Here's a novel idea: Instead of suing for patent infringement, why not just share the intellectual property? This is exactly what Microsoft and Canon have decided to do. The two companies announced Wednesday that they've signed a patent cross-licensing agreement, which gives them the right to use the intellectual property on some of each other's products. "This collaborative approach with Canon allows us to deliver inventive technologies that benefit consumers around the world," Microsoft IP Licensing general manager Nick Psyhogeos said in astatement. "Microsoft believes cooperative licensing is an effective way to accelerate innovation while reducing patent disputes." Patent cross-licensing agreements are nothing new. In fact, a lot of tech companies over the years have made such deals with their colleagues and even their competitors. For example, earlier this year Samsung entered into three separate patent cross-licensing agreements with Google, Cisco Systems, and Ericsson.Microsoft and Canon did not disclose the terms of the deal or say exactly what types of patents they'll be sharing. But, they did say the agreement "covers a broad range of products and services" and applied to their "growing patent portfolios." The companies said that certain digital imaging and mobile consumer products have been included in the agreement. As for Microsoft, since it launched its IP licensing program in 2003, it has entered into more than 1,100 licensing agreements with various companies.

Think different: A Tag Heuer billboard in LA in 2009 shows golf legend Tiger Woods, who lent his name to one of the Swiss company's luxury watches.David McNew/Getty Images Apple has hired a top sales executive from Swiss luxury-watch maker Tag Heuer, as the iPhone and iPad maker purportedly gears up for an October launch of a smartwatch. Jean-Claude Biver, head of watch brands at luxury-goods conglomerate LVMH, which counts Tag Heuer among its subsidiaries, told CNBC on Friday that Apple had signed on Tag Heuer's sales director. A later report in Apple-focused publication 9to5Mac cited an unnamed source in identifying the new hire as Patrick Pruniaux, Tag Heuer's vice president of sales and retail. Reuters later confirmed. "If it had been a direct competitor, I would have felt a bit betrayed, but if he goes to Apple I think it is a great experience for him," CNBC quoted Biver as saying. Biver also told Reuters that Swiss watchmakers would have to keep an eye on Apple. A September or October launch of an iWatch has generally been predicted, with Reuters quoting anonymous sources inreporting late last month that Apple had hired Quanta to start mass producing the wearable in July for launch as early as October. The news agency has also noted, citing a patent official, that Apple has applied for a trademark on "iWatch" in Japan. And CNET's Scott Stein has pointed out that though there was no mention of an Apple wearable at the company's recent WWDC developers conference, there were plenty of announcements that would suggest the imminent arrival of the iWatch."The iWatch will have the same status symbol power as many other Apple products, especially at the beginning," he told the news agency. "I personally believe it has the potential to be a threat for the industry, and it should not stay with its arms crossed." Pruniaux isn't the first executive Apple has plucked from the luxury-goods sector. Last July, it hired former Yves Saint Laurent CEO Paul Deneve to work on special projects, and in October it brought on Angela Ahrendts, former CEO of UK luxury retailer Burberry Group, to oversee its retail operations.

