TorrentFreak Email Update

Three Strikes ISP: No Pirates Disconnected in Four Years

Posted: 13 Mar 2014 03:25 AM PDT

According to the music and movie industries, three strikes-style regimes are needed to bring the pirating Internet masses into line. Receive three strikes/complaints (six in the United States) and then some punitive deterrent measure has to kick in.

Legislation has compelled many ISPs to participate in such programs. In 2009, South Korean ISPs became the first in the world to implement a so-called graduated response scheme and 2011′s Copyright (Infringing File Sharing) Amendment Act brought the mechanism to New Zealand. The HADOPI legislation introduced a similar program to the French.

However, not all participation has been forced by law. The United States’ “six-strikes” program was introduced voluntarily last year but by that time the Irish had already gained several years’ experience of a self-imposed regime.

In 2009, Eircom, the country’s largest ISP, prepared its own three-strikes program following a deal with the major recording labels, a package which allowed Eircom to disconnect persistent infringers. So now, four years since its introduction in 2010, how many people has Eircom disconnected? A hundred? One thousand? Five?

According to the ISP – not even one.

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

Eircom’s system allows the user two notices of infringement before a third notice triggers a seven-day disconnection. A further notice means disconnection for a year. Considering the cries of rampant piracy from the Irish Recorded Music Association (IRMA), the notion that not a single subscriber from Eircom’s 700,000 customer pool has been caught file-sharing more than twice is certainly going to raise eyebrows.

Several years ago the ISP said it was sending out at least 1,000 notices per week, but now the company apparently doesn’t want anyone to know how many are going out.

“We don’t share details on the number of letters issued,” a spokesman said.

Independent.ie cites a source close to Eircom who states that many of those who received letters are “believed to have desisted from suspected filesharing” but with no figures being released on the number of warnings being sent, it’s impossible to draw any conclusions. Of course, it’s also just as easily said that those who were caught originally simply went underground with their downloading habits.

For their part, IRMA clearly thinks that the Eircom program is working. The music group is currently taking legal action to force ISP UPC to Eircom in promising to disconnect pirating customers.

If UPC loses and then follows Eircom’s example, that will presumably amount to zero subscribers by 2018.

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

Popcorn Time Deleted By Dotcom’s Mega, MPAA Lawsuit Pending?

Posted: 12 Mar 2014 07:37 AM PDT

After a decade of seemingly constant innovation in the public file-sharing space, the past few years have seen a relative decline in new ideas. This means that well presented and well thought out file-sharing solutions stand out a mile.

One such tool, the recently unveiled Popcorn Time, ticks all the boxes. Based on BitTorrent technology, the software hides all the complexities away and presents high-quality video content to the user in a way familiar to any user of Netflix.

Since piracy often drives the consumer solutions of the future, Popcorn Time’s elegance definitely warranted an article here on TF last weekend and in the days that followed dozens more appeared, all singing the praises of what is probably the most beautifully simple (yet unofficial) movie viewing solution of recent times.

But despite the rave reviews, those looking to jump on the Popcorn Time bandwagon today will find themselves disappointed.

Since its launch the software has been distributed via getpopcornti.me but the actual installer has been hosted as a public download (encryption key included) on Kim Dotcom’s Mega.co.nz. Today, however, all that came to a halt. Visitors to the previously published link are greeted by the following page.

What we know for sure is that the developers didn’t delete their own file. Speaking with TF a few moments ago, a Popcorn Time dev team member said that the file had been removed by Mega.

To try and find out more, TF contacted Kim Dotcom himself to see if he could shine some light on developments. At least for now (its night-time in New Zealand) Dotcom is maintaining radio silence.

The entrepreneur certainly knows about the software. Yesterday he tweeted about TechCrunch’s coverage of the original TF article, alongside a note directed at the MPAA with a cheeky ‘wink’ emoticon at the end. Whether he was aware at the time that Mega.co.nz was hosting the software is unknown, but it’s unlikely the gesture would’ve been appreciated in Hollywood.

“It’s strange, yesterday Kim Dotcom tweeted about us. He seemed ironic and happy. Bad luck he removed the link,” Popcorn Time’s Sebastian told TF.

The big question is why Mega deleted the file. Thus far the MPAA hasn’t answered our questions on Popcorn Time, but the Popcorn Time team told us that they have been given a headsup that the MPAA is preparing a lawsuit to take the project down.

Whether that is really the case remains to be seen, but a formal takedown demand to Mega would be a predictable prelude to a lawsuit, should the MPAA choose that route.

So what now for the biggest app of the year so far? Obviously any lawsuit could hinder the software’s development but being open source, alternative routes could conceivably be found.

That said, speaking off-the-record with someone else closely familiar with the project, TF has today learned that a plan had previously been put in place to strengthen distribution of Popcorn Time in a way that doesn’t involve relying on third-party hosting companies such as Mega.

So, will Popcorn Time quickly return to poke Hollywood in the eye with its considerable beauty and simplicity, or are things about to get ugly?

“We are discussing our next step,” Popcorn Time’s Sebastian informs TF. “This could be the end of Popcorn Time (not the community, its open source!) but maybe our goodbye as a team.”

Update: Kim Dotcom wrote to us at 03:50 local time. Obviously the Mega offices are closed.

“No idea what happened,” he told TF. “I’m not involved in Mega’s day-to-day business since I resigned from Management to work on an alternative Internet concept called Meganet, Baboom and the Internet Party.”

We’ll post additional thoughts from Kim in the hours to come.

Update: Strangely enough the installer is still available to MEGA users who are logged in to their account.

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