Posts by Prophet

Coppersurfer, one of the largest BitTorrent trackers on the Internet, has been taken offline after it refused to block 'infringing' hashes. Hosting provider LeaseWeb pulled the plug on the site after a tip-off from Dutch anti-piracy group BREIN, who also demanded that the site operator should step out of anonymity.

In recent years Coppersurfer.tk has quickly become one of the most used BitTorrent trackers.

Running on the beerware-licensed Opentracker software, the standalone tracker offers a non-commercial service which doesn’t host or link to torrent files themselves.

The free service coordinates the downloads of 10 million people at any given point in time, processing roughly billions of connections per month.

However, since last weekend Coppersurfer.tk has been offline. Responding to a complaint from Dutch anti-piracy group BREIN, hosting provider LeaseWeb suddenly pulled the plug.

According to a LeaseWeb rep “torrents are illegal” and the company had no other option than to shut down the tracker.

This came as quite a surprise to the operator, since his service doesn’t link to or host torrent files. In fact, Coppersurfer doesn’t know what titles are tracked or where all the corresponding torrents are stored.

02ad1658b2f.png

Hoping to resolve the matter the tracker operator reached out to BREIN, pointing out that he provided a content neutral service. However, the Hollywood-funded anti-piracy group disagreed.

One of the problems for BREIN is that The Pirate Bay uses Coppersurfer as a default tracker. This means that all torrents shared through the site are automatically tracked by the service.

“Your claim that a tracker can be compared to a neutral internet service provider is not correct. The Coppersurfer tracker is far from neutral. You are aware that your tracker is used for torrents of illegal websites like ThePiratebay,” BREIN’s Pieter Haringsma replied.

“There is no question about the fact that ThePirateBay is an illegal website, which is being blocked in numerous countries and, whose founders have been sentenced to jail. You know that your tracker is added automatically to all the torrents that are uploaded to that website,” he added.

Interestingly, BREIN is willing to make a deal with the tracker owner if he agrees to blocklist infringing hashes. In addition, BREIN demands that the owner identifies himself claiming that all commercial services are required to so under the European e-commerce directive.

“That is why you have the obligation to check [The Pirate Bay] and blacklist all illegal titles of that site, because you know that your tracker is added automatically to all the torrents that are uploaded to that website,” Haringsma wrote.

“Once you have stepped out of anonymity and have implemented measures to avoid illegal use of your tracker by blacklisting illegal torrents from ThePiratebay, BREIN is prepared to discuss the terms of a proper [takedown] procedure that Coppersurfer should put in place, including e.g. enforceable penalties,” he added.

The Coppersurfer operator is surprised by the broad demands and has chosen not to comply.

If a standalone tracker should ban hashes, should browsers and torrent clients do the same? He also fails to see how a non-profit service that doesn’t even require a website, can be seen as online commerce.

While LeaseWeb is no longer an option, the tracker operator hopes to put the service back online at another hosting company. Another option would be to donate it to an organization that’s dedicated to protecting free speech digital rights.

“My plans now are to seek a new home. I’m searching for a cheap server with 100Mbps/unmetered connection,” he informs TF.

“I could also give the tracker for free to any organization related to free speech and human progress,” he adds.

TF contacted LeaseWeb for a clarification on the “torrents are illegal” but at the time of publication we hadn’t heard back. The above example suggests, however, that hosting torrent related services in the Netherlands is getting more difficult.

Last month Voltage Pictures, the company behind the movie Hurt Locker, was told to pay Internet provider Teksavvy $21,557 to cover costs in exposing 2,000 alleged pirates. The ruling was a huge blow to Teksavvy which has now appealed, demanding $346,480 in costs. Meanwhile, Voltage is warning that 'pirate fines' could be much higher than some are predicting.

After numerous experiments elsewhere, notably in the US, two years ago Voltage Pictures took its turn piracy-into-profit business model to Canada.

