Posts by Prophet

The MetArt Network, a group of well-known adult websites, is cracking down on pirate tube sites. Through a series of lawsuits filed at a federal court in Seattle, Washington, the group hopes to take out Spankbang.com, Pornvideoxo.com, Pornburst.xxx and various other sites that host their videos without permission.

metartPorn is huge on the Internet, and so is pirated porn.

In common with other entertainment industries adult producers are battling with a constant stream of illegal content. Most of this content is enjoyed via so-called tube sites where videos can be streamed instantly.

In an effort to put a stop to the unauthorized streams MetArt Network has decided to take several pirate tube sites to court.

The group has filed ten lawsuits in Seattle, Washington, targeting the operators of Spankbang.com, Pornvideoxo.com, Pornburst.xxx, Sextvx.com and other streaming sites that offer their content without permission.

The site owners are accused of various copyright and trademark violations, as well as unfair competition. According to MetArt the sites hide behind the DMCA while profiting heavily from the illegal videos they host.

“The DMCA safe harbor provisions have been systematically abused by internet copyright infringers in an attempt to garner protection for pirate websites displaying copyrighted adult entertainment content without license or authority for free viewing to the public,” the complaint (pdf) reads.

“Under a veneer of DMCA compliance, the owners and operators attempt to hide behind the safe harbor provisions while monetizing the website through premium membership programs and substantial advertising contracts.”

MetArt points out that the site’s operators take no measures to ensure that pirated videos stay offline, nor do they enforce a policy to ban repeat copyright infringers among their users.

Instead of taking proactive steps against piracy, the tube sites are “willfully blind” to the infringements while using MetArt’s brand to advertise its services, the adult group claims.

“Defendants’ acts and omissions allow them to profit from their infringement while imposing the burden of monitoring Defendants’ website onto copyright holders, without sufficient means to prevent continued and unabated infringement,” the complaint reads.

One problem MetArt faces is that some site owners hide behind private Whois registrations. The company has therefore asked the court for a subpoena against Whoisguard, Enom, CloudFlare and various other service providers so it can identify those responsible.

Through the lawsuits MetArt eventually hopes to recoup damages which can run into the millions of dollars. In addition, they’re asking the court to transfer the sites’ domain names to stop future infringements.

Whether the adult group’s arguments will hold up in court has yet to be seen but the cases will be watched closely by the adult industry as well as the major Hollywood studios, who face a similar ‘pirate’ steaming problem.

Are you located in China, running a pirate version of Windows 7 or Windows 8 but fancy a shiny new version of Windows 10 instead? Well, your luck is in as Microsoft says it will give even the most piratical of Chinese users an upgrade copy of its next operating system for the bargain price of absolutely free.
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The Chinese are known for duplicating just about anything, from entire Apple stores to some of the world’s most famous cars.

Nevertheless and seemingly against the odds, easily copied items are doing well through official channels. China reportedly fueled record global box-office revenues in 2014 and even has official Hollywood movies available online before they air in the United States, ostensibly to beat piracy.

And today brings yet more good news for Chinese citizens who prefer not to pay for their content. When it arrives later in the year, Microsoft are going to gift free upgrades of Windows 10 not only to those who purchased Windows 7 and Windows 8, but also to those who pirated them.

Speaking from the WinHEC technology conference in Shenzhen, China, Terry Myerson, who runs Microsoft’s operating systems unit, said the plan was aimed at bringing the currently non-paying back on board.

“We are upgrading all qualified PCs, genuine and non-genuine, to Windows 10,” Myerson told Reuters. “The plan is to ‘re-engage’ with the hundreds of millions of users of Windows in China,” he said.

In January this year Microsoft said it would offer free upgrades of Windows 10 to legitimate users of Windows 7 and Windows 8 but this is the first time that pirates will be given an official free pass.

The big question now is how this news will be received in the West. In the United States, for example, pirate users of Windows 7 and 8 will be expected to pay top dollar for Microsoft’s newest OS if they too want to jump aboard the legit train. That may raise hackles.

However, the fact that Chinese pirate users will get a free upgrade of Windows 10 could open up avenues for Western pirates to masquerade as their Eastern counterparts in order to avoid paying. Exactly how that will play out will remain to be seen, but it’s more than likely that a ‘pirate’ solution will be found, one way or another.

In the meantime many pirates will remain with their current operating system until a stable version of Windows 10 becomes available, whether that hails from China or elsewhere.

This is a pointless thread, closing it

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The UK's Police Intellectual Property Crime Unit says it has arrested the world's most prolific uploader of World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) and Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) content. The 55-year-old, who TorrentFreak believes it has identified, was arrested at his home in Leicestershire this morning.

cityoflondonpoliceWorld Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) and Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) events are without doubt the most popular combat-based content available today.

These enterprises are big business. WWE had revenues in excess of half a billion dollars in 2014 and while UFC parent Zuffa is rather more tight-lipped about its financial position, the company is believed to be worth several billion dollars.

Both companies’ revenues rely heavily on TV-focused content. In 2013, UFC-parent company Zuffa’s revenues were split roughly 58% for PPV events and ticket sales with the remaining 42% derived from TV, sponsorships and various distribution agreements.

