Posts by Prophet

After being offline for more than six weeks the crew of The Pirate Bay has provided a new teaser suggesting the site's return. With just 10 days of a countdown left, ThePirateBay.se now shows the site's familiar and iconic homepage with active links to PirateBrowser and PromoBay.

For friends and foe alike, the past 44 days have resulted in a will it / won’t it return guessing game surrounding The Pirate Bay.

The self-styled “world’s most resilient torrent site” put a dent in its own billing by going down after a December 9 raid and failing to return. But that has done little to stop speculation that something is on the way.

Via a web server in Moldova, those behind the site have been posting various hints and teasers suggesting that the current downtime will come to an end in roughly 10 days time. Whether that will actually be the case remains to be seen, but new changes today have certainly excited observers.

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As can be seen from the image above, ThePirateBay.se has today reverted to a much more familiar look. With the earlier black and waving full-page pirate flag shrunk to fit a box in the center of the screen, its surroundings are now almost identical to the layout in place when the site went down in December.

Returned but currently grayed out are the well-worn torrent browsing features, categories, preferences and languages. PirateBrowser and PromoBay links are active, however. These and the familiar Pirate Bay logo are now bordered by two features that have welcomed visitors for the past several weeks.

At the bottom of the page the notorious Pirate galleon continues to sail towards its island destination (now renamed welcomehome.png) and up top the countdown timer continues inexorably towards its February 1 conclusion.

Other technical changes include the implementation of a Cloudflare protected front end for the site, although TF can confirm that the site is still based at Trabia, the Republic of Moldova’s largest datacenter.

While it seems unlikely that Pirate Bay will stay in that location should it return next week, the company behind the site’s hosting has already laid down some pointers.

“We do support freedom of speech and barrier-free Internet usage. In the same time we operate a strict zero-tolerance abuse policy which is part of our terms of service on which all services we provide to our clients are based,” the company said in a statement.

“This means that our clients have to obey national and international laws. In case our clients violate this by abusing our services they are suspended and/or terminated if necessary.”

Given the site’s current status (no sharing features whatsoever) Trabia says that no action against the site is needed. The company does note, however, that Moldova’s copyright law of 2010 can require a host to take action against sites that violate the rights of third parties. Nevertheless, the issue may not be straightforward in the case of The Pirate Bay.

“The problem here is that the technology used, so called ‘magnet links’, is not violating the right of 3rd parties directly,” the company says.

“[There] is actually no copyright infringement originating from websites such as ‘thepiratebay.se’ which makes it a very complex case which is open for a lot of interpretation and discussions. We stand behind all our clients as long as they use our services for a legal purpose,” Trabia concludes.

In the meantime the Swedish investigation into the site continues and is likely to take months to complete. Millions hope the site’s return will precede the investigation’s conclusion.

A Greek anti-piracy group has lost its bid to have various torrent sites blocked by local Internet providers. The Athens Court ruled that barring access to torrent sites such as KickassTorrents and The Pirate Bay is disproportionate and unconstitutional, while hindering the ISPs' entrepreneurial freedoms.

censorshipSite blocking actions have become relatively common throughout Europe over the past several years. Copyright groups have won court cases in various countries including the UK, Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Italy and France.

The rightsholders typically argue that ‘pirate’ sites infringe their rights and demand that ISPs stop forwarding traffic to them. This was also the plan in Greece, where the Greek Society for the Protection of Intellectual Property (AEPI) sued local ISPs two years ago.

AEPI wanted the Internet providers to block access to The Pirate Bay, KickassTorrents, isoHunt, 1337x and H33T, plus several local sites. The group argued that the sites damage their members’ businesses, but the ISPs countered this request by pointing out that censorship is not the answer.

A few days ago the Athens Court reached its conclusion which largely sides with the ISPs. The ruling states that blockades are disproportional and in violation of various constitutional rights.

Among other things, such measures would breach people’s right to freedom of information, confidential communications and protections against the collection, processing and use of personal data.

One of the problems the Court signaled is that the torrent sites also contain links to files that are distributed legally. These would be needlessly censored by the blockades.

In addition the verdict doubts that the blockades will be effective to begin with, as there are various circumvention options for site owners and users.

The Court further referenced the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union, noting that ISPs’ “freedom to conduct a business” is at stake, as well as net neutrality principles.

“…the requested injunction goes contrary to Article 16 of the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights, violating the rights of defendants providers in entrepreneurship, and the basic principle of Internet neutrality, which provides that all information must be handled without discrimination,” it notes.

TF spoke with Dr. Konstantinos Komaitis, an expert in Internet governance and intellectual property, who argues that in such cases proportionality is key in determining the appropriate balance.