The company’s targets were 2,000 Internet subscribers at local ISP Teksavvy. The early stages of the case saw the ISP dig in its heels while bringing on board the Canadian Internet Policy and Public Interest Clinic (CIPPIC) with the aim of protecting consumers from potentially large fines.

While CIPPIC was allowed to intervene, the subscribers’ identities were ordered to be handed over and with that in hand the arguments turned to who would have to pay for proceedings thus far.

Needless to say, Voltage Pictures’ and Teksavvy’s assessments were at the opposite ends of the spectrum, with the former saying that should it pay around $884.00 and the latter claiming a few hundred thousand dollars, $346,480.68 to be exact.

In the event the court rejected both sides’ claims, but the ruling was far away from Teksavvy’s expectations. The Federal Court told Voltage to pay $21,557 – $17,057 in technical administrative costs plus $4,500 in legal fees – associated with the IP-address lookups.

After being awarded just 6% of its original claim, it comes as little surprise that the ISP has now filed an appeal against the decision.

Teksavvy says that Prothonotary Aronovitch’s decision to disallow the large majority of its claim was flawed in that it was “based upon a wrong principle, an error of law and/or misapprehensions of the fact that cannot reasonably be supported by the evidence.”

Outlining its case, the ISP says that Prothonotary Aronovitch improperly interpreted the scope of an earlier decision by Prothonotary Aalto concerning Norwich order (disclosure order) jurisprudence, including the nature of costs to which an innocent third-party respondent (Teksavvy in this case) is entitled.

The ISP further asserts that Prothonotary Aronovitch relied on “irrelevant jurisprudence” to justify excluding Teksavvy’s costs and disallowing costs on the basis they amounted to the “costs of doing business.”

In support of several other complaints and claims, Teksavvy demands a four-hour hearing to outline why it should achieve the following:

– An order which awards Teksavvy “reasonable legal costs, administrative costs and disbursements” or an amount the Court deems “just and appropriate”

– An order which awards Teksavvy its costs in the previous hearing before Prothonotary Aronovitch

– An award for the costs of this appeal, plus any “further and other relief” the court might deem “just”

Commenting on Teksavvy’s decision to appeal, copyright lawyer Howard Knopf says that the ISP’s earlier decision to “take no position” on the original Voltage disclosure application may have cost the company dearly.

“This appears to have been a key factor in the Federal Court’s refusal to reward TekSavvy and its counsel with almost $180,000 in legal fees,” Knopf writes.

“Ironically, if TekSavvy had actually opposed Voltage’s motion, it may well have been in a much better position to successfully seek costs. Prothonotary Aronovitch cites [a similar case] where two the ISPs actively opposed the disclosure motion. In that case, the Court ultimately denied the motion but awarded the costs of the motion to the third-party ISPs who had opposed it.”

So while the parties battle it out under appeal, there is still the matter of the consumers who are expecting a letter through the post from Voltage Pictures. Those letters still haven’t gone out and before they do so their content much be approved by the court. While that may offer recipients some protection, the end game is almost guaranteed – demands for some kind of cash settlement to avoid supposed legal action.

And according to Voltage counsel James Zibarras, that be could more costly than people might have been led to believe.

Discussions thus far have indicated that statutory damages in such cases sit at $5,000. However, Zibarras says that plaintiffs can also opt for actual damages instead. These take into consideration damages caused by those who distribute content as well as upload, he says.

“And this is the thing, the people that Voltage goes after… technically aren’t downloaders. What Voltage goes after is people that make their product available for upload,” Zibarras says.

“Once you switch to actual [damages], then there’s no cap, it’s whatever we can prove.”

While that assertion is refuted by lawyer Howard Knopf, one thing is for certain. Voltage certainly sees dollar signs in this action and it’s not going to be giving up anytime soon.

GOOGLE ASKED TO WIPE RECORD BREAKING 100 MILLION PIRATE LINKS IN 2015

We're just three months into 2015 but Google has already processed copyright takedown requests for 100 million allegedly infringing links. This is a significant increase compared to last year, and one that hasn't been without controversy.