Predictably the company has a track record of reacting furiously to its content being uploaded to the Internet and has active programs to remove links and prosecute individuals, mainly in the United States. Today police in the UK have been doing the organization’s work for them.

This morning officers from the UK’s Police Intellectual Property Unit arrested an individual said to be one of the world’s most prolific uploaders of both UFC and WWE content.

Traveling hundreds of miles north to the tiny market town of Coalville in Leicestershire, officers descended on the home of the 55-year-old man.

According to police the man is “believed to be one of the internet’s biggest offenders” when it comes to uploading wrestling and mixed martial arts content to both peer-to-peer and user-generated content sites.

The man’s home was searched and several computers were seized. He was then taken to a local police station for questioning.

ufcUpload monitoring by TorrentFreak reveals there are only a limited number of players in the combat sports release game who act alone. There are fewer still who are relatively easy to identify and are located in the UK. We gave PIPCU a name and asked if that person had been arrested this morning.

“We do not release the name or identity of suspects at arrest stage. This information is only released once an individual has been charged,” a PIPCU spokesperson said.

In any event, PIPCU are throwing some big numbers around. The unit claims that the individual is responsible for uploading more than 3.2 terabytes of data, which is the equivalent of more than 3,000 videos.

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Of course, that’s just his uploading. When it comes to total videos distributed things get much, much worse. PIPCU estimates that the files uploaded generated in excess of two million downloads at a cost to the industry of several million pounds.

“Today’s operation serves as a clear warning to anyone thinking of uploading copyrighted material to pirate sites. This is not a victimless crime as copyright infringement is costing our creative industries hundreds of millions of pounds,” said PIPCU chief DCI Danny Medlycott.

“Our team is dedicated to combating criminals ripping off other’s intellectual property and so those who are thinking of taking this path should think twice, as it might result in a knock on the door from our officers.”

Jim Langham, WWE Senior Vice President & Assistant General Counsel expressed thanks for PIPCU’s action this morning.

“WWE provides many options for our fans to watch our content lawfully – on television, pay-per-view, and digitally via YouTube and the WWE Network. We will continue to protect our intellectual property aggressively and combat piracy in any form,” Langham said.

UFC Chief Legal Officer Kirk Hendrick said that he hoped that this morning’s arrest would lead to a “significant decrease” in the unlawful online distribution of UFC events.

“We take online piracy very seriously and will continue to work with law enforcement officials around the world to prevent illegal sharing of UFC content,” Hendrick said.

If the individual does indeed turn out to be the person we believe he is, a significant “brand name” will now disappear from the UFC and WWE uploads scene during the coming week. That will no doubt disorient some downloaders, but plenty more uploaders exist.

At least 10 different groups uploaded last weekend’s UFC 185 PPV event, with the majority capturing the event from non-UK sources. Viewers in the UK are able to view events relatively cheaply via the subscription channel BT Sport, but illegal captures from this source are now likely to disappear, at least in the short term.

5 C line providers are you real ?

This thread is closed - consider yourself lucky not to receive a ban, pay server supporters are not welcome here

Please refer to the rules http://linuxsat-support.com/showthread.php?t=15391&p=57352#post57352

The Copyright Amendment (Online Infringement) Bill was today cleared for introduction into the Australian parliament. In a whirlwind of activity it's expected to be passed this week and will herald the ISP-level blocking of "overseas pirate sites". The body representing the country's ISPs has expressed disappointment at the complete lack of consultation.

ausFor many years Australia has struggled with a reputation for being a country of file-sharing pirates. Following a period of heated debate, during the summer of 2014 two key piracy-tackling strategies boiled to the surface.

First, in some way, shape or form, copyright holders would get access, indirectly if necessary, to communicate with errant Internet users found to be downloading and sharing copyrighted material without permission.

Pressure built, with the government warning ISPs that they must come up with a voluntary solution to the problem or have one forced upon them. Last month in collaboration with rightsholders, proposals were placed on the table. It now seems almost certain that Aussie file-sharers will be subjected to a three-strikes style regime.

The second element involved the ‘pirate’ sites themselves. Australian law allows local authorities to easily close down sites in their own territory should the need arise. While that’s not unheard of – a 400,000 member torrent tracker was shut down in 2008 – Australia isn’t best known for hosting popular torrent sites. The problem, according to the government, comes from overseas.

Early December 2014, Attorney-General George Brandis and Communications Minister Malcolm Turnbull asked the Cabinet to approve the development of a new legal mechanism which would allow rightsholders to obtain site blocking injunctions against ISPs. And now, just three months later, it is all systems go.

This week the government will deliver new legislation to tackle the problem. Led by Brandis, the Copyright Amendment (Online Infringement) Bill was today cleared for introduction into parliament. And things are moving extremely quickly.

According to ITNews, the legislation is planned to be introduced into parliament Wednesday or Thursday with a view to having it passed by the end of the week.

Despite many countries now making extensive use of the process, site blocking itself is highly controversial. In the UK, for example, rightsholders initially have to go court but are then free to add news sites to existing injunctions, even ones that don’t directly infringe any copyrights.

So what mechanism does the Aussie model envision? Somewhat disappointingly those details are being kept a secret. The text of the bill hasn’t yet been made public and even the country’s ISPs are being kept in the dark.

