNQ5nTrj30:yIl2AUoC8zA"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/Torrentfreak?d=yIl2AUoC8zA" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~ff/Torrentfreak?a=PyAhU8YQYfw:xpNQ5nTrj30:D7DqB2pKExk"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/Torrentfreak?i=PyAhU8YQYfw:xpNQ5nTrj30:D7DqB2pKExk" border="0"></img></a>
</div><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~4/PyAhU8YQYfw" height="1" width="1" alt=""/>


feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=164785
title: Music Industry Asks US Govt. to Reconsider Website Blocking
uri: Music-Industry-Asks-US-Govt-to-Reconsider-Website-Blocking
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/btba7lMwBN8/
content:
<p><img src="media/d6095998.sopablock.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/sopablock.jpg" alt="" width="300" height="185" class="alignright size-full wp-image-145341">At the start of this decade, US lawmakers drafted several controversial bills to make it easier for copyright holders to enforce their rights online.</p>
<p>These proposals, including <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stop_Online_Piracy_Act">SOPA</a> and <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PROTECT_IP_Act">PIPA</a>, were met with fierce resistance from the public as well as major technology companies. They feared that the plans, which included pirate site-blocking measures, went too far. </p>
<p>The public protests columnated in a massive <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/internet-freedom-day-how-blackout-protests-killed-two-anti-piracy-bills-170118/">Internet blackout</a>. This had the desired effect, as the bills were eventually shelved early 2012. </p>
<p>In the many years that followed, the &#8220;site blocking&#8221; issue was <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/sopa-ghosts-hinder-u-s-pirate-site-blocking-efforts-171008/">avoided</a> like the plague. The aversion was mostly limited to the US, as website blocking became more and more common abroad, where it&#8217;s one of the entertainment industries&#8217; preferred anti-piracy tools. </p>
<p>Emboldened by these foreign successes, it appears that rightsholders in the US are now confident enough to bring the subject up again, albeit very gently. </p>
<p>Most recently the site-blocking option was mentioned in a joint letter from the RIAA and the National Music Publishers’ Association (NMPA), which contained recommendations to the Intellectual Property Enforcement Coordinator (IPEC) Vishal Amin.</p>
<p>The IPEC requested input from the public on the new version of its Joint Strategic Plan for Intellectual Property Enforcement. According to the music industry groups, website blocking should be reconsidered an anti-piracy tool.</p>
<p>&#8220;There are several changes that should be made legislatively to help legal authorities and third parties better protect intellectual property rights,&#8221; the music groups write.  </p>
<p>&#8220;These include fixing the DMCA, making it a felony to knowingly engage in unauthorized streaming of copyrighted works, and investigating the positive impact that website blocking of foreign sites has in other jurisdictions and whether U.S. law should be revised accordingly.&#8221;</p>
<p>The RIAA and NMPA choose their words carefully, realizing that it&#8217;s a sensitive issue. In a single sentence, however, they hint at bringing back SOPA-like blocking powers, including criminalizing online streaming. </p>
<p>A lot has changed in recent years though. The music groups point out that site-blocking has proven to be an effective enforcement tool abroad which has helped to decrease piracy and boost legal consumption. </p>
<p>According to the music industry groups, there is a pressing need for additional tools to stop pirate sites which increasingly use foreign domain names and bulletproof hosting. Blocking could be the right answer. </p>
<p>As such, now could be a good time to put the issue on the political agenda again.</p>
<p>&#8220;As website blocking has had a positive impact in other countries without significant unintended consequences, the U.S. should reconsider adding this to its anti-piracy tool box,&#8221; the RIAA and NMPA write.</p>
<p><center><strong>From the RIAA/NMPA submission</strong><br></br></center><img src="media/b9abde1d.riaanmpa.png" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/riaanmpa.png" alt="" width="600" height="139" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-164803"></center></p>
