Updated 29/06/15
Includes Racing UK
Posts by Prophet
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Eurosport wins Olympic TV rights for Europe
The European television rights for the Olympic Games have been awarded to Eurosport and its parent channel in a 1.3bn euros (£922m) deal.
It means the BBC could lose coverage of the Games in the UK from 2022, although Eurosport's parent company Discovery may lease back some of the rights.The European rights are currently split up, country by country.
The deal will be effective for most of Europe from 2018, and in France and the UK from 2022.
Discovery and Eurosport confirmed they will develop a new Olympic TV Channel across Europe.
Media watchdog Ofcom lists the Olympics as a category A event, which must have live coverage made available to free-to-air channels.
In a statement, Discovery said it was committed to broadcasting a minimum of 200 hours of the Olympic Games and 100 hours of the Olympic Winter Games on free-to-air television, during the games period.
Analysis
By David Sillito, BBC Media correspondent
We cannot at this point say the BBC has lost the Olympics. It may well be given the chance to lease some broadcast rights from Eurosport. The British Government after all demands that 200 hours of Olympic coverage is provided free-to-air. However, 200 hours is not a lot when it comes to the Olympics. The BBC broadcast 2500 hours in 2012 and that's less than half of the 5600 hours that is actually offered by the Olympics. Pay-TV and the rapidly growing mobile market is at the heart of this deal and it's a move that has long been mooted. And for the Olympics? A new Olympics TV channel is one benefit, an attempt to try to extend a little of the excitement and attention to the long period between the Summer Games.
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Thomas Bach, the president of the International Olympic Committee, said: "The revenue generated from this long-term partnership will be redistributed by the IOC across the Olympic Movement to support the development of sport around the world."
The BBC had in previous years been awarded the rights as part of a deal between the IOC and a group of public broadcasters across Europe.
If the BBC wants to broadcast the Olympics in future it will now have to negotiate with a rival broadcaster, Discovery.The BBC said the Olympic Games remain "a priority" and that it has already secured the TV, radio and online rights to the next three Games in 2016, 2018 and 2020.
It will be "seeking further discussions with Discovery about the UK free-to-air rights to the 2022 and 2024 Olympic Games in due course".
"More than 90% of the UK population watched the BBC's coverage of London 2012 and it remains one of the most popular free-to-air, sporting events for UK viewers," the BBC said.
"It is not unprecedented for sports rights to be sold on a pan-territory basis, and the BBC has acquired other sports rights via sub-licensing deals with either agencies or broadcasters," it added.
In a conference call with the BBC, Mr Bach, said: "Public broadcasters have played a significant role in spreading the Games and broadcasting the Games... (but) Eurosport has contributed a lot to this in the past.
"In Great Britain, BBC has the rights to 2020. There is ample time before 2022 and 2024 to have discussions with Discovery about their cooperation. This deal at the moment is not excluding anyone, but it is showing a new broader approach to Olympic broadcasting."
The first Olympics to be broadcast on the BBC came from London in 1948. Since then, it has broadcast the Games continuously since Rome 1960.
The 2016 Olympics will be held in Rio de Janeiro in Brazil and the 2018 Winter Olympics will be Pyeongchang, South Korea, while 2020's event will take place in Tokyo, Japan.
The host city for the 2022 Winter Olympics will be announced at the end of July. -
The widely used anti-malware application Malwarebytes is offering pirates a free 12 month upgrade under the newly launched "amnesty" program. The goal of the free upgrade is to replace the older key generation algorithm which could easily be abused.
Like most other popular software, Malwarebytes has many unauthorized users who use cracks or keygens to unlock the programs paid features.
Traditionally, Malwarebytes has taken a fairly lenient stance towards pirates. Two years ago the company started tracking down this group of users, asking them kindly not to steal the software.
Now, the San Jose company has a new surprise in store. A few days ago Malwarebytes began scanning for pirate and counterfeit keys, as part as an upgrade of its licensing system.
Those found to have used an “abused” key then get the “amnesty” option to upgrade their software for a year without any cost, replacing the pirate key with a legitimate one.
“Malwarebytes is offering a free replacement key for Malwarebytes Anti-Malware Premium customers who have been inconvenienced by piracy or abuse. This new key will be exclusive to you going forward,” the company explains on its website.
While the offer is certainly generous, it’s also a necessity because legitimate and pirate keys are often duplicates. This means that pirates and paid users have the same keys.