John Stanton, CEO of the Communications Alliance, the body that proposed the recent “three strikes” system on behalf of ISPs, said he is “disappointed” that his group hadn’t been consulted. Some consultation would have of course been preferable, since it is the ISPs who will be expected to put the site blocks into place.

Whether copyright holders have a greater insight isn’t clear, but the head of the Australian Home Entertainment Distributors Association confirmed that he hadn’t seen a copy of the draft legislation either.

In any event, introducing site blocking to Australian Internet users should be an interesting thing to behold, especially when compared to other site-block regions with different consumption pattern backgrounds.

After years of being treated as second-class content consumers who have to wait longer and pay more for their content, Aussies have become extremely adept at using VPN and proxy services to access legal services such as Netflix. Those same tools can be used to easily evade site bans and recent concerns over the introduction of a strikes mechanism has only boosted interest in them.

While Microsoft has dropped hints that the Internet Explorer brand is going away, the software maker has now confirmed that it will use a new name for its upcoming browser successor, codenamed Project Spartan. Speaking at Microsoft Convergence yesterday, Microsoft's marketing chief Chris Capossela revealed that the company is currently working on a new name and brand. "We’re now researching what the new brand, or the new name, for our browser should be in Windows 10," said Capossela. "We’ll continue to have Internet Explorer, but we’ll also have a new browser called Project Spartan, which is codenamed Project Spartan. We have to name the thing."

Internet Explorer will still exist in some versions of Windows 10 mainly for enterprise compatibility, but the new Project Spartan will be named separately and will be the primary way for Windows 10 users to access the web. Microsoft has tried, unsuccessfully, to shake off the negative image of Internet Explorer over the past several years with a series of amusing campaigns mocking Internet Explorer 6. The ads didn't improve the situation, and Microsoft's former Internet Explorer chief left the company in December, signalling a new era for the browser.

Capossela also detailed the power of using the Microsoft brand over just Windows or Internet Explorer, and showed off some research data on a new name for the company’s browser vs. Internet Explorer. Putting Microsoft in front of the new secret name increased the appeal to some Chrome users in the UK. "Just by putting the Microsoft name in front of it, the delta for Chrome users on appeal is incredibly high," says Capossela.

Microsoft is clearly testing names with market research, but it’s unclear when the company plans to unveil the final name for its Internet Explorer successor. Judging by Microsoft’s own research, it’s obvious the company will move as far away from Internet Explorer as possible, and it’s likely Project Spartan will have the Microsoft name attached to it.

Elsewhere in Capossela’s talk, the Microsoft executive also discussed the ways the company will make money in future, and clever ways the company is making use of social media. Microsoft has started to use artists to respond to Twitter users with personalised images, and at least one from the Xbox team was successful at creating attention with an impressive 35,000 retweets. It’s all part of improving Microsoft’s brand perception, and a general admission from the company that it’s ready to be loved again.

Belgian Internet providers have won their court case against music group SABAM, which had demanded a 3.4 percent cut of all subscriber fees to compensate artists. The court ruled that ISPs are a mere conduit and can't be taxed as a public broadcast medium.

cassetteOver the past several years Belgian music rights group SABAM has pressured Internet providers to take responsibility for online piracy.

An effort to force ISPs to monitor and filter copyrighted material found itself stranded in the European Court, but the group didn’t give up.

In one of its latest attempts SABAM sued the Belgian ISPs Belgacom, Telenet and Voo, claiming a 3.4 percent cut of all Internet subscriber fees as compensation for the rampant piracy they enable through their networks.

SABAM argued that authors should be paid for all “public broadcasts” of musical compositions. Pirated downloads and streams on the Internet are such public broadcasts according to the group, and therefore require proper compensation.

This proposed “pirate tax” would not make it legal for consumers to download from unauthorized sources.

In their defense the ISPs countered that they are not liable for pirating consumers, as they are mere conduits. ISPs simply forward information without knowing what travels through their networks.

This week the Brussels Court ruled in favor of the Internet provider. According to the court ISPs should be characterized as mere conduits instead of communication tools for public broadcasts.

As a result, the music right group is not allowed to demand royalties from ISPs, which means that the controversal “pirate tax” is off the table for now.

SABAM is disappointed with the verdict which, according to CEO Christophe Depreter, opposes the general view of the European Court of Justice.

“The European Court of Justice has frequently stressed that the economic benefit that someone has from relaying works, is often crucial for the decision if this is an act of communication to the public that falls within the exclusive right of the author,” Depreter says.

The music rights group is still considering what steps to take in response. Next week SABAM will announce whether or not it will appeal the verdict.

Telenor Satellite Broadcasting’s giant Thor-7 satellite is being shipped from its Space Systems/Loral production facility in the next few days and flown to the European Spaceport in Kourou, French Guiana. There it will go through final testing, and fuelling, ahead of a launch by an Arianespace rocket.

Thor-7 was designed with up to 25 simultaneously active Ka-band spot beams and a steerable beam for flexibility in meeting changing market requirements. Its Ku-band payload includes 11 transponders, which will enable expanded services in the region as well as back-up to ensure uninterrupted service.

“The satellite built by SSL will deliver a very bandwidth efficient and flexible service for major shipping routes and recreational vessels,” said Morten Tengs, VP/CEO of Telenor Satellite Broadcasting. “With the launch of Thor-7, our growth satellite, we look forward to further extending our position in the market and expanding our European coverage.”