<p>The RIAA and NMPA are not the only ones to hint at these measures. The <a href="https://copyrightalliance.org/about/boards/">Copyright Alliance</a>, which describes itself as the &#8220;unified voice of the copyright community,&#8221; also references site-blocking. Again, very subtly. </p>
<p>The group notes that IPEC may want to &#8220;observe how other countries are enforcing copyright laws, and whether those enforcement efforts are effective.&#8221;</p>
<p>There&#8217;s only one suggestion that&#8217;s specifically mentioned in this regard, and that&#8217;s site-blocking. The Copyright Alliance points out that this has been rather effective abroad and that the US could learn from these efforts.</p>
<p>&#8220;In addition to learning what remedies are effective, much can be learned from other countries in ensuring such remedies are proportionate and do not result in overblocking or other unwanted consequences,&#8221; they write.</p>
<p>The submissions suggest that after seven years copyright holders are gearing up to call for US blocking proposals again. </p>
<p>While these will undoubtedly be met with protests, a full comeback is inevitable. In recent years US rightsholders have lobbied and litigated for site blocking measures in dozens of countries, while the issue was <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/the-pirating-elephant-in-uncle-sams-room-180413/">left untouched</a> on their home soil. </p>
<p>This is now starting to change, very slowly. </p>
<p><em>&#8212;</p>
<p>Here are the above -referenced copies of the <a href="media/ca45b0f1.RIAA-IPEC_strategic_plan_submission_v11-13-18.pdf" data-original-source="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/images/RIAA-IPEC_strategic_plan_submission_v11-13-18.pdf">RIAA/NMPA (pdf)</a> and <a href="media/18c7edb5.Copyright_Alliance_IPEC_JSP_Comment.pdf" data-original-source="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/images/Copyright_Alliance_IPEC_JSP_Comment.pdf">Copyright Alliance (pdf)</a> submissions to the Intellectual Property Enforcement Coordinator, which both cover a wide range of topics.</em></p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/">TF</a>, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/top-10-most-popular-torrent-sites-of-2018-180107/">torrent sites</a> and more. We also have <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-services-keep-anonymous-2018/">VPN reviews, </a><a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-discount-coupon-offer-torguard-nordvpn-expressvpn-pia/">discounts, offers and coupons</a>.</p>
<div class="feedflare">
<a href="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~ff/Torrentfreak?a=btba7lMwBN8:0-W_Drss10w:yIl2AUoC8zA"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/Torrentfreak?d=yIl2AUoC8zA" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~ff/Torrentfreak?a=btba7lMwBN8:0-W_Drss10w:D7DqB2pKExk"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/Torrentfreak?i=btba7lMwBN8:0-W_Drss10w:D7DqB2pKExk" border="0"></img></a>
</div><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~4/btba7lMwBN8" height="1" width="1" alt=""/>


feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=164853
title: Australian Parliament Passes Tough New Anti-Piracy Law
uri: Australian-Parliament-Passes-Tough-New-Anti-Piracy-Law
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/8pzeNc9mlkI/
content:
<p><a href="media/c5e87d4f.aus.jpg" data-original-source="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/images/aus.jpg"><img src="media/dbb74c88.aus.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/aus.jpg" alt="" width="250" height="159" class="alignright size-full wp-image-96798"></a>Section 115a of Australia’s Copyright Act allows copyright holders to apply for injunctions to force ISPs to prevent subscribers from accessing ‘pirate’ sites. While rightsholders say that it&#8217;s been effective to a point, they have lobbied hard for improvements.</p>
<p>The resulting Copyright Amendment (Online Infringement) Bill 2018 contained proposals to close the loopholes. After receiving endorsement <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/aussie-senate-dismisses-concerns-approves-new-tough-anti-piracy-law-181127/">from the Senate</a> earlier this week, the legislation was today approved by Parliament.</p>
<p>Once the legislation comes into force, proxy and mirror sites that appear after an injunction against a &#8216;pirate&#8217; site has been granted can be blocked by ISPs without the parties having to return to court. Assurances have been given, however, that the court will retain some oversight.</p>
