Posts by Prophet

  • Sky subscribers hit with new wave of piracy notices

    SKY SUBSCRIBERS HIT WITH NEW WAVE OF PIRACY NOTICES


    Customers of UK ISP Sky are being hit with a new wave of 'pay-up-or-else' letters from copyright troll outfit GoldenEye International. The letters seen by TorrentFreak include the usual claims but recipients should be warned that corresponding with the company by email is a frustrating process.


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    GoldenEye International are one of the small handful of companies engaged in so-called “copyright troll” activities in the UK.


    Unlike thousands of other companies who try to have infringing content removed from the Internet, Golden Eye simply leaves it there while monitoring those who dare to download and share it.


    For several years the company has been targeting subscribers in the UK and has recently sent out a new wave of threat letters. TorrentFreak has been in touch with many letter recipients, all of them customers of UK Internet service provider Sky.


    The demands all relate to the alleged downloading and sharing of various pornographic movie titles owned by Ben Dover Productions, Immoral Productions, Third World Media, Echo Alpha and Harmony Films.


    The High Court order through which GoldenEye (GEIL) obtained the users’ personal details is dated August 2015 but in some cases the alleged offenses date back to 2014 which in many cases makes it difficult to identify who might have been responsible.


    Indeed, this is a problem faced by several letter recipients interviewed by TorrentFreak. While a minority accept that GEIL’s allegations are true, others are vigorously denying them.


    Several insist that due to the number of people who have free access to their home connections it’s all but impossible to know who the infringer was back in 2014/2015, if there even was one.


    But perhaps more worrying is what happens when people choose to engage Golden Eye themselves.


    “In order to elicit a speedy response we recommend email as the most efficient communication,” GoldenEye says in its threat letter.


    While email is indeed efficient, convenient and cheap for GoldenEye (a company obviously keen to keep its costs down), exchanges seen by TorrentFreak indicate a complete unwillingness for them to accept what they are being told.


    In some instances letter recipients tell GoldenEye that not only did they not download or share anything illegally, but they haven’t allowed anyone else to do so either. The company effectively ignores these protestations and insists that its evidence was assessed by independent experts.


    Interestingly, however, the reportedly independent experts are Tobias Fieser and Patrick Paige, men that are up to their necks in similar trolling activities in other parts of the world, with the latter previously being described in less than favorable terms.


    Of course, no evidence has been actually tested by the court but most people corresponding with GEIL don’t know that. It’s worth noting that even if the evidence had been tested and it was guaranteed accurate, GEIL only have the bill payer’s name and if he or she didn’t do it, GEIL have a problem.


    “It’s important to understand that the copyright owner can only take action against the person who actually committed the infringement. This may not be you,” the UK government told letter recipients in advice last week.


    Worryingly, TorrentFreak has seen other correspondence that indicates that once letter recipients engage in discussion with GoldenEye via email, the porn outfit uses the opportunity to obtain more information, information that it did not have in the first instance. This is often known as a ‘fishing expedition’ and copyright trolls love them.


    For example, some people have informed GEIL that they have left their router insecured so that friends and family can easily access the Internet when they visit. GEIL then want to know the names and addresses of these people so they can be pursued. Recipients are under no obligation to help with these inquiries but because of the legal threats, some feel obliged to comply.


    Furthermore, others who have mentioned having an unsecured WiFi have been met with questions about the make and model of their router. Quite why GoldenEye need this information is uncertain but it’s almost certain that any information provided will somehow be used against the recipient.


    The common theme throughout, however, is that whatever people tell GoldenEye in an email, the company either ignores or has a canned response for. The company sends PDF files back to people who email them with a defense and these are all template responses going over the same things time and again. It is clear that people aren’t being treated as individuals and that the process is being automated wherever possible.


    With all this in mind people should consider whether email really is the best way to handle a claim from GoldenEye International. Granted, responses from the company are often quite quick, but this encourages people to respond quickly too, often without adequate consideration before doing so.

