the graphics are simply stunning, nice work :cheers:
Posts by Prophet
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External link to premium file hosting company removed and uploaded to the site
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External link removed and uploaded to the site
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Well done lads, i will move this to closed trading and close it as your both happy
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UK MOVIE PIRATES SENTENCED TO A TOTAL OF 17 YEARS
Five men who released thousands of movies onto the Internet have been handed sentences totaling more than 17 years. The men, all from the UK and members of release groups including 26K, RemixHD, DTRG and RESISTANCE, were accused of "putting at risk" more than £52m in Hollywood revenues.
February 1 2013, was a miserable day for five of the UK’s most prolific online movie pirates.
Following an investigation by the UK’s Federation Against Copyright Theft, police raided Graeme Reid, 40, from Chesterfield, Scott Hemming, 25, and Reece Baker, 22, both from Birmingham, Sahil Rafiq, 24, of Wolverhampton and Ben Cooper, 33, of Willenhall.
The investigation into the activities of these men had been running for three years as FACT attempted to identify and track the individuals behind several interrelated movie release groups including RemixHD, 26K, UNiQUE, DTRG and HOPE/RESISTANCE.
The five men were arrested and by January 2015 all had pleaded guilty to charges of Conspiracy to Defraud.
The extent of the infringement claimed by FACT was huge. The anti-piracy group said that between March 1, 2010 and January 1, 2014, the groups had together released more than 9,000 movies onto the Internet resulting in around five million unauthorized views.
FACT claimed that around £52m of Hollywood revenues had been “put at risk” – an amount that was detailed in our report last weekend.
Following a so-called Newton hearing that began in Wolverhampton Crown Court on Monday, the men finally admitted causing the industry more than £5 million in losses, around £1 million each.
Yesterday afternoon in Wolverhampton Crown Court Judge Nicolas Webb carried out sentencing and it’s a dismal result for the men.
Sahil Rafiq, accused of uploading more than 880 movies and causing 1.5 million illegal downloads as founder of 26K, was jailed for 4 years and 6 months.
Reece Baker, a member of DTRG and the founder of HOPE/RESISTANCE, was jailed for 4 years and 2 months after being accused of causing more than 226,000 illegal downloads. Baker aggravated his circumstances by continuing to release movies online even while he was on bail.
Graeme Reid, the founder of ‘RemixHD’ and with connections to ‘UNiQUE’, was accused of causing 1.1 million illegal downloads and was jailed for 3 years and 6 months.
Ben Cooper, a member of HOPE and the founder of release groups ANALOG and TCM, was jailed for 3 years and 6 months after being blamed for more than 150,000 illegal downloads.
Scott Hemming, who is said to have released around 800 movies online which together were downloaded a minimum of 2.6 million times, received a 2 year suspended sentence.
Following their most aggressive private prosecution to date, the Federation Against Copyright Theft is celebrating success.
“Today’s sentencing is a great success for FACT as it marks the first time a release group has been criminally prosecuted. Rafiq, Baker, Reid, Cooper and Hemming were all aware that they were engaging in criminal activity. Their actions have now cost them their liberty,” says FACT Director General, Kieron Sharp.
“The result of this case sends out a serious message to anyone engaging in online piracy to think twice or face getting caught, prosecuted and sent to prison.
A source very close to the case informs TorrentFreak that the sentences would’ve been greater had the men not pleaded guilty early. However, there was still a penalty for those who did not immediately accept FACT’s version of events in the group’s private prosecution.
Immediately before yesterday’s hearing, TF was informed that those who did not dispute anything would receive a third knocked off their sentence. Those that did dispute FACT’s evidence would receive only a quarter.
However, while the sentences are no doubt extremely aggressive, there could be light at the end of the tunnel. TF is informed that two of the men already had criminal records but the others could eventually, if not quickly, be moved to a low security prison. Yesterday morning, at least one was hoping for decent conditions.
“We will all be in an open prison so will probably only do a few months inside then be allowed home for visits. We will then probably be placed on tag [outside prison but monitored] due to the fact three out of the five had no prior convictions at all,” TF was told.
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KINOX.TO OPERATOR SENTENCED TO 40 MONTHS IN PRISON
A former operator of Kinox.to, Germany's largest pirate streaming site, has been sentenced to three years and four months in prison for his involvement in the site. Despite the conviction the streaming site remains operational, as the two main operators are still on the run.
