A pair of domains operated by The Pirate Bay are at risk of seizure following legal action by Swedish authorities. The man behind December's raid, prosecutor Fredrik Ingblad, says that the domains should be canceled or placed under state control. The domain registry involved has criticized the move. While it is technically possible to operate without one, domain names are considered vital for any mainstream website. Domains give a web service an identity and make them easy to find. This is exactly what authorities in Sweden are now trying to deny The Pirate Bay. Prosecutor Fredrik Ingblad, the man behind the now-famous operation to take the site down in December, is now spearheading the drive to shut down The Pirate Bay’s access to a pair of key domains. ThePirateBay.se and PirateBay.se are Ingblad’s targets, the former being the only domain currently being used by the site. Originally filed at the District Court of Stockholm back in 2013, the motion targets Punkt SE, the organization responsible for Sweden’s top level .SE domain. Ingblad’s assertion is that since The Pirate Bay is acting illegally, domain names are necessarily part of that site’s ‘crimes’ and should be tackled like any other part of its infrastructure. “A domain name is an aid for a site. When a site is used for criminal activities a domain is aiding crime,” Ingblad said. While actions against domain names aren’t unprecedented in Sweden, this case is unique. Punkt SE (also referred to as the Internet Infrastructure Foundation) informs TorrentFreak that while two earlier actions targeted the owners of Swedish domain names, this is the first time that the prosecutor has targeted the .SE / IIS registrar directly. “There have been two legal cases regarding forfeiture of domain names from the domain name holder (ikonm.se and [torrent site] xnt.nu). In the Pirate bay case the prosecutor wants to forfeit the domain names directly from .SE,” Punkt SE’s Maria Ekelund told TF. Also of interest is Inglblad’s demands for the domains should he prevail. The prosecutor says that Punkt SE should at the least be forbidden from allowing anyone to register the domains in future or, preferably, they should be placed under control of the Swedish government. “It is not our intention to impose any monitoring responsibility on Punkt SE. The best outcome is that the state takes over the domain,” Ingblad told DN.se. At this point it’s worth noting how far removed Punkt SE are from any online infringement. In the original Pirate Bay criminal trial the site’s former operators were found guilty of assisting in copyright infringements carried out by the site’s users. In the current case Punkt SE are being accused of assisting people who were previously found guilty of assisting other people to commit copyright infringement. Punkt SE CEO Danny Aerts previously noted that the case is unique. “In the eyes of the prosecutor, .SE’s catalogue function has become some form of accomplice to criminal activity, a perspective that is unique in Europe as far as I know,” Aerts said. “There are no previous cases of states suing a registry for abetting criminal activity or breaching copyright law.” Frederick Ingblad agrees that the case is complicated. “It is about fundamental rights versus the need to prevent crime online. It’s a balancing act, and ultimately it’s for the legislature to decide.” A few moments ago Punkt SE told us that the case will be heard at the end of April, two years since its original filing in 2013. “The serving of all the counterparties has taken a long time,” Maria Ekelund concludes.