Going forward, Malwarebytes will use a more advanced license key algorithm which prevents this from happening. This means that it will be harder for pirates to get a free copy after their one year subscription expires.
Malwarebytes’ Bruce Harrison previously told TorrentFreak that they don’t plan to crack down too hard on pirates.
“Piracy is not really a huge problem for us in my opinion. There are a lot of people who simply won’t pay for our software and being aggressive against them won’t change that,” Harrison said.
Offering amnesty to pirates is in line with this stance. It certainly isn’t an aggressive move and could even trigger some to pay up when the free offer runs out.
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Last week Pirate Bay founder Gottfrid Svartholm lost his appeal against his hacking conviction in Denmark. With an August release potentially on the horizon but an unexpected situation still to be resolved in Sweden, Gottfrid is longing to get in front of a computer and back into the world of IT. But before then he wants to set the record straight.
Last week and after a technically complex hearing, a jury at the Appeal Court in Denmark again found Gottfrid Svartholm guilty of hacking IT company CSC. The Pirate Bay founder now has no further opportunity to officially protest his innocence.
Nevertheless, if all goes to plan and considering time served and his good behavior, Gottfrid could be up for parole middle to late August. But in cases involving the now-famous Swede, it will come as no surprise that there are complications.
Gottfrid’s mother, Kristina Svartholm, informs TorrentFreak that the Swedish Prison and Probation service has requested a Nordic warrant for her son. The reason for this is that Swedish authorities sent Gottfrid to Denmark a month before his previous sentence was due to expire in 2013. This means that when he is released from Denmark later this year, he could be sent straight back to prison in Sweden to serve a few more weeks.
But despite the setbacks, Gottfrid remains upbeat.
“What Gottfrid wants to do now, more than anything else, is to get back to his developmental work within IT (graphics etc),” Kristina told TF.
“And, of course, first of all: to sit by a keyboard again after nearly three years away from one.”
With those days potentially just a few months away (even when taking the Swedish situation into account) some might sit back and accept their fate. However, Gottfrid is still intent on shining light on what he believes was a sub-standard investigation in Denmark and a poor decision from the court when it denied his appeal.
According to Kristina, Gottfrid seriously questions the reports presented by the Danish police and is disappointed by their content, quality and lack of professionalism. “Clumsy amateurs” according to the Pirate Bay founder.
In respect of the verdict itself, Gottfrid insists that it contains many “errors, mistakes and misunderstandings”. There is even a suspicion that the judges decided on his guilt before the date of the verdict.
“The final speeches from the defense/the prosecutor respectively were made Monday June 15, 2015. The judges and jury met Tuesday for voting. The verdict was presented Wednesday morning. WHEN was this verdict written?” Gottfrid questions.
While the answer to that question may never be forthcoming, Gottfrid and Kristina remain determined to shine a light on the Danish investigation and what they both believe to be an extremely flawed legal process.
To that end and in conjunction with Gottfrid, Kristina has penned a 2200+ word document detailing what they believe to be the key points behind an unfair investigation, criminal trial, and subsequent appeal.
It covers plenty of topics, from the encrypted container found on Gottfrid’s computer to a chat log that became central to linking him to the case, despite it being highly edited by the authorities.
Also of interest are the details of discussions secretly recorded by the police that potentially place Gottfrid in the clear, but were still ignored by the Appeal Court.
The report can be downloaded in attatched file
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BitTorrent has built solid reputation with the masses as being an instrument for 'free' but could it perform better and prove more popular with prices attached to downloads? That question could soon be answered following the debut of a new torrent client that allows leechers to pay seeders using Bitcoin.
To millions of users around the world, BitTorrent is a beautiful thing. Not only does it enable the worldwide sharing of any kind of media, but the manner in which it does so is a stroke of pure genius.
Utilizing the bandwidth of all participants in its ‘swarms’, BitTorrent pools the resources of many to provide a streamlined downloading experience for all. It’s both complex and simplicity itself, a rare quality indeed.
BitTorrent’s success as a protocol is tied to its low barrier to entry, since anyone with a computer and Internet connection can participate. Above and beyond that no actual money is needed to obtain content. However, the nature of the system means that it’s not entirely free, since users ‘donate’ their bandwidth to others in order to keep a swarm going.
Millions of users are extremely happy with this setup but a proposal from developer Bedeho Mender could see money being brought into the equation.