Rightscorp, a prominent piracy monitoring firm that works with Warner Bros. and other copyright holders, claims that 140 U.S. ISPs are actively disconnecting repeat copyright infringers. While these numbers sound rather impressive, there's a lot more to the story. For more than a decade copyright holders have been sending ISPs takedown notices to alert account holders that their connections are being used to share copyrighted material. These notices are traditionally nothing more than a warning, hoping to scare file-sharers into giving up their habit. However, anti-piracy outfit Rightscorp has been very active in trying to make the consequences more serious. The company monitors BitTorrent networks for people who download titles owned by the copyright holders they work for, and then approaches these alleged pirates via their Internet providers. The ISPs are asked to forward Rightscorp’s settlement demands to the alleged infringer, which is usually around $20 per shared file. The settlement approach is a bigger stick than the standard warnings and according to Rightscorp it’s superior to the six-strikes scheme. And there’s more. The company also wants Internet providers to disconnect subscribers whose accounts are repeatedly found sharing copyrighted works. Christopher Sabec, CEO of Rightscorp, says that they have been in talks with various Internet providers urging them to step up their game. Thus far a total of 140 ISPs are indeed following this disconnection principle. “We push ISPs to suspend accounts of repeat copyright infringers and we currently have over 140 ISPs that are participating in our program, including suspending the accounts of repeat infringers,” Sabec says. During a presentation at the Anti-Piracy Summit in Los Angeles Rightscorp recently pitched this disconnection angle to several interested parties. Rightscorp presentation slide By introducing disconnections Rightcorp hopes to claim more settlements to increase the company’s revenue stream. They offer participating ISPs a tool to keep track of the number of warnings each customer receives, and the providers are encouraged to reconnect the subscribers if the outstanding bills have been paid. “All US ISPs have a free Rightscorp website dashboard that identifies these repeat infringers and notifies the ISPs when they have settled their cases with our clients. We encourage the ISPs to restore service once the matter has been settled and there is no longer an outstanding legal liability,” Sabec told TorrentFreak. Cutting off repeat infringers is also in the best interests of ISPs according to Rightscorp, who note that it is a requirement for all providers if they are to maintain their DMCA safe harbor. Rightscorp is indeed correct in stating that Internet providers have to act against repeat infringers. The DMCA requires ISPs to “… adopt and reasonably implement a policy that provides for the termination in appropriate circumstances of subscribers and account holders of the service provider’s system or network who are repeat infringers.” However, legal experts and Internet providers interpret the term “repeat infringer” differently. For example, AT&T previously said that it would never terminate accounts of customers without a court order, arguing that only a court can decide what constitutes a repeat infringement. Comcast on the other hand, previously told us that they are disconnecting repeat infringers, although it’s not clear after how many warnings that is. Nevertheless, Rightscorp claims that their approach has been a great success and proudly reports that 140 ISPs are actively disconnecting subscribers. So does this mean that all U.S. Internet subscribers are at risk of receiving a settlement request or losing their Internet access? Well, not really. Most of the larger Internet providers appear to ignore Rightscorp’s settlement notices. Comcast, for example, does forward the notice but takes out the settlement offer. Verizon, AT&T and other major ISPs appear to do the same. Thus far, Charter seems to be the only major provider that forwards Rightscorp’s requests in full. The 140 ISPs Rightscorp is referring to are mostly smaller, often local ISPs, who together hold a tiny market share. Not insignificant perhaps, but it’s a nuance worth adding. http://torrentfreak.com/140-u-s-internet-providers-disconnect-persistent-pirates-140705/

For years Norway was pressured to do something drastic against pirates and 12 months ago this week the country introduced tough new legislation. But one year on and not a single file-sharer has been inquired about nor has a single site blocking request been filed. What's going on in Scandinavia? For many years regular file-sharers in Norway have been largely free to go about their business with little concern for the consequences. A 2011 decision disallowed the only entity licensed to collect information on P2P networks from doing so, meaning that tracking pirates without permission would breach privacy laws. In 2011 under significant rightsholder pressure, the Ministry of Culture announced amendments to the country’s Copyright Act alongside promises to give the entertainment industries the tools to go after pirates. Two years later in July 2013 the new law went into effect and as promised it gave the pirate hunters a sporting chance. Out went the days of restrictions on P2P user monitoring and in came a system whereby groups seeking to spy on pirates only needed to get permission from the country’s Data Inspectorate. The big MPAA affiliates obtained permission within the first few months and promised to target uploaders, but what followed next? Since it’s been a full 12 months since the start of the new law and seven months since the MPA obtained clearance to monitor, Hardware.no filed some questions with the Ministry of Culture to find out the state of play. It also contacted the Post and Telecommunications Authority to find out if any personal details of file-sharers had been handed over to copyright holders. “The short answer is no,” said Deputy Director Elisabeth Aarsæther. “From our point of view it looks like the word ‘share’ means go ahead and ‘steal’ among users. I cannot say for certain that nothing will happen going forward, but we have not received any requests so far.” Aarsæther said that the lack of requests might have something to do with the greater number of legal services now available online. However, there also appears to be a lack of interest from copyright holders who only need to register with the authorities in order to collect IP addresses. “We took stock moments ago, and we have not received any new messages in a long time,” senior Data Inspectorate adviser Guro Skåltveit told Hardware. “There are currently twelve entities who have advised us and can now collect data.” Eleven of that dozen registered back in the fall of 2013, and they include a successful application from the Norwegian Pirate Party. Thus far in 2014 there has only been one new application. None have sought personal details. Finally the new law allows for the blocking of sites confirmed to breach copyright law, but again there has been little visible movement on that front. The industries’ main target, the infamous Pirate Bay, remains accessible in the country despite threats to have it blocked in court. However, this process was expected to take some time, particularly since local ISPs are refusing to do anything voluntarily. After lobbying hard for new laws over many years one might have expected rightsholders to use every tool available to them as quickly as possible, but for some reason they’re gathering dust 12 months on. It may well be that chasing down individuals has become unpalatable, especially alongside efforts to woo consumers with better legal offerings. Time will tell what the strategy is going forward, but for now Norwegian file-sharers can rest easy. Their next challenge probably won’t be a letter in the post, but the puzzle of how to unblock The Pirate Bay. http://torrentfreak.com/tough-new-piracy-law-sees-no-takers-in-more-than-a-year-140706/

