TorrentFreak Email Update |
- Torrentz.eu Domain Suspended After UK Police Request
- Pirate Party Keeps a Seat At The European Parliament
- Top 10 Most Pirated Movies of The Week – 05/26/14
- Copyright Troll Demands Comcast’s Six Strikes Data for Lawsuit
| Torrentz.eu Domain Suspended After UK Police Request Posted: 26 May 2014 02:44 AM PDT
The police started by sending warning letters to site owners, asking them to go legit or shut down. Late last year this was followed by a campaign targeted at domain registrars, asking them to suspend the domain names of several “illegal” sites. A few days ago police sent out another round of requests to various domain name registrars, asking them to suspend the domains of several allegedly infringing sites. Before the weekend we reported that the cyberlocker search engine FileCrop was targeted, and today the same happened to Torrentz.eu. Starting a few hours ago the popular search engine became unreachable after its DNS entries were pointed at ns1.blocked.netart.pl and ns2.blocked.netart.pl. The operator of Torrentz informs TorrentFreak that the site’s main domain name was suspended by its registrar following a request from police in the UK. The site is still registered to the Torrentz team, who hope that they will be able to lift the suspension or move the domain name elsewhere. Several other Torrentz domains remain unaffected, and the site can still be accessed via the Torrentz.ch and Torrentz.me domains. Torrentz is the most prominent site thus far to lose control of its domain following action by UK police. With millions of visitors a day it’s one of the largest torrent sites on the Internet. The site is also an unusual target since it is a pure meta-search engine, showing nothing more than a search box on the homepage. The actions of the Police Intellectual Property Crime Unit are not without controversy. While some registrars are willing to cooperate, Canada-based easyDNS previously refused to comply and successfully defended its customers. "Correct me if I'm wrong, but I always thought it was something that gets decided in a court of law, as opposed to 'some guy on the internet' sending emails. While that's plenty reason enough for some registrars to take down domain names, it doesn't fly here," easyDNS' CEO Mark Jeftovic said at the time. In Torrentz’s case, however, it appears that an email from the UK Police was good enough to have their domain suspended. However, the site’s owner should still be able to regain full control over the domain name. Previously, ICANN’s Transfer Dispute Resolution Policy panel ruled that registrars can’t hold domain names hostage simply because a law enforcement agency believes it may be infringing. "Although there are compelling reasons why the request from a recognized law enforcement agency such as the City of London Police should be honored, the Transfer Policy is unambiguous in requiring a court order before a Registrar of Record may deny a request to transfer a domain name," the panel wrote in its decision. "To permit a registrar of record to withhold the transfer of a domain based on the suspicion of a law enforcement agency, without the intervention of a judicial body, opens the possibility for abuse by agencies far less reputable than the City of London Police," it added. The above means that there’s a good chance that Torrentz will be able to get its domain unsuspended, or transferred to a new registrar at least. Time will tell if this is indeed the case. TorrentFreak has asked the UK Police Intellectual Property Crime Unit for a comment on the renewed suspension requests, but we haven’t heard back from them thus far – today is a national holiday in the UK. Photo: Michael Theis Source: TorrentFreak, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing and anonymous VPN services.    | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Pirate Party Keeps a Seat At The European Parliament Posted: 26 May 2014 12:20 AM PDT
In more than a dozen countries local Pirate Parties were also present at the ballots, with serious ambitions. During the last elections in 2009 the Pirate Party surprised friend and foe by gaining two seats at the European Parliament. This year they hoped to equal or improve upon that success, but the goal proved out of reach. The final results show that the German Pirate Party is certain of a seat, with 1.4% of the total vote. This means that 27-year-old Julia Reda will represent the Pirates in Brussels during the next five years. In the Czech Republic the Pirate Party came awfully close too. They achieved 4.78% of the total vote where 5% was needed, just 3,337 votes short of a seat in Brussels. The party has announced that it will appeal the 5% barrier. In Sweden, where it all started, the Pirate Party managed 2.2% of the total vote. That’s down from 7.1% during the previous European Election and not enough for a continued stay in Brussels for the Swedish Pirates. In Luxembourg the Pirate Party did very well with 4.23% of the total vote. However, this doesn’t