Last year German police carried out raids looking for the operators of Kinox.to, the country’s most used movie streaming portal.
The police actions were part of a large investigation into the local piracy scene which includes a variety of streaming portals and file-sharing services.
As one of the largest European piracy streaming sites and one of the 50 most visited websites in Germany, Kinox.to was the biggest fish. However, despite the massive police response the two main operators are still on the run today while the site remains online.
The authorities did apprehend a third Kinox.to operator, the now 29-year-old Arvit O (aka “Pedro”) who handled things from the technical side. The Kazakh born admin has been detained since last October and this week he was sentenced to 40 months in prison for his involvement in the site.
The trial against Pedro was originally scheduled to continue until the end of January but the prosecution and defense reached an agreement to end the matter early.
The former operator of kinox.to, who made a partial confession, was found guilty by the District Court of Leipzig for infringing the copyrights of 2,889 works. In addition, the court found that he “hacked” computers of two competitors in order to improve Kinox’s market share.
In addition to the prison sentence Pedro must pay 20,420 euros due to the profits he made. During the hearing the former operator informed the court that he was not interested in Kinox for the money, but for the technical challenge.
The public defenders who represented Pedro were very critical about the involvement of the German Federation Against Copyright Theft (GVU), who assisted the authorities in their investigative work.
The attorney’s described GVU as a “Trojan Horse” in the justice system, claiming that they influenced the prosecution.
The anti-piracy group is not phased by the accusation. GVU chief Matthias Leonardy applauds the authorities for the success and says that his organization is committed to helping with similar efforts in the future.
“The successful completion of this criminal process shows once again that […] sound investigative work against copyright cybercriminals is amply rewarded,” Leonardy says.
“The investigating authorities have once again done excellent work here, and they are supported by the GVU and other rightsholders wherever possible,” he adds.
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KICKASSTORRENTS “DIY” KARAOKE ‘GANG’ BUSTED BY UK POLICE
Three men from the UK have been raided by City of London Police after uploading thousands of karaoke tracks online. Although described by police as a criminal "gang", the men in their 50s and 60s claim they only created their own karaoke tracks when alternatives weren't commercially available.
While karaoke might not be the pinnacle of original musical excellence, yesterday the UK’s leading police anti-piracy unit took action which suggests it takes karaoke every bit as seriously as other intellectual property.
And, somewhat interestingly, there could be more to this sing-a-long case than first meets the eye. First, let’s see what the police had to say.
Acting on a complaint initially filed by members of the BPI, City of London Police’s Intellectual Property Crime Unit (PIPCU) initiated an investigation during the summer against individuals allegedly uploading karaoke tracks to the Internet without permission.
That resulted in raids yesterday on three men aged 60, 53, and 50 at their homes in Devon and Bury in the UK.
“The Police Intellectual Property Crime Unit (PIPCU) has dismantled a gang suspected of uploading and distributing tens of thousands of karaoke tracks online, including artists such as Beyonce, Lady Gaga, Kylie Minogue and Kanye West,” PIPCU said in a statement.
While police use the term ‘gang’ here it’s not one frequently associated with karaoke fans and the further one digs into the activities of the men, the less it seems to fit.
Together the trio formed Karaoke RG (KRG), a release group specializing in karaoke tracks. Police say their activities on KickassTorrents piqued the interest of copyright holders – their still-active account has around 2150 uploads during the past two years.
However, Kickass wasn’t KRG’s home base. In recent times the group has operated from two domains, the first being Karaokerg.info. This Weebly-created site is probably the first indication that KRG aren’t necessarily in the kind of ‘gang’ the police usually have the displeasure of dealing with.
The second and catchily-titled freehomemadekaraoke.wordpress.com probably removes all doubt.
KaraokeRG publishes a master list of the tracks they offer (stored on Dropbox and Box) and there are indeed songs from major artists present. However, their description of what they are offering is certainly food for thought.
“The following is a list of all KaraokeRG homemade CD+G karaoke songs. They were created primarily because they are not available from any professional karaoke manufacturers. However, in some cases, some songs were made available by professional karaoke companies AFTER they were homemade,” KRG write.