Sony almost withdrew from the MPAA after the movie trade group failed to support the studio as it faced an unprecedented cyber-attack last year. As disquiet continues over the way the MPAA operates while burning through huge amounts of cash, big changes now lie ahead for the Hollywood group. During November 2014, Sony Pictures was subjected to one of the most aggressive cyber-attacks in living memory. The studio’s systems were almost completely compromised, with thousands of emails leaking online alongside several major films. While the hackers clearly wanted to finish Sony for good, in the end their efforts proved unsuccessful. The studio appears to be on the path to recovery with the hack costing ‘just’ $15m so far. Nevertheless, the fallout continues. Last week it was revealed that Sony Pictures co-chairman Amy Pascal will be stepping down and now further revelations suggest that the hack will have wider implications outside Sony. According to a report, Sony Pictures chairman Michael Lynton became infuriated by the complete lack of support offered to his company by the MPAA as it withered under the hack last year. While MPAA chief Chris Dodd eventually admitted that he’d handled the issue poorly, the damage had been done. Alongside disquiet over the amount of cash the MPAA burns through every year, it’s now been revealed that Lynton began making plans for Sony to take the unprecedented move of leaving the movie industry group. While this immediate crisis appears to have been averted (Lynton is said to have reversed course around Oscar time), he and other studio executives are now seeking to comprehensively alter the way the MPAA operates. Several options are currently on the table, including opening up the MPAA to new members and expanding its mandate to include TV and digital content. Also under the spotlight are costs. At the moment each of the member studios – Sony, Disney, Warner, Paramount, 20th Century Fox and Universal – pumps around $20 million into the MPAA every year (some of it going to Dodd’s salary of $3.3m) but it’s still not enough as the group is currently running at a loss. The MPAA does have assets though, such as a valuable property (mentioned on several occasions in emails leaked from the Sony hack) located in Washington near the White House. That could be sold or developed to balance the books. The New York Times managed to reach MPAA chief Chris Dodd on the telephone Thursday. When asked about the prospect for big changes at the MPAA he said: “I’m for that, completely.” Dodd was on his way to have dinner in Los Angeles with top studio executives – Sony’s Lynton included – and he confirmed that a revamp of the organization was on the menu. “He’s there. I’m glad he’s there. I think he’s handled this well,” Dodd said of Lynton, noting that some “feel more strongly” about potential changes at the MPAA than others. Part of the MPAA’s problems relate to its inability to move quickly. All member companies have to agree on a course of action before it can be taken, something highlighted only too clearly when Dodd became hamstrung when considering what to do in support of Sony. It’s questionable if that situation would improve with the addition of yet more members, but it would bring in much needed cash. The organization lost $4.4m in 2013 according to its latest tax filing. Whether the coffers can be buoyed with a cash injection from the sale of MPAA real estate seems less certain. Asked about the MPAA’s Washington building and its lobbying-friendly location, Dodd sounded a note of caution. “It’s an important spot,” he said.

Thank You Eveyone :) From everyone here on PtN we would like to thank all you guys who have downloaded and uploaded movies over the past month to recover alot of the torrents we sadly lost, You have done an amazing job in getting us back up there. The competitions are now closed and the gold has been issued to the users who posted in the forums and corsair given to the winners Thank you everyone :: Staff

This week the MPA's Stan McCoy said it's a myth that legal content is not available, hinting at an excuse often used by movie pirates. But is that really the case? A quick survey shows that Hollywood still has a long way to go before availability becomes a non-issue. Currently, only one of the ten most-pirated movies can be bought or rented online. Hollywood has a message to all those pirates who keep making excuses to download and stream films illegally. “You have no excuse.” The major movie studios have done enough to make their content legally available, launching thousands of convenient movie services worldwide, they claim. “We need to bust the myth that legal content is unavailable. Creative industries are tirelessly experimenting with new business models that deliver films, books, music, TV programs, newspapers, games and other creative works to consumers,” Stan McCoy noted on the MPAA blog this week. “In Europe, there are over 3,000 on-demand audio-visual services available to European citizens,” he adds. So is the MPA right? Is “availability” an imaginary problem that pirates use as an excuse not to pay? We decided to investigate the issue by looking at the online availability of the ten most downloaded films of last week. Since the MPAA’s blog post talked about Europe and the UK we decided to use Findanyfilm.com which focuses on UK content. The results of our small survey speak for themselves. Of the ten most pirated movies only Gone Girl is available to buy or rent online. A pretty weak result, especially since it’s still missing from the most popular video subscription service Netflix. Ranking Movie Available Online? Buy / Rent 1 Interstellar NO 2 American Sniper NO 3 Taken 3 NO 4 The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies NO 5 John Wick NO 6 Into The Woods NO 7 Fury NO 8 Gone Girl Rent/Buy 9 American Heist NO 10 The Judge NO Yes, the results above are heavily skewed because they only include movies that were released recently. Looking up films from 2011 will result in a much more favorable outcome in terms of availability. But isn’t that the problem exactly? Most film fans are not interested in last year’s blockbusters, they want to able to see the new stuff in their home too. And since the movie industry prefers to keep its windowing business model intact, piracy is often the only option to watch recent movies online. So when the MPA’s Stan McCoy says that lacking availability is a myth, he’s ignoring the elephant in the room. For as long as the film industry keeps its windowing business model intact, releasing films online months after their theatrical release, people will search for other ways to access content, keeping their piracy habit alive. Admittedly, changing a business that has relied on complex licensing schemes and windowing strategies for decades isn’t easy. But completely ignoring that these issues play a role is a bit shortsighted. There’s no doubt that the movie studios are making progress. It’s also true that many people choose to pirate content that is legally available, simply because it’s free. There is no good excuse for these freeriders, but it’s also a myth that Hollywood has done all it can to eradicate piracy. Even its own research proves them wrong. Earlier this year a KPMG report, commissioned by NBC Universal, showed that only 16% of the most popular and critically acclaimed films are available via Netflix and other on-demand subscription services. The missing 84% includes recent titles but also older ones that are held back due to rights issues. Clearly, availability is still an issue. So if Hollywood accuses Google of breeding pirates, then it’s safe to say the same about Hollywood.