“The decision by the Greek Court is very well thought and reasoned both from a legal and technology perspectives,” Komaitis says.

Komaitis explains that other, more appropriate and technology neutral measures should be considered, because blocking torrent sites would interfere with the right to freely share and receive information. In addition the measures are unnecessary and ineffective, since users would be able to find ways to get past the blockades.

“On the technology side, the Court correctly understood that torrent technology can — and has been – used for legal purposes, so blocking would not only be ineffective but also jeopardize its legal use,” Komaitis adds.

“All in all, the Court’s decision demonstrates two things: first, proportionality is an unwavering principle in the Greek legal system that is able to strike a very important balance between various rights; and, second, the ability of courts to understand and protect technologies that are part of an innovative Internet environment.”

The Greek verdict is similar to that of a Dutch Appeals court in The Hague last year, which ruled that the local blockade of The Pirate Bay had to be lifted.

In Greece AEPI still has the option to appeal the verdict, but whether they plan to do so is unknown at the moment. For the time being, however, the targeted torrent sites remain accessible.

American Sniper grossed record numbers at the U.S. box office this weekend. A surprising result, not least because a high quality leak was widely available prior to the premiere, resulting in millions of pirate downloads and streams. How can this be?

When a high quality screener of American Sniper leaked online days before the theatrical release the filmmakers probably feared the worst.

After all, recent history has ‘shown’ that early leaks can have a devastating impact on box office revenues. The Expendables 3, for example, grossed a disappointing $16 million during the opening weekend.

At the time many insiders and experts blamed the pre-release leak for the disappointing numbers. Millions of people had downloaded pirated copies and skipped the box office, they argued.

“This is really a clear situation where this had an impact. It’s hard to measure, but the ripple effect, not only of the downloads, but of the word-of-mouth that spread as a result, can be seen in the soft opening,” BoxOffice.com vice president Phil Contrino said at the time.

With American Sniper things turned out quite differently though. Sure, the film was downloaded millions of times before its premiere, perhaps even more than The Expendables 3. However, all these unauthorized downloads couldn’t prevent the film from grossing record numbers.

From Friday to Sunday, American Sniper grossed $90.2 million, making it the largest opening weekend in history for the December through February winter period. This means that it beats Avatar, The Hobbit trilogy and all other previous winter blockbusters.

For some reason these record numbers were possible despite rampant piracy. How can that be?

First of all, the impressive opening doesn’t necessarily mean that the pre-release piracy had no impact at all. Perhaps the film would have raked in an additional $5 million without piracy.

On the other hand, some may argue that piracy may even have helped to promote the film through word-of-mouth advertising. In the end we simply don’t know what effect piracy had on the opening weekend.

It’s telling though, that every time a film flops piracy is brought into the discussion as one of the main reasons for the disappointing results. But if records are broken, piracy isn’t mentioned at all.

In other words, piracy is often a convenient scapegoat used selectively to cover up failures that probably have very little to do with illegal streams or downloads. But there’s nothing new there.

Hey buddy, i am sure someone will be along and able to answer your question

In the mean time, how about creating an intro thread here mate http://linuxsat-support.com/forumdisplay.php?f=2

Two former admins of a private torrent site have been found guilty of copyright infringement offenses. The case, which involved more than 1,000 movies, concluded with probation and community service for the 24 and 25-year-olds. But the movie industry isn't done - they'll now pursue millions in damages.

Five years ago, pressure was building against Swedish private torrent tracker ‘eXcelleNT’. The site, known to its users as XNT, had been on the radar of local anti-piracy outfits for some time, but had chosen not to shut down.

Behind the scenes, Swedish anti-piracy group Rights Alliance (then Antipiratbyrån) was closing in and early 2011 the group filed an official police complaint.

In May that year authorities pounced, arresting a man in Borlänge, Sweden, and another in the Stockholm area a day later. The site’s server was seized in Germany.

What followed was a wait of more than three years as the authorities prepared their case and in December the men went on trial. The pair were accused of making available more than 1,000 different movies and TV shows without permission from rightsholders including Warner Bros. and Disney.

Yesterday the verdict was handed down by the Falu District Court and it’s mixed news for the pair.

Although 1,050 titles were referenced in the case (an unusually large amount), the court only found the men guilty of copyright infringement in 28 cases. In the remaining 1,022 cases there was no proof that infringement had been committed.

This meant that rather than the hefty jail sentences demanded by the prosecutor, the 24 and 25-year-olds received probation and were ordered to complete 120 hours of community service instead.

