Torrentfreak: “Dallas Buyers Club Wants Cash From European Pirates” plus 2 more |
- Dallas Buyers Club Wants Cash From European Pirates
- Top 10 Most Pirated Movies of The Week – 12/22/14
- Pirate Bay Domain Back Online, Waving a Pirate Flag
| Dallas Buyers Club Wants Cash From European Pirates Posted: 22 Dec 2014 01:08 AM PST
Earlier this year Voltage began filing lawsuits against alleged downloaders of its hit movie Dallas Buyers Club. In common with all similar actions the end game is not a full trial but cash settlements from worried Internet account holders. But while there are millions of torrent users in the U.S., Voltage and its partners are now venturing overseas. According to Danish news site Berlingske, the Dallas Buyers Club piracy-into-profit model is now operating in Europe. In a letter obtained by the publication after being sent to an alleged Dallas Buyers Club downloader, veteran anti-piracy lawfirm Maqs demands a cash payment of around $250 to make a supposed lawsuit disappear. The lawfirm increases its chances of a ‘hit’ by writing to the ISP account holder but noting that payment should be made “if you, or someone in your household” acknowledges having downloaded or shared the movie. “We know that in a particular household is a computer where this [piracy] has occurred from. That is why we have been asked to contact these people by the film company,” Clausen said. In further comments the lawyer acknowledges that the Internet account holder may not be the infringer and that it could’ve been a child, neighbor, or other third-party, but whether targets will understand the implications of this remains to be seen. These days chasing down individual file-sharers is almost unheard of in Denmark, so it’s unclear whether targets of Voltage and its Danish partners will be aware of when they’re liable and when they not. Unsurprisingly the early signs indicate that some people are simply paying up. “Some [letter recipients] are happy to be made aware that they have done something illegal. They have recognized this, paid us, and learned their lesson. It is positive and also the response that we have hoped for,” Clausen says. As is common in these cases, some letter recipients have told the lawfirm that they have open wifi that could’ve been used by anyone. Some claim they don’t even have a computer. Responses from others are more predictable. “A few have responded aggressively and negatively to the letter, and several have not responded at all,” Clausen adds. But for all groups, there is a deadline. Maqs informs its targets that if no payment is made in 15 days, it may “be necessary to institute legal proceedings”. Given past experience it seems unlikely that will transpire but Maqs says that all options remain open. “It is a choice by the rights owner, whether one wants to go to court with this later,” Clausen concludes. It comes as no surprise that Denmark has been introduced to so-called mass BitTorrent lawsuits and if predictions hold out, expect many more European countries to become similar targets in 2015. Source: TorrentFreak, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing and anonymous VPN services.    | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Top 10 Most Pirated Movies of The Week – 12/22/14 Posted: 21 Dec 2014 11:40 PM PST
The Equalizer is the most downloaded movie for the second week in a row. 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.   | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Pirate Bay Domain Back Online, Waving a Pirate Flag Posted: 21 Dec 2014 12:01 PM PST
Despite the rise of various TPB clones and rumors of reincarnations, thepiratebay.se domain remained inaccessible, until today. This morning the Pirate Bay’s nameservers were updated to ones controlled by their domain name registrar binero.se A few minutes ago came another big change when The Pirate Bay’s main domain started pointing to a new IP-address (178.175.135.122) connected to a server hosted in Moldova.  Thus far there’s not much to see. The domain only displays a waving pirate flag, but the recent changes will give many estranged Pirate Bay users hope that the site will be restored to its former glory The DNS changes haven’t propagated everywhere yet, but soon most people should see the following landing page.  Whether a full comeback is in the works remains a mystery for now. Interestingly, the source of the page shows that the pirate flag is hosted by Isohunt.to’s “Open Bay” site where it serves as a background. TorrentFreak asked both the Pirate Bay and Isohunt.to crews for a comment, thus far without a response. It could be that TPB and Isohunt.to are collaborating on something, hopefully we’ll hear more on that soon. A few days ago Isohunt.to launched “The Open Bay” initiative, which allows anyone to run a “copy” of The Pirate Bay. The TPB crew previously said that it would like to see as many clones as possible, so perhaps the domain will link to that for the time being. "We've always lived by Kopimi. We love being cloned. It would be amazing if, like in the classic movie Spartacus, everyone could stand up and say "I am The Pirate Bay," TPB’s Mr 10100100000 told us earlier. Time will tell whether Pirate Bay’s “comeback” will be a full one, an encouragement for people to start their own clones, or something completely different. — Update: Update: The page also includes and ad code, so people may see popups and other nasty stuff. Update: Isohunt.to responded and says it has nothing to do with the ‘comeback.’ “They simply included the video from our domain. And right now we have no idea what the TPB crew want to say by this,” Isohunt.to tells us. Update: TPB added a clock/timer to the site now (using Flipclock) counting the time that’s passed since the raid. Update: The JyO7wNzc8xht47QKWohfDVj6Sc2qH+X5tBCT+uetocIJcjQnp/2f1ViEBR+ty0Cz AES string looks ‘promising’ http://thepiratebay.se/aes.png. Breaking story, updates may follow. Source: TorrentFreak, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing and anonymous VPN services.   | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
For years lawyers for movie outfit Voltage Pictures have been writing to U.S. based Internet users demanding cash for alleged copyright infringements. Judging from its legal persistence the company has probably made some decent profits while doing so.
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