Bedeho is the founder of JoyStream, a forthcoming BitTorrent client that tries to improve BitTorrent by allowing peer-to-peer Bitcoin payments in exchange for bandwidth – or content, whichever way one prefers to look at it.
To the torrenting masses, that probably sounds a bit like a tax on air. BitTorrent’s growth has stemmed from the fact that millions of people are happy to share for free. Is it possible that by introducing money things are going to improve? Bedeho thinks so.
“BitTorrent has many strengths, but I would say people are often not sharing for free, e.g. in private communities which have far higher quality service. In that context one is required to adhere to strict and cumbersome rules about contributing to maintain ratios, and this makes the system work much better,” Bedeho tells TorrentFreak.
“JoyStream is just an open version of that very same insight, except that you now are not forced to seed to maintain your ratio, something which is not practical for everyone. The key is therefore not money, the key is incentives to supply enough bandwidth. Money is just one of many means to try to achieve this, just like we do with other goods.”
The idea behind JoyStream is simple. If you have some spare bandwidth and content that people want, you can sell access to that content through the JoyStream client. The more common that content the less likely it is that you’ll be able to charge a premium price for it. Rare material, on the other hand, might be worth someone blowing a few fractions of a bitcoin on.
In very basic terms, if the user tells it to, JoyStream will wind back its upload speed to zero and only open up it up again when someone pays.
One of the claims Bedeho makes about JoyStream is that higher download speeds will be available in this kind of system. The idea is that if seeds are getting paid, they will stick around longer and offer up more bandwidth, a bit like a user on a private torrent site trying to improve his ratio.
“All paid bandwidth comes from other peers which are paid to supply it. If you do not wish to pay to download, then you would just be using the regular BitTorrent tit-for-tat exchange procedure as is today, and JoyStream also supports that,” Behedo explains.
“With JoyStream it may turn out that people will opt to leave their computer on to earn back whatever they have spent when buying before, so it just becomes a closed loop system. That way you wouldn’t even be spending any Bitcoins in total, over time. In such a scenario, you should still expect the quality of the open BitTorrent system to be as good, if not better, than in private communities.”
While earning money for seeding will be attractive to some, will the idea of being in a pay-to-download-faster swarm be off-putting to others? What if JoyStream took off overnight and became a significant player in most swarms?
“Just like in regular BitTorrent, if no one has a full copy of the file and is willing to seed, then the swarm would get stuck for a while. However, since there is compensation, that is much less likely to happen with JoyStream type peers, precisely because those with a full download will not always leave right away, as is common today,” Behedo adds.
While the overall idea certainly provides food for thought, there will undoubtedly be file-sharing traditionalists shuddering not only at the mere thought of file-selling, but also at the prospect of being denied bandwidth at the hands of someone with more bitcoins to spare.
Finally (and just to throw fuel on the fire) when JoyStream is out of alpha it should work on private trackers too….
“I do not know how the torrent community will react in total, but since it is an open system, you are free to use or not use it, and I do expect there will be private communities which will ban it, and that is totally fine with me. That is what an open system like BitTorrent/Bitcoin is all about,” Behedo concludes.
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Jamesybhoy e1 bouquets
STV Edinburgh
MTV Live
NIcktoons
sky priem
sky prem +1
sky disney
sky family
sky action
sky thriller
sky comedy
sky scifi/horror
sky dramma
sky gt brits
sky select
some adult channels aswell -
Spiderbox HD9900 Fixed Dish satellite Ch list for Astra-2 @ 28.2 east & Astra-1 @ 19.2 east by William-1
This channel list is suitable for these versions of Spiderbox
HD9000,HD9900HD,9000HD Combo & HD7000Astra-2G channels now active @ 28.2 east (New transponders) June 26th 2015
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Al Jazeera’s beIN Sports Spinoff Launches Spanish Channel
Al Jazeera’s beIN Media Group, its low-profile sports spinoff, is quietly establishing footholds all over the globe. In its latest move, Qatari-owned beIN Media Group is teaming with Spanish conglom Mediapro, a long-term partner, to launch pay TV channel beIN Sports in Spain. The 50-50 joint venture will being airing July 1 with rights to the UEFA Champions League, among others.
Those soccer rights can be lucrative — Spanish clubs Barcelona and Real Madrid have walked off with five of the last 10 UEFA Champions League titles — but there’s still the question of whether Al Jazeera and Mediapro will also bid for upcoming rights to Spain’s La Liga, the world’s most star-laden national soccer tourney.
