• Pirate Bay Founder Remains Locked Up Without Charges

    Updated: 2012-09-30 11:58:09
    Gottfrid Svartholm will be kept in detention for at least two more weeks on suspicion of hacking into a Swedish IT company connected to the country's tax authorities. According to Prosecutor Henry Olin the extended detention is needed "to prevent him from having contact with other people." The Pirate Bay co-founder is not allowed to have visitors and is even being denied access to newspapers and television.Source: Pirate Bay Founder Remains Locked Up Without Charges

  • Excuses, Excuses (Part 3)

    Updated: 2012-09-29 21:41:52
    , Home Attorneys Contact Products Representative Clients Cases Search CO Records Services Workshops and Appearances Posts Photo Attorney Serving the Photographer's Legal Needs Excuses , Excuses Part 3 On 09.29.12, In Copyright Infringement by Carolyn E . Wright As a continuation of the  Excuses , Excuses series one excuse deserves its own blog entry . An amazing number of infringers claim that they didn’t know that the photograph was protected by copyright because they copied it from a Google Images search . But Google itself explains : that The images displayed in a Google Image Search may be protected by copyright , so we can’t grant you the right to use them for any purpose other than viewing them on the web . If you’d like to use images from our image search , we suggest contacting the

  • Canadian Government ‘Sponsored’ The Pirate Bay

    Updated: 2012-09-28 23:22:45
    Like many other websites on the Internet The Pirate Bay makes its money from ads. Due to its reputation the torrent site generally has to settle for lower grade banners, but the Canadian Government recently broke this trend. This week ads from the Canadian Department of Finance's Economic Action Plan appeared on The Pirate Bay. Unfortunately for the infamous torrent site, the feds pulled the banner campaign as soon as they were alerted to it.Source: Canadian Government ‘Sponsored’ The Pirate Bay

  • ISPs and Tracking Company Ready to Start Six-Strikes Anti-Piracy Scheme

    Updated: 2012-09-28 15:33:29
    Soon, five large U.S. Internet providers will begin to warn and punish alleged copyright infringers as part of the “six strikes” anti-piracy scheme. While details are still scarce, TorrentFreak is informed that MarkMonitor will be responsible for tracking down alleged infringers, and that an independent expert review of the evidence gathering technology has been completed. ISPs have also been making progress and several are now ready to start sending out warnings, although none of them wants to go first.Source: ISPs and Tracking Company Ready to Start Six-Strikes Anti-Piracy Scheme

  • Movie Pirates Handed Jail Sentences, Ordered To Pay 1.1 Million Euros

    Updated: 2012-09-28 09:50:11
    Five men have been sentenced for their role in releasing pre-release copies of Hollywood movies onto so-called Internet 'top sites'. A court handed out suspended sentences of between three and six months to individuals from two Internet release teams said to be responsible for causing Disney, Warner Bros. and Universal millions of dollars in damages. Together they will have to pay damages totaling more than 1.1 million euros.Source: Movie Pirates Handed Jail Sentences, Ordered To Pay 1.1 Million Euros

  • File-Sharing for Personal Use Declared Legal in Portugal

    Updated: 2012-09-27 15:01:51
    Hoping to curb the ever-increasing piracy figures in Portugal, local anti-piracy outfit ACAPOR reported the IP-addresses of 2,000 alleged file-sharers to the Attorney General last year. This week the Portuguese prosecutor came back with a ruling and decided not to go after the individuals connected to the IP-addresses. According to the prosecutor it is not against the law to share copyrighted works for personal use, and an IP-address is not enough evidence to identify a person.Source: File-Sharing for Personal Use Declared Legal in Portugal

  • New Zealand Prime Minister Apologizes To Kim Dotcom

    Updated: 2012-09-27 07:30:18
    New Zealand Prime Minister John Key has apologized to Kim Dotcom after a report from the Inspector-General of Intelligence and Security found that the government illegally monitored the Megaupload founder. The Government Communications Security Bureau (GCSB) carried out surveillance on Dotcom, but did not check out his residency status, instead relying on incorrect information supplied by the police.Source: New Zealand Prime Minister Apologizes To Kim Dotcom

  • Kim Dotcom Teases Megabox, Reveals Exclusive Artists?