Speaking with DN.se, prosecutor Frederick Ingblad, the man also running the case against The Pirate Bay, says he has not decided if he will appeal the decison.

“I think the sentence was low, but it’s good that they still got community service and not just probation,” Ingblad said.

But while probation is probably a relief to the men, another significant challenge lies ahead.

The judgment reveals that film company Nordisk Film has also filed a claim for damages amounting to some 18 million kronor ($2.2 million). This will be dealt with through a separate legal process handled by Rights Alliance.

The Coach n Horses it is then :bravo:

Paul Bennett, 45, approached the box with his trousers down before rubbing himself against it and shouting "wow" at Scholes Precinct in Wigan

739480596.jpgA drunk man was caught trying to have sex with a postbox in the middle of a shopping arcade.

Paul Bennett, 45, was spotted walking towards the postbox with his trousers down and making ‘sexual advances towards it’ at Scholes Precinct in Wigan.

He then rubbed himself against the postbox while holding his hands in the air and shouting “wow”.

After completing the act he pulled his trousers up and started swinging on a lamppost.

An alarmed eye-witness called police, who found him exposing himself again when they arrived.

He was arrested and launched into a foul-mouthed tirade as he was led away by officers.

Bennett, of Holborn Avenue, Wigan, pleaded guilty to two counts of indecent exposure and using threatening and abusive words with abusive behaviour at Wigan and Leigh Magistrates Court.

Katie Beattie, prosecuting, said the complainant heard shouting and swearing outside her window and saw the drunken defendant arguing with a woman.

The woman left and Bennett lay down on a bench in the precinct and started to shout, before sitting up and exposing himself by pulling his trousers down.

Miss Beattie said he then began performing a sex act and walked over to the postbox and "started to make sexual advances towards it".

The court was told the woman then witnessed Bennett rubbing up against the postbox with his trousers down before walking away.

The defendant's arms were raised described as being in a star position, as he continued to expose himself while shouting "wow".

Ms Beattie said: "The victim rang the police. She was disgusted by his behaviour."

Bennett pulled his pants up then swung on a lamppost before looking at a reflection of himself in a window.

He was found by police officers at the front of a shop in the precinct where he was still exposing himself.

The court heard that drunken Bennett became agitated and clenched his teeth as he shouted and swore at the officers.

Defending, Martin Jones said: "The lady watched for some time and was ashamed, disgusted and upset and my client accepts that.

"Clearly there are issues that need to be addressed."

Bennett was handed a 12-month community order with an alcohol treatment and supervision requirement.

He was also ordered to pay £50 compensation to the victim, £150 court costs and a £60 victim surcharge and told to sign the Sex Offenders' Register.

Earlier this week the 2015 Oscar nominees were announced, an event that inspired many people to check out the contenders. This increased interest is noticeable in legal channels and on various pirate sites, where nearly all of the 36 Oscar contenders are readily available.

The Oscars is the biggest award show of the year and is closely followed by hundreds of millions of movie fans.

This week the new nominees were announced and as usual that triggered a spike in sales, theater visits and illegal downloads.

The interest of torrent users for Best Picture nominee “The Theory of Everything” quadrupled almost instantly, and several other titles saw similar spikes.

With help from Andy Baio, who has been collecting detailed piracy stats for the Oscar-nominees since 2003, we can also reveal how many of the films are already available along with some other interesting trends.

What stands out immediately is how widely available the films are. Of all 2015 nominees, except documentary and foreign films, 34 of the 36 films (95%) are present on pirate sites.

Only the animated feature film “Song of The Sea” and best original song nominee “Glen Campbell: I’ll Be Me” have yet to appear online.

The films that are available don’t all come in perfect quality of course. “Beyond the Lights,” for example, only leaked in a CAM (camcorded) version. Most, however, are available in relatively decent screener, DVDRip or comparable quality.

Ironically enough, nearly all of the pirated screener copies appear to have been leaked from Academy sources.

The data further shows that it takes an average of 25 days until first leak appears online. In 2015 retail DVDs leaked faster than in previous years, in part due to shorter release windows.

“Two Days One Night” leaked the earliest, with a DVD quality copy of the movie becoming available more than two months before its official U.S. release date. “The Grand Budapest Hotel” took the longest with a total of 88 days.

While relatively unknown films see a serious spike in downloads after the nominations, most interest goes out to the traditional blockbusters. Of all nominees The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies remains the most popular with more than two million downloads over the past week.