Tracker Name: AsiaTorrents [AT] Genre: General Sign-up Link: https://www.asiatorrents.me/index.php?page=signup Closing date: Soon Additional information: AsiaTorrents (AT) is an Asian Private Torrent Tracker for Asian Movies / General / Tv

Turkey’s top religious body has handed down a fatwa in response to a question raised on the issue of illegal downloading. Obtaining content without permission from creators is forbidden, the Diyanet said. Meanwhile, a Catholic Church debate on the same topic raised an interesting dilemma. For millions of people around the world the word of their particular God provides a moral compass for living life in an appropriate manner. While there are plenty of variations, most faiths agree that it is unacceptable to steal, for example. Inevitably there are gray areas and the issue of copyright provides a perfect example. Rightsholders constantly push the notion that infringement is theft so it’s no surprise that some people draw the same conclusion. Over in Turkey the country’s top religious body has been handling the issue at the behest of citizens. Is downloading content without permission from rightsholders acceptable under Islam? In response to a question asking whether the activity is ‘halal’ (permissible), the Religious Affairs Directorate, or Diyanet as it’s known locally, issued a fatwa (ruling). Great value should be placed on labor and there should be opposition to “unjust enrichment” from the work of others,” Diyanet said. “The Prophet also stressed the importance of paying for one’s labor on several occasions,” it said, warning that “[property] rights violations [are still common] as technology develops and human labor has started to appear in more diverse forms.” “Such unfair acts [such as downloading pirated software] not only usurp the individuals’ rights, they also discourage people who work in those sectors from creating new products, turning the matter into a public rights violation in a broader sense,” Diyanet said. But it wasn’t only followers of Islam that required guidance on file-sharing from religious bodies this week. The same question was also posed to the Catholic Church via the site Crux. “My boyfriend is a tech geek, by profession and vocation. He was an early adopter of the Internet and believes strongly in its founding values — that ‘information wants to be free’,” the question from ‘Starving Artist’ began. “I admire his geek credentials and tech skills, but there’s something he does, with pride, that bugs me a lot. He pirates everything. “I am a writer, and can earn a living only if other people buy the things I write. I feel my boyfriend is undermining me — if not directly, then indirectly. Who is right?” The response was predictable – the woman’s boyfriend is “stealing” – but the advice for negotiating the problem in the relationship is a novel one. “Agree that whenever he spends $7.99 on a movie instead of downloading it for free, the two of you will put a few cents — representing the artist’s take — in a jar,” Crux wrote. “When the jar is full, the two of you can go out to a romantic dinner and have the kind of human interaction that no download can provide.” Crux contributor Chris McLaughlin was underwhelmed by the reply. “The purpose of the copyright monopoly (which is a law of man not of God) isn’t to enable somebody to make money, and never was. Its sole purpose was and is to advance humanity as a whole. The monopoly begins and ends with the public interest; it does not exist for the benefit of the author and inventor,” McLaughlin writes. “I wonder if the Church would have ever got started at all, if Matthew, Mark, Luke and John had demanded a royalty every time Paul set up in a new city.”