Thor-7 is a multi-mission satellite equipped with Telenor’s first high performance Ka-band payload, designed to serve the maritime market. The HTS Ka-band payload on Thor-7, designed specifically for the mobility VSAT market, will provide cost-effective solutions and offer high powered coverage over the North Sea, the Norwegian Sea, the Red Sea, the Baltic Sea and the Mediterranean. The satellite also has a Ku-band payload for broadcast and television services in Central and Eastern Europe.

When launched, Thor-7 will be positioned at 1 degree West longitude and is designed to provide service for 15 years or more.

This may spell trouble for us that enjoy 1w if they decide to narrow that spot beam and move some of the more popular tp's over to this new bird

Two timeshift channels from S.ky are launching on Freesat, giving viewers an extra chance to catch up on shows.

Pick+1 launches on channel 159 while Challenge+1 takes Freesat channel 160.

The move comes two years and three months since S.ky first made its Freeview channels available on Freesat's Electronic Programme Guide. Eager Freesat users have until now had to manually tune in the timeshift channels on their receivers.

BT has renewed its deal to broadcast Aviva Premiership Rugby on BT Sport until the end of the 2020-2021 season.

The four year extension to the current deal is the longest TV rights deal in Premiership Rugby history. As part of the extension, BT Sport will show 80 live matches per season from 2017-18, with extended highlights of all 135 games per season from next season.

Additionally, BT Sport has the live broadcast rights to matches from the entire Singha Premiership Rugby 7s Series until the end of the 2020-21 season.

Mark McCafferty, the chief executive of Premiership Rugby, said:

“BT Sport has been a fantastic partner for English club rugby so we are delighted that we have been able to extend our relationship with them for a further four years. This is the longest TV agreement in the history of Premiership Rugby.

“In the 18 months we have been on-air with them our live TV audiences have grown by 50 per cent so it is clear that the partnership is going from strength to strength. "

John Petter, chief executive, BT Consumer, said:

“We are absolutely delighted to be extending our partnership with Premiership Rugby. 2015 will be an amazing year for rugby in the UK and the popularity of rugby will continue to grow. We’re delighted to be a part of this and that our customers can look forward to another six seasons of the Aviva Premiership on BT Sport.”

S.ky has announced it is 'changing' its satellite TV subscription prices in June, three months earlier than usual.

Messages on the S.ky TV sign-up pages on the S.ky website advise new subscribers that S.ky TV prices are changing on the 1st June. Subscribers are advised that as part of S.ky's terms and conditions, *** may "increase prices by up to 10%" during a minimum contract term.

Further details about the scope of the price change and whether there will be any adjustments or enhancements to the service to coincide with the changes have not been disclosed by S.ky at this stage. S.ky recently paid a record amount to retain Premier League football rights through to 2019, which heightened fears among fans about price changes.

Rival BT has yet to confirm its prices for BT Sport during the 2015/16 football season, when it will start to show live Champions League football.

With price changes often neutralised by introductory discounts and retention deals, as well as adjustments to other elements of a subscription bundle, such as broadband, cost-conscious pay TV subscribers may well decide to wait and see what transpires before making a move.

A leaked build of Windows 10 has revealed that Microsoft may be about to utilize BitTorrent-style tech to deliver updates to its new OS. Deep in the settings is an option to receive updates from multiple sources including Microsoft, local computers and those "on the Internet." Could this be BitTorrent or their own 'Avalanche' system?

microsoftThere once was a time when one could simply throw a disc – floppy or otherwise – into a machine and enjoy software functionality right off the bat. Those days have long gone.

Massive complexity, online connectivity and associated cloud features have given way to a culture of almost continual updates with some component or other requiring a ‘fix’ or performance-based software upgrade on an annoyingly regular basis.

While huge technology companies have plenty of bandwidth at their disposal, shifting data around doesn’t come free. It is relatively cheap, granted, but those bits and bytes soon cause the dollars to mount up. Much ‘better’ then, is to try and offload some of that load onto consumers.

It could be that with its upcoming Windows 10, Microsoft is mulling doing just that. Deep in the settings of a leaked build spotted by Neowin, the company has introduced settings which give users the option of where to obtain updates and apps for their new operating system.

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Of course, this is where distributed BitTorrent-like systems come into their own, with each user helping to share the load of shifting around data and providing excellent speeds, without any single entity (in this case Microsoft) footing the lion’s share of the bills.

If Microsoft did choose BitTorrent, they would be in excellent company. Half a decade ago it was revealed that Twitter had implemented the protocol and in the same year Facebook confirmed deploying its own servers with technology.

“It’s ‘superduper’ fast and it allows us to alleviate a lot of scaling concerns we’ve had in the past, where it took forever to get code to the webservers before you could even boot it up and run it,” the company said at the time.

But even though Facebook is still having fun with torrent technology to this day, it seems likely that Microsoft has its own, more proprietary tricks up its sleeve.

More than a decade ago with BitTorrent in its infancy, Microsoft also began looking at developing P2P distribution. Researcher Christos Gkantsidis published his paper Network Coding for Large Scale Content Distribution which begins with a now very familiar concept.