In recent years copyright holders have overloaded Google with DMCA takedown requests targeted at the company’s search results.

The number of requests issued has increased dramatically. In 2011, the search engine received only a few hundred takedown notices per day, but in the same period it now processes more than a million “pirate” links.

A few days ago Google received its 100 millionth takedown request of 2015. The counter is currently at 103,218,572, which means yet another record. Last year it took a month longer to reach the same milestone.

bc4505fec3a4e639233312b.jpg

If the numbers go up at the same rate throughout the year, Google will process half a billion allegedly infringing links during 2015.

Most of the reported links are legitimate and the associated links are often swiftly removed from Google’s search results. However, with the massive volume of reports coming in, mistakes are also made.

In recent weeks we have received several reports from site owners who have had their homepages removed from Google, even though they don’t link to any infringing material.

File-hosting service Rapidgator.net had its homepage removed for the third time, for example. And the Dutch subtitle site Ondertitel.com suffered the same fate. In neither case a counter-notice proved to be successful. However, the pages were quickly restored after TF asked Google about the errors.

In Google’s defense, the company must be overloaded with DMCA counter notices. But if the numbers increase this type of collateral damage will only get worse, so there has to be a reliable system in place to quickly restore falsely removed content.

9816174f1f335cbd220905e1.png

Another problem for Google are the increased levels of general complaints from copyright holders, who increasingly expect Google to do more to tackle online piracy.

Responding to this commentary Google implemented a significant change to its search algorithm aimed at downranking sites that often link to copyright-infringing material.

At the same time, however, Google also reminded copyright holders that they too can do more to prevent piracy.

“Piracy often arises when consumer demand goes unmet by legitimate supply. As services ranging from Netflix to Spotify to iTunes have demonstrated, the best way to combat piracy is with better and more convenient legitimate services,” the company noted.

“The right combination of price, convenience, and inventory will do far more to reduce piracy than enforcement can.”

Faced with complaints from both rightsholders and site owners, it’s impossible for Google to please both sides. For now, they are stuck in the middle, hoping to keep the boat afloat in a storm of takedown notices, without changing course too drastically.

EZTV IMPOSTORS HOPE TO CASH IN ON EZTV.IT DOMAIN

The popular TV-torrent site EZTV is warning its users not to visit the old EZTV.it domain, which is operated by impostors. The company that grabbed the old domain at an auction offered EZTV a deal. However, the torrent release group refuses to be involved in any profit oriented partnership so has launched a counter-attack.

193b84869adc81cea208.png

Earlier this year EZTV ran into trouble with the Italian domain name registry NIC.it over some paperwork.

Facing a looming confiscation of the EZTV.it domain name, they swiftly moved to a new home using the Swiss based EZTV.ch.

Soon after the EZTV.it domain was suspended, but in a surprise move it became available again after a few weeks. Unfortunately for the EZTV crew it was quickly scooped up by domain squatters.

The domain was allegedly listed for sale at an auction where the company EZCLOUD LIMITED (Ezcloud is the same name the real EZTV used in the Whois previously) bought it for a five digit number. They then relaunched the domain using it as a reverse proxy to serve content from the original domain, with their own ads.

Instead of making clear that the site was a proxy, the owners removed all references to the real EZTV.ch domain, probably in an effort to keep the traffic on board.

TF reached out to EZCLOUD director Hernandez Dominguez Emmanuel, hoping to find out more about their motivation, and we were informed that they initially planned to make a deal with the real EZTV.

Emmanuel sent a business proposal to EZTV offering them a percentage of the profit they made from advertisements. The other option was to buy the domain back for a larger amount, but a partnership was preferred.

“The business proposal to Novaking was straightforward: he pays us a slightly bigger amount than we have paid at the auction or we somehow partnership by uniting both entities: eztv.it and eztv.ch and we will earn in the course of the next months by percentage of the ads revenues,” Emmanuel tells TF.

EZTV’s Novaking was not interested in making a deal and made that very clear in a short reply.