Quote from fbradyirl

Can you check if mine is VIP too please? I see the 'Become a VIP' so I presume it didn't kick in. I donated before xmas. Thanks

- - - Updated - - -

I can see my icon shows VIP, but I'm not sure how to get to the VIP section. Is there a URL you can post to me?

http://linuxsat-support.com/forumdisplay.php?f=114

In a first of its kind case a student accused of attempting to pirate the 3D movie Gravity has been completely cleared by a court in the UK. The presiding judge said there was absolutely "no legal basis" for the case and instructed the jury to find the 28-year-old not guilty.

There have been a number of so-called “camming” cases in the UK in recent years with the MPAA-affiliated Federation Against Copyright Theft keen to stamp out the practice.

Punishments can be severe. Fast and Furious 6 ‘cammer’ Philip Danks was sentenced to 33 months in prison last year for recording, uploading and selling physical copies of the popular movie. But prosecutions can be complex and sometimes things can backfire in the biggest possible way.

Earlier this month, Birmingham student Ciprian Florea went on trial accused of attempting to ‘cam’ the space blockbuster Gravity. The case was special in a number of ways, not least that this was the first time that an individual had been accused of going equipped to capture a movie in full 3D.

According to the prosecution, Florea attended a Cineworld cinema in the city during November 2013 equipped with a home-made recording rig consisting of a pair of high-def cameras fashioned together in a device held on the man’s chest.

Florea, a student of film technology at Birmingham City University, is said to have hired the cameras the day before his arrest. These had been placed in a custom-made box in order to record the left and right eye as required for 3D imaging.

But before he had even entered the screening the student was spotted by a security guard who confiscated the device and called the police.

Florea said he had no intention to record the movie and only had the device to record his friends. He attended the screening without the device.

In the light of the fact that the UK has no specific “anti-camming” legislation and no copyright works were ever recorded, the prosecution accused the student of possessing a 3D camera with intent to commit fraud, i.e the recording and subsequent distribution of the movie.

The Judge didn’t buy it.

“I am sure everything was done with the best of motives. However I have real concern as to whether this prosecution should have been brought at all,” said Mr Recorder Nolan QC.

“It ought to have been absolutely clear there was no legal basis for it,” he added.

The Judge added that there was nothing to suggest that Florea had intended to commercially exploit any copy. Going further, he noted that even if a copy had been made and posted online, the offense may have been a breach of copyright but would not have amounted to fraud.

This may well present a problem for similar future prosecutions. With no uploading to the Internet and no evidence to support that was the intent, it appears claims of copyright infringement and/or fraud are effectively ruled out. In a case like this, where the movie hadn’t even been recorded, it’s not difficult to see why the case fell apart.

Nevertheless, the Federation Against Copyright Theft, who supported the prosecution, told TorrentFreak that the student’s behavior suggested he intended to break the law.

“The circumstances of Mr Florea’s actions in entering a cinema with equipment constructed to capture a 3D film provided strong evidence that he intended to commit a criminal offense,” FACT said.

“FACT supported the prosecution brought against him by the police and the Crown Prosecution Service on the basis of the serious damage caused to the film industry by those who illegally record films in cinemas. We are disappointed with the verdict, but respect the decision of the court.”

In comments to the Birmingham Mail after the verdict, Florea said he was glad the whole thing was over.

“I am relieved. It has taken a year and to be honest it has been a big pain in my life,” the student said.

“Although I won the case it has really been hard for me in my third year of my course. It was the first test of my final year’s project. I was just taking film of friends at the cinema.”

13 January 2015 Last updated at 13:42

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-glasgow-west-30798929

Former Avalon Bar in Glasgow fined over unlicensed sports

The operators of a Glasgow pub have been told to pay S.ky more than £73,000 for illegally showing football matches.

The broadcaster was awarded the payout against the operator and manager of the former Avalon Bar, in Kent Road.

The ruling at the Court of Session in Edinburgh, which covers intellectual property cases, was for breach of copyright for unlicensed showing.

It was described by S.ky's lawyers as the largest award ever made against a pub landlord in actions of this kind.

Alison Dolan, deputy managing director, S.ky Business, said: "This landmark ruling demonstrates how seriously the courts treat copyright infringement and reiterates that S.ky Sports can only be shown legally in pubs via a commercial agreement directly from S.ky.

"Copyright infringement creates an uneven playing field for thousands of hardworking licensees who legitimately invest in S.ky Sports, which is why we are committed to visiting thousands of pubs, as well as investigating suppliers, to protect our customers and ensure they are not left short-changed by illegal activity."

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Sk.y Sports will dedicate an entire channel to the ICC Cricket World Cup, from the first to the last day of the biggest one-day event in the international cricket calendar.

