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Doctor Who “Into the Dalek” Workprint Fully Leaks Online

Posted: 12 Aug 2014 02:09 AM PDT

Last month the file-sharing leak phenomenon hit the upcoming season of Doctor Who.

Following a catastrophic error at a BBC office in Miami, not only were the new seasons’ scripts made available to the public, but several episodes too.

It’s unclear how many people downloaded the videos directly from the server, but it soon became clear that episode one had leaked when it appeared on The Pirate Bay and other file-sharing sites. It was an unfinished ‘workprint’ release, destined for Marcelo Camargo of Marc Drei Productions, a Brazil-based production company known for its subtitling work.

The image below shows how the content appeared on the BBC website.

Soon after rumors turned to a potential leak of episode two. A torrent was certainly uploaded to The Pirate Bay, but whoever seeded that file in the first instance quickly backed away, leaving the torrent at just a few percent complete. This led many to presume that the release was a fake, but that wasn’t to be the case. A full copy was definitely waiting somewhere.

On Sunday at least one torrent sprang back to life temporarily, surprising people who had patiently left it in their client to complete. While it reportedly went quiet again, another torrent appeared claiming to be of the same material. As both torrents completed confirmation arrived that the leak, which had lay dormant for several weeks, was indeed real.

Weighing in just short of 987MB, the episode is called ‘Into the Dalek’ and once again it is another unfinished ‘workprint’ copy, as the screenshot below shows.

In addition to being covered in text watermarks, the episode is presented in black and white, with many special effects absent. Its naming convention matches the screenshot above, suggesting that this leak was also obtained from the BBC website.

While the BBC will be disappointed not to have contained this second episode, there are currently no signs that any of the remaining episodes have leaked to file-sharing networks.

The leak is only the latest in a long line of workprint copies of movies and TV shows to be made available online. It certainly won’t be the last.

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

Immunicity Resurrected by Anti-Censorship Supporters

Posted: 11 Aug 2014 11:28 AM PDT

When Immunicity launched last year TorrentFreak spoke with the owner, who told us he created the service as a protest against increasing censorship efforts in the UK.

"We are angered by the censorship that is happening in the UK and in other countries across the globe, so we got our thinking caps on and decided to do something about it," Immunicity's operator said.

The site’s core motivation came from the famous John Gilmore quote that was prominently placed on the site’s homepage. “The Net interprets censorship as damage and routes around it.” And that was exactly what the service offered.

Those who set up their browser to work with Immunicity would gain access to blocked sites, by running their traffic through its proxy server. In just a few clicks the service was able to unblock any censored site, hassle free.

For more than a year Immunicity helped tens of thousands of people to unblock censored websites, but that was brought to an end last week. Tipped off by copyright holders, City of London Police labeled Immunicity a criminal operation and arrested its 20-year old owner.

The idea behind the police action was to send a deterrent message and make it harder for the public to access blocked sites. However, it appears to have resulted in just the opposite.

Just days after the original Immunicity site was taken offline at least two clones have appeared. Both Immunicity.co.uk and Immun.es offer the same unblocking functionality, completely free of charge.

The two new services are a direct result of the Immunicity takedown, once again showing that censorship enforcement may lead to counterproductive results. TorrentFreak spoke with the operator of Immum.es who, considering recent events, has taken the necessary precautions to stay out of police sight.

“When purchasing the domain and server I made steps to protect myself from potential adversaries,” the operator says.

Immun.es uses a hosting service that allows proxies and has unmetered bandwidth, which should guarantee smooth sailing in the short run. The operator informs us that the backend is coded in node.js, which he may release as open source later.

The end result is that the actions of City of London Police have made matters worse, from their own perspective. Instead of one Immunicity, there are now two, and possible many more to come in the future.

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