    Updated: 2012-09-26 15:47:41
    Kim Dotcom is determined to put the major music labels out of business with Megabox. At the same time he promises to give artists full control over their own work and a healthy revenue stream. Today Dotcom released a video on the making of Megabox which unveils some of the service's features. The video also shows "The Black Keys," "Rusko," "Two Fingers" and "Will.i.am" as exclusive artists.Source: Kim Dotcom Teases Megabox, Reveals Exclusive Artists?

  • Bad Police Info Led Spies To Monitor Dotcom, Govt. Suppressed Information

    Updated: 2012-09-26 09:16:59
    Court documents have revealed how information supplied by New Zealand's Organised and Financial Crime Agency led to Kim Dotcom and his associates being illegally monitored by GCSB, the Kiwi spy agency comparable to the United States' CIA. Today a High Court judge expressed concern at the situation, with Dotcom' legal team calling for an independent inquiry into the fiasco. Meanwhile, pressure continues to mount on Prime Minister John Key as it's revealed the government issued an information suppression order.Source: Bad Police Info Led Spies To Monitor Dotcom, Govt. Suppressed Information

  • EU Court Asked To Rule On Legality Of Downloading From Illegal Sources

    Updated: 2012-09-25 12:22:08
    As part of a case between several computer media companies and the organization responsible for copying levies, the Dutch Supreme Court is set to seek the advice of the European Court of Justice concerning the right to make private copies. Currently it is considered acceptable for Dutch citizens to download copyrighted material for personal use, even if that content comes from an illicit source such as file-sharing networks. A ruling in the wrong direction could change all of that.Source: EU Court Asked To Rule On Legality Of Downloading From Illegal Sources

  • First Elected Pirate Party Mayor to Rule Swiss Town

    Updated: 2012-09-24 17:59:06
    The Pirate Party movement reached a new milestone yesterday with the world's first elected Pirate Mayor being voted into office in the Swiss town of Eichberg. With an overwhelming 63 percent of the total vote, Alex Arnold defeated two candidates from the political establishment. The 31-year old software programmer is eager to steer the small Swiss town towards a prosperous future.Source: First Elected Pirate Party Mayor to Rule Swiss Town

  • Top 10 Most Pirated Movies on BitTorrent

    Updated: 2012-09-24 16:59:05
    The top 10 most downloaded movies on BitTorrent, 'Resident Evil: Retribution' tops the chart this week, followed by 'Men in Black 3'. 'Prometheus' completes the top three.Source: Top 10 Most Pirated Movies on BitTorrent

  • Megaupload Readies for Comeback, Code 90% Done

    Updated: 2012-09-23 21:31:46
    January this year the U.S. Government destroyed Megaupload, but founder Kim Dotcom is a not done with the file-hosting business yet and is preparing to come back with a vengeance. The coding work for the new Megaupload is nearly finished, the servers have been ordered, and investors are lining up. A return of the file-hosting site appears to be looming. Source: Megaupload Readies for Comeback, Code 90% Done

  • Why Activism Is Necessary, But Isn’t Enough To Save Net Liberty

    Updated: 2012-09-23 11:16:39
    When the first Pirate Party was founded, it was with the realization that activism alone had come to the end of the road. Everybody was discussing net liberty issues and how they were being restricted by the copyright industry - everybody except the politicians. We needed to take the fight to these politicians. But how?Source: Why Activism Is Necessary, But Isn’t Enough To Save Net Liberty

  • Too Legit To Quit: 124.2m Legal BitTorrent Music Downloads in 2012

    Updated: 2012-09-22 14:15:31
    Earlier this week, file-sharing related news was dominated by a set of stats compiled by Musicmetric. The company said that in the first six months of 2012 it monitored 405 million music releases downloaded using BitTorrent. But while huge piracy levels are regularly touted by recording labels, completely legal BitTorrent downloads are growing at an impressive rate. In the first half of the year at least 124 million licensed and legal downloads were enabled by BitTorrent Inc.Source: Too Legit To Quit: 124.2m Legal BitTorrent Music Downloads in 2012

  • Resistance is Not Always Futile

    Updated: 2012-09-21 20:06:04
    There’s no question that the 2012 campaign has been full of disappointments for those of us who want less government, more liberty, and more prosperity in our lives. Very clearly, the game is rigged in large part due to the establishment media, powerful special interest groups, and the political parties themselves. It’s very easy to [...]