For six weeks, Sk.y Sports 2 will become ‘Sk.y Sports World Cup’, giving viewers over 1,000 hours of round-the-clock cricket coverage, including all 49 matches live, as well as build-up, analysis and highlights. Two dedicated reporters will be in Australia and New Zealand, and the Verdict show will be back live for every England match to debate the performance.

Two hours of live build-up will set the scene for the opening fixture on Friday 13 February as the current ICC Twenty20 World Cup holders, Sri Lanka, take on New Zealand, before England return to the MCG against Australia. The channel will launch at 6am with a series of classic World Cup matches from years gone by, before Adam Gilchrist shares his trade secrets to success in a masterclass special as part of a comprehensive schedule of support programming

Barney Francis, Sk.y Sports Managing Director, said: “The Cricket World Cup is the one of the world’s biggest sporting events, offering six weeks of rivalry between 14 nations. By dedicating a whole channel to the tournament, fans know that there’s only one place to watch all of the action live, catch up with highlights and enjoy the reaction and views of our experts. This is the biggest ever year of cricket on Sk.y Sports and the channel will help to make sure it’s our best yet.”

Bob Willis, former England Captain and Sk.y Sports expert added: “I was lucky enough to play in two World Cups and as player you want to compete against the top teams on the biggest stage. It’s only a month to go now until Sk.y Sports World Cup launches and as a studio analyst and a fan, I can’t wait to watch as all of the excitement and the stories unfold.”

Live commentary in Australia and New Zealand will be provided by Sir Ian Botham, Mike Atherton, David ‘Bumble’ Lloyd, Nasser Hussain and Nick Knight. The Sk.y Sports cricket studio back in the UK will be hosted by David Gower, Ian Ward, Charles Colvile and Matt Floyd, who will be joined by plenty of guests throughout the tournament, including Bob Willis, Andrew Strauss and Matt Prior.

Fans will be able to watch the action live on mobile, laptop and selected tablet devices via Sk.y Go wherever they are and follow live over-by-over commentary and scorecards of every match.

They can keep up to date with the latest news, reports, reaction and views of the Sk.y Sports cricket team across all digital platforms, including a dedicated World Cup section on sk.ysports.com. Sk.y Sports subscribers will also be able to access extended daily highlights from the tournament.

A long running legal battle between the world's largest record labels and an Irish-based ISP has resumed today. Sony, Universal and Warner want UPC to warn and disconnect subscribers found sharing infringing content online but the ISP doesn't want to foot the bill.

Half a decade ago the Irish Recorded Music Association (IRMA) ended its legal action against local ISP Eircom when the ISP agreed to implement a new anti-piracy policy against its own subscribers.

The agreement saw IRMA-affiliated labels including Sony, Universal and Warner tracking Eircom subscribers online. Eircom then forwarded warning notices to customers found to be sharing content without permission and agreed to disconnect those who were caught three times.

In a follow-up move IRMA tried to force another ISP, UPC, to implement the same measures. UPC fought back and a 2010 High Court ruling went in the ISP’s favor.

However, a 2012 change in the law emboldened IRMA to have a second bite and now the music group’s case is being heard by the Commercial Court. As before, IRMA wants an injunction issued against UPC forcing it to implement a “three strikes” or similar regime against its customers.

According to the Irish Times, Michael McDowell SC representing the labels said that UPC could come up with its own graduated response, whether it be “two strikes” or “five strikes”.

For its part, UPC appears to be more concerned about the cost of operating such a system rather than the actual introduction of one. UPC has provided estimates for doing so but the labels view the amounts involved as excessive.

Surprisingly, Cian Ferriter SC, for UPC, said the ISP has “no difficulty in handing over information” (on pirates) for the labels to pursue but the company has issues with setting up an “entire system” to deal with the problem.

The stance of UPC seems markedly different from its position during February 2014. At the time the company said that subjecting customers to a graduated response scheme would raise a “serious question of freedom of expression and public policy” and would “demand fair and impartial procedures in the appropriate balancing of rights.”

In the event, however, Mr McDowell said that UPC’s offer was not only a new but one that raises concern over privacy and data protection issues.

IRMA chairman Willie Kavanagh previously said that the Eircom three-strikes scheme had been “remarkably effective,” since only 0.2% of warned users have proceeded to the disconnection stage. Perhaps even more remarkable is that even after four years of the program, Eircom hadn’t disconnected a single customer.

“We are continuing to implement the graduated response process,” a spokesman said last March. “We haven’t, as yet, disconnected anyone.”

IRMA is contractually bound by its agreement with Eircom to pursue UPC and/or other ISPs to implement a graduated response scheme, so expect this one to run either until the bitter end – or when UPC cave in. For now the case is scheduled to run for eight days.