That KRG were into the ‘DIY’ side of karaoke is underlined elsewhere too.
“Although our homemade karaoke tracks are free to download, they are time consuming and costly to produce. I.E. Paying for backing tracks (some backing tracks can cost up to £12).”
So, some important points. KRG claim they are servicing a gap in the market by hand-creating their own karaoke titles that aren’t commercially available. In this respect there are parallels with the fan-subbing communities surrounding anime, for example.
However, it’s likely that the backing tracks they’re using are subject to copyright restrictions so even giving those away are likely to cause issues, even with ‘homemade’ subtitling.
The Karaoke Anti-Piracy Agency UK (KAPA UK) which counts the top five karaoke producers in the country among its members (Sunfly, Zoom, Mr Entertainer, SBI, Abraxa), is tasked with cracking down on the unlicensed use of backing tracks in karaoke venues around the country. KAPA UK works closely with the BPI.
Also causing KRG problems is their claim that their activities are protected under copyright law.
“These tracks are NOT FOR SALE. They are provided as a service to singers everywhere under Section 107 of the Copyright Act of 1976 (The ‘Fair Use’ section). The tracks are made available for private use only and not intended for commercial use. There will be no ‘vocal suppression’ tracks ever included in this list,” they write.
Sadly for KRG, the section cited above is a component of United States copyright law and is not available as a defense (even in the unlikely event it could be applied in this instance) for residents of the UK. In fact, in this case the BPI characterizes the infringement as “commercial scale”, despite money not being a key motivator.
“The Release Groups which set themselves up to gain Kudos from the early release of music repertoire need to understand that this behavior is harmful to the industry that they claim to support. Actions like this send a strong message that this should not and will not be tolerated,” says John Hodge, BPI Head of Internet Investigations.
For their part, PIPCU see groups like KaraokeRG as just another part of the piracy machine costing the music industry “millions of pounds” while threatening thousands of jobs.
“PIPCU will continue to target the individuals and the organized crime gangs facilitating these crimes, working with key partners like the BPI to ensure that those most responsible are brought to justice,” says PIPCU’s Detective Constable Ceri Hunt.
This morning PIPCU confirmed that the “karaoke gang” had been released on bail but whether any more will be heard about them will remain to be seen. Although PIPCU have made many file-sharing related arrests over the past couple of years, no cases have yet ended up in court.
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A 21-year-old man from the UK has been arrested in connection with the VTech hack that saw millions of customer details from around the world taken from the toy manufacturer.
Thames Valley Police has said the male from Berkshire, south east England, was arrested this morning as part of its investigation into "computer hacking offences".
Police from the South East Regional Organised Crime Unit took the man into custody and seized "electronic items" that will be looked at by its eForensics unit.
The Hong Kong based toy manufacturer had its servers compromised in mid-November but did not find out until journalists alerted it to the breach.
In the UK more than 727,000 profiles of children were accessed and 560,000 parent profiles were hit by the hack.
Included in the stolen data, the company confirmed, were names, addresses (digital and physical), passwords, secret answers, children's dates of birth and genders. There were also unconfirmed, but likely, reports of selfies and audio of children being taken from the company's servers.
VTech later confirmed that globally 4,854,209 parents' accounts and 6,368,509 children's profiles were compromised.
The arrest is the first in connection with the hack, but several data regulators around the wold, including in the UK, have said they are looking at the incident.
"A 21-year-old man was arrested this morning in Bracknell on suspicion of unauthorised access to computer to facilitate the commission of an offence, contrary to section 2 of the Computer Misuse Act 1990 and suspicion of causing a computer to perform function to secure/enable unauthorised access to a program/data, contrary to section 1 of the Computer Misuse Act 1990," a statement from the police said.
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Five men are facing the prospect of many years behind bars when they stand off against Hollywood in court tomorrow. TorrentFreak has learned that an aggressive private prosecution by the Federation Against Copyright Theft will allege that the men's actions placed more than £52,000,000 in studio revenues "at risk".
On February 1 2013, the UK’s Federation Against Copyright Theft revealed they had joined police officers from the Economic Crime Unit to carry out raids at several addresses in central England.
