Torrentfreak: “Former ‘Pirate’ Site Dropped From UK Blocklist” plus 1 more |
| Former ‘Pirate’ Site Dropped From UK Blocklist Posted: 14 Dec 2014 02:04 AM PST
The site, which was once branded one of the top pirate sites by the entertainment industry, hopes that the move will bring in new revenue opportunities. First, however, the site had to get rid of various remnants from its “pirate” history. The site is still blocked in the UK, for example, as the High Court previously declared that FilesTube infringed music rights. Earlier, FilesTube informed TF that it planned to challenge the blockade at the High Court, but it turns out that this is no longer needed. Music industry group BPI, who were the driving force behind FilesTube’s blockade, followed recent developments and decided to unblock the site. This is the first time that the list of blocked pirate sites in the UK has become shorter, although it may not be for long. The BPI believes that FilesTube is a good example of how High Court orders can motivate websites to go legit and hopes that others will follow the example. "We are pleased that the block has encouraged FilesTube to change its business model so that it no longer appears to infringe music rights,” BPI’s General Counsel Kiaron Whitehead tells TF. “Accordingly, we have agreed to un-block the site, which the ISPs will implement over the next few weeks. We hope that other sites which are subject to blocking orders will follow suit and help to support the development of legal digital entertainment." TF also spoke with FilesTube, who are happy with BPI’s swift response. Since the music group can amend the blocklists without a court order, this saves the trouble of going through court. "We used to be a media search engine for content on cyberlocker sites. Now we operate as a free VOD aggregator with licensed content only. We are grateful to BPI for agreeing to lift the blocks and we look forward to the growth of the new FilesTube," a spokesperson informed TF. In addition to the lifted blockade, FilesTube’s Facebook page was also unblocked recently. The page was taken down by the movie industry FACT, but is now accessible again. Meanwhile, many of FilesTube’s former users are disappointed with the change. Apparently “going legit” also has its downsides, but the site hopes to rebuild a new community during the months to come. Source: TorrentFreak, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing and anonymous VPN services. |
| Sony Planned to Flood Torrent Sites With “Promo” Torrents Posted: 13 Dec 2014 01:07 PM PST Copyright holders have a wide range of options they can employ to counter online piracy. Takedown notices are best known and sent out in their millions every day. However, the people at Sony Pictures’ TV network AXN thought that uploading content to torrent sites could help their business. Sony’s AXN in Central Europe developed an ad campaign for the show "Hannibal" which proposed posting torrents of the first minute of the show on popular torrent sites such as Pirate Bay and KickassTorrents. The revelations are part of the Sony Pictures leaks which contain a discussion on the plan, framing it as a “brilliant antipiracy social campaign.” The AXN employee describes the idea as follows. “The idea is simple. We made a promo dedicated to Hannibal which is convincing people in very creative and noinvasive way to watch Hannibal legally on AXN instead downloading it from torrents. “[T]his promo is supposed to be downloaded on the torrents sites, imitating the first episode of Hannibal season 2 but in reality would be only a 60 sec promo. The torrents sites are exactly the place where people just after [the] US premier would be searching for the first episode of season 2. So the success of this project is more than 100% sure.” Unfortunately for the AXN Central Europe team the advertising campaign wasn’t well received at Sony Pictures’ headquarters in Los Angeles. The Hollywood execs showed great concern about the sites where these promos would end up, a view that wasn’t widely shared by the team in Europe. “From the legal point of view in many CE countries the torrents sites itself are legal. Only sharing and downloading the illegal stuff there is not. This project is to support antipiracy strategy not against,” the AXN employee writes. “From my perspective this would be something really unconventional, something to be shared and presented in case studies presentations. Great story for be presented at the panel discussions. This could really help us to show AXN CE is actively fighting against piracy.”  The discussion eventually landed on the desk of a Sony Pictures Executive Vice President, who emphasized that it was a no go. Populating torrent sites with promos could risk current efforts to disrupt those same websites. “I called [XXX] and restated that this is simply a long road to ‘no’ because it so severely undercuts our efforts not only in CE, but all we have accomplished elsewhere. “Forget about a site blocking strategy if we start putting legitimate PSAs or promos on sites we've flagged to governments as having no legitimate purpose other than theft… PSAs being for public good, etc…” And so it never happened… Source: TorrentFreak, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing and anonymous VPN services. |
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