<p>Search engines, such as Google and Bing, will also be affected. Accused of providing &#8220;backdoor&#8221; access to sites that have already been blocked, search providers will now have to remove or demote links to overseas-based infringing sites, along with their proxies and mirrors.</p>
<p>Finally, “online locations” outside Australia with a “primary purpose of infringing” that are currently subject to blocking on application will be joined by sites with “the primary effect” of infringing or facilitating infringement. This opens the door for the blocking of general purpose file-hosting sites.</p>
<p>Announcing the adoption of the amendments by Parliament today, the Government said that the Bill will give rightsholders enhanced ability to fight copyright infringement.</p>
<p>Minister for Communications and the Arts Mitch Fifield noted that there will now be &#8220;less room&#8221; for pirates to circumvent Australia&#8217;s existing measures.</p>
<p>“The Government has zero tolerance for online piracy. It is theft, and damaging to our creative economy and local creators. We are committed to protecting Australia’s creative industries and the world-class content we produce every year,” Minister Fifield said. </p>
<p>“The passage of our legislation today sends a strong message to online pirates that Australia does not tolerate online theft.” </p>
<p>While negotiations have been underway for months, the amendments were only introduced in October, a stark contrast to <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/upload-filters-article-13-the-latest-eu-proposals-181120/">proposed amendments to EU law</a> which have moved at a glacial pace through the corridors of power in Europe.</p>
<p>The Australian Government will review the effectiveness of the new amendments in two years&#8217; time. </p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/">TF</a>, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/top-10-most-popular-torrent-sites-of-2018-180107/">torrent sites</a> and more. We also have <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-services-keep-anonymous-2018/">VPN reviews, </a><a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-discount-coupon-offer-torguard-nordvpn-expressvpn-pia/">discounts, offers and coupons</a>.</p>
<div class="feedflare">
<a href="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~ff/Torrentfreak?a=8pzeNc9mlkI:bS8jMwI2FHU:yIl2AUoC8zA"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/Torrentfreak?d=yIl2AUoC8zA" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~ff/Torrentfreak?a=8pzeNc9mlkI:bS8jMwI2FHU:D7DqB2pKExk"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/Torrentfreak?i=8pzeNc9mlkI:bS8jMwI2FHU:D7DqB2pKExk" border="0"></img></a>
</div><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~4/8pzeNc9mlkI" height="1" width="1" alt=""/>


feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=164878
title: Anti-Piracy Group BREIN Stopped 75 Pirate IPTV Sellers This Year
uri: Anti-Piracy-Group-BREIN-Stopped-75-Pirate-IPTV-Sellers-This-Year
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/bdhpX30seqQ/
content:
<p><img src="media/8a86db31.iptv.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/iptv.jpg" alt="" width="234" height="155" class="alignright size-full wp-image-135034">In recent years many pirates have moved from downloading to streaming and, as a result, anti-piracy groups have amended their strategies.</p>
<p>Backed by the major film studios, Dutch anti-piracy outfit <a href="https://stichtingbrein.nl/">BREIN</a> has been one of the frontrunners in the area.</p>
<p>The organization booked a <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/streaming-pirate-video-is-illegal-high-court-judge-says-170319/">promiment victory</a> against Filmspeler last year when the European Court of Justice ruled that it&#8217;s illegal to sell devices that are pre-configured to access copyright-infringing content.</p>
<p>Paired with the earlier <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/eu-court-not-for-profit-hyperlinking-usually-not-infringement-160908/">GS Media ruling</a>, which held that companies with a for-profit motive can’t knowingly link to copyright-infringing material, this provides a powerful enforcement tool.</p>
<p>With both decisions in hand, BREIN has contacted dozens of vendors that sell unauthorized services, urging them to stop. </p>
<p>This has been rather successful. This year alone, 75 sellers of IPTV and VOD subscriptions have settled their claims, resulting in settlements, penalties, and other costs totaling roughly 300,000 euros.</p>