Twitter has removed the profile pictures of several of its users after the company received a takedown notice from World Cup organizer FIFA. The football organization forbids the use of any of its official logos and emblems on social media, including pictures of the World Cup trophy. While over a billion people are enjoying the 2014 World Cup in Brazil, organizer FIFA is working around the clock to make sure that their rights are protected. Stopping pirated live streams is one of the main priorities, but there is another concern. In all the excitement many social media users have added World Cup related logos and other pictures as their avatars, something that’s strictly forbidden by FIFA. The football organization fears that use of their logos and emblems by others may cause serious damage. FIFA believes that this endangers the entire worldwide football community. “Any unauthorized use of the Official Marks not only undermines the integrity of the FIFA World Cup™ and its marketing programme, but also puts the interests of the worldwide football community at stake,” FIFA says in an official statement. Social media is particularly worrisome because the official logos may lead followers to believe that the user is somehow related to FIFA. “FIFA’s official logos, symbols and other graphic trade marks may not be used on any social media platform. FIFA’s Protected Terms may not be used to create the impression that a page is officially related to the 2014 FIFA World Cup,” FIFA notes. Considering the above FIFA sees no other option than to crackdown on Twitter users with official FIFA logos and images as avatars. In recent weeks Twitter has beenasked to take action against several of its users, by removing their infringing profile pictures. FIFA takedown notice The requests were made for a wide variety of images including the World Cup emblem, logo and even the trophy. Twitter appears to have honored the requests and has replaced the infringing avatars with the default egg. Most of the targeted accounts seem to be specifically related to football. However FIFA has also asked Twitter to remove the profile picture of @afobajee, a relatively random user. Most of the affected users have changed their profile pictures to something non-infringing. However, others appear to have simply switched back to using official FIFA material. We expect that FIFA still has their eye on the ball, so these infringing profile pictures probably won’t stay online for very long. Infringing profile picture http://torrentfreak.com/twitter-removes-pirated-world-cup-avatars-fifa-pressure-140704/

A good gunfighter doesn't flinch when he runs out of bullets. He just reloads. And there have been few gunfighters in the game more proficient than Jerry Bruckheimer. The man looked like he was running on steam recently, as franchises like National Treasure and Bad Boys laid dormant. But the Bruck is back and ready to let you know installments in these series are coming, and coming fast. In an interview with Collider to promote his latest, Deliver Us From Evil , Jerry Bruckheimer revealed that not only has he read the script for a fifth Pirates Of The Caribbean film but he's hard at work developing the third part of the National Treasureand Bad Boys sagas. It's not a surprise that we'd be getting another Pirates installment, but movement was so slow on Bad Boys 3 and National Treasure 3 that we had given up hope (hope being, perhaps, a strong word) that they would ever happen. First off, Bruckheimer suggested that this would be a "straight pirates movie" in regards to the fifth film in a series that has already gone around the world, cheated death, and fought mermaids and sea monsters. Bruckheimer has read the script for Pirates Of The Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales and confirms that, at the very least, there are no Kraken involved this time. This likely means a "back to basics" approach that excited moviegoers in the first film, when Pirates Of The Caribbean was still a risky movie based on a theme park ride. It also likely means a tighter budget. Pirates Of The Caribbean: On Stranger Tides was a billion dollar success, but with the weakest domestic gross and poor reviews, it's very possible that the next film will make less money. There's less info currently available about Bad Boys 3, which will presumably re-team Michael Bay, Will Smith and Martin Lawrence. Bruckheimer would only confirm that they would have a screenplay in the next three months. When asked to compare Bad Boysto Deliver Us From Evil (sure, whatever), he said, "... We always focus on the place where the action’s going to take place, which is Miami. We research it and figure out what’s actually going on down in Miami with criminals and what they’re doing. We bring in experts. And that’s how the screenplays evolve." A third Bad Boys would be difficult to put together, since it would involve billion-dollar Bay, the fickle Smith, and the probably-busy-getting-shopping-done Lawrence. The last picture made $273 million, though the budget was a robust $130 million. For a massive R-rated film, it's a good financial decision to march ahead with part three, but not necessarily a slam dunk. Finally, in regards to National Treasure 3, Bruckheimer offered that he had just met with the writers and the director. While the scribes were unidentified, the director was indeed Jon Turtletaub, who helmed the first two movies in the series. From the sounds of it, the story hasn't been cracked just yet, but if Bruckheimer is having meetings, then it shouldn't be long before Nicolas Cage gets the call once again. National Treasure: Book Of Secrets grossed a whopping $457 million seven years ago, but Cage and Turtletaub later re-teamed for The Sorcerer's Apprentice which underperformed heavily. It's actually Cage's highest-grossing film since National Treasure, as the star has fallen on hard times and become synonymous with junk. He's mixing it up with independent fare, but a Disney blockbuster sure wouldn't hurt right about now.