“We propose a new scheme for content distribution of large files that is based on network coding. With network coding, each node of the distribution network is able to generate and transmit encoded blocks of information. The randomization introduced by the coding process eases the scheduling of block propagation, and, thus, makes the distribution more efficient,” the paper’s abstract reads.

In 2006, Microsoft published Anatomy of a P2P Content Distribution System with Network Coding but by then the existence of a Microsoft equivalent to BitTorrent was public knowledge – Project Avalanche had been born.

Named after traditional avalanches that start small but gain massive momentum as more snow (or peers) get involved, Avalanche claimed it would improve on BitTorrent in a number of ways. At the time, however, BitTorrent’s Bram Cohen criticized the project technically and concluded that it amounted to vaporware.

But today in 2015, almost ten years on, things have definitely changed. Although there is no confirmation that Avalanche (or the Microsoft Secure Content Downloader as it was once described) is behind the Windows 10 update process option, there’s little doubt that Microsoft will have sharpened its tools.

In addition, Microsoft owns patents (1,2) which describe DRM-protected P2P distribution systems which could potentially help to keep any P2P Windows 10 update system secure, a requirement predicted by Avalanche years before.

“The Avalanche model includes strong security to ensure content providers are uniquely identifiable, and to prevent unauthorized parties from offering content for download. The project also ensures content downloaded to each client machine is exactly the same as the content shared by the content provider,” Microsoft said.

Only time will tell if Microsoft takes the distributed update route for its eventual release of Windows 10, and whether avalanches or torrents cascade into (and out of) homes worldwide as a result.

After The Pirate Bay switched to CloudFlare's SSL service it is no longer being blocked by most UK Internet providers. Subscribers of BT, EE, ****** and TalkTalk can reach the site without problems via the default https address. The "bug" also affects secure versions of other blocked sites, but not all.

pirate bayFollowing a series of blocking orders issued by the High Court, several UK ISPs are required to restrict access to many of the world’s largest torrent sites and streaming portals.

The most prominent target of these blocks is without doubt The Pirate Bay. As one of the most visited sites on the Internet it has been a thorn in the side of the entertainment industries for years.

The Pirate Bay was one of the first sites on the UK blocklist and access has been barred since 2012. Or rather should have been barred.

For a few weeks most UK Internet subscribers have been able to access TPB just fine. Ever since the site switched to CloudFlare and made the secure https://thepiratebay.se version default, it has become widely accessible again.

TorrentFreak did a quick round among subscribers of various ISPs and found that The Pirate Bay is no longer blocked by ****** Media, TalkTalk, BT and EE. At the time of writing only *** appears to block the site consistently.

As a result, The Pirate Bay’s direct UK traffic is steadily increasing.

The Pirate Bay is not the only site that’s widely accessible again. The same applies to the https versions of Torrentz.eu, Rarbg.com, Isohunt.to and various other ‘blocked’ sites. For some sites, including Kickass.to and Extratorrent, the results vary per ISP.

The operator of the Pirate Bay proxy ilikerainbows.co, which had its own domain name added to the blocklist last week, believes that the unblocking relates to the use of https strict.

“I believe it’s because of how CloudFlare works, Simply put when you enable HTTPS Strict on CloudFlare they remove the HTTP Header from the request during HTTPS Connections, thus when they try to inspect the header to a list of ‘banned’ websites it won’t register,” Rainbows’ operator tells TF.

“So any site that uses CloudFlare, has a properly configured and signed SSL Certificate and enables HTTPS-Strict under CloudFlare should be able to evade the ban that’s imposed by ****** and perhaps other providers,” he adds.

What further complicates the matter is the fact that it’s harder to block The Pirate Bay by its IP-address, as the true location is hidden by CloudFlare’s network of addresses now.

While it may be harder to block sites, it’s not impossible. *** appears to have no trouble keeping sites blocked, although that probably requires some rather advanced and invasive monitoring tools.

TF asked several ISPs for a comment on the issue and ****** Media informed us that they still comply with the court order.

“****** Media is required to block certain sites by the UK High Court. As a responsible ISP, we comply with court orders addressed to us,” a spokesperson informed TF this morning.

******’s comment suggests that the https version of TPB is not covered by the order at all, and that it was previously blocked by IP-address. However, ****** couldn’t comment on this suggestion.

We’ll update this article as more information comes in.

Great work Sniffer - you are a credit to the site :14_002:

You're never too old to learn something new and that certainly applies to a woman currently in hot water with European authorities. In what could be the arrest of the oldest file-sharer anywhere on the planet, a 63-year-old has just been prosecuted by Romanian police for the crime of making available copyrighted content using BitTorrent.

Even as new services like Spotify and Netflix gain traction, people are still flocking to file-sharing networks in their millions. These days people are increasingly likely to get a warning letter in the post advising them to mend their ways or face bigger trouble, but tougher approaches still exist.

While being targeted by a copyright troll must be a pretty miserable experience, being arrested has to be a lot worse. It only happens rarely and when it does it tends to affect the tech savvy 18-to-35s who grew up with the social norm of sharing files online. On occasion, however, it happens to those much older.

In 2011, a 58-year-old grandmother from Scotland was arrested and eventually sentenced to three years probation for sharing files online. However a new case in Europe has cast that earlier one into the shadows.