<p>BREIN director Tim Kuik informs TorrentFreak that there are also a handful of pending cases where vendors have yet to sign a cease and desist order or agree to pay a settlement. If these efforts fail, these will be taken to court. </p>
<p>This legal threat is not a bluff. BREIN has already won civil verdicts against two vendors, <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/pirate-iptv-provider-loses-case-despite-not-offering-content-itself-171031/">Moviestreamer</a> and <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/court-orders-pirate-iptv-linker-to-shut-down-or-face-penalties-up-to-e1-25m-180911/">Leaper</a>, which were both ordered to shut down. </p>
<p>The anti-piracy group generally approaches online vendors but brick-and-mortar stores are also at risk. Last month, the police in The Hague seized a dozen IPTV boxes that were sold together with an IPTV subscription, for example.   </p>
<p>The police took this action on their own initiative and BREIN wasn&#8217;t involved directly. However, the group is working with police to provide training on collecting infringement related evidence.</p>
<p>&#8220;BREIN is agreeing with police to provide training to detect and secure evidence of infringing trade by offline stores,&#8221; Kuik tells TorrentFreak.</p>
<p>Following the GS Media and Filmspeler verdicts, BREIN has tracked down 275 vendors of illegal streaming boxes. Roughly 50 of these stopped their activities before the anti-piracy group reached out. </p>
<p> &#8220;It is still a sensible idea to stop before you get caught because the owed amounts can increase quite a bit,&#8221; Kuik notes.</p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/">TF</a>, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/top-10-most-popular-torrent-sites-of-2018-180107/">torrent sites</a> and more. We also have <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-services-keep-anonymous-2018/">VPN reviews, </a><a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-discount-coupon-offer-torguard-nordvpn-expressvpn-pia/">discounts, offers and coupons</a>.</p>
<div class="feedflare">
<a href="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~ff/Torrentfreak?a=bdhpX30seqQ:mXPf3IAp2aY:yIl2AUoC8zA"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/Torrentfreak?d=yIl2AUoC8zA" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~ff/Torrentfreak?a=bdhpX30seqQ:mXPf3IAp2aY:D7DqB2pKExk"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/Torrentfreak?i=bdhpX30seqQ:mXPf3IAp2aY:D7DqB2pKExk" border="0"></img></a>
</div><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~4/bdhpX30seqQ" height="1" width="1" alt=""/>


feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=164903
title: 12,564 Sites Preemptively Blocked to Protect India’s Most Expensive Movie
uri: 12-564-Sites-Preemptively-Blocked-to-Protect-India-s-Most-Expensive
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/D6vNzf6C7Wc/
content:
<p><a href="media/1b97a33a.deniedblocked.jpg" data-original-source="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/images/deniedblocked.jpg"><img src="media/f6cbbbd7.deniedblocked.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/deniedblocked.jpg" alt="" width="270" height="199" class="alignright size-full wp-image-143825"></a>As the site-blocking movement progresses around the globe, more and more countries are being added to the list.</p>
<p>Entertainment companies see the practice as crucial to preventing the flow of pirated content but critics claim the process is overly-aggressive and can lead to collateral damage. Following a ruling in India yesterday, opponents of blocking will have yet more ammunition.</p>
<p>Following an application by Lyca Productions Private Limited, the producer of the sci-fi movie &#8216;2.0&#8217;, the Madras High Court handed down a super-aggressive blocking order yesterday that puts most &#8211; if not all &#8211; similar injunctions in the shade.</p>
<p>In order to protect the movie &#8211; which is due for release today &#8211; Justice M Sundar ordered 37 local Internet service providers to block a staggering 12,564 websites on the basis that they are likely to offer illegal copies of the movie.</p>
<p>While the order has not yet been published on the website of the Court, local media reports <a href="https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/chennai/piracy-woes-ahead-of-2-0-release-hc-directs-12000-websites-to-be-blocked/articleshow/66856108.cms">indicate</a> that 2,000 of those websites are operated by notorious Tamil movie website TamilRockers.</p>