  • uTorrent Increases Privacy and Counters Mass-Monitoring of Downloads

    Updated: 2012-09-21 19:55:18
    Downloading files via BitTorrent is about as public as file-sharing gets, and it's safe to say that most popular BitTorrent swarms are being monitored one way or the other. To protect the privacy of its users BitTorrent Inc. therefore decided to randomize the peer-id uTorrent users display to other peers and the tracker. While the new feature makes it more difficult to track the download habits of individual users, IP-addresses still remain public and trackable.Source: uTorrent Increases Privacy and Counters Mass-Monitoring of Downloads

  • New Anti-Piracy Watchlist Zooms In On File-Sharing Tolerant Countries

    Updated: 2012-09-21 12:21:03
    The Congressional International Anti-Piracy Caucus has just released its 2012 International Piracy Watch List. In addition to countries such as China, Russia and Ukraine, this year Italy and Switzerland make fresh appearances in the list. Both countries are accused of not doing enough to combat online infringement with the latter allegedly proving itself as a "magnet for rogue sites."Source: New Anti-Piracy Watchlist Zooms In On File-Sharing Tolerant Countries

  • BitTorrent Users DDoS Websites Without Knowing

    Updated: 2012-09-19 19:35:33
    Millions of BitTorrent users are unknowingly DDoSing websites because 'publishers' of popular torrents mistakenly add website URLs as trackers. The DDoSes drag websites down and their operators have very few options to mitigate these 'attacks'. But, thanks to a new BitTorrent protocol enhancement this is about to change. This week Vuze becomes the first client to add support for DDoS protection alongside calls from one of the "victims" for other developers to follow suit. Source: BitTorrent Users DDoS Websites Without Knowing

  • Hackers Leak Thousands of Passwords From Large Private BitTorrent Tracker

    Updated: 2012-09-19 09:40:26
    In an unprecedented data breach, tens of thousands of usernames and passwords from large private BitTorrent tracker RevTT have been leaked onto the Internet. The attackers, who call themselves Afghanistan Hackers, leaked the user/pass combinations via The Pirate Bay. The initial response from RevTT was to censor all discussion of the data breach, even as hundreds - possibly thousands - of accounts were being used without their owners' permission.Source: Hackers Leak Thousands of Passwords From Large Private BitTorrent Tracker

  • FAIL – Prominent Pirate Party Politician Goes After Book Pirates

    Updated: 2012-09-18 22:24:33
    Julia Schramm, a prominent board member of the German Pirate Party, had success in scoring a lucrative book deal and finally had her work published this week. Nothing out of the ordinary there, if it wasn't for the fact that Schramm and her publisher are now clamping down on book pirates. Dropbox removed a copy of Schramm's book after it received a DMCA take-down request today and another copy hosted on the Pirate Party's own site also vanished into thin air.Source: FAIL – Prominent Pirate Party Politician Goes After Book Pirates

  • Movie and TV Show Pirates Hid Topsite Server Inside ISP Network

    Updated: 2012-09-18 01:53:44
    This week a court has been hearing how a group of movie and TV show pirates ran a so-called 'Scene' topsite. The individuals, mainly employees of ISPs in Finland, allegedly hid their operation inside their company's networks and rerouted monitoring software so that the existence of the server wouldn't be uncovered.Source: Movie and TV Show Pirates Hid Topsite Server Inside ISP Network

  • “Six Strikes” Anti-Piracy Scheme Overly Secret and Unfair, Says Professor

    Updated: 2012-09-17 18:41:53
    In the coming months U.S. Internet providers will begin to warn and punish alleged copyright infringers. The “six strikes” plan is the result of a deal between the MPAA, RIAA and several large ISPs. While the parties involved have described the scheme as fair and balanced, University of Idaho Law Professor Annemarie Bridy has her concerns. In a new report she points out that the copyright alert system lacks transparency, favors copyright holders, and that procedural fairness is hard to find.Source: “Six Strikes” Anti-Piracy Scheme Overly Secret and Unfair, Says Professor