As Hollywood’s enforcement arm in the UK, FACT were searching for five individuals believed to be behind several prolific and interrelated movie release groups. After a three year investigation, they finally had their men.
Graeme Reid, 40, from Chesterfield, Scott Hemming, 25, and Reece Baker, 22, both from Birmingham, Sahil Rafiq, 24, of Wolverhampton and Ben Cooper, 33, of Willenhall, were all arrested and questioned at length.
By January 2015 all had broadly pleaded guilty to charges of Conspiracy to Defraud. However, the extent of the infringement claimed by FACT in their private criminal prosecution was far in excess of that accepted by the accused.
As a result a so-called ‘Newton hearing’ will take place in a West Midlands court tomorrow, during which both sides will present their evidence to a judge who will try to work out which side is more credible. Information obtained by TorrentFreak reveals that the stakes could hardly be higher.
The numbers behind the prosecution
In order to come to a figure on losses, FACT appear to be relying on data presented publicly by ExtraTorrent, one of the world’s leading torrent sites. According to FACT the defendants were jointly responsible for around 4.2 million illegal downloads on ExtraTorrent alone.
The anti-piracy group will then take the average price of attending a cinema in the UK or buying a DVD or Blu-ray disc. Arriving at a figure convenient for all options, FACT will presume that the defendants’ actions “put at risk” at least £52,000,000 in studio revenues on ExtraTorrent alone.
However, taking into consideration that not every download is a lost sale, FACT is expected to disregard infringement carried out on all other torrent sites and settle on an overall “actual loss” of £4,200,000. Let’s see how this affects each defendant.
Graeme Reid
FACT will allege that Reid was the founder and leader of ‘RemixHD’, a release group that specialized in DVD and Blu-ray rips. The anti-piracy group will also state that Reid had connections with another famous group known as ‘UNiQUE’.
FACT will accuse Reid of causing more than 1.1 million illegal downloads, although the anti-piracy group insists this is just the tip of the iceberg.
Value of property “put at risk” – £11m
Actual loss claimed – £1.1mReece Baker
FACT will allege that Baker used several online identities and was initially a member of a release group known as DTRG. Baker left DTRG to found a new group called HOPE which was later named to RESISTANCE. FACT claim that Baker also operated DEYA and was involved in sourcing, encoding and uploading movies.
It is understood that Baker will be accused of causing more than 226,000 illegal downloads on ExtraTorrent but was also involved in distributing other content alleged to be worth £15m.
Value of property “put at risk” – £17m
Actual loss claimed – £1.7mSahil Rafiq
According to FACT, Rafiq was also a member of DTRG who went on to become the brains behind release group 26K. He stands accused of collaborating with the other defendants in sourcing, encoding and uploading movies to torrent sites.
Our information suggests that Rafiq is being accused of infringement to the tune of 1.5 million illegal downloads.
Value of property “put at risk” – £15m
Actual loss claimed – £1.5mBen Cooper
It is believed that FACT will allege that Cooper founded two release groups known as ANALOG and TCM. It’s also claimed that he participated in HOPE alongside Reece Baker.
FACT will allege that Cooper is to blame for more than 150,500 illegal downloads.
Value of property “put at risk” – £1.5m
Actual loss claimed – £150,000Scott Hemming
TorrentFreak has been unable to ascertain which groups Hemming belonged to. However, he is being accused of torrenting around 800 movies which together were downloaded a minimum of 2.6 million times.
Value of property “put at risk” – £26m
Actual loss claimed – £2.6mThe implications
As the figures above suggest, the stakes are extremely high for these five men. To find out just how high we have to turn to the sentencing guidelines for Conspiracy to Defraud which detail the sentences that can be applied given the amount defrauded.
– Less than £17,500 – up to 21 months imprisonment
– £17,500 to £100,000 – 2-3 years imprisonment
– £100,000 to £250,000 – 3-4 years imprisonment
– £250,000 to £1 million – 5-9 years imprisonment
– £1 million or more – 10 years + imprisonmentIf the court accepts FACT’s version of events, all but one could be looking at a sentence of more than 10 years. To put that into perspective, firearm offenses, poisoning and cruelty to children carry the same maximum punishment.