“Have no idea why you are trying to sound like business oriented people. I have no interest in making some crappy deals with you simply being a reverse proxy. Have fun with the domain,” Novaking wrote in a quick response.

In addition, EZTV banned IP-address of the impostor site so it could no longer act as a reverse proxy. However, this ban was circumvented and ETZV.it still displays recent torrents via a workaround.

According to Novaking it’s obvious that the impostors have bad intentions. They want people to believe that they’re the real site so they can make a profit.

“They basically want us to do all the work and they make money from it,” Novaking informs TF.

To warn people he posted a note on the official site urging users to avoid the old domain.

3f2683b11.png

“The scammers who own eztv.it appear to be trying to fool users to think they are the main website,” the warning reads.

“Take caution, and stop using their website, the correct domain is eztv.ch. Please inform your family and friends who may still be using the old domain,” it adds.

In response, EZCLOUD posted a message on the site inaccurately claiming that they are the real deal.

“The correct domain address is eztv.it as always! Please inform your family and friends who may be using other cloned domains.”

b4b8dc917.png

Considering the rift between both sides it seems unlikely that EZTV.it will be returned to its original owner anytime soon. For now it remains in possession of the impostors, something people should bear in mind.

A federal court in Virginia has granted Megaupload's request to place the cases filed by the music and movie companies on hold for another six months. The request was made after the New Zealand extradition hearings of Kim Dotcom and his colleagues were postponed several times.

6eb9766b87687f7b879523.jpg

Well over three years have passed since Megaupload was shutdown, but aside from Andrus Nomm’s plea deal there has been little progress in the criminal proceedings.

Dotcom and his fellow Megaupload defendants are still waiting to hear whether they will be sent to the U.S. to stand trial.

The extradition hearing is currently scheduled to start early June after a request from Dotcom’s lawyers to postpone was turned down last month.

But there’s more legal trouble for the defunct file-hosting service. In addition to the criminal case, Megaupload and Kim Dotcom were sued last year by the major record labels and Hollywood’s top movie studios.

Fearing that they might influence criminal proceedings, Megaupload’s legal team previously managed to put these civil actions on hold.

After being delayed for a year the proceedings were expected to continue this month. However, since the extradition hearing has yet to take place, Megaupload asked the court to freeze the MPAA and RIAA cases until October.

This week District Court Judge Liam O’Grady granted the request under the same conditions as the previous order.

ccedad.jpg

The ruling means that both the MPAA and RIAA cases will now be delayed for another six months. The movie and music studios consented to the freezing request, which made it a relatively straightforward decision.

A stay has not yet been granted in a third civil suit filed by the music group Microhits. In this separate case Megaupload’s legal team was ordered to present an oral argument in support of its motion, which will take place later this month.

Quote from backstorn

Are there any channels showing manchester united game in english on saturday?

You will be very unlikely to watch it in English, unless a feed becomes available at the time or you use a streaming service like Premier League Pass etc...

Plenty of non English channels showing the match tho...

79a552.jpg

Sky+ boxes will save more energy from today, with a new update extending its overnight 'eco-mode'.

Other updates include improvements to the Planner to simplify navigation and make it more intuitive. Upcoming recordings are in a new ‘Scheduled’ page alongside Smart Series Links which not only records the current season, but also remembers to record all episodes of future seasons when they come back on TV.

Customers that love bingeing on Sky Box Sets can now delete whole series from their Planner in one go using the yellow ‘ Delete All’button. That means once you’ve caught up with all the episodes of Game of Thrones, you can delete the entire series ready for the next one.

Re-ordering of the Planner, new ‘Scheduled’ tab and ‘Delete All’ features make it easier, according to Sky, for customers to find and manage their recordings and downloads.

Sky users will receive an update to their Sky planner which aims to make the navigation and organisation of series links easier.

From Wednesday (April 1), the planner has been re-ordered to include a new Scheduled tab, which displays upcoming recordings. Users will also get a Smart Series Link which remembers to record all episodes of future seasons when they come back on TV.