  • Top BitTorrent Countries In The World, Top Torrent Towns In The UK

    Updated: 2012-09-17 09:03:38
    A new report reveals that when it comes to worldwide unauthorized BitTorrent downloads, users in the United States are the most prolific, followed by those in the UK, Italy and Canada. When zooming in on the UK, citizens from Manchester download the most per head, with those from the capital beaten into a lowly 20th place. Interestingly the world's most downloaded artist is very happy with his record, as is the UK's number one, who's filling venues despite 80% of his fans paying nothing for his music.Source: Top BitTorrent Countries In The World, Top Torrent Towns In The UK

  • Top 10 Most Pirated Movies on BitTorrent

    Updated: 2012-09-17 08:42:41
    The top 10 most downloaded movies on BitTorrent, 'Men in Black 3' tops the chart this week, followed by 'Prometheus'. 'Snow White and the Huntsman' completes the top three.Source: Top 10 Most Pirated Movies on BitTorrent

  • Pirate Bay Founder Officially Arrested For Tax Hack, Denies Accusations

    Updated: 2012-09-16 18:55:03
    Gottfrid Svartholm has been officially detained under suspicion of hacking into a Swedish IT company connected to the country's tax authorities. Agreeing with the prosecutor's request the Nacka District Court said Friday that the Pirate Bay co-founder should be detained for another two weeks to enable a thorough investigation to take place. Gottfrid denies all charges.Source: Pirate Bay Founder Officially Arrested For Tax Hack, Denies Accusations

  • Prominent Anti-Piracy Chief Suspected of Drug Crime

    Updated: 2012-09-16 12:13:22
    Vytas Simanavicius, president of Lithuanian anti-piracy outfit LANVA, is suspected of drug trading or unlawful possession of illegal narcotic substances in high quantities. Details on the investigation were made public by the police this week with local news sources identifying the LANVA boss as the suspect. Simanavicius, who earlier partnered with Microsoft to sue a prominent BitTorrent tracker, faces up to eight years in prison.Source: Prominent Anti-Piracy Chief Suspected of Drug Crime

  • Pirate Bay Celebrates 9th Anniversary, a Brief History

    Updated: 2012-09-15 11:43:22
    The Pirate Bay turns nine years old today, a truly remarkable achievement considering the history of the site. What started out in 2003 as a fun project of a small group of friends turned into one of the largest websites on the Internet. The site has become a global icon; hated by Hollywood and other entertainment industries, but loved by millions of file-sharers.Source: Pirate Bay Celebrates 9th Anniversary, a Brief History

  • BMG Demands $20 For Pirated Bruno Mars / Eminem Downloads

    Updated: 2012-09-14 20:17:00
    With the so-called "six strikes" scheme just around the corner in the United States, one could be forgiven for thinking that the major recording labels are satisfied with their anti-piracy progress. But one major management company appears to want to extract just that little bit more from alleged file-sharers. In emails being sent out to subscribers via their ISPs, account holders are being asked for settlements, not for many thousands of dollars, but just $20 cash.Source: BMG Demands $20 For Pirated Bruno Mars / Eminem Downloads

  • Demonoid: There’s Still Hope, But We’re Not Coming Back Soon

    Updated: 2012-09-14 11:52:45
    A few days ago Demonoid showed the first signs of life in weeks when the domain's nameservers were updated. Unfortunately, this doesn't mean that the site is preparing to make a comeback. The site's tech admin informs TorrentFreak that the Demonoid crew is "not looking into putting the site back up at the moment." However, the troubled BitTorrent site is not giving up entirely just yet.Source: Demonoid: There’s Still Hope, But We’re Not Coming Back Soon

  • Injustice Continues as Megaupload User Data Negotiations Go Bust

    Updated: 2012-09-13 19:01:35
    Months after the Megaupload raids and arrests the fate of the site's user data is still unclear. The final negotiation round between the involved parties just went bust with Megaupload's defense team holding the US Attorneys Office responsible. "They favor the Hollywood Oligopoly over innocent consumers who lost access to their data," Megaupload lawyer Ira Rothken told TorrentFreak.Source: Injustice Continues as Megaupload User Data Negotiations Go Bust