According to police in Romania, a 63-year-old woman has just been arrested for sharing files using BitTorrent. The raid took place in Cluj-Napoca (commonly known as Cluj), the second most populous city in Romania after the capital Bucharest.

“Following investigations by the economic crime investigation, police in Cluj…prosecuted a 63-year-old woman,” a police statement reads.

“This investigation was about the offense of making content available to the public, including via the Internet or other computer networks so that the public can access it anywhere and at any time individually chosen.”

Local police say their research revealed that the woman had been making available significant quantities of movies, music and other content without the necessary permission from rights holders. While that doesn’t sound out of the ordinary, the country doesn’t have much of a record for this kind of action. In fact, many torrent sites themselves operate out of Romania trouble free.

A source familiar with the copyright and enforcement scene in Romania told TorrentFreak that while it is indeed unusual for someone so old to be prosecuted for file-sharing, in Romania the prosecution of file-sharers of any age is “very very rare.”

“The police are doing this on their own? Never,” he said. “They only follow [pressure from] companies.”

The suggestion that complaints from rightsholders prompted the arrest is not an unusual one and Romanian media notes that entertainment company involvement in the case will continue as potential damages claims are assessed.

The lady at the center of this Romanian case is quite possibly the oldest file-sharer to be prosecuted anywhere in the world. The case that featured the youngest alleged pirate – just 9-years-old – became infamous following the confiscation of a Winnie-the-Pooh laptop.

(This is an opinion piece written by Peter Sunde of TF)

In the beginning of The Pirate Bay's history the site was in Swedish. It was made by Swedes for their community. Other countries had their own file sharing sites but they got shut down.

sharing-caringI remember when one of the biggest Spanish file-sharing sites was shut down. These file sharers had nowhere to go but The Pirate Bay (TPB). All of a sudden the top list of TPB was flooded with Spanish content except for one peculiar audiobook. It was a Swedish language course.

We decided to translate the site. Not just into English but into as many languages as possible. We found people from lots of countries to chime in and help. I remember the Portuguese translation especially interesting as it was carried out by a man from Brazil. We decided that we’d make two different buttons for the translation – one for Portuguese and one for Brazilian-Portuguese. These languages differ a little. The actual gettext translation file was the same though.

There were words that had never been translated to Portuguese before (like “seeder”, “leecher” and “torrent” as technical terms) and for us it was funny to see that Brazil, a former colony of Portugal, had a say in how their former mother state developed their native language.

The Swedish translation gave me a similar experience. A Finnish person did most of the translation. Finland, which was part of, and ruled by, Sweden for a very long time, still has Swedish as an official language. A few words in the Swedish translation of TPB were so new that they had to be invented. Some ended up in dictionaries.

And the same thing happened for the Norwegian translation. There are two of them, since Norway has two main languages. But the main Norwegian translation was done by a person who speaks the minority language (whom just happens to also be really good at the main language). It has an effect on how the language develops.

A few years later another thing made me think quite a lot. During the height of TPB’s struggles I noticed that for the first time ever, more than 50% of the top 100 listing were things from India. Previously when TPB was localized for Sweden it felt natural that it had mostly Scandinavian or English things. But when it had become an international success, and the things being shared were not from where one thought they might be, it said something about the way the world is moving.

I just watched the movie India’s Daughter. The movie is about a gang rape (and murder) in India in 2012. The first thing that struck me was that I wanted to put it up on The Pirate Bay’s frontpage to make sure that people all over the world could see it – especially in India. Why? It’s being censored there. It’s a film that everyone needs to see. But not only is there a copyright issue, but there’s also a country-wide ban on the movie. People have tried putting it up on YouTube multiple times, but YouTube always takes the movie down due to their need to follow court orders in India.

This all puts things into perspective for me. De-centralized file sharing by virtue of peer-to-peer technology is obviously a way to get important information in and out of countries in a time of need. It’s a way to make sure that global data is not being blocked due to local corruption. It transcends the ideas of national borders. And it is highly political.

It has multiple angles. I understand now that one of the key reasons for the US to fight file-sharing might be that they don’t want India to take over their place as the number one culture. If Bollywood passes Hollywood in interest, it will be a huge loss for the US.

I am also upset that no one in TPB is doing their part. No one cares about politics anymore. It’s a technical site that is not helping a movement. I’m not talking about the file-sharing movement. But for me it’s strange that TPB is not promoting India’s Daughter to everyone globally. Especially on the international women’s day.

Sharing is political. Words are political. Communication is political. And if we don’t use the powers and voices we have, we’re on the wrong side of the struggle.

****** Media subscribers in the UK are being shaken down over alleged porn downloads by a Cyprus-based company. Worryingly, letter recipients are invited to ring a premium rate number for advice and the website operated by the company is not only non-functional but also has improper registration information.

******mediaFor the second time in a week UK-based Internet subscribers have found themselves on the wrong end of so-called ‘copyright troll’ threats.

On Tuesday TorrentFreak revealed that *** Broadband were handing over the details of an unknown number of customers to TCYK LLC, a US-based outfit aiming to extract cash payments from alleged pirates of the Robert Redford movie The Company You Keep.

And today we have news of another attempt, this time executed by the masters of copyright trolling – the porn industry.