One of the most welcome navigational changes is that a user's most recently recorded shows will now appear at the top of the planner, rather than the bottom - that means no more hours of endless scrolling to select the episode of Homes under the Hammer you'd like to watch.

These updates come with the ability to delete whole series from the Planner with a single press of the yellow Delete All button, and the option to watch full-screen trailers on Sky Movies and Sky Store.

Sky has worked with RNIB to develop new settings for partially sighted customers, with options for increased colour contrast and bold lettering.

It has also developed a new Family setting which will hide all adult channels, and pin protect all pre-watershed on-demand content.

Finally, the Eco mode has been extended by 50%, automatically switching off your SkyHD box from 2.45am to 5.45am in order to save energy.

Sky users can also expect more updates later this year, including the Sky Restart feature, which allows customers to jump back to the beginning of a movie broadcast that has already started.

Breaking Bad is returning to free-to-air television in the UK. Viacom’s soon-to-launch Spike UK has announced that the series will premiere on at Wednesday April 15th at 11pm, and will continue to air on weekdays in the same time-slot.

Created by Vince Gilligan, Breaking Bad follows Walter White (Bryan Cranston) a mild-mannered chemistry teacher who lives in New Mexico with his wife (Anna Gunn) and teenage son (RJ Mitte) who has cerebral palsy. When White is diagnosed with Stage III cancer and given a prognosis of only two years left to live, he becomes filled with a sense of fearlessness and an unrelenting desire to secure his family’s financial future at any cost as he enters the dangerous world of drugs and crime.

As previously reported, Spike UK’s acquisition of Breaking Bad from series producer and international distributor Sony Pictures Television means that this will be the first time that all five season have aired on UK television. The first season original aired on FX UK, the series then moved to Spike’s sister outlet Channel 5 for its second season. However, citing low ratings, C5 opted not to air the remaining seasons. That said, all five seasons, as well as spin-off Better Call Saul, have been made available on Netflix UK.

After a Spanish court ordered local ISPs to implement a nationwide ban against The Pirate Bay last Friday, several local media outlets published articles listing alternatives to the infamous site. As a result they're now under fire from entertainment industry companies including Paramount Pictures, with some even suggesting an advertising boycott.

e2cfefb6c0cbcef.jpg

After being blocked by ISPs in more than a dozen European territories, The Pirate Bay has now been rendered inaccessible in Spain following orders from a local court.

On Friday, Madrid’s Central Administrative Litigation Court No. 5 gave local service providers just 72 hours to stop providing access to the infamous site, with several responding much more quickly.

It soon became evident that the ‘ban’ was easily circumvented by Internet users savvy enough to change their DNS settings, but access to ‘pirate’ content isn’t only available through The Pirate Bay.

As a result ‘Pirate Bay Alternatives’ articles began appearing in local media, much as they have done in other countries subjected to ISP blocks. But while these popular lists are usually met with industry silence, in Spain they appear to have touched a nerve.

Founded in 1903, daily newspaper ABC published an online article titled “Other Options After Closing The Pirate Bay”. It drew an immediate response from Jaume Ripoll Vaquer, co-founder of legal video streaming site Filmin.com

“I see @ abc_es also continues the fashion of publicizing [sites that send traffic] to unauthorized content. Congratulations guys,” he wrote on Twitter.

While that criticism seems to have done the trick (ABC withdrew the article, Google cache here), others weren’t so easily deterred.

Published by El Confidencial, “Alternatives to The Pirate Bay: Where You Can Download Torrents in Spanish” provoked direct criticism from Paramount Pictures.

In comments to ElDiario, Paramount Pictures’ promotions manager Laura Ruiz Andrino said that financially supporting publications that direct their readers to places where illegal content can be obtained is not something that should be entertained.

And in a message to media managers at Universal Pictures and Sony Pictures, Andrino suggested that if sites like El Confidencial and ABC choose to support “illegal downloading”, perhaps companies opposed to that stance should consider an advertising boycott. Another Filmin co-founder agreed.