  • French 3 Strikes: Court Fines First File-Sharer, Even Though He’s Innocent

    Updated: 2012-09-13 12:29:15
    It's been a long time coming but today the controversial French 'Hadopi' anti-piracy law has claimed its first scalp. After his account was connected to a series of previous infringements, a 40 year-old man was summoned to court today. Despite a third-party admitting that the music piracy in question was carried out by them and not the accused, the court still decided to fine the account holder.Source: French 3 Strikes: Court Fines First File-Sharer, Even Though He’s Innocent

  • No Duty to Secure Wi-Fi from BitTorrent Pirates, Judge Rules

    Updated: 2012-09-12 21:46:38
    A crucial ruling in one of the ongoing BitTorrent lawsuits in the United States has delivered a clear win for open Wi-Fi operators. Among other things, California Judge Phyllis Hamilton ruled that Internet subscribers are not required to secure their wireless networks to prevent outsiders from pirating movies. In other words, people can't be held liable for the alleged infringements of other people on their network.Source: No Duty to Secure Wi-Fi from BitTorrent Pirates, Judge Rules

  • Dragons’ Den Company DMCAs Google To Censor Competitor

    Updated: 2012-09-12 11:12:59
    This week millions of Brits sat down to watch the start of a new series of Dragons' Den on the BBC. As usual, a handful of budding entrepreneurs put their businesses before five captains of industry in the hope of securing investment for their company. One such business, SendMyBag, was slated by the Dragons as "easily copied", but now in an interesting twist the delivery service is having entire pages from a competitor's website removed from Google due to a copyright dispute over a single image.Source: Dragons’ Den Company DMCAs Google To Censor Competitor

  • $222,000 Music Piracy Fine Not Unconstitutional, Court Rules

    Updated: 2012-09-11 22:46:08
    The most recent step in the never-ending Thomas-Rasset music piracy case occurred today with the US Court of Appeals for the 8th Circuit ruling in favor of the RIAA. In its ruling the court decided that the outcome of the first trial in 2007 was indeed correct, and that Thomas-Rasset owes $222,000 to the major music labels. Source: $222,000 Music Piracy Fine Not Unconstitutional, Court Rules

  • 9/11 Open Thread

    Updated: 2012-09-11 19:56:18
    As everyone is fully aware, today marks the 11th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks. Due to this passage of time, I’m somewhat conflicted about whether today should be strictly about remembering the victims and celebrating the heroism of the first responders (as well as how ordinary Americans came together donating their time, money, blood, and [...]

  • Apple: Sorry, Those BitTorrent Apps Were Approved by Mistake

    Updated: 2012-09-11 19:47:40
    For a minute we got excited. Apple approved two BitTorrent Apps in recent weeks, suggesting that the company had lifted its ban on file-sharing applications. But today came the inevitable disappointment. Apple just informed one of the developers that it made a mistake during the approval process, and the company is about to pull his BitTorrent app from the App Store. Source: Apple: Sorry, Those BitTorrent Apps Were Approved by Mistake

  • Pirate Bay Co-Founder Lands In Sweden, Immediately Charged By Police

    Updated: 2012-09-11 11:33:07
    After being deported from Cambodia yesterday Pirate Bay co-founder Gottfrid Svatholm is now back on Swedish soil. The big question now concerns the motivations of the authorities in having him brought back to Sweden. It now seems almost certain that they want Gottfrid for more than just the Pirate Bay case. TorrentFreak is informed that upon his arrival the 27-year-old was immediately charged by police in connection with another alleged crime.Source: Pirate Bay Co-Founder Lands In Sweden, Immediately Charged By Police

  • Google Adds Pirate Bay Domains to Censorship List

    Updated: 2012-09-10 18:12:22
    Google has quietly expanded its list of censored search phrases with the addition of The Pirate Bay's domain names. The blacklist prevents popular keywords from appearing in Google's Instant and Autocomplete search services, while the pages themselves remain indexed. Although Google understands that there is no silver bullet to stop online copyright infringement, the search giant is convinced that the steps they’ve taken could help to decrease piracy.Source: Google Adds Pirate Bay Domains to Censorship List

  • Top 10 Most Pirated Movies on BitTorrent

    Updated: 2012-09-10 16:12:50
    The top 10 most downloaded movies on BitTorrent, 'Men in Black 3' tops the chart this week, followed by 'Snow White and the Huntsman'. '6 Bullets' completes the top three.Source: Top 10 Most Pirated Movies on BitTorrent

  • Should Bogus Copyright Takedown Senders Be Punished?