The case dates back to last year when TF discovered that several porn producers had teamed up in an effort to force ISP ****** Media to hand over the names and addresses of an estimated 1,500 subscribers said to have downloaded and shared adult content without permission.

The companies (Sunlust Pictures, Combat Zone Corporation and Pink Bonnet, Consultores de Imagem LDA), none of which appear to be based in the UK, worked with Wagner & Co, a London lawfirm previously known for working with another troll, GoldenEye International.

Sunlust Pictures, an adult movie company founded in 2009 by former porn actress Sunny Leone, has previously been involved in US-based trolling. Combat Zone Corporation (CZN) is an adult movie company based in California. They’re no strangers to the cash settlement model either.

To keep things centralized these companies hired Mircom International Content Management & Consulting Ltd (MICM), a company already demanding cash payments from Internet users elsewhere in Europe. It is Mircom that are now sending out letters to ****** Media customers.

Copies received by TorrentFreak highlight the company’s case. One reads as follows:

“It is with regret that we are writing this letter to you. However, the Claimants are very concerned at the illicit distribution of films over the internet,” the letters begin.

“CZN is the owner of the copyright in the film sold under the name “SEXY BRAZILIAN LESBIAN WORKOUT (“the WORK”). The Work has been made available for sale in the United Kingdom. MICM has a license to act for CZN in relation to these claims.”

Mircom claims that a “forensic computer analyst” searched for IP addresses making the content available on P2P networks without the necessary license. ****** Media told TF that they previously challenged the reliability of the software used (FileWatchBT).

In the letters Mircom accuses recipients of infringement and invites a “full written response as soon as reasonably possible.”

After stating that “the High Court has not yet considered the merits of our claim against you”, the letter acknowledges that the letter recipient may not be the infringer, but then tries to bully that person into revealing who the infringer might be.

“In the event that you were not responsible for the infringing acts outlined above because, for example, another member of your household was the user of the computer, you should make full disclosure to us of the other parties at your residence using your internet connection to make the Work available for download,” the letter reads.

In common with all similar trolling attempts to these, one might also conclude that if Mircom is so confident of the accuracy and usefulness of its systems and evidence, Mircom itself should be the one naming names, rather entering into a information fishing expedition with account holders who may merely pay the bill.

Nevertheless, Mircom continues with the threat that “failure to make such disclosure may lead to the claim being made against you with the court being asked to conclude, on the balance of probabilities that you were the user of the computer.”

Further threats are leveled at those who might decide to treat Mircom’s threats as spam.

“Should this matter ultimately be heard and determined by a court, adverse costs consequences against you could follow from a failure to constructively respond to this letter,” the letter adds.

However, while all of these attempts at so-called “speculative invoicing” should raise alarm bells with consumers, this current effort by Mircom and its partners adds even more fuel to the fire.

Firstly, while Mircom is taking action in the UK, the initial address provided – Spyrou Kyprianou 32 Nicosia, Cyprus – is the home of dozens of other companies. The UK address provided – Winston House, 2 Dollis Park, Finchley, London, N3 1HF – is also the home of dozens of further companies.

If that isn’t enough to put recipients on alert, the contact number provided by the company should. Instead of providing a local number, Mircom provide a premium rate number (0871 990 3150) which can cost up to 40p per minute. As can be seen from this page there are already reports from letter recipients inquiring about the number.

Also at issue is the email address provided by Mircom. The company lists mircom.co.uk as its web address but the site is non-functional and merely links to a web-hosting company’s landing page. The company’s WHOIS entry raises more eyebrows.

In order to opt out from the requirement that certain co.uk domain holders must publish their personal details, Mircom has wrongly declared itself not as a company, but as a “non-trading individual who has opted to have their address omitted from the WHOIS service.”

For the record, Nominet is clear on the matter.

“Only domain name holders who are ‘non-trading individuals’ can opt out of having their address details published on the WHOIS. In other words, if the registrant is not a business or organization and – in the case of domain names registered to individuals – you do not use or plan to use your domain name for business, trade (such as pay-per-click advertising, etc.) or professional transactions, you may opt out of having your address displayed.”

Those receiving letters are welcome to contact TF in confidence but in the meantime the advice remains the same. Read the Speculative Invoicing Handbook Second Edition cover to cover, contact Citizens Advice, and if a legal opinion is required Michael Coyle from Lawdit Solicitors (who has dealt with these kinds of cases previously) is at hand.

Finally, bear in mind that Mircom’s current solicitors – Wagner & Co – who represented Goldeneye International in an almost identical case to this – also promised to take people to court and sue them for infringement. Not a single case has gone forward despite hundreds of threats.

The popular TV-torrent site EZTV has suffered several days of downtime over the past week, and the trouble doesn't stop there. The site's former .it domain name has been taken over by "scammers," causing all sorts of trouble for unsuspecting users.

eztv-logo-smallEarlier 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 saw no other option than to switch to a new home. Since then the site has been serving its torrents from the EZTV.ch domain.

Perhaps out of habit or because they don’t know any better, many users still visit the EZTV.it domain. For a few weeks the .IT domain was banned by the registry so visitors eventually had to find EZTV’s new home.