translate into a seat since the country only has six seats available. The result does mean that the party will receive funding from Europe during the years to come, which was an aim they had shared with us two weeks ago. In all the other countries where Pirates were on the ballot the achievements are also below the threshold for a seat. This includes Finland where Pirate Bay co-founder Peter Sunde participated. Sunde is the most popular Pirate there, but the party only managed 0.7% of the vote, not enough for him to be elected. While many had hoped for at least two seats, or more, the German seat is still quite an impressive achievement. When the Swedish Pirate Party entered the European Parliament five years ago most people thought it was a fluke. However, the Pirates managed to stay in Brussels, supported by the votes of more than a million people all across Europe. This sentiment is shared by Rick Falkvinge, founder of the first Pirate Party. “As a movement, we went from two seats to one, being ridiculously close to three seats,” Falkvinge tells TorrentFreak. “Still, there’s no points for a near-hit in any game. The most important thing was that there would be Pirates in the European Parliament after this election day, and we achieved that. The story continues, and there’s representation on the inside,” he adds. Source: TorrentFreak, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing and anonymous VPN services.   | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Top 10 Most Pirated Movies of The Week – 05/26/14 Posted: 25 May 2014 11:24 PM PDT
3 Days to kill is the most downloaded movie this week. The data for our weekly download chart is estimated by TorrentFreak, and is for informational and educational reference only. All the movies in the list are BD/DVDrips unless stated otherwise. RSS feed for the weekly movie download chart.
Source: TorrentFreak, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing and anonymous VPN services.   | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Copyright Troll Demands Comcast’s Six Strikes Data for Lawsuit Posted: 25 May 2014 08:27 AM PDT
A cornerstone of the system sees the major labels and movie studios sending notices of infringement to ISPs which they in turn forward to their subscribers. Records of these notices are then held in a database, which copyright holders in the six-strike scheme may subsequently use in legal action, if they feel that is appropriate. "The Content Owner Representatives [MPAA / RIAA] or any other member of the Participating Content Owners Group may use such reports or data as the basis for seeking a Subscriber's identity through a subpoena or order or other lawful process,” the agreement reads. Trouble is, any data on file is at risk of being accessed by a third party if they can convince a judge they have good reason to obtain it. And that’s exactly what the largest filer of copyright complaints in the United States is now attempting to do. Malibu Media is well-known as a filer of many lawsuits against alleged file-sharers. Indeed, earlier this week the company was featured in an article which confirmed its status as the most prolific filer of copyright lawsuits in the entire United States. In a case which has been documented by FightCopyrightTrolls since its initial February 2013 filing, Malibu has been struggling to pin an infringement on Kelley Tashiro, a middle-aged female nurse from Indianapolis. Faced with an uphill battle, Malibu has now turned to Tashiro’s ISP, Comcast, to find out what information it holds on her. Perhaps inevitably, Malibu is attempting to find out whether or not the IP address allocated to Tashiro has ever been subject to infringement allegations by other copyright holders. In addition to details of any DMCA notices forwarded, Malibu has asked a judge to order the release of data being held as part of the Copyright Alerts System. “DMCA notices and six strike notices are relevant because these notices may prove a pattern of infringement or notice that infringement is occurring or both,” Malibu writes in its motion. In an indication of just how desperate Malibu has become, the company also wants details of Tashiro’s bandwidth consumption, as if that somehow indicates whether she is an infringer or not. “Bandwidth usage is relevant because people who are heavy BitTorrent users use significantly more bandwidth than normal internet users,” the company’s sweeping generalization reads. In summary, Malibu points out to the court that without this and other items of information from Comcast they have no chance of winning the case, another indication of how flimsy IP address-only evidence is now being viewed. Whether Comcast will comply or not remains to be seen. A similar case in April 2013 which demanded information from Verizon was subsequently dropped. Source: TorrentFreak, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing and anonymous VPN services.   | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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