Australian ISPs are working hard to present an anti-piracy code of conduct following intense pressure from the government. iiNet, the country's second largest ISP, reports confidence in meeting an April 8 deadline but whether the proposals will meet expectations remains to be seen.

For years Australian citizens have complained of being treated as second class citizens by content companies who have failed to make content freely available at a fair price. As a result millions of Aussies have turned to file-sharing networks for their media fix.

This has given the country somewhat of a reputation on the world stage, which in turn has put intense pressure on the Australian government to do something to reduce unlawful usage.

After years of negotiations between ISPs and entertainment companies went nowhere, last year the government stepped in. ISPs were warned that if they don’t take voluntarily measures to deter and educate pirating subscribers, the government would force a mechanism upon them by law.

With a desire to avoid that option at all costs, the service providers went away with orders to come up with a solution. Just last month Attorney-General George Brandis and Communications Minister Malcolm Turnbull set an April 8 deadline, a tight squeeze considering the years of failed negotiations.

Nevertheless, iiNet, Australia’s second largest ISP, feels that the deadline will be met.

“We will have code; whether or not it gets the rubber stamp remains to be seen,” says iiNet chief regulatory officer Steve Dalby. “Dedicated people are putting in a lot of work drafting documents and putting frameworks together.”

With just 120 days to come up with a solution the government’s deadline is a big ask and Dalby says there are plenty of complications.

“There are issues around privacy, there are issues around appeals. There are issues around costs. There is a lot of work that needs to be done,” he says.

Of course, these are exactly the same issues that caused talks to collapse on a number of occasions in the past. However, in recent months it’s become clear that the government is prepared to accept less stringent measures than the entertainment industries originally wanted. Slowing and disconnecting subscribers is now off the table, for example.

Although there has been no official announcement, it seems likely that the ISPs will offer a notice-and-notice system similar to the one being planned for the UK.

Subscribers will be informed by email that their connections are being used to share content unlawfully and will be politely but firmly asked to stop. An educational program, which advises users where to obtain content legally, is likely to augment the scheme.

Who will pay for all this remains to be seen. ISPs have previously refused to contribute but with the government threatening to impose a code if a suitable one is not presented, compromise could be on the table.

The International Federation of the Phonographic Industry says it is preparing to have several "infringing sites" blocked at the ISP level in Singapore. The move, which will target The Pirate Bay should it come back online, follows new legislation introduced last year aimed at smoothing the way for High Court injunctions.

Domain blocking is now firmly established as one of the entertainment industries’ go-to methods for reducing online copyright infringement. Its use is widespread around Europe by both the music and movie sector.

In Europe the most important legal decision was announced in March last year when the Court of Justice of the European Union confirmed that EU ISPs can be required to block access to sites engaged in copyright infringement.

Elsewhere, individual countries are making their own decisions on how to move forward. Last July, Singapore legislators approved the Copyright Amendment Bill which allows copyright holders to obtain High Court orders forcing local service providers to block “flagrantly infringing” websites. Now, six months on, entertainment companies are ready to launch their first tests.

IFPI regional director Ang Kwee Tiang confirmed that the music group will initially target three to five “infringing sites” over the next two months.

“We are now actively looking into exercising this in the future,” he said.

The sites to be targeted have not yet been revealed but it’s always been the understanding that The Pirate Bay would be tackled first. The site’s reputation as the “worst-of-the-worst” allows entertainment companies to present a relatively straightforward case to the courts. The rising number of blocking orders already granted elsewhere only add to the mix.

“Now, The Pirate Bay has more than 6 million links. We take the screenshots and we show that these are not licensed. We’re going to show that The Pirate Bay has been blocked in nine or 10 different countries. I think that will be very convincing for our cause,” Ang said.

However, with The Pirate Bay currently down, it’s possible that other targets will have to be selected in the first batch. Ang confirms that evidence is still being collated but he’s confident that a successful blockade will help to reduce piracy.

“I divide (consumers) 80 to 20 – 80 per cent are average consumers, if they cannot get it easily and if a legal site offers it, they may go for the legal site,” he said.

“The committed pirate is like a committed criminal. They will search for ways to circumvent. But once we have the website blocking, then we are free to tackle the 20 per cent.”

The driving force behind the site blocking phenomenon can be found in the entertainment companies of the United States but following the SOPA debacle public discussion to progress site blocking has been fairly muted. That doesn’t mean nothing has been happening, however.

In December it was revealed that behind closed doors the MPAA has been working hard to bring site blocking to the United States. Whether those aims will still be progressed following the somewhat embarrassing leaks will remain to be seen, but it’s likely the movie group won’t be steered off course for long.