That being said, the defendants are believed to have entered early guilty pleas which normally have the potential to reduce their sentences. However, TorrentFreak understands that since some defendants have taken their case to the Newton hearing (where evidence is disputed), it may mean that ‘credits’ for an early guilty plea may not be fully applied.
To view the defendants’ predicament from another angle, what they did online could easily be categorized as copyright infringement. However, punishment for online copyright infringement maxes out at just two years in the UK, which is why FACT rejected infringement charges in favor of Conspiracy to Defraud.
Only making matters worse is that FACT is expected to admit that none of the defendants made a penny from their actions.
It is not yet clear when the court will be in a position to carry out sentencing but the early indications suggest that after one of the most aggressive private prosecutions FACT has ever carried out, there’s a real possibility of the toughest punishments Internet pirates have ever seen.
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Anonymous DECLARED WAR ON DONALD TRUMP!! BREAKING NEWS
Anonymous has declared war on Donald Trump over his hugely controversial proposal to ban Muslims from the US.
Supporters of the online group have posted a video online criticising the presidential hopeful’s comments. The group also appear to have briefly breaking the website for one of Mr Trump’s properties, the Trump Tower in New York.
In a video featuring a figure wearing the mask now associated with the group, supporters tell Mr Trump that by threatening to ban Muslims from the US he is playing into the hands of Isis.
Anonymous’s attacks on Mr Trump seems to be related to its “Operation Isis”. That has seen supporters seek out social media accounts and websites run by Isis supporters and attempt to take them down or have them removed.
The group has also been running an “Isis trolling day”, which has seen it flood social media sites with mocking pictures.
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December 8, 2015
In what the UK’s Department of Culture, Media and Sport describes as “an early Christmas present”, homes and businesses in some of the most remote areas of the UK are to be offered a subsidised satellite broadband connection if they are currently unable to obtain an affordable broadband service of at least 2 Mbps.
The scheme being rolled out throughout December 2015 forms part of the Government’s commitment to make sure every home and business in the UK can access speeds of at least 2 Mbps by the end of 2015. An estimated 300,000 properties across the UK will be able to make use of the new offer.
The current rollout of superfast broadband is on track to deliver coverage to 95 per cent of the UK by 2017 but Government was determined to help those with the slowest connections by providing an immediate boost to their available speeds ahead of any future improvements planned.
Digital Economy Minister Ed Vaizey noted that the UK’s roll-out of superfast broadband had already reached an additional 3.5 million homes and businesses who would otherwise have missed out. “We are making tremendous progress, but it’s a massive engineering project and won’t happen overnight. This scheme offers immediate assistance to those homes and businesses in the most remote areas with the slowest speeds and is all part of our transformation of the UK’s digital landscape,” he added.
Users will be responsible for paying any remaining cost of installation and commissioning (if any), choosing the features of the satellite broadband service they require, and for paying the monthly subscription for the service they selected (for a minimum period of 12 months).
The UK Government recently announced plans to introduce a Universal Service Obligation (USO) – thereby giving everyone the legal right to request a connection at a minimum speed, up to a reasonable cost threshold – by 2020. The Government’s ambition is to set this at 10Mbps. The satellite offer is separate from this longer term commitment, and will deliver an immediate and welcome boost to broadband speeds for the hardest to reach places, it suggests.
The scheme to deliver the 2 Mbps Universal Service Commitment (USC) is operated by a partnership between DCMS, local bodies, BT, a number of satellite broadband retail service providers, and a number of satellite broadband platform providers.
Source : http://advanced-television.com…-for-uk-broadband-speeds/
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Dec. 8, 2015
There are some great deals out there — but do you really need one?
High-definition TVs have been around for years now. But this year, holiday shoppers are flocking to stores for the very latest in living room entertainment: Ultra high-def “4K” TVs. And due to big price drops, 4K TVs are flying off the shelves fast. According to analysts with Trendforce, these ultra high-definition televisions will account for 23% of all TVs sold next year.
4K TVs are selling great for a reason — even the cheap ones can look amazing. “It goes beyond just resolution, to providing better color, frame rates, and the specific content that was shot for 4K originally,” says Jeff Park, a senior manager of product marketing and technology evangelism with HDMI Licensing.
But just being able to afford a new 4K isn’t reason enough to buy one. Though more 4K video content is available every day, it still isn’t accessible to everyone, everywhere, and for every viewing need. So, if you’re thinking of buying a 4K television for yourself or a loved one this year, consider these factors first.