Many uploaders at KickassTorrents have voiced their frustration after tens of thousands of files disappeared from the site in a few days. Copyright holders are increasingly 'destroying' the hard work of these pirates, who plan to 'fight back' this Sunday with "KickAss Upload Day." As the largest torrent site on the Internet, KickassTorrents (KAT) has become a prime target for copyright holders. In terms of daily visitors KAT is comparable to The Pirate Bay at its height, but there’s one key difference. Unlike TPB, KAT accepts DMCA takedown notices so rightsholders have the option to remove infringing content from the site. Thus far the popular torrent index has processed more than half a million requests. While that’s already a decent number, last week many KAT users noticed that content had started to disappear at an increasing rate. “In the past 48 hours over 200 of my uploads have been removed due to the DMCA. In the past four years only 100 had been removed. Does anyone know what’s going on?” KAT’s “elite mod” Politux wrote a few days ago. “I haven’t uploaded as much as you, but I’ve lost 6% of my torrents to DMCA,” another user replied, before many more joined in to count their losses. Ironically, the thread where the discussion on the takedown purge started was quickly removed. But that didn’t stop the complaints from pouring in. In several forum posts and blog entries people started discussing the takedowns, with some even threatening to leave the site over it. Looking at KAT’s takedown stats we see that there has indeed been a significant increase in DMCA takedowns. Over the past week KAT has removed close to 30,000 torrents, which is more than 5% of all files that have been removed in the site’s entire history. While the spike may just be temporary, KAT admin Mr.Gooner has seized the opportunity to respond in style, declaring February 1st to be “KickAss Upload Day.” “Due to a recent rise in Torrents deleted because of copyright reasons and the mass of users rightfully having a grumble I suggested we should have a day like this as a ‘fight back’ if you like,” Mr.Gooner writes. “A way of encouraging everyone to upload and let these removals go over our heads, to work together as a unit & to continue enjoying each and every minute of KAT and one another’s uploads,” he adds. The idea seems to be catching on as the call to action has already generated hundreds of replies, with many uploaders vowing to upload as much as they can. On an average day KAT lists roughly 5,000 new torrents, but there may be a few more today. Whether copyright holders are planning a counter-response is unknown, but based on the reactions thus far the DMCA whack-a-mole won’t end anytime soon.

Five men in the UK have pleaded guilty to conspiracy to defraud for their participation in the unlawful release of movies onto the Internet. The case, which was heard in Crown Court this week, features big numbers including the distribution of up to 9,000 movies with five million viewers. Placing unreleased movies onto the Internet whilst located in the UK is a risky business and one likely to attract the attention of anti-piracy companies if done on a large-scale. FACT, the Federation Against Copyright Theft, are particularly vigilant in this area and have launch numerous investigations into those it believes have infringed their movie partners’ copyrights. On February 1 2013, FACT announced that they had joined police officers from the Economic Crime Unit to carry out raids in the UK targeting four addresses in the West Midlands. Following a hearing in September 2014, the case was heard in Wolverhampton Crown Court this week. It’s the culmination of three years’ investigative work by FACT into the “source and supply” of copyrighted movies. The accused are: Graeme Reid, 40, from Chesterfield, Scott Hemming, 25, and Reece Baker, 22, both from Birmingham, Sahil Rafiq, 24, of Wolverhampton and Ben Cooper, 33, of Willenhall. In line with previous FACT-led prosecutions, copyright infringement is completely off the table. All men pleaded guilty to Conspiracy to Defraud a charge that previously saw SurfTheChannel’s Anton Vickerman jailed for four years. In an earlier FACT press release the men were referred to as members of The Scene but one of the accused informs TorrentFreak that simply isn’t true. “They say we were in The Scene – no, we were P2P,” he said. Unless other connections come out in court, his claims appear to be true. TorrentFreak has learned that the investigation spanned several BitTorrent-based release groups including 26K, RemixHD and UNiQUE, plus torrent sites Unleashthe.net (the site run by busted US-based release group IMAGiNE) and TheResistance. Nevertheless, the case marks the first time that a group of movie releasers have ever gone to court in the UK and the signs are not promising for the men. Big numbers are being thrown around including the unauthorized release of up to 9,000 movies alongside claims that up to five million people may have viewed them. At the end of the hearing the men were released on bail. They’re now in the hands of FACT’s private prosecution and whatever the court decides is an appropriate sentence following their guilty pleas. The extent of both will be revealed at a hearing later in the year.