A dedicated international soccer channel, Spain’s beIN Sports will broadcast matches from not only the UEFA Champions League but also the UEFA Europa League, England’s Premier League, top leagues in France and Italy and the FIFA Confederations Cup, among other rights. Mediapro founder Jaume Roures tells Variety that beIN Sports will be offered to all Spanish TV operators, including Telefonica’s IPTV service Movistar TV and satellite operator Canal Plus, cable TV operator ONO, telco Orange and regional pay TV operators.
Bids for Spain’s Liga rights for the 2016-17 and 2018-19 seasons will open in August onward. “It’s not the worst time to enter the Spanish market,” said Francois Godard at Enders Analysis. “The Spanish economy is picking up.”
Offering pay TV and fixed and cell phone telephony and broadband packages, Movistar TV has galvanized Spain’s pay TV market, capturing 1.88 million subscribers by the end of 2014, per IHS Technology figures. Canal Plus, which was bought by Telefonica in 2014, has seen its subs languish at 1.62 million clients; cable operator ONO had 772,000.
Al Jazeera/Mediapro could benefit from pay TV becoming less of a premium service for the cultured and more of a mass commodity.
“What distinguishes Spain is that Telefonica, the largest fixed and mobile telco and the largest ISP, has taken over the biggest pay TV company,” said Tim Westcott at IHS Technology.
As Spain’s very dominant pay TV player, Telefonica may even welcome competition when it bids for La Liga rights.
How much competition Al Jazeera/Mediapro could represent is another matter. Packed with stars — Cristiano Ronaldo, Leo Messi, Neymar — and never bereft of polemics, Spain’s La Liga is arguably the world’s most exciting soccer league. There could be more emotions when new La Liga rights are put up for auction.
BeIN Media Group’s moves vary according to country. In Turkey, it acquired a controlling stake in its leading satellite pay TV operator, Digiturk. In the U.S., where beIN Sports offers international rather than U.S. sports, it remains a rather marginal player.
In France, the only other Western European country where it operates, beIN Sports bought second-choice rights to French Ligue 1 games and co-purchased Champions League matches with Canal Plus in April 2014. Al Jazeera has positively benefited Canal Plus in France, with Qatari interests buying Paris Saint Germain soccer club, investing in Ligue 1 via beIN and striking a deal whereby Canal Plus’ Canal Satellite retails its channels, Godard says.
“Over the years, beIN has evolved from a tool of the political interests of Qatar to build its business for its own sake,” Godard said.
But building a business with soccer can be costly: IHS Technology calculates that beIN Sports generated €144 million ($160.1 million) revenues in France in 2014 and spent $424.6 million on programming, in part due to buying rights to all 64 Brazil World Cup matches.
“There is an outside chance that beIN Sports could bid to buy rights to the whole Liga, though it’s unlikely given its cautious approach in France that it would go up against Telefonica,” Westcott said.
“We will decide when we know what’s on offer,” Roures said.
Source : http://variety.com/2015/tv/glo…_jazeera_bein-1201527414/
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beIN Sports, the Qatar-based broadcaster, is ready to pay $1.5 billion (€1.3bn) for Digiturk and is close to finalising a deal according to Bloomberg.
Previous reports in Turkish media had already suggested that Digiturk had been offloaded to Qatari beIn Media Group, the parent company of beIn Sports.
Digiturk is Turkey’s premier cable provider with 3.3 million customers. The operator holds the lion’s share of the annual profits from Turkey’s satellite platform services and has the rights to broadcast Turkish Football League matches until the 2016-2017 season.
beIN Media Group owns Al Jazeera, and also operates in Europe, Asia and the United States with its beIN Sports channel.
Source : http://advanced-television.com…orts-to-acquire-digiturk/
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Movie studio LionsGate has reached a settlement with the operator of video hosting service Played.to. The operator of the video hosting platform admits that he willfully infringed on the studios rights by allowing users to stream a leaked copy of Expendables 3. The exact details of the settlement remain confidential and for now the site remains operational.
Last summer LionsGate suffered a major setback when a high quality leak of the unreleased Expendables 3 film appeared online.
Fearing a massive loss in revenue, the movie studio sued the operators of several websites that allegedly failed to remove the infringing files.
Over the past several months there has been little progress in the case, but yesterday LionsGate announced that it reached a settlement (pdf) with one of the accused site operators.