Your Television Provider
To watch 4K content on your brand new television — even just the run-of-the-mill local news and network shows — you’ll need to have ultra high-definition service from a television provider. Unfortunately, those don’t actually exist yet.
Comcast, the largest cable provider in the U.S., announced this May that it plans to launch a 4K set-top box by the end of this year. With just weeks remaining on the calendar, that looks unlikely to come to fruition. The company does, however, offer an app for Samsung’s smart 4K televisions that lets those specific TVs access some ultra high-definition content.
Not to be out-boasted, the nation’s number two cable provider, Time Warner Cable, followed Comcast’s 4K announcement with one of its own, saying that 4K would be available…actually, despite a lengthy press release, TWC never actually said when.
Major satellite television services aren’t faring much better. Dish Networks has announced its 4K Joey set-top box, but it currently doesn’t have a release date. Meanwhile, DirecTV offers 4K service, but it requires that subscribers rent the company’s new Genie HD DVR. Right now, its 4K catalog includes — get this — “at least two 4K movies” every week.
While its tempting to ridicule DirecTV for passing this paltry selection off for real 4K service, it’s not exactly the satellite provider’s fault. In order for content to be broadcast in 4K, it had to be filmed at a high enough resolution (or be remastered) to be broadcast in 4K. To date, most television shows and movies have been filmed in high-definition, at best. So really, there’s precious little 4K content to be watched.
Streaming Services (and Streaming Boxes)
One exception to the 4K famine is streaming video services. Produced by deep-pocketed tech companies like Netflix, Amazon, and Google, some new, original streaming video content is produced in 4K. For example, shows like Netflix’s House of Cards and Amazon’s Transparent are 4K ready.
But just because this content is produced and even streamed in ultra high definition doesn’t mean that your 4K television is able to view it in such detail. Not all 4K televisions are “smart TVs” (meaning they have apps and software able to connect to online streaming services), and not all smart TVs can stream a 4K feed (even though they have the technical ability to display a 4K image).
Instead, your best bet to ensuring that you’re watching the ultra high definition content that you’re expecting is to buy a streaming box that has 4K capabilities. The new Roku 4 is capable of relaying a 4K signal, as is the Amazon Fire TV, TiVo BOLT, and Nvidia Shield Android TV set-top box. Curiously, the new Apple TV, which is one of the hottest video gadgets of the year, lacks 4K capabilities.
Internet Connectivity
If you need to stream your 4K video content over the Internet, you’ll need a considerably fast connection. According to Netflix, viewers need “a steady Internet connection speed of 25 megabits per second or higher” to enjoy its 4K content. This is a deliberately worded sentence worth picking apart.
Comcast, the country’s largest broadband provider, currently says 25 megabits per second is “best for 2-3 devices online at the same time” for surfing the web and streaming more than one television show. But if one of those shows is being streamed in 4K, you can forget about doing anything else with that connection. And if you were planning on streaming that 4K show in primetime, when everyone else is streaming television shows, your “steady” 25 megabit Internet service will likely be half that fast.
Realistically, 4K video requires connection speeds of at least 50 megabits per second, if not faster, considering the demands on the overall network once everyone starts streaming video with their ultra high-definition televisions this year. So, if you don’t have a fast Internet connection, a 4K television might be a poor investment for you.
Gaming Consoles and Blu-Rays
So if your cable and Internet can’t get the job done to make a 4K worthwhile, surely gaming consoles and Blu-Ray players can, right? Wrong again.
As powerful as the Xbox One and PS4 gaming consoles are, they are not equipped to run a true 4K signal. Instead, these systems display their games in 1080p, which is one quarter of the resolution of the newer 4K screens. While their games will undoubtedly look great on a 4K television, the hardware is only scratching the surface of what’s possible on the new displays.
Likewise, disc-based content like Blu-Ray movies are typically formatted for high-definition as well — at least, that’s true of the discs that have been stuffed in your closet since you started streaming everything over Netflix. But there is a new standard called UltraHD Blu-Ray or 4K Blu-Ray that does tap into the new televisions’ vast amount of pixels. However, in order to see them in all their eye-popping glory, you’ll have to invest in a new Ultra HD Blu-Ray player.