VPN users are facing a massive security flaw as websites can easily see their home IP-addresses through WebRTC. The vulnerability is limited to supporting browsers such as Firefox and Chrome, and appears to affect Windows users only. Luckily the security hole is relatively easy to fix. The Snowden revelations have made it clear that online privacy is certainly not a given. Just a few days ago we learned that the Canadian Government tracked visitors of dozens of popular file-sharing sites. As these stories make headlines around the world interest in anonymity services such as VPNs has increased, as even regular Internet users don’t like the idea of being spied on. Unfortunately, even the best VPN services can’t guarantee to be 100% secure. This week a very concerning security flaw revealed that it’s easy to see the real IP-addresses of many VPN users through a WebRTC feature. With a few lines of code websites can make requests to STUN servers and log users’ VPN IP-address and the “hidden” home IP-address, as well as local network addresses. The vulnerability affects WebRTC-supporting browsers including Firefox and Chrome and appears to be limited to Windows machines. A demo published on GitHub by developer Daniel Roesler allows people to check if they are affected by the security flaw. The demo claims that browser plugins can’t block the vulnerability, but luckily this isn’t entirely true. There are several easy fixes available to patch the security hole. Chrome users can install the WebRTC block extension or ScriptSafe, which both reportedly block the vulnerability. Firefox users should be able to block the request with the NoScript addon. Alternatively, they can type “about:config” in the address bar and set the “media.peerconnection.enabled” setting to false. TF asked various VPN providers to share their thoughts and tips on the vulnerability. Private Internet Access told us that the are currently investigating the issue to see what they can do on their end to address it. TorGuard informed us that they issued a warning in a blog post along with instructions on how to stop the browser leak. Ben Van Der Pelt, TorGuard’s CEO, further informed us that tunneling the VPN through a router is another fix. “Perhaps the best way to be protected from WebRTC and similar vulnerabilities is to run the VPN tunnel directly on the router. This allows the user to be connected to a VPN directly via Wi-Fi, leaving no possibility of a rogue script bypassing a software VPN tunnel and finding one’s real IP,” Van der Pelt says. “During our testing Windows users who were connected by way of a VPN router were not vulnerable to WebRTC IP leaks even without any browser fixes,” he adds. While the fixes above are all reported to work, the leak is a reminder that anonymity should never be taken for granted. As is often the case with these type of vulnerabilities, VPN and proxy users should regularly check if their connection is secure. This also includes testing against DNS leaks and proxy vulnerabilities.

After Spanish users increasingly reported being barred from the site, yesterday ISP Vodafone denied it had taken any action against The Pirate Bay. Today, however, the company admits that it is blocking the site after being ordered to do so by the Spanish government. After years of developing a reputation as a piracy safe-haven, in recent times Spain has found itself under intense pressure to clamp down on copyright infringement. After a serious of tweaks and adjustments to local copyright law, January 1st the country introduced tough new legislation backed up by hefty punishments for site operators. Potential €600,000 fines were enough to scare some sites offline. Others, such as Pablo Soto’s Torrents.fm, disappeared without comment. While the climate in Spain is clearly a different one in 2015, there are now fresh signs of a new crackdown. Spanish users of local ISP Vodafone have been reporting that their visits to The Pirate Bay are being redirected to a new URL – Castor.vodafone.es. Domain stats reveal that ThePirateBay.se and ThePirateBay.org are indeed two of the top referrers to that URL and that 100% of its traffic comes from Spain. When Vodafone users began accusing their ISP of blocking The Pirate Bay without a court order, local media approached Vodafone for comment. In a statement yesterday the ISP said it had no knowledge of any blockade. This morning, however, Vodafone changed its mind. The company now confirms it has received a blocking order from the Spanish government. Vodafone says that it has an obligation to comply with an order “issued by a competent authority”, in this case, the Ministry of Culture. “In the current Copyright Act, there is a list of authorities who can order the blocking of a website to comply with legislation. That’s what we did,” a source at the company said. Speaking with Gizmodo in Spain, Vodafone could not confirm the exact date when it began blocking the site but said it complied with the official request around Christmas. That would certainly fall into line with early problems experienced by some users. It is currently unclear whether other ISPs in Spain have received the same instructions from the Ministry of Culture since ThePirateBay.se remains accessible via all ISPs except Vodafone. Other major ISPs including Movistar and Orange say they cannot currently confirm if they have received similar blocking instructions from the government. Today The Pirate Bay remains non-functional as a torrent site but its landing page, currently adorned with a phoenix, suggests a return to glory this coming weekend. If it does, Vodafone users will need a workaround.