  • Pub company fined £120k after illegally airing Sky Sports

    Cranleigh pub company fined £120k after illegally airing Sky Sports in three of its premises


    The fine was given to Merlin Inns Ltd after they pleaded guilty to 10 offences at pubs in Effingham, Cranleigh and Feltham


    A Cranleigh-based pub company has been found guilty of illegally airing Sky Sports in three of its pubs and ordered to pay £120,600 in fines and costs.


    The fine was given to Merlin Inns Ltd after the company pleaded guilty to 10 offences at South East Surrey Magistrates Court on Monday April 4.


    The company which owns 14 pubs in the UK, and based at Smithbrook Kilns, was fined £90,000 and ordered to pay costs of £28,500.


    Three designated premise supervisors in the company also pleaded guilty to a total of three offences and were each fined £600 and a victim surcharge of £60 bringing the total to £120,600.


    The three premises involved were Sir Douglas Haig, The Street, Effingham , The Cranley Hotel, Cranleigh, and The Three Horseshoes, Feltham.


    After the sentence, Ted Friswell, operations director for Merlin Inns Ltd, said: “Merlin Inns were extremely disappointed with the result of the case at Redhill court and believe the fine to be completely disproportionate to the offence.


    “We are considering an appeal.”


    These convictions were carried out by the Federation Against Copyright Theft (FACT) on behalf of its members, and forms a ‘key part of Sky’s commitment to protecting pubs who invest in legitimate Sky Sports subscriptions’.


    FACT works closely with statutory law enforcement agencies to combat all forms of piracy and members include global and UK film distributors, TV broadcasters and sport rights owners.


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    Stephen Gerrard, prosecuting manager at the Federation Against Copyright Theft said: “Regrettably for Merlin Inns Ltd they choose to ignore official notices alerting them to their illegal activity and refuse advice to legitimise their behaviour. “Now the company is left with a substantial fine and three employees with criminal records.


    “This result should serve as a strong warning to any pub company or employee thinking of bypassing the legitimate process to think twice about their actions.


    “It is a criminal offence which the courts, FACT and Sky take incredibly seriously.


    “Merlin Inns Ltd have also short changed law-abiding pubs in the area who legitimately pay commercial Sky subscriptions and are potentially losing customers to venues screening matches illegally.”


    Alison Dolan, deputy managing director at Sky Business, said: “The significant penalty applied in this case not only demonstrates how seriously the courts take the issue of fraudulently screening TV programmes, but also indicates just how significantly the suppliers of illegal equipment have been misleading publicans.


    “Anyone choosing to believe these suppliers, or who has been offered any kind of guarantee from an illegal supplier should take note: these suppliers cannot stop pub companies as well as individuals from getting a criminal record, as this latest result now shows.


    “The courts continue to send a clear message to publicans who consider fraudulently screening TV programmes in their venue – if you choose to televise content illegally then you run the very real risk of being caught and face substantial penalties and a criminal record.”


    Source : http://www.getsurrey.co.uk/new…mpany-fined-120k-11147606

  • Linking to pirated content is not copyright infringement, says eu court adviser

    (This is pretty important news imho)

    Linking to pirated content that is already available to the public can not be seen as copyright infringement under the European Copyright Directive. This is the advice Advocate General Melchior Wathelet has sent to the EU Court of Justice, in what may turn out to be a landmark case.


    One of the key roles of the EU’s Court of Justice is to interpret European law to ensure that it’s applied in the same manner across all member states.


    The Court is also called upon by national courts to clarify finer points of EU law to progress local cases with Europe-wide implications.


    In recent years the Court was called upon to rule on several cases related to hyperlinking, in an effort to established whether links to other websites can be seen as copyright infringement.


    Previously, it ruled that links to copyrighted works are not infringing if the copyright holder published them in public, and the same is true for embedding copyrighted videos.


    But what if a link points to content that is not authorized by the copyright holder? Would this still be allowed? According to EU Advocate General Melchior Wathelet, it is.


    In an advisory opinion to the EU Court of Justice, which will issue a final ruling later, the Advocate General reviewed a dispute between the Dutch weblog GeenStijl.nl and Playboy.


    In October 2011, GeenStijl.nl published a post linking to leaked Playboy photos, which were hosted on the file-hosting service FileFactory.