But this is what progress looks like, says HDMI Licensing’s Park. “Once the content availability expands — and that comes with the release of [Ultra HD] — and there is support of content owners like Hollywood and TV studios, you will see a much quicker adoption of 4K in general,” he says.
Source : http://time.com/4138951/4k-tv-television-buyers-guide/
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New data published by Canadian broadband management company Sandvine reveals that BitTorrent can be credited for a quarter of all upstream Internet traffic in North America, more than any other traffic source. With heavy competition from Netflix and other real-time entertainment, BitTorrent's overall traffic share is falling.
Many Internet traffic reports have been published over the years, documenting how traffic patterns change over time.
A decade ago, long before the BitTorrent boom began, studies indicated that BitTorrent was responsible for an impressive 35% of all Internet traffic.
In the years that followed Internet traffic distribution underwent a metamorphosis, as video streaming took off with the launch of YouTube and later Netflix. As a result BitTorrent lost a significant share of total Internet traffic, in the United States at least.
However, BitTorrent is still here today and arguably more popular than ever before.
A new report published by broadband management company Sandvine reveals that torrent traffic is now responsible for 29% of all U.S. Internet traffic in North America during peak hours, up from 25% last year.
This means that well over a quarter all megabytes uploaded during the busiest time of the day can be traced back to torrents.
The increase is noteworthy as BitTorrent’s traffic share has consistently dropped in recent years, as other data sources grew more quickly. This drop is still visible in the overall peak hour traffic, where BitTorrent went from 5% to 4.4%.
This downward trend doesn’t mean that BitTorrent users share less data, as overall bandwidth usage has increased as well. However, Netflix, YouTube and several other entertainment services have certainly grown stronger.
Looking at the downstream traffic, we see that BitTorrent’s share during peak hours dropped to ‘only’ 2.7%. For the first time, both Amazon and iTunes are now using more data than BitTorrent and Hulu is closing in as well.
While BitTorrent has many legitimate uses most data is transferred by pirated files. This means that Netflix and the others are direct competitors for the popular file-sharing protocol.
Looking at the larger picture it’s clear that BitTorrent remains extremely popular in North America, but competition from legal services is growing.
It will be interesting to see how this trend develops during the years to come. It will certainly take a while before any other data source overtakes BitTorrent in terms of upstream traffic.
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Two Dutch men busted by local anti-piracy group BREIN for uploading to The Pirate Bay and KickassTorrents are asking the public to help cover their 'fines'. BREIN is not happy with the crowdfunding campaigns and suggests that it may take further action in response.
uploadDutch anti-piracy outfit BREIN has been very active recently, targeting several prolific KickassTorrents and Pirate Bay uploaders.
Most recently it tracked down two members of the DMT (Dutch Movie Theater) group, who shared thousands of torrents on these popular torrent sites.
BREIN settled out of court with both men and said it took their personal circumstances into account while calculating the appropriate ‘damages’.
The final amount was not disclosed by the anti-piracy group. However, both users have now started a crowdfunding campaign to cover the costs, revealing how much they owed.
The crowdfunding campaigns were announced by a fellow KAT user, who is encouraging people to chip in. According to the campaign pages the 20-year old DisasterZany has to pay €1,750, while ipod020 owes BREIN €2,000 in total.
“Since €1,750 is an amount that I can’t really miss as a student, I want to ask you for a small contribution. Any amount is welcome and will be very very appreciated,” DisasterZany writes, sharing part of the settlement agreement.
BREIN is not pleased with crowdfunding efforts, Tweakers reports. According to BREIN chief Tim Kuik this changes the personal circumstances on which the settlement amount was based.
Kuik suggests that BREIN may take further action, but according to Dutch ICT lawyer Arnoud Engelfriet it’s unlikely that anything will change unless crowdfunding was specifically prohibited in the settlement agreement.
For BREIN it’s important send a strong message and deter others from sharing copyrighted files online. If both uploaders can easily cover their ‘fines’ through a crowdfunding campaign, this hurts their efforts.
At the time of writing both uploaders still have some ground to cover before their costs are fully paid. DisasterZany has raised €105 thus far, while ipod020’s campaign is at €485.
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