Overall, Hollywood definitely sees blocking as an important anti-piracy tool. The practice is endorsed by none other than MPAA chief Chris Dodd and internal MPAA research has found it to be effective.

This thread is now closed, for repeated pay server conversation you are banned

In a landmark victory a man falsely accused of pirating the B-movie Elf Man has won more than $100,000 in attorney fees. The makers of the movie pulled out of the lawsuit after their evidence gathering technique was criticized, but couldn't escape a hefty bill.

Mass-piracy lawsuits have been plaguing the U.S. for years, targeting hundreds of thousands of alleged downloaders.

Most copyright holders involved in these cases, often referred to as trolls, are only out to collect settlement payments from the accused, so the cases never go to trial.

The same is true for the lawsuit between the makers of the “Elf-Man” movie and Ryan Lamberson of Spokane Valley, Washington.

As is common in these cases an IP address was presented as the main piece of evidence. This address was collected by a file-sharing “investigator” using software to connect to the BitTorrent swarm where the infringing files were allegedly shared.

However, Lamberson’s attorney pointed out to the court that the studio’s evidence was far from solid, and that they couldn’t prove the alleged wrongdoings.

“Mr. Lamberson is an innocent ISP subscriber. Like many of the Elf Man defendants, he had never heard of Elf Man. He never had any desire to view the movie let alone download his own copy,” defense attorney Chris Lynch tells TF.

One of the problems the defense uncovered was that the tracking software couldn’t actually prove that the defendant had downloaded the file.

“Although the complaints allege the defendants ‘downloaded’ the works, the plaintiff’s investigators’ computers are programmed only to entrap data uploaded by the defendant, not data downloaded by the defendant. In other words, there is no evidence that any defendant downloaded the movie, only supposition,” Lynch says.

And there were other problems too. The Elf-Man studio wasn’t entirely forthcoming about the identity, employer, or location of its investigators, for example.

Faced with these issues the Elf-Man makers decided to drop the lawsuit. However, they didn’t get away without having to pick up the bill as Judge Rice awarded attorney fees to the accused file-sharer.

Just before the weekend the Judge issued an order granting Mr. Lamberson nearly $101,000 in attorney fees, which he deemed a reasonable amount.

“Defendant’s Motion for Attorneys’ Fees … is GRANTED in part and DENIED in part. Defendant is awarded attorney fees in the amount of $100,961,” the Judge writes.

The awarded fees are short of the $200,000 requested, but the defense is quite pleased with the outcome nonetheless as the amount helps to cover the costs.

For some, however, the outcome is still a disappointment in that the Elf-Man makers weren’t sanctioned for their dubious practices, including the use of unlicensed investigators.

Lynch and his firm Lee & Hayes are not done with the copyright trolling cases though, and will keep a close eye on developments. Perhaps they can target this type of abuse again in a future case.

“Although we are delighted with the outcome for Mr. Lamberson, we remain concerned about the practice of United States copyright infringement cases being brought against innocent people who are based on thin, possibly inadmissible, foreign evidence without any corroboration of actual infringement,” Lynch notes.

“Our case exposed some of the abuse, but there are hundreds of cases throughout the country based on similar evidentiary anomalies. My law firm intends to remain active in this area fighting this abuse.”

http://www.breitbart.com/london/2015/01/12/muslim-mayor-of-rotterdam-tells-islamists-to-f-off-on-live-television/

Mayor of Rotterdam Tells Islamist Extremists To F*** Off On Live Television in support of charlie hebdo

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The mayor of an ethnically diverse European city has earned the praise of London mayor Boris Johnson after expressing exasperation with fellow Muslims who failed to appreciate the freedoms enjoyed in the Western world, telling them to “pack your bags”.

Speaking to the NewsHour current affairs programme just hours after the Charlie Hebdo shootings in Paris, Mayor Aboutaleb became angered by the failure of some Muslims to adapt to their new homes, as he himself had done.

Mayor Aboutaleb said: “It is incomprehensible that you can turn against freedom… But if you don’t like freedom, for heaven’s sake pack your bags and leave.

“There may be a place in the world where you can be yourself, be honest with yourself and do not go and kill innocent journalists. And if you do not like it here because humorists you do not like make a newspaper, may I then say you can f*** off.

“This is stupid, this so incomprehensible. Vanish from the Netherlands if you cannot find your place here. All those well-meaning Muslims here will now be stared at”.

Aboutaleb, a Moroccan-born Muslim and former journalist took up the office of Mayor in 2008 now presides over one of a number of European cities where ethnic minorities and non-natives make up over half of the population. Although his appointment as mayor was criticised initially by anti-Islam parties in the Netherlands, who demanded he give up his dual Moroccan citizenship, he has since worked to prove his worth.