TheGeeks Weekend Freeleech #221 Discussion Of the Week: What's the geekiest thing you've ever baked? Discussion on this topic ->https://thegeeks.bz/forums.php?actio...topic&topicid=... And last but not least, this week's FLOTW torrents: The Great British Bake Off - Masterclass - Episode 1 (9th October 2014) Mary Berry and Paul Hollywood take up the reins to make the signature, technical and show-stopper challenges that they set the bakers in the first couple of weeks of the series and show what they would have done had the roles been reversed in the tent. Paul makes a blackcurrant and liquorice swirly swiss roll, whilst Mary takes us through the very first technical of the series - her perfect cherry cake with lemon icing. Paul demonstrates how to make two types of savoury biscuits, and Mary shows us the correct way to make florentines, before finishing with her show-stopping miniature classic coffee and walnut cakes. The Great British Bake Off - Masterclass - S05E02 Mary Berry and Paul Hollywood bake the challenges that they set the bakers in the bread and desserts weeks on the Great British Bake Off. Paul takes us through his ciabatta technical and his show-stopping roquefort and walnut loaf one step at a time, and Mary shows us how to make her layered tiramisu cake. Paul makes chocolate volcano fondant puds and Mary finishes off with her flamboyant neapolitan baked alaska. The Great British Bake Off - Masterclass - S05E03 Mary Berry and Paul Hollywood tackle the signature, technical and show-stopper challenges from the second half of the series. Mary makes a swirling chocolate and orange tart and the most complicated technical challenge of the series, the Swedish prinsesstarta. Paul dusts off his pastry skills making mini sausage plaits and demystifies the delicious kouign amann, which so baffled the bakers in the tent. Finally, Mary constructs her own version of the two-tiered dobos torte, complete with caramel of all kinds, with hints and tips on how to achieve perfection at home. The Great British Bake Off - Masterclass - S05E04 Mary Berry and Paul Hollywood create the signature, technical and show-stopping challenges from the last part of the Great British Bake Off. Mary makes her lemon and raspberry eclairs, while Paul gets fruity with his cherry and chocolate loaf. Paul explains how to stretch your skills to make povitica, followed by his show-stopping raspberry and chocolate doughnuts. And Mary finishes with her elaborate double chocolate entremets that will impress at any dinner party. They can be downloaded for free at 00:00 am Saturday UK Time (currently UTC+1/GMT+1) Check your local UK time by clicking HERE. Don't forget... these torrents are only free until Sunday 25 January 23.59.59 UK Time. After that time they will no longer be free! If you are still leeching at that time then you will have the download added to your download total.

Six men went on trial this week accused of blackmail and extortion after thousands were sent threats demanding cash payments for alleged adult video downloads. Former Pirate Bay spokesman Peter Sunde hopes for a conviction, but wonders if Hollywood content would've been handled differently. For more than a decade copyright holders around the world have been doing their best to extract money from those who download content without permission. The RIAA were probably the pioneers but today it’s the adult industry making the most noise. Porn is a convenient weapon in this landscape. Few people want their adult content viewing habits to be made public so the chances of targets paying up following an unauthorized download are anecdotally higher than for regular entertainment content. Out to make as much money as possible, this assumption wasn’t lost on a group of adult business ‘entrepreneurs’ based in Sweden. Operating out of the region of Skåne, two years ago the individuals began sending threatening communications to people they claimed had downloaded pornographic content from sites without permission. The websites in question were all operated by the men. In total around 4,000 people all over Sweden received ‘invoices’ for alleged illegal downloads. Each were warned that if they failed to pay the amounts stipulated they would be reported to the police and their activities made public. While some people paid, others decided to take action. According to SR.se, police received 1,000 complaints from members of the public ranging from 10-year-old children to pensioners. After an investigation the police began to view the case as criminally motivated. As a result this week six men went on trial in the Malmö district court accused of generating around $240,000 via extortion and blackmail. During a break in proceedings one of the accused defended his actions. “If people are stealing and taking things that do not belong to them they must face the consequences. It also applies to porn,” said Dennies Pettersson, one of the main defendants in the case. In an article published in Nyheter24 this week, former Pirate Bay spokesman Peter Sunde said he hopes the men get convicted but wonders if the type of content involved affected the way the case was being handled. “What I think is interesting and worth a little thought is how the situation would be if it were not porn but possibly pop music or Hollywood movies that had been downloaded? Who would’ve been the deceiver in the state’s eyes in that situation?” Sunde asks. Due to the numbers of victims to be heard and its complexity (the investigation documents run to 20,000 pages) the Malmö district court has set aside a whole month to handle the case.