“When buying advertising one should also look at ethics, not only the audience,” he wrote.

Fighting back, Alfredo Pascual, chief editor of the technology section of El Confidencial told HojaDeRouter that the withdrawal of advertising could be viewed as an attack on the media’s right to inform.

“They end up attacking freedom of expression,” Pascual said. “My intention with this article is simply to show that the closure of sites is not a way to solve the problem. For every website that is closed there will be other ten, and this will be the never ending story until there is [a legal] offer that can meet the demand.”

Noting that threats had been made to withdraw press passes from his publication’s culture section, Pascual remains defiant.

“With each closing [of a website] I intend to publish another list [of alternative sites],” the editor concludes.

While rightsholders are lobbying hard for strict anti-piracy policies for the domain name industry, The Pirate Bay has hit back with an unprecedented move. The notorious torrent site has applied for its own gTLD, so it can start a .PIRATE domain name registry.

The Pirate Bay’s parent company Reservella Ltd. has started the registration process for a new gTLD with a .PIRATE extension.

a0a9cc74.jpg

Responding to increased pressure from the MPAA and RIAA on the domain name industry, the torrent site hopes to break away from the rules and regulations which forced it to move to several new domains in recent years.

“We can no longer trust third party services and registries, who are under immense pressure from the copyright lobby. So we decided to apply for our very own gTLD and be a true Pirate registry,” TPB’s Winston informs TF.

The new registration is currently being processed by the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN), the main oversight body for the Internet’s global domain name system which accepts new gTLD proposals.

2eb4fbe1ea9a0be0.png

If the new TLD is finalized the Pirate Bay team plans to open registrations to the public. While it has to agree to some oversight formalities and ICANN agreements, the .PIRATE domains are expected to be less prone to censorship.

“The ultimate goal is to create a true PIRATE hydra. This means that we will allow other sites to register .PIRATE domain names too. Staying true to our pirate roots the domains can be registered anonymously without charge,” Winston tells us.

The Pirate Bay crew has prepared the application in secret, setting the wheels in motion nearly a year ago. Ideally, the process would have been finished by late January but a police raid and persistent hosting problems caused some delay.

“Things are looking good so far, but we’re not there yet. Fingers crossed. Let’s hope nothing foolish happens,” Winston concludes.

For the time being, however, The Pirate Bay will continue operating from the Swedish based .SE domain name. A transition to the .PIRATE domain is expected to take place this summer, at the earliest.

The MPAA and RIAA couldn’t be reached for a comment on today’s news, but it’s expected that they will do everything within their power to block Pirate Bay’s deviant plans.

69bd3acbe8b7b3ce61b6f801.jpg

Discovery Communications has confirmed the completion of its acquisition of a controlling interest in Eurosport France to consolidate further Europe’s leading sports entertainment group. Discovery increased its interest in Eurosport France to 51 per cent from 20 per cent as part of a larger strategic partnership with TF1 Group that began in December 2012. In 2014, Discovery took a controlling interest in Eurosport International to build scale across Europe and Asia, and add valuable sports content to its global media assets spanning more than 220 countries and territories.

“I am more excited than ever about Eurosport. Bringing the French business and its talented employees back into the larger organisation illustrates Discovery’s commitment to building on the success of this great brand,” said David Zaslav, President and CEO of Discovery Communications. “Since acquiring a controlling interest last May, Discovery has made a series of strategic investments to enhance Eurosport’s offerings with affiliates, advertisers and audiences. We are ambitiously strengthening Eurosport by bringing exciting sporting events to local fans across Europe and Asia. I would like to thank TF1 for its great stewardship and continued partnership.”

c6048d39e975e985de8fc41b.png

“We are pleased with the consolidation of Eurosport France under Discovery Communications’ leadership. Eurosport Group is performing well and will continue to benefit from Discovery’s strategic investments and expertise around the world,” said Nonce Paolini, Chairman and CEO of TF1 Group.