In a new filing at the California district court, Jerome Gillan, the operator of video hosting site Played.to, admits to willful copyright infringement for his role in the controversial leak.
While the video hosting service has nothing to do with the original leak, Gillian played a role by hosting copies of the film and allowing users to watch these through embedded streams.
In addition, the Played.to operator admits that he failed to process or respond to takedown notices before the lawsuit was filed. As a result, he is liable for the resulting infringements under the DMCA.
According to the proposed judgment which has been agreed by both parties, Gillan takes full responsibility by admitting to all claims the movie studio brought against him.
“Gillan has willfully infringed Lions Gate’s copyright in the Film directly, contributorily and vicariously and is liable for all of the causes of action that Lions Gate has asserted against him in this action,” the proposed consent judgment reads.
Together both parties inform the court that they’ve reached a confidential settlement. According to the agreement Gillan has accepted financial and other obligations to resolve Lions Gate’s claims, but how much he has to pay is not disclosed.
In addition, Played.to and its operator are prohibited from “hosting, linking to, distributing, reproducing, performing, selling, offering for sale, making available for download, streaming or making any other use of any copy or copies of the Film.”
The proposed judgment only applies to Played.to, the claims against other websites including the torrent search engine Limetorrents.cc remain unsettled.
At the time of writing the Played.to website is still online. The site has lost a lot of traffic in recent months but is still widely used to host videos.
Previously the UK police also arrested several people who allegedly leaked the Expendables 3 movie online, but thus far the true source of the leak remains unknown.
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Europe’s public service broadcasters have called on EU governments to ‘make history’ by setting out the rules for the future of the open internet.
In a declaration issued by the EBU, members said net neutrality rules are necessary to strengthen freedom of expression in the digital age, to foster knowledge for citizens, to leverage incentives for Europe’s creative industries and to boost innovation.
EBU President Jean-Paul Philippot said: “PSM organisations in Europe share the view that strong net neutrality rules need to be one of the foundations of the Internet of tomorrow. Without clear and strong rules, access to online-content risks becoming confined to walled gardens rather than widely available in open spaces.”
He added: “These rules are very important for PSM because we want to give citizens easy access to our online-content without Internet access providers acting as gatekeepers. More broadly, a solid net neutrality framework will provide long-term guarantees for freedom of expression and pluralism, and favour innovation.”
The declaration was adopted during the EBU’s 74th General Assembly with the intention of highlighting the issue to EU Institutions, currently engaged in negotiations on the Single Telecoms Market Regulation.
Broadcasters are often protected by must carry rules, but with internet-delivered broadcasting giving new opportunities, there are dangers from commercial pay-TV providers striking deals with ISPs.
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Higher Dynamic Range (HDR) is key to fully enjoying Ultra HD transmissions. However, few UHD displays can currently manage to resolve HDR with its better picture quality, richer colours, and significantly improved detail in shadows and black and white contrast ratios.
Amazon’s Prime Instant Video service says it will supply HDR-enabled content – initially to US-based subscribers – on content that is shot in HDR.
Currently that means just one ‘Amazon Original’ series, namely Red Oaks. However, it gives Amazon a slight edge over Netflix which is promising HDR programming with its own Marco Polo series now being filmed.
Amazon says that it is working with Hollywood, which is also beginning to trickle out HDR content, and that it sees HDR as being the natural ‘next step’ for UHD-equipped displays. Most manufacturers are now releasing models with either HDR technology on board or are promising software or firmware upgrades later this year. Both Sony and Samsung say that HDR-enabled – and high-end – sets will be in the stores this year.
Source : http://advanced-television.com…es-hdr-for-uhd-offerings/
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The finale of Season 5 of Sky Atlantic’s Game of Thrones delivered a record audience of 3.1 million in the UK, making it the most-watched Sky entertainment programme ever in Sky homes.
The record-breaking audience figure includes live audiences for the 2am simulcast and 9pm broadcast on June 15th, as well as customers watching their Sky+ recordings and catching up on demand over the next seven days. Sky notes that more fans than ever before enjoyed the flexibility of watching the world’s most talked-about TV show when and where they wanted. When figures for the streaming services Sky Go and NOW TV are taken into account, the total audience will be even higher, it says.
The dramatic finale was exclusive to Sky and online streaming service NOW TV customers and surpassed the series’ opening episode, which averaged 2.7 million viewers for the 9pm broadcast.