This week the position changed. Starting a few days ago the .IT domain became accessible again, showing what appears to be the real EZTV website. However, this surprise comeback is far from official.

TorrentFreak has learned that a domain squatter took over the popular name after the registry surprisingly listed it for sale again. In the domain whois EZTV’s “EZCLOUD LIMITED” is listed as the registrant, but EZTV’s Novaking told TF that they are not in control of the domain.

“Scammers got it a while ago,” Novaking tells TF. “Oddly this happened through a domain snapback company in Italy.”

What makes the situation particularly problematic is that the official ETZV domain has been suffering downtime for more than a week. This means that the .IT domain is being visited even more than before, especially because it even lists recent torrents.

While there are no signs of malicious practices yet, some users noted worrying problems with the “compromised” .IT domain. For example, the login doesn’t work and people are randomly logged into other people’s accounts. As a result, strangers can read people’s private messages and access their personalized show lists.

Many users have spotted the problems and report their experiences in the forums on the compromised site.

“Identity crisis here too. I’m ganen89, pedralbes, KathyCuty and some other random people. When i go to ‘list my shows’ it is a totally different list of series. On the ‘Show watched’ [there’s a] totally different list,” one user reports.

For now it’s unclear how this can occur. It’s unlikely that the database has been hacked as the .IT domain still points to a server owned by the real EZTV. In any case, users are being warned to avoid the compromised domain at all costs.

The official EZTV team is still working on resolving the problems at their end and hope to have the official site running smoothly again in the near future.

The City of London's Police Intellectual Property Crime Unit and copyright and royalty group PRS for Music have teamed up for what appears to be a first-of-its-kind action. Arresting a 46-year-old man, this week police shutdown one of the Internet's few karaoke-focused BitTorrent trackers.

music-featuredWhile at some stages wildly popular in the East, to most in the West a night at a karaoke bar is probably more closely associated with too many beers and individuals belting out classics wearing the aural equivalent of beer goggles.

The pastime is considered by some as a bit of a joke but karaoke is big business. According to the people behind the web-based Playstation software SingOn, the global karaoke market could be worth as much as $10 billion.

Since most karaoke content is now digital, it’s also prime for pirating. Mainstream movies, music, applications and video games are the most pirated media items on the Internet today, no doubt, but the karaoke sub-genre has a niche but somewhat fanatical following.

Today, however, there is one less place online for KJ’s (karaoke jockeys) to get their fix.

On Wednesday the users of Karaoke-World, one of the few dedicated karaoke torrent trackers online, were informed that a disaster had befallen the site after around five years online.

“Just to let you all know the owner of kW was taken to the police station and had to close the site down by the Internet police so sorry we are no longer,” the site announced.

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It now transpires that kW was being monitored not by the BPI or IFPI as is usually the case with music-based sites, but UK-based licensing and royalty group PRS for Music.

PRS make available so-called ‘KAR’ licenses which grants holders permission to manufacture and distribute karaoke on discs and in other formats. The license also covers the reproduction of lyrics for display on screen at the same time as the karaoke music is being played. It seems very unlikely that Karaoke-World possessed such a license.

As a result PRS for Music teamed up with PIPCU, the UK’s Police Intellectual Property Crime Unit, to close down the site.

On Wednesday a 46-year-old man was arrested in Dewsbury in the north of England and taken to a police station in Halifax. Although no names have been released, the kW domain was registered in the name of ‘DJ Mikey L’. Although the name is clearly a pseudonym, there are dozens of karaoke-focused torrents bearing the same name.

“The unlicensed BitTorrent site directed users to a catalogue of tens of thousands of copyrighted music files, in particular the latest chart music and karaoke hits,” PIPCU said in a statement.

“Like most BitTorrent trackers, the site had rules for its members to abide by. One of the rules required users to immediately ‘seed’ files, which means to upload any file they have downloaded so that others can download it too. If a file is not seeded for more than 24 hours, the user was deemed as a ‘Hit and Run’ and their account was disabled.”

PIPCU’s statement also introduces a commercial element to the site, although the site is unlikely to have been a huge money spinner.

“The music service also offered VIP memberships for users of the website, which ranged from £5.00 to £90.00,” police said.

“The public needs to be aware that by accessing sites like this, they are putting money directly in the hands of criminals, which often then funds other serious organized crime, as well as putting their own financial and personal details at risk of being compromised and used for other fraudulent scams,” PIPCU chief Detective Chief Inspector Danny Medlycott said in a statement.

“These websites are stealing from the creative industries that employ thousands of people and PIPCU will continue to work closely with our partners to tackle the criminals behind these sites and bring them to justice.”

Simon Bourn, Head of Litigation, Enforcement and Anti-Piracy for PRS for Music said that songwriters and creators deserve protection from unlicensed operations.

“PRS for Music’s Anti-Piracy Unit is committed to actively pursuing those who use our songwriters’ and composers’ repertoire without permission, particularly the operation of online music services without the necessary licensing. The unit’s dedication in this case, involving careful investigative support which it provided to the police, ensured that an unlicensed UK-based BitTorrent music service for karaoke was located and closed down,” Bourn said.

Karaoke-World sister site TheNutBox.info is also currently offline.

TorrentFreak contacted ‘DJ Mikey L’ for comment and we’ll update as soon as a response is received.