Over the last 10 months, Discovery and Eurosport have signed numerous sports rights deals – from Major League Soccer, Spanish cycling, winter sports and FIFA Women’s World Cup across Europe, to Moto GP in Germany, Belgium and Netherlands – to strengthen the Eurosport channels and bring the most compelling sporting events to local fans everywhere.

“Eurosport France is a cornerstone of the Eurosport Group and will continue to be an important business for us, with dedicated teams and resources in the key French market, where Eurosport is headquartered,” said Peter Hutton, CEO of Eurosport. “Furthermore, Eurosport France and its employees will benefit from rejoining the larger organisation and Discovery’s 30 years as a global media company. We can now truly operate as one team and I am thrilled with the progress we are making. We are really just getting started.”

The closing price in 2104 for Eurosport International was based on an average enterprise valuation for the Eurosport Group of approximately €900 million, partly corresponding to the initial valuation and partly to a higher valuation linked to the control of the company. At that time, the value of Eurosport France (€85 million) was deducted. TF1 retains the ability to exercise a put option over the remaining 49 per cent in the now combined Eurosport Group, which, if exercised, would increase Discovery’s ownership to 100 cent.

California-based Netflix is preparing a bold step by absorbing a former arch rival into its service. In a deal reported to be worth $11.5 million, Netflix and Popcorn Time talent will combine to re-market the latter as a Spotify-like 'free tier' enhancement to the full premium Netflix service.

3bd1a5ce479.png

Over the past year the rise to fame of Popcorn Time has become one of the video entertainment industry’s hottest topics, with various iterations of the project becoming huge successes in their own right.

Of course, this fame has put the Popcorn Time brand on a collision course with content creators and distributors, with numerous threats of legal action regularly making the headlines. However, behind the scenes a different end game has been in the planning for some time.

Popcorn Time has become almost universally known as the ‘Netflix for Pirates’, a moniker that eventually led the California-based streaming service to refer to Popcorn Time as a competitor earlier this year. The admission was the first time that the company had noted synergies with its pirate counterpart and one that signaled the arrival of today’s announcement.

TorrentFreak can now reveal that Netflix has struck a surprise deal with the people behind PopcornTime.io, one of the leading Popcorn Time forks. It marks the end of litigation threats and a move towards cooperative development.

While the price tag is relatively modest at just $11.5m, Netflix has big plans for Popcorn Time that have already been tried and tested in the music industry.

Noting that Spotify now has 60 million users operating on its free tier and more and more choosing to upgrade every month, Netflix intends to leverage the ‘cool’ reputation enjoyed by Popcorn Time to attract paying users to its premium service.

f4aef409fb.png

“Today we’re here to announce that Popcorn Time has been acquired by Netflix for $11.5 million. While to many of you that may come as a surprise, and worry that Popcorn Time will change because of this, you don’t need to worry,” the Popcorn Time team said in a statement.

“Popcorn Time itself won’t change to the users, it will still be the same app you’ve all come to love over the last year. However, working with Netflix means we can develop updates and fixes faster and bring you new features more regularly.”

While its understood that Netflix designers and engineers will have both creative and technical input into the development of Popcorn Time moving forward, the current team will continue to work on the project to ensure users’ needs are met.

“The current team will continue to work on Popcorn Time as always. Our goal has always been about bringing you the latest content at home as quickly as possible with all the great features you’ve come to love,” the team say.

While the deal appears to have been sealed in the past few days, TF sources say that the whole thing was close to collapse only last month.

In an eleventh hour move, Netflix negotiators demanded that the open source PopcornTime.io project become closed source in all future releases. An outraged team reportedly threatened to pull out, rejecting the $50m offer that had originally been on the table.

f73134d3cc.png

Eventually a compromise was reached but it resulted in a near $40m reduction in Netflix’s offer, “a price worth paying” according to the team who insist that open source principles come first. All money received from Netflix will be returned to the project over the next several years.