    Updated: 2012-09-09 14:23:07
    Every week copyright holders send out millions of takedown notices to websites all across the Internet. While the majority of these claims are legitimate, a healthy percentage are not. These "errors" can cause serious harm to the public, but the senders are never held responsible for their mistakes. Perhaps it's time to punish repeat senders of bogus takedown notices?Source: Should Bogus Copyright Takedown Senders Be Punished?

  • MPAA: Hotfile is the Most Blatant ‘Pirate Site’ of All

    Updated: 2012-09-08 18:37:07
    The MPAA and file-hosting service Hotfile are ramping up their battle in court. In a new filing the movie studios back up their request to shut Hotfile down, describing the company as the most blatant inducer of copyright infringement ever to appear before a court in an online piracy case. In response the file-hosting service accuses the MPAA of foul play and points out that it's merely a service provider.Source: MPAA: Hotfile is the Most Blatant ‘Pirate Site’ of All

  • Pirate Bay Founder Flies Home Next Week As Mother Criticizes Swedish Authorities

    Updated: 2012-09-08 10:19:31
    After being detained nine days ago there are now signs that Pirate Bay founder Gottfrid Svartholm will be returning to the place he once called home. Since there are no direct flights from Cambodia to Sweden he will first make a stopover in Bangkok, Thailand. In the meantime. Svartholm's mother has been speaking for the first time about her son's plight, criticizing Swedish authorities for withholding information and failing to look after her son's interests.Source: Pirate Bay Founder Flies Home Next Week As Mother Criticizes Swedish Authorities

  • Anti-Piracy Outfits Think Megaupload, Demonoid & BTjunkie Are Still Alive

    Updated: 2012-09-07 18:32:38
    Almost nine months on from the raids that took down Megaupload and bizarrely some of the world's biggest record labels still think that the site is hosting infringing content. In a clear sign that anti-piracy companies aren't bothering to carry out even the most rudimentary checks before they send DMCA notices, Google is receiving daily takedown demands not only for Megaupload, but also Demonoid, BTjunkie, and other dead file-sharing services.Source: Anti-Piracy Outfits Think Megaupload, Demonoid & BTjunkie Are Still Alive

  • Apple Lifts Ban on BitTorrent Apps, Or So It Seems

    Updated: 2012-09-07 10:22:39
    Ever since the inception of the App Store, Apple has notoriously banned all apps related to BitTorrent. However, those who conduct a search for BitTorrent in the App Store today will be surprised to see that Apple returns two search results. One app allows users to control the mufti-platform BitTorrent client Transmission and the other one does the same for uTorrent. This begs the question, did Apple lift its BitTorrent ban?Source: Apple Lifts Ban on BitTorrent Apps, Or So It Seems

  • Anti-Piracy Agency Sends 1.15 million Warnings in 2 Years, Takes 0.0012% To Court

    Updated: 2012-09-06 11:14:54
    According to statistics released yesterday, rightsholders identified a total of 3 million IP addresses in the past two years and France's Hadopi anti-piracy agency deemed just over a third worthy of receiving a 'first strike' warning. Less than 10% of these account holders went on to receive a second warning and just 0.34% of those went on to the third strike phase. In what is being framed as a victory by Hadopi, just 0.0012% of those who received a first strike have been referred to the courts.Source: Anti-Piracy Agency Sends 1.15 million Warnings in 2 Years, Takes 0.0012% To Court

  • Delegates at the Democratic Convention: “We all belong to the government”

    Updated: 2012-09-05 20:17:50
    During the 2008 campaign I wrote a post about the real reason why Barack Obama would be dangerous for our country. These reasons had nothing to do with a long-form birth certificate or that he was some sort of Muslim Manchurian candidate intent on destroying our country from the inside. Now that Obama has an [...]

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