Torrentfreak: “ISPs Must Take Responsibility For Sony Movie Leaks, MP Says” plus 1 more

ISPs Must Take Responsibility For Sony Movie Leaks, MP Says

Posted: 03 Dec 2014 03:35 AM PST

Last week’s massive hack of Sony Pictures could hardly have been more high-profile and if reports thus far are to be believed, damage to the company could be significant.

Rather than dropping away, this week momentum is building. In addition to the early leaks, available on BitTorrent networks right now is a 25.87GB data dump featuring the personal details of Sony staff including their names, addresses, salaries and social security numbers.

Not only is this file damaging (it reveals rather healthy executive remuneration packages) it’s also adding to the already considerable mystery surrounding the case. Early in the torrent’s life, dozens of Sony-linked Amazon IP addresses were observed on the torrent provoking theories ranging from honey-pots to hijacked servers.

Another mysterious element emerging now involves the torrent’s unique hash. Search for 957DC0A8 04EB8C28 2F33988E B9096974 FC3761C9 using Google or Bing and there are zero results (at least before publication of this article) which is extremely unusual indeed. Whichever way this torrent made its way online, it almost certainly wasn’t via any conventional route.

As the drama continues, finding someone to blame for the whole debacle is at the forefront. Speculation is rife, with accusatory fingers being pointed as far away as North Korea and as close to home as current Sony employees. It comes as no surprise, however, that picking on easier targets has already slipped onto the agenda.

As first reported here on TF, following the hacks last week several unreleased Sony movies leaked online. Fury, featuring Brad Pitt, was by far the highest profile and today we can confirm that the title has been downloaded by BitTorrent users more than a million times.

Fury – Now downloaded more than a million times

fury-million

But with Kim Jong Un beyond Western justice and millions of torrent users too much of a headache to round up, the middle men are yet again being drawn into the fight.

Mike Weatherley MP, the recent IP advisor to Prime Minister David Cameron, has published several piracy reports including one earlier in the year examining the advertising revenue on pirate sites. He believes that companies with no direct connection to the hack or subsequent leaks should shoulder some blame.

"Piracy is a huge international problem. The recent cyber-attack on Sony and subsequent release of films to illegal websites is just one high-profile example of how criminals exploit others' Intellectual Property,” Weatherley writes in an email to TF.

“Unfortunately, the theft of these films – and their subsequent downloads – has been facilitated by web-hosting companies and, ultimately, ISPs who do have to step-up and take some responsibility."

Weatherley doesn’t provide detail on precisely why web-hosts and ISPs should take responsibility for the work of malicious hackers (possibly state-sponsored) and all subsequent fall out from attacks. The theory is that “something” should be done, but precisely what remains elusive.

In the UK, on Weatherley’s home turf, almost every major torrent site is already blocked by ISPs. The latest wave arrived in the past few days but with proxy sites appearing even more quickly, progress is limited.

Overall, it’s clear that forcing technology companies into shouldering blame for the actions of others is a difficult game and one that has yet to make any noticeable dent in piracy volumes. Still, that won’t stop rightsholders pursuing claims against them and influential characters like Weatherley pushing for reform.

Source: TorrentFreak, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing and anonymous VPN services.

Demonoid Frustrates Censors With Domain Name Switch

Posted: 02 Dec 2014 09:10 AM PST

As one of the oldest torrent communities online the Demonoid tracker has had its fair share of troubles over the years.

Earlier in 2014 the site returned after nearly two years of downtime, which began following a DDoS attack and legal troubles in Ukraine.

Since then Demonoid has been rebuilding its community up to a point where it now has millions of visitors per month, making it one of the largest torrent sites online once again.

In an effort to obstruct the site’s growth Demonoid is now plagued by blocking requests from copyright holders. Last month the site was blocked by Italian ISPs and a few days ago major ISPs in the UK were told to do the same.

In addition, the site’s visibility on Google has significantly diminished. Those who Google for “demonoid” will see a Wikipedia entry as the top result because the Demonoid.ph domain was removed following a takedown notice.

In what appears to be a response to these censorship efforts, Demonoid switched domain names today. Out of the blue the site began redirecting its .ph domain to demonoid.pw which uses Palau ‘s TLD .pw.

The new domain was registered this weekend just days after reports of a fresh UK High Court injunction ordering ISPs to block the site.

The true motives for the recent domain changes remain unconfirmed at this point. TorrentFreak reached out to the Demonoid team for more details but we have yet to hear back.

If it’s indeed an effort to beat the various censorship attempts, the effects will be limited. While Italian ISP blockades are relatively easy to circumvent with a new domain, UK ISPs are generally quick to update their blocklists.

For now Demonoid.pw is still accessible in the UK via most ISPs, although it has to be noted that some still have to implement the most recent block.

ISP blockades aside, the torrent site will definitely start with a clean sheet on Google. This means that it’s only a matter of days before Demonoid will have its own domain as the top result again, for as long as it lasts.

Source: TorrentFreak, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing and anonymous VPN services.