<p>Given that so many &#8216;sites&#8217; are connected to one platform, the order may actually cover more than 12,000 domains instead of individuals sites, but in advance of the order itself being published, that&#8217;s hard to clarify.</p>
<p>Nevertheless, what we&#8217;re looking at here is a preemptive blocking order of a truly huge scale against sites that have not yet made the movie available and may never do so. </p>
<p>In the meantime, however, a valuable lesson about site-blocking is already upon us. Within hours of the blocks being handed down, a copy of &#8216;2.0&#8217; appeared online and is now available via various torrent and streaming sites labeled as a &#8220;1080p PreDVDRip&#8221;. Forums reviewed by TF suggest users aren&#8217;t having a problem obtaining it.</p>
<p>With a reported budget of US$76 million, &#8216;2.0&#8217; is the most expensive Indian film. The sci-fi flick is attracting huge interest and at one stage it was reported that Arnold Schwarzenegger had been approached to play a leading role in the flagship production.</p>
<p>&#8220;We had thought of casting Arnold. We had talked and allotted dates also. But somehow things did not work out as the contracts of Hollywood and India are contradictory,&#8221; director S. Shankar <a href="https://www.ndtv.com/entertainment/rajinikanths-2-0-not-akshay-kumar-arnold-schwarzenegger-was-directors-first-choice-for-villain-but-1952997">told</a> local media.</p>
<p>More controversy hit the movie Tuesday when the Cellular Operators Association of India (COAI) filed a complaint against the movie with the Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC) and Ministry of Information and Broadcasting. COAI claims that &#8216;2.0&#8217; shows mobile phone use in a bad light, suggesting that the devices are detrimental to health.</p>
<p>The depiction is &#8220;defamatory to COAI and its members, endangers public order, presents anti-scientific attitudes, constitutes offenses including under various sections of the IPC (Indian Penal Code) and is in violation of the provisions of the Cinematograph Act, 1952,” the complaint <a href="https://www.livemint.com/Consumer/r3bf8SS4LYMhfdaIMrj5rN/Rajinikanth-Akshay-Kumar-20-film-movie-screening-trailer.html">reads</a>.</p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/">TF</a>, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/top-10-most-popular-torrent-sites-of-2018-180107/">torrent sites</a> and more. We also have <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-services-keep-anonymous-2018/">VPN reviews, </a><a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-discount-coupon-offer-torguard-nordvpn-expressvpn-pia/">discounts, offers and coupons</a>.</p>
<div class="feedflare">
<a href="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~ff/Torrentfreak?a=D6vNzf6C7Wc:qI1ojijFaQo:yIl2AUoC8zA"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/Torrentfreak?d=yIl2AUoC8zA" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~ff/Torrentfreak?a=D6vNzf6C7Wc:qI1ojijFaQo:D7DqB2pKExk"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/Torrentfreak?i=D6vNzf6C7Wc:qI1ojijFaQo:D7DqB2pKExk" border="0"></img></a>
</div><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~4/D6vNzf6C7Wc" height="1" width="1" alt=""/>


feed_id: http://torrentfreak.com/?p=164914
title: Movie Company Demands €200,000 From YouTube Over Pirated Film
uri: Movie-Company-Demands-200-000-From-YouTube-Over-Pirated-Film
url: http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/WYUlMEq9eiQ/
content:
<p><img src="media/34e023fb.sadyoutube.jpg" data-original-source="http://torrentfreak.com/images/sadyoutube.jpg" alt="" width="275" height="196" class="alignright size-full wp-image-117196">On an average day, roughly half a million hours of video are uploaded to YouTube. </p>
<p>As with any user-generated content site, this also includes pirated works, including full-length films. </p>
<p>This is not a new problem and YouTube does its best to remove infringing videos and accounts when they&#8217;re reported. However, Dutch film production company &#8216;<a href="http://farmhousefilm.com/library">Farmhouse TV &#038; Film</a> says that it&#8217;s not enough.</p>
<p>The company produced the film &#8220;<a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt6155374/">Redbad</a>&#8221; which premiered locally this summer. With one of the largest ever budgets for a Dutch film, it didn&#8217;t provide the success the makers had hoped for. </p>
<p>During the first month, it recouped <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Redbad_(film)#Box_office">less than €400,000</a> of the €8 million budget, making it one of the <a href="https://www.ad.nl/show/redbad-grootste-flop-br-ooit-in-nederland~afd0fa7c/">biggest flops</a> in Dutch theaters.</p>