    Playboy publisher Sanoma successfully requested the removal of the photos at the hosting service, but in response GeenStijl continued to link to other public sources where they were still available.


    The Dutch Court asked the EU Court of Justice to rule whether these links can be seen as a ‘communication to the public’ under Article 3(1) of the Copyright Directive of the Copyright Directive, and whether they facilitate copyright infringement.


    In his advice today the Advocate General acknowledges that the hyperlinks facilitate the discovery of the copyrighted works, and make them more easily available. However, this isn’t copyright infringement.


    “…hyperlinks which lead, even directly, to protected works are not ‘making them available’ to the public when they are already freely accessible on another website, and only serve to facilitate their discovery,” the EU Court of Justice’s writes, commenting on the advice.


    The Advocate General argues that “linking” is not the same as making the content available, which would apply to the original uploader. This means that GeenStijl’s actions can not be characterized as copyright infringement.


    “The actual act of ‘making available’ is the action of the person who effected the initial communication. Consequently, hyperlinks which are placed on a website and which link to protected works that are freely accessible on another site cannot be classified as an ‘act of communication’ within the meaning of the Directive.”


    “In fact, the intervention of the owner of the site which places the hyperlink, in this case GS Media, is not indispensable to the photos in question being made available to internet users, including those who visit GeenStijl’s website,” the Court clarifies.


    The advice is a setup for a landmark ruling. However, the Court stresses that the advice only applies to this particular case.


    Technically, most torrent sites including The Pirate Bay, mostly link to material that’s already available elsewhere. However, in these cases the general purpose of the site may also be taken into account.


    That said, the advice is good news for news sites, bloggers and the general public, as incidentally linking to relevant copyrighted material should be allowed in most cases.


    The Advocate General’s advice is not binding, but the European Court of Justice often uses such advice as the basis of its rulings. The final verdict is expected to be released later this year.

  • Panama papers: Pirates prepare to takeover iceland

    Prime Minister of Iceland Sigmundur Davíð Gunnlaugsson is facing calls for early general elections after it was revealed he is among many politicians linked to companies named in the Panama Papers. Dramatically the Pirate Party is leading in the latest Gallup poll, raising the astonishing prospect that a Pirate-led coalition government could rule Iceland.


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    From August 2015, an anonymous source began leaking around 11.5 million secret documents created by the Panamanian law firm Mossack Fonseca to German news outlet Süddeutsche Zeitung (SZ).


    Comprised of documents created since the 1970s, the 2.6 terabytes of data (known as the Panama Papers) shine light on 214,000 anonymous offshore companies located around the world, often setup to hide their owners’ identities and business dealings.


    “The data provides rare insights into a world that can only exist in the shadows. It proves how a global industry led by major banks, legal firms, and asset management companies secretly manages the estates of the world’s rich and famous: from politicians, Fifa officials, fraudsters and drug smugglers, to celebrities and professional athletes,” SZ writes.


    One of the individuals now mired in controversy is Prime Minister of Iceland Sigmundur Davíð Gunnlaugsson. Leaks from the Panama Papers show that the 41-year-old and now wife Anna Sigurlaug Pálsdóttir owned an offshore that held millions of dollars in bonds during the country’s financial crisis.


    According to The Guardian, the papers show that Gunnlaugsson co-owned a company called Wintris Inc, set up in 2007 in the British Virgin Islands to handle investments with his partner.


    Gunnlaugsson is said to have owned a 50% stake in Wintris for more than two years, which was later transferred to his wife who held the other 50%. However, while Gunnlaugsson was still a Wintris shareholder he was elected to parliament as leader of the Progressive Party. He never declared his Wintris shares on Iceland’s register of MPs’ financial interests as required.


    Sunday Gunnlaugsson walked out of an extremely awkward interview (below) and is now facing calls to hold a snap general election.


    If an election does in indeed go ahead, Icelandic politics will be on a knife edge. Last Friday Gallup published the results of its latest poll and it shows that the leading political force in Iceland is the Pirate Party.


    As the chart clearly shows, not only is the Pirate Party way ahead of its nearest rival, but it’s also polling just ahead of the combined Independence Party/Progressive Party coalition government – and this was the position before the Panama leaks controversy.