Angering his initial power-base among the cities Muslim voters, Aboutaleb has been unafraid to speak his mind on the importance of Dutch values and integration. After supporting the firing of a Muslim member of his cabinet for apparently supporting the Iranian government, fellow Mororcan and Rotterdam citizen Abdel Hafid Bouzidi, 30, said of the mayor in 2009: “He goes too much to the right”.

In 2004, Aboutaleb told Muslims if they didn’t subscribe to Dutch values they should “catch the first plane out”.

ExtraTorrent, one of the largest torrent sites on the Internet, remains down following a huge DDoS attack. The site's operators are working hard to mitigate the assault and hope to have the site back online soon.

With The Pirate Bay down and possibly out, millions of file-sharers around the world are turning to alternative sources for their content.

The current top 10 torrent sites in the world are the largest beneficiaries in terms of traffic but with that comes additional attention.

One of those sites is ExtraTorrent, an index that has moved up the rankings in recent years to become a torrent scene front runner. Last year the site took the #4 position overall and with an impressive Alexa rank of 356, now sits at #3.

But despite the achievements, progress has now temporarily ground to a halt. On January 10 the site went down unexpectedly, with an all-too-familiar announcement delivered shortly after.

“Extratorrent is under DDoS attack by hackers right now. Please, keep your patience. We’ll try to fix the issues. We’ll be back shortly!” the site announced on Twitter.

Indeed, that very same day the site did return but the comeback was brief, with the admins reporting “issues” getting the index functioning again.

Early Monday the site’s operators announced that while server problems could continue, everything was on course to be fixed before January 13. But with less than a day to go, attacks against the site persist.

“ExtraTorrent still is under DDoS attack. It’s very powerful DDoS attack,” the site reported a few minutes ago.

“Our hosting provider tries to solve the issues. We hope to back soon!”

At the time of writing ExtraTorrent is available in some regions intermittently.

After more than a month and several hints from the Pirate Bay team, the AES string posted on the sites homepage is finally solved. Instead of a secret message linking to a backup hidden in the deep web, it links to a YouTube video featuring Arnold Schwarzenegger's catchphrase "I'll be back."

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Two weeks after The Pirate Bay raid early December, the notorious torrent site returned online.

Instead of its traditional homepage it waved a pirate flag alongside some mysterious hints. The most intriguing part was the aes.png image at the bottom which displayed an encrypted message.

Was this secret message pointing to a pirate treasure hidden in the deep web? Did it hold the location of crucial backups that TPB needed to restore the site, or the code of Pirate Bay’s unreleased P2P browser?

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As time went on the TPB started to add more hints to the site’s source, hoping that someone would solve the mystery. These pointers eventually led to the answer, first uncovered by Reddit user “dafky2000.”

“By analyzing the page source code I could see some irrelevant HTML tags that had no effect. In particular, ‘key lowercase’ with the text enclosed ‘WeAreTPB’, which was not in fact lowercase. The encryption technology was the name of the image itself – ‘aes.png’ – AES,” dafky2000 tells TF.

After guessing a few different password hashing algorithms he finally landed on the right one, SHA256. That revealed part of the answer and after a few hours of sleep dafky2000 was able to uncover the entire message.

“I did have some trouble – Initially, I was only decrypting half the URL so I knew I was on the right track. Took a break at 2am, but got some sleep to clear my head and finished it off in the morning. I love a challenge and that hit the spot.”

As it turns out, Pirate Bay’s message was little more than a URL of a YouTube video. No secret messages crucial to the site’s return, but a compilation of The Terminator’s famous line “I’ll be back.”

Like most people dafky2000 had hoped for something more. Especially because another hint that was added recently “pipe vi Makefile” suggests that there’s something TPB wants people to build.

“I was trying to solve the ‘pipe vi Makefile’ mystery so I could build whatever program the Makefile would make. Decryption seemed like the stepping stone to that goal. I was mildly disappointed I couldn’t build something but I think there might be more to that,” dafky2000 tells us.

Those who want to replicate the results can use the following bash code dafky2000 provided.

echo "JyO7wNzc8xht47QKWohfDVj6Sc2qH+X5tBCT+uetocIJcjQnp/2f1ViEBR+ty0Cz" | openssl aes-128-cbc -K $(printf wearetpb | sha256sum | head -c 32 | tr '[:lower:]' '[:upper:]') -nosalt -nopad -iv 0 -base64 -d -p

The question now is whether The Pirate Bay will indeed make a glorious return as Arnold Schwarzenegger suggests?