Various new names have been tabled for the project including current front-runner Popflix, but it’s understood that Popcorn Time will be maintained as a separate brand for the foreseeable future.

The UK's top IP advisor has published recommendations on how Internet service providers should deal with online piracy. Among other things, it's suggested that Internet services should search for and filter infringing content proactively. According to the report ISPs have a moral obligation to do more against online piracy.

Mike Weatherley, a Conservative MP and Intellectual Property Adviser to UK Prime Minister David Cameron, has pushed various copyright related topics onto the political agenda since early last year.

Previously Weatherley suggested that search engines should blacklist pirate sites, kids should be educated on copyright ethics, and that persistent file-sharers should be thrown in jail.

In his latest proposal the UK MP targets information society service providers (ISSPs) including ISPs, who he believes could do more to fight piracy. The just-released 18-page report stresses that these companies have a moral obligation to tackle copyright infringement and can’t stand idly by.

The report (pdf) draws on input from various pro-copyright groups including the MPAA, BPI, and the Music Publishers Association. It offers various recommendations for the UK Government and the EU Commission to strengthen their anti-piracy policies.

One of the key points is to motivate Internet services and providers to filter content proactively. According to the report it’s feasible to “filter out infringing content” and to detect online piracy before it spreads.

The UK Government should review these systems and see what it can do to facilitate cooperation between copyright holders and Internet service providers.

“There should be an urgent review, by the UK Government, of the various applications and processes that could deliver a robust automated checking process regarding illegal activity being transmitted,” Weatherley advises.

In a related effort, Weatherley notes that Internet services should not just remove the content they’re asked to, but also police their systems to ensure that similar files are removed, permanently.

“ISSPs to be more proactive in taking down multiple copies of infringing works, not just the specific case they are notified of,” he recommends.

“This would mean ISSPs actively taking down multiple copies of the same work which are hosted on its services, not just the individual copy which is subject to the complaint. The MPA believe this principle could be extended further still to ensure that all copies of the infringing work are not just taken down…,” Weatherley explains.

This type of filtering is already used by YouTube, which takes down content based on fingerprint matches. However, the report suggests that regular broadband providers could also filter infringing content.

Concluding, Weatherley admits that it’s all too easy to simply demand that ISPs take the role of policemen, but at the same time he stresses that they have a “moral responsibility” to do more.

The UK MP presents an analogy of a landlord whose property is used for illegal activities. The landlord cannot be held liable for these activities, but he may have to take action if a third-party reports it.

“If the landlord is told that the garage is being used for illegal activity, and that this information is from a totally reliable source, then does the landlord have a moral obligation to report it?”

“I would argue that it is the duty of every citizen or company to do what they can to stop illegal activity and therefore the answer is, yes, the landlord should report the activity,” Weatherley notes.

Weatherley also believes that protecting the rights of copyright holders has priority over a “no monitoring” principle that would ensure users’ privacy. That is, if the monitoring is done right.

“There is also the question as to whether society will want to have their private activities monitored (even if automatically and entirely confidentially) and whether the trade off to a safer, fairer internet is a price worth paying to clamp down on internet illegal activity. My ‘vote’ would be “yes” if via an independent body …”

Overall, the recommendations will be welcomed by the industry groups who provided input. The report is not expected to translate directly into legislation, but they will be carefully weighed by the UK Government and the EU Commission when taking future decisions.

This is the 1 million £ question

You will receive many different opinions from many different people

If you want just Satellite, with IPTV and Plex/Kodi then consider one of the VU+ models that are available, i have the solo 2 and i love it, does all the above

Then we now have the WeTek receivers, which are very very adaptable and can do satellite/cable and everything else as well with many many plugin options

Have a read of some of the other similar threads on the forum, see what your budget is and make an educated decision

I wish you well

External file host removed and uploaded to the site

External file host removed and uploaded to the site

External file host removed and uploaded to the site

External file host removed and uploaded to the site

External file host removed and uploaded to the site

External file host removed and uploaded to the site