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    For a country that relies on coalition governments this is a pretty big deal and for the local Pirate Party the achievement is nothing less than astonishing. In 2013 (and after just a few months of existence) the party achieved 5.1% of the vote and entered national government with three Members of Parliament.


    It is now looking at the possibility of a much bigger prize with Pirate MP and spokesperson Birgitta Jónsdóttir noting that the party is prepared.


    “In these strange times anything is possible,” she says.


    “It’s a really liquid situation. But, of course, if it happens we are ready. We have been asked time and time again since we scored so high in the polls. We are ready.”


    Jónsdóttir says she feels that Sigmundur Davíð Gunnlaugsson won’t step down and during a live TV broadcast yesterday he confirmed as much, stating that the Panama Papers contained “nothing new” about his and his wife’s business affairs.


    Nevertheless, this storm is far from over. With the revelation that the Prime Minister’s finance minister and interior minister also had stakes in offshore companies, thousands of people protested outside Iceland’s Parliament last evening calling for the government to step down.


    Only time will tell how this situation will play out, but the prospect of a Pirate-led coalition government is both intriguing and unprecedented.


    Update: Prime Minister of Iceland Sigmundur Davíð Gunnlaugsson resigned.


  • Panama papers endanger anonymity of ‘pirate’ sites

    Described as one of the largest leaks in history, the Panama Papers reveal where some of the wealthiest people in the world hide their fortunes. However, offshore companies are also widely used for anonymity, as the listing of two Megaupload defendants reveals. This could spell trouble for quite a few file-sharing sites and services that hide behind offshore companies.


    This weekend an unprecedented database of over 11 million files leaked from Mossack Fonseca, the world’s largest offshore law firm.


    The database was initially leaked to the German newspaper Süddeutsche Zeitung by an anonymous source. The newspaper then shared it which the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ), who involved hundreds of journalists around the world.


    The reporting thus far has mainly focused on how some of the wealthiest people in the world used offshore companies to launder money and avoid tax. However, Mossack Fonseca is also frequently used as a privacy tool.


    This explains why the names of two former Megaupload employees appear in the Panama Papers. As reported by Trouw, early 2010 Dutch programmer Bram Van der Kolk and Slovak designer Julius Bencko started a an offshore company with help from Mossack Fonseca.


    Van der Kolk and Bencko are both wanted by the U.S. Government for their involvement with Megaupload. However, their British Virgin Islands-based company “Easy Focus Technology Limited” had nothing to do with the defunct file-sharing service.


    In fact, Van der Kolk says that the reason to use an offshore company was to remain anonymous and hide their ties to Megaupload.


    “The British Virgin Islands are for companies what Mega is for files: privacy, at least as long as the information does not leak from the trust office!” Van der Kolk says.


    The pair didn’t want Megaupload boss Kim Dotcom to know about their side-project, as he might have objected to it. Nothing more than that.


    “Not so much because our project was competing with Megaupload or that we could thus spend less time on Megaupload. More because Kim would never allow it in principle, and it would lead directly to an unnecessary escalation.”


    This anonymity aspect is also crucial for a lot of names that appear in the Panama Papers. For example, many “pirate” sites use offshore companies to keep the owners out of the public view. This may help to avoid legal issues, for example.


    This is believed to be one of the main reasons why several torrent sites, pirate streaming services and file-hosting companies are located in the British Virgin Islands, Cyprus, Jersey, Panama and the Seychelles.


    The Pirate Bay’s “parent company” Reservella, for example, is reportedly incorporated in the Seychelles. In fact, during a lawsuit in the Netherlands anti-piracy group BREIN showed evidence (pdf) listing Mossack Fonseca as Reservella’s registered agent.


    Interestingly, Mossack Fonseca denied that they had anything to do with the company (pdf), suggesting that the report BREIN produced may have been fabricated.


    TorrentFreak spoke with several Pirate Bay insiders who confirm that Reservella should not appear in the Panama Papers, nor do they expect any other TPB-info to turn up from the leaked documents.