Overall, audiences for the latest series of Game of Thrones were up 42 per cent on the prior series. Together with continued success of Sky original drama including Fortitude and Penny Dreadful, the success of the epic fantasy has helped Sky Atlantic increase its share of viewing in Sky homes by 20 per cent year on year.
Anticipation ahead of the premiere of Game of Thrones S5 also contributed to a record-breaking 23 million Sky Box Sets downloads across the 40 episodes of seasons 1-4 from March 1st through May 31st 2015.
Sky’s Managing Director of Content Gary Davey commented: “We know our customers love being able to choose how, where and when they watch their favourite show – whether that’s staying up until 2am for the global simulcast or re-watching every episode from the very beginning – and we’re thrilled to offer them that flexibility. Re-defining the meaning of ‘must-see TV’, we’re proud to be a part of the Game of Thrones phenomenon. In the aftermath of a record-breaking end to the fifth season on Sky, we can’t wait to see what will happen next.”
Source : http://advanced-television.com…-sets-sky-viewing-record/
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Virgin Media has confirmed that BT Sport Europe will join its existing sporting line-up. The new channel will be available to Virgin Media customers from launch on August 1st. Full details of how it will be incorporated into Virgin Media sports packages will be announced soon.
Tom Mockridge, Virgin Media Chief Executive, said: “If the football is on, we’ll be showing it. Virgin Media is still the only provider that offers you front row access to all the live sporting action at home and on the go.”
The new BT Sport Europe channel, which will predominately air football matches from the Champions League and Europa League tournaments, will also be available in HD on Virgin Media.
Source : http://advanced-television.com…t-europe-on-virgin-media/
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Satellite broadcaster SES, in a presentation at its recent Investor Day in London, said the world’s total number of TV channels will grow 47 per cent to about 38,500 channels by 2024.
Using core data from Northern Sky Research, SES says that despite North America having the largest number of channels (including local services) it will only see growth of some 2 per cent taking its 2024 total to around 15,500 DTH channels.
Western Europe will see about 4.5 per cent growth taking its total to about 3650 channels.
Central & Latin America will enjoy a slightly larger growth rate, of some 5.1 per cent to about 3800 channels.
The Asia Pacific region would grow 5.9 per cent to around 7500 channels by 2024.
Central and Eastern Europe would grow by 6 per cent to about 5150 channels.
The largest growth rate – albeit from a lower base – would take place in Africa and the Middle East, where there would be a 6.1 per cent growth taking the wider region’s total to some 2850 channels.
Source : http://advanced-television.com…8500-tv-channels-by-2024/
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It's horrid. The output is only viewable through a web based app that serves up ads (a no-closeable video before viewing and banner ads while viewing). It's not compatible with my Vu+ as you can't edit the remote control files. Can't even use it with my Sky box as the output video quality is poor freezes (on a good network, and everything set up properly). I will go back to my old Slingbox and sell this regrettable purchase.
Thanks for the information and the opinion, seems a real shame because it looked a great product
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PIRACY CONCERNS MAY SOON KILL DOMAIN NAME PRIVACY
Several organizations including domain name registrar Namecheap are asking the public to protest a new ICANN proposal that will ban private domain name registrations. The proposal was heavily lobbied for by various copyright holder groups, who want to make it easier to expose pirate site operators.
In recent months copyright holders have been increasingly pushing for changes in the domain name industry.
Groups such as the MPAA and RIAA, for example, want registrars to suspend domain names of clearly infringing websites.
While this is unlikely to happen on a broad scale in the near future, a new ICANN proposal may put an end to private domain name registrations for some websites.
A new proposal (pdf) will no longer allow ‘commercial’ sites, which could include all domain names that run advertisements, to hide their personal details through so-called WHOIS protections services.
This change is backed by copyright holder groups including the MPAA, who previously argued that it will help them to hold the operators of illegal sites responsible.
“Without accurate WHOIS data, there can be no accountability, and without accountability it can be difficult to investigate and remedy issues when individuals or organizations use the Internet in illegal or inappropriate ways,” MPAA’s Alex Deacon said recently.
“Ensuring this data is accurate is important not only to the MPAA and our members, but also to everyone who uses the Internet every day.”
On the other side of the spectrum, the proposal has ignited protests from privacy advocates and key players in the domain name industry.