<p>While the film failed to draw the masses to the big screen, it did much better on YouTube. According to Farmhouse TV &#038; Film, a full copy of the movie reached half a million views after it was uploaded. The only problem is that this copy wasn&#8217;t authorized. </p>
<p>The production company isn&#8217;t happy with this unlicensed consumption and is now demanding €200,000 in compensation. Producer Klaas de Jong states that YouTube should take responsibility, noting that the pirated copy was displaying advertisements as well.</p>
<p>&#8220;This way, YouTube has created a revenue model out of the illegal distribution of content,&#8221; De Jong says, <a href="https://www.nu.nl/film/5600708/producent-redbad-eist-2-ton-van-videoplatform-youtube.html#coral_talk_wrapper">quoted</a> by Nu.nl. </p>
<p>&#8220;Enough is enough. We&#8217;re talking about an illegal and criminal offense, and YouTube is not taking responsibility,&#8221; he adds.</p>
<p>YouTube hasn&#8217;t commented on this individual case. However, the company explains that rightsholders can ask the video platform to take an infringing copy offline. This is what happened with the pirated copy of Redbad. </p>
<p>The producer believes that this is irrelevant. The harm was already done when they spotted the copy and the takedown system has its limitations, especially when infringing content swiftly reappears.</p>
<p>&#8220;This leads to a situation in which we as producers have to check for illegal links to our films on YouTube every week and beg to have them removed, after which they immediately reappear through another channel,&#8221; De Jong says.</p>
<p>Tim Kuik, director of the local anti-piracy outfit BREIN which isn&#8217;t involved in the matter, says that it&#8217;s the first time a Dutch producer takes this step. Kuik also notes that the availability of pirated films on YouTube is a known problem.</p>
<p>In the present matter, it&#8217;s unlikely that Farmhouse TV &#038; Film will get anything from YouTube without going to court. Previously, Austrian television channel Puls 4 did just that, with success. </p>
<p>This summer a court in Vienna <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/youtube-can-be-liable-for-copyright-infringing-videos-court-rules-180607/">concluded</a> that YouTube can indeed be held directly liable for users&#8217; copyright infringements. The video service is not a neutral intermediary and should do more to prevent infringing uploads, the court ruled. The verdict in question is not yet final. </p>
<p>Ideally, Farmhouse TV &#038; Film and other rightsholders would like YouTube to start filtering all content proactively. That sounds a lot like the EU&#8217;s Article 13 proposal, which <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/youtube-amps-up-article-13-protest-with-pop-ups-181121/">YouTube is currently campaigning against</a>. </p>
<p>Interestingly, the production company was also tied up in another YouTube brawl earlier this year. According to the producer, YouTube had asked them to <a href="https://www.nu.nl/entertainment/5284460/youtube-eist-trailer-nederlandse-film-redbad-verwijderd-wordt.html">remove the trailer</a> of the film because it would be &#8220;offensive to large populations.&#8221; </p>
<p>No further details were given but, reportedly, YouTube took offense to the general theme which showed how Redbad and Vikings fought against the Christians who forced their faith upon the people. </p>
<p>The trailers were never removed though.</p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/">TF</a>, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/top-10-most-popular-torrent-sites-of-2018-180107/">torrent sites</a> and more. We also have <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-services-keep-anonymous-2018/">VPN reviews, </a><a href="https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-discount-coupon-offer-torguard-nordvpn-expressvpn-pia/">discounts, offers and coupons</a>.</p>
<div class="feedflare">
<a href="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~ff/Torrentfreak?a=WYUlMEq9eiQ:V8WwJrw0yvA:yIl2AUoC8zA"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/Torrentfreak?d=yIl2AUoC8zA" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~ff/Torrentfreak?a=WYUlMEq9eiQ:V8WwJrw0yvA:D7DqB2pKExk"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/Torrentfreak?i=WYUlMEq9eiQ:V8WwJrw0yvA:D7DqB2pKExk" border="0"></img></a>
</div><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~4/WYUlMEq9eiQ" height="1" width="1" alt=""/>