    Still, the privacy element will certainly have several other “pirate” sites worried that their owners may be exposed in the future. Thus far no public directory of names and companies have been released, but if that happens there is bound to be more panic.

  • Uk government video urges advertisers to boycott pirate sites

    The UK's Intellectual Property Office has published a video which urges advertisers to boycott 'pirate' sites. The video claims that since torrent and similar sites facilitate "fraud, organized crime, and even terrorism", advertisers should liaise with the Police Intellectual Property Crime Unit to gain access to a special advertising blacklist.


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    Underlying a multitude of strategies designed to limit traffic to pirate sites, there is a strong belief among copyright holders that operators only keep their sites online due to how profitable they are.


    Since most portals don’t make their motivations public it’s unclear as to how many sites this applies. However, it can’t be denied that the largest sites are pulling in decent revenues via advertising so with this in mind there is an ongoing and concerted effort by authorities to “Follow the Money.”


    Part of this strategy is ensuring that major brands and smaller companies refrain from placing their advertising on infringing sites. In addition to funding the sites in question, copyright holders insist that having “household name” branding appearing alongside pirate content suggests that sites are not only legitimate but somehow endorsed by their advertisers.


    While the US has its own initiatives underway, the UK’s Police Intellectual Property Crime Unit (PIPCU) maintains the Infringing Website List (IWL), a database of sites that police and copyright holders have deemed to breach copyright law.


    PIPCU earlier claimed to have placed warning ads on these domains to deter would-be downloaders and is now receiving help from the government to reach more advertisers.


    In a new video published by the Intellectual Property Office (IPO), the Internet is described as the most powerful communication tool ever invented, noting that by 2020 the total Internet advertising spend will outstrip that of TV. But while reaching billions of consumers has its benefits, the IPO says that advertisers need to be aware of the problems being caused by IP crime.


    Starting with an image of a presumably unlicensed pharmaceutical site, the video quickly moves on to the world of torrents, with an image of a fake website called “Super Torrent”.


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    Somewhat ironically the screenshot from the video shown above is actually a copy of ExtraTorrent (the world’s 3rd largest torrent site) but with a name switch. In fact, those who look closely will see that on the left hand side of the image where ExtraTorrent displays its news feed, there’s even a link directing people to find more news on TorrentFreak.


    “Illegal websites offering copyright infringing content, illegal websites facilitating fraud, organized crime, even terrorism,” the voiceover warns. “You wouldn’t want your brand, your client’s logo, your hard-earned reputation mixed up with that, would you?”


    The video continues by stating that of the top 500 infringing websites, 294 carried advertising for recognized brands, 43 of which were businesses in the top 1000 for advertising spend. By placing ads on such websites, advertisers give them legitimacy while tarnishing their images by associating themselves with viruses and malware, the IPO adds.


    Of course, knowing which sites are considered a risk isn’t always easy for advertisers and that’s where copyright holders and the police step in.


    “The Infringing Website List lists all known websites determined by the police to be illegal on the basis of copyright infringement. It’s the first of its kind in the world,” the IPO says.


    “Sites are identified by the creative industries, evidenced and verified by the police. The IWL then provides an up to date list of copyright-infringing websites to enable advertisers, agencies and brands to cease advert placement on illegal websites.”


    The idea is that ad agencies can integrate the IWL into their ad placement systems in order to boycott pirate sites, something which can prevent direct advertising on designated platforms. However, the advertising world isn’t as straightforward as that and the use of various middle-men ensures that advertising often makes it onto pirate sites, even though they have been ‘blacklisted’ in Europe and the United States.


    Nevertheless, the IPO and PIPCU say they are making progress and in August 2015 reported that top UK advertisers were placing 73% fewer ads on pirate sites. More current stats aren’t presented in the video but the message from the IPO remains the same.


    “Stop funding criminals, sign up to the IWL,” the IPO concludes.


  • Police raid usenet service, arrest operator, seize data

    POLICE RAID USENET SERVICE, ARREST OPERATOR, SEIZE DATA


    A France-based Usenet provider says that his service has been raided and shutdown by the police. The 5,000 user 'Newsoo' service appears to have been a labor of love for its owner, but all data is now in the hands of authorities after he was arrested. A long-standing complaint by anti-piracy outfit SACEM appears to have been the trigger.