Digital rights group EFF points out that copyright holders can already expose the operators of alleged infringers quite easily by obtaining a DMCA subpoena. This is something the RIAA has done already on a few occasions.
EFF further warns that the new rules will expose the personal details of many people who have done nothing wrong, but may have good reasons not to have their address listed publicly.
“The limited value of this change is manifestly outweighed by the risks to website owners who will suffer a higher risk of harassment, intimidation and identity theft,” EFF’s Mitch Stoltz writes.
Namecheap, one of the largest domain registrars, also jumped in and sent a mass-mailing to all their customers urging them to tell ICANN not to adopt the new proposal.
“No WHOIS privacy provider wants their service to be used to conceal illegal activity, and the vast majority of domain owners are not criminals. Using a WHOIS privacy service is no more suspicious than having an unlisted phone number,” Namecheap CEO Richard Kirkendall notes
“These new proposed rules would wreak havoc on our right to privacy online. ICANN is moving quickly, so we should too – contact them today and tell them to respect our privacy,” he adds.
ICANN is currently accepting comments from the public and Namecheap is encouraging its customers to use the Respect Our Privacy campaign site to protest the proposed changes.
Of course, Namecheap has more to worry about than the privacy of its users alone. The company itself operates the Whoisguard service and earns a lot of revenue through these private registrations.
Thus far most of the responses received by ICANN have come in through the special campaign site, arguing against the proposal. The commenting period closes in two weeks followed by an official report. After that, the ICANN board will still have to vote on whether or not the changes will be implemented.
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Trading standards officers and police are carrying out a crackdown across England, Wales and Northern Ireland against those who offer pirate and counterfeit products via Facebook. Interestingly, 'pirate' Android boxes have been targeted again, not only for streaming content illegally, but also for having "dangerous" chargers.
Due to their prevalence among citizens of the UK, Facebook accounts have grown out to become much more than just a place to manage social lives. For some they’re providing a great way to distribute infringing content and this hasn’t gone unnoticed by the authorities.
Over the past several weeks enforcement officers have raided a dozen separate locations and are still involved in 22 investigations as part of a Facebook crackdown across England, Wales and Northern Ireland.
Operated by the National Trading Standards eCrime Team alongside the National Markets Group (with members the BPI, Federation against Copyright Theft and the Alliance for Intellectual Property Theft) Operation Jasper is manned by officers from police and government agencies and is reportedly the largest operation of its type. It is targeted at “criminals” who exploit social media to commit “copyright theft” and sell “dangerous and counterfeit” goods.
In the past several weeks officers say they have raided 12 addresses although at this stage there are no reports of any arrests. Facebook itself has also been hit, with 4,300 listings and 20 profiles removed. Authorities say they have sent more than 200 warning letters and 24 cease and desist letters to those they accuse of infringement offenses carried out on Facebook.
In addition to the usual counterfeit items such as t-shirts, tablets and mobile phones, ‘pirate’ Android ‘streaming’ boxes were targeted yet again. Earlier this month police and trading standards raided addresses in the north of England in search of the movie and TV show streaming devices, making at least one arrest in the process.
This time around, however, officers appear to have another string to their enforcement bow. While noting that the Android boxes in question do indeed allow the illegal streaming of movies and sports channels, authorities say they also being targeted because they are supplied with ‘unsafe’ mains chargers.
Lord Toby Harris, Chair of National Trading Standards, said that his officers have taken important action, especially against those who believe they can operate anonymously online.
“Operation Jasper has struck an important psychological blow against criminals who believe they can operate with impunity on social media platforms without getting caught,” Harris said.
“It shows we can track them down, enter their homes, seize their goods and computers and arrest and prosecute them, even if they are operating anonymously online. I commend the National Trading Standards e-Crime team and all other parties involved in this operation.”
Nick Boles, Minister at the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills said that consumers need to be wary of consuming pirate content.
“Counterfeiting and piracy of trademarked and copyrighted materials harms legitimate businesses, threatens jobs and pose a real danger to consumers. That’s why we are taking strong action to stop these criminals through the Government’s funding of the National Trading Standards E-Crime Team,” Boles said.
According to the government’s latest IP Crime Report, social media has become the “channel of choice” for online ‘pirate’ activity. In the past several months several of the leading torrent sites have had issues with their Facebook accounts. The Pirate Bay’s account was shuttered in December 2014 and in May and June 2015, ExtraTorrent and RARBG had their accounts suspended on copyright infringement grounds.
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