It seems that hardly a day goes by on the IRC help channel without someone popping in to get their email or password reset because their account got hijacked. Is the site under attack by some sophisticated network of hackers who use cutting edge decryption tools to get into user accounts? Nope. It's the result of people having passwords that are ridiculously easy to guess. Stuff like "password" or "123456789." It's no trouble at all for hijackers punch that in, change the default email to the account and lock you out. So, if you are one of the hundreds (yes, HUNDREDS) of users in this situation who haven't yet been stung, change your password to something harder NOW. Combinations including numbers and symbols are always best, but anything that isn't blatantly obvious is an improvement. Make it the name of the town you grew up in. The name of your favorite pet. The name of the street where you pick your cheap hookers up at. ANYTHING.

dear users, this issue is being worked on as i send this to you and hopefully should be fixed very soon.. Apologies for the delay in this but i am optomistic that everything will be recitified very soon. Thank you for your patience on this issue and i will message you again soon xxxxxxxxx NOTICE: This is a mass pm, it has been sent to everyone

Since the raid in December not much information has been released by authorities in Sweden, but the size of the operation to shut down The Pirate Bay is now becoming evident. According to a source present at the time, police seized at least 50 servers and left no hardware unturned. The first major raid on The Pirate Bay took place on May 31 2006 in Stockholm, Sweden. It was a dramatic affair, with dozens of police involved, hardware seized and individuals arrested. But while authorities previously shut down the ‘Bay in a blaze of glory while pressing the maximum publicity button (most probably to send a signal to the United States), this time around things were markedly different. Announcements, when they arrived, were much more considered – vague even. “There has been a crackdown on a server room in Greater Stockholm. This is in connection with violations of copyright law,” read a statement from Paul Pintér, police national coordinator for IP enforcement. It seems likely that the more modest tone was the product of 12 years of virtual humiliation at the hands of the world’s most arrogant torrent site. Big announcements of raids and permanent closures are hard to retract when a site returns in 72 hours as it did following the raids in 2006. This time around the raid was confirmed as taking place in a datacenter located in Nacka outside Stockholm, but very few details have been made available since. However, according to new information, police left no stone unturned to ensure that The Pirate Bay was properly taken down. A witness to the raid has now confirmed that more than 10 officers turned up at the datacenter which, rather dramatically, is itself embedded into the side of a mountain just outside the capital. Alongside regular law enforcement officials were a forensics team tasked with securing all available related digital evidence on site. Previously prosecutor Fredrik Ingblad said the investigation into the site would take months and now it’s becoming clear why that’s the case. To ensure no piece of evidence was left behind, on December 9, 2014 the officers present seized around 50 servers under suspicion of being connected to The Pirate Bay. That’s somewhat more than the 21 virtual servers the site previously claimed to operate. According to a source familiar with events last month, police not only took away servers that had been live at the time of the raid, but they also gained access to the datacenter’s storage rooms. From there officers seized old equipment, just in case any of it had been used to operate The Pirate Bay. While shutting down the site was the main goal of the police, evidence is now being sifted through as part of a criminal investigation. Earlier this month prosecutor Fredrik Ingblad confirmed that the process would like take months to complete. With that underway, speculation continues as to whether The Pirate Bay will ever return. Various hints and suggestions have been appearing on the site’s temporary homepage but as yet not a single torrent or magnet link has been indexed. Nevertheless, the site remains massively popular. Understandably ThePirateBay.se took a massive hit in traffic when it stopped offering content in December but against all the odds the site is still attracting millions of visitors. According to Alexa, the site is still the 159th most-trafficked in the world. Finally, as reported earlier this week, the site’s homepage was recently hosted in Moldova but protected by Cloudflare. While the anti-DDoS service is still in place, the site does not appear to be operational from its earlier IP address. On the move already? Only eight days to find out…….