    When it comes to file-sharing news, torrent sites usually grab most of the headlines and have done so for the last decade or more. However, a much older method of file-sharing continues in the background, one which facilitates the spread of huge amounts of copyrighted material every day.


    Usenet (newsgroups) is a server-based sharing system that usually requires a subscription to access. Users download files (binaries) directly from servers run by their Usenet provider and no peer-to-peer sharing takes place. This means that downloads are very secure, almost immune from snooping, and generally very fast.


    Certain prominent cases aside, Usenet providers have largely avoided prosecution but for one company in France the show is now over. Following a complaint filed by anti-piracy outfit SACEM two years ago, France’s largest independent Usenet provider Newsoo has just been shut down by the police.


    “I just got back from custody after a search and seizure of Newsoo servers by the judicial police in Strasbourg. I announce therefore that the Newsoo adventure ends immediately and permanently,” Newsoo owner Cedric reports.


    While the Newsoo operation was small by Giganews standards, for example, the service was definitely unique. Cedric (known online as Optix) was very public about his passion for his staunchly independent service, which was built up over the years by hand and backed up by personal customer support from the enthusiast.


    But like many file-sharing services (and all Usenet providers), Newsoo had its problems with copyrighted content being uploaded to its servers and this week the authorities ran out of patience. In what was reportedly a relatively calm raid, Optix was arrested and his service dismantled.


    “As to the ‘practical’ terms of my custody, rest can be assured. The staff were very courteous, kind and sympathetic, and there were no handcuffs and all that. I’m fine,” he explained in a statement.


    While questioning whether the shutdown of his service was appropriate, Optix says that it actually came as a relief. Describing Newsoo as an addictive project in which he was responsible for everything, the combination of little time with his family and no financial incentive eventually became too much.


    “Revenues were automatically fed back into the activity itself, I took no salary, no dividends, nada, niet, zilch – zero personal enrichment. In other words, everything earned [was always spent on] new machines, new fibers, and the network,” he says.


    While the raid effectively closed down Newsoo, Optix says the final decision lay with him. He will now place his company into liquidation, cooperate with the inquiry, and try to remember the good times.


    “When I began two years ago, I started with barely two poor machines. I gained a lot of knowledge and I enjoyed sharing with you my successes, my problems and now my fall (well that is not really a pleasure),” he told supporters on the Warizens forum.


    “It was really great to see that even if people were not fully in the project, most have made the effort to read all of my writings, because there is so much to say on a subject as exciting as this. In short, it is time to say goodbye.”


    According to a Zataz report, the raid targeted 650TB of data and resulted in the seizure of 130 hard disks. One newsgroup connected to the service is said to have held 26 million MP3 files.


    Optix has been told he will appear in court June 21, 2016.

  • Uk police arrest pirate box seller, threaten to suspend domain

    The UK's Police Intellectual Property Crime Unit is continuing its crackdown against sellers of piracy-enabled TV devices. Their latest target is a 38-year-old man who was arrested in London on suspicion of fraud and copyright related offenses. Police seized more than 500 alleged 'pirate' devices and are now threatening a domain suspension.


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    Last week officers from the UK’s Police Intellectual Property Crime Unit (PIPCU) arrested six individuals suspected of being involved in the supply of ‘pirate’ Internet-enabled set-top boxes.


    Aimed at hampering the popularity of Android and similar devices used to access free movies, TV shows and live sports, the multi-location raids netted just 42 devices. Now it appears that the police have hit a relative jackpot.


    PIPCU say that after executing two search warrants at a business premises and home address in East London, more than 500 Internet-enabled ‘pirate’ boxes have been seized. Police say they had been configured to illegally access subscription-only services.


    Police have also confirmed the arrest of a 38-year-old man who was detained on suspicion of making and/or supplying articles for use in fraud, conspiracy to defraud, and two further offenses under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act and Proceeds of Crime Act.


    PIPCU say that its investigation began in February 2016 after a broadcaster complained that modified devices were being sold both on the Internet and from a shop in Walthamstow. Details coming out of PIPCU are scarce but it’s possible that the broadcaster in question was either Sky TV and/or the Premier League, whose content is widely offered for streaming via these kinds of units.


    Police have not yet made public the name of the business that was raided in Walthamstow but TorrentFreak is aware that one of the most popular sellers of Kodi-enabled Android devices operates from a shop in that same area. That could be a coincidence of course but TF’s request for comment sent to that shop’s website remains unanswered.


    While we wait for more information, PIPCU says it will be asking the vendor raided yesterday to remove all illegal set top boxes from online sale. Interestingly, however, if that doesn’t happen PIPCU says it will take further action that could have a crippling effect on the business.


    “Officers at PIPCU will be ordering the vendor to take the appropriate action to remove any illegal set top boxes from online sales sites,” PIPCU says.


    “If the items continue to be sold online, then action will be taken to suspend the site by working closely with Nominet, the UK’s central registry for all .uk domains. This remains protocol for any site in breach of the Copyright and Trademark Act.”


    The recent action carried out by PIPCU against sellers of IPTV devices is not unexpected. While modified editions of the legal Kodi software have been used on desktop machines for many years, the advent of cheap Android-based equipment has brought the streaming of movies, TV shows, sports and other content into the living rooms of countless non-tech savvy individuals.


    With software like Popcorn Time and Showbox also gaining in popularity due to their placement on these devices, plug-and-play piracy is now a reality and rightsholders everywhere are more than tired of it.

  • Pirated ‘star wars: The force awakens’ blu-ray leaks online

    You actually make a good point Honcho, these movies are getting pirated regardless, so why not allow those that buy the original to also download a digital copy also ?


    I know some companies already offer this service, should become the norm really, so even if a well looked after blu ray disc does get a scratch which your unable to remove then at least you have a digital copy

  • Pirated ‘star wars: The force awakens’ blu-ray leaks online

    I have friends who will never pay for a movie, no matter what, always get it from online sources


    Quality movies like this one I went to the cinema twice to watch in IMAX, I will also buy it upon official release too as it is a truly awesome movie imho


    Hopefully the many millions of people that will inevitably download this movie will buy it as well

  • Pirated ‘star wars: The force awakens’ blu-ray leaks online

    (FYI I had this yesterday early evening, but will still purchase the original blu ray when released on April 4th)


    The official Blu-Ray release of Star Wars: The Force Awakens is scheduled to be released in two weeks time but an early copy has just leaked on various pirate sites. Considering the hype around the movie in recent months it's no surprise that hundreds of thousands of fans have already downloaded the movie.


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    After becoming one of the top grossing movies of all time in theaters, Star Wars: The Force Awakens is now gearing up for its home entertainment releases.


    Many people are expected to buy the Blu-Ray and DVDs, which are scheduled to come out on April 5th, so they can relive the latest chapter in the convenience of their own home.


    However, it appears that pirates are off to an early start. As is often the case with popular movies, the Blu-Ray versions of Star Wars: The Force Awakens has leaked online in advance of its retail debut.


    There are currently dozens of copies posted on torrent, hosting and streaming sites, including The Pirate Bay and KickassTorrents where it leads the lists of most shared files.


    The first copy appeared online yesterday and within 12 hours an estimated 250,000 people had already grabbed a copy. This number is likely to increase to several millions during the weeks to come.


    The Blu-Ray disc, posted below, originates from the REPLiCA release group and appears to be a regular retail copy.


    Under the most recent rules, Scene release groups are required to supply a photo of the physical disc with their group tag as proof.


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    The leaked Blu-Ray is by no means the first footage that has ended up on pirate sites. Several camcorded copies of the movie have been floating online for three months, but due to their low quality the interest in these releases has been limited.


    Needless to say, this isn’t an issue with the Blu-Ray version.


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    In recent weeks Disney and Lucasfilm have tried to limit the exposure of pirated copies. The companies sent out tens of thousands of takedown requests to Google. However, on most pirate sites the film remains widely available.


    In any case, it’s safe to say that the movie studios will be disappointed with the early pirate release, which is likely to eat away at some of the home entertainment revenues.