The life of the Johnny Depp drama Black Mass has been a complex one, from point of contention to, now, potential Oscar nominee. Warner Bros. has placed their Black Mass flag in the fourth quarter of 2015, and with it hopes not only for box office success but maybe even Oscar gold. Black Mass has locked down a September 18th, 2015 release date, according to The Hollywood Reporter . The movie is based on the non-fiction tome Black Mass: Whitey Bulger, The FBI And A Devil's Deal by Dick Lehr and Gerard O'Neill. Oddly enough, the bigger surprise is that the film is no longer called Black Mass, and is in search of a new title. Which makes sense: Black Mass is a term used for something of a reverse Christian mass, used to celebrate the occult. People who know this would think the movie were about the supernatural. People who didn't would think this was just a movie about a big, black... thing, just taking up space (yes, I know that "Mass" is short for Massachusetts). Neither conveys the horrors of the crimes of Whitey Bulger, a mobster credited with nineteen deaths who eventually became an informant. It's the classic case of in-too-deep with a twist: Bulger eventually had to flee once the feds began snooping around his own criminal operation, despite promises that they wouldn't. It's a complex mess of tangled alliances. The movie has a loaded cast. In addition to Depp (playing Bulger), the movie stars Benedict Cumberbatch, Joel Edgerton, Kevin Bacon, Adam Scott, Dakota Johnson, Juno Temple and Jesse Plemons. The cast will look even starrier next fall, after Edgerton shows up in this winter's Exodus: Gods And Kings, Johnson pops up in Fifty Shades Of Gray and Cumberbatch possibly earns an Oscar for The Imitation Game. Scott Cooper is the director in charge of wrangling these talented names. He previously directed Jeff Bridges to an Oscar with Crazy Heart but he also had a pretty massive cast with Out Of The Furnace. Even with Christian Bale, Casey Affleck, Zoe Saldana, Forest Whitaker and Woody Harrelson, that film never rose above "Moderately interesting." Hopefully that's not the case here, as Cooper is taking over from previously-announced Barry Levinson. September 2015 is pretty light schedule-wise, so it's likely the untitled film will stick around with that slot coming right after the early wave of festivals, including the Toronto International Film Festival and the Telluride Film Festival. Prisoners used this strategy last year, and while ultimately it received limited Oscar attention, it benefited from the positive buzz to become a box office hit. This date pits The Artist Formerly Known As Black Mass against Everest 3D , which has a pretty loaded cast of its own. A week later things get a little wilder, as Hotel Transylvania 2 faces off against Nancy Meyers'The Intern and a currently untitled horror film from Blumhouse Pictures.

Sometimes you come across a celebrity and you wonder, what does he actually do? That's the question people have asked of AMerica's Got Talent host Nick Cannon. No one's ever debated his talent and potential appeal, but it doesn't seem like it's been deployed properly. Is it possible at Cannon could find his voice playing another famously misappropriated talent? USA Today has been tracking a bunch of bread crumbs Nick Cannon has been leaving all over the internet in regards to playing Richard Pryor in a biopic. Specifically, a recentTMZ Live interview found Cannon dancing around the possibility in a way that coyly acknowledges the rumors while also saying absolutely nothing. "So all I’ll say is that I’m doing the work right now. I’m doing everything that I need to do to embody it when the opportunity is right." So he's preparing for an audition? Or is he preparing for a role? Does anyone know what's going on here? Is this still the project being backed by The Weinstein Company and producer Forest Whitaker, the one that might put Lee Daniels in the director's chair? Cannon has also been taking to Instagram lately, posting photos like this. What does this mean for previous Pryor candidates like Marlon Wayans and Michael B. Jordan? Eddie Murphy already bailed on the project years ago, leaving the list of bankable potential Pryors pretty slim. But if you ask all these guys, they've spent years preparing for this opportunity. So when producers finally get off their asses to make this movie, theoretically every possible candidate will be more than prepared. Of course, that probably has to do with the standup material, or the public side of Richard Pryor. The private Pryor, the one battling demons and drug addiction, is going to be where the meat of the film really is, and can any of these guys pull that off? Can Nick Cannon? Cannon's been making money hand-over-fist as the host of America's Got Talent, as well as chairman of TeenNick at Nickelodeon. The Pryor gig suggests a fire burns in the husband of Mariah Carey to respect Pryor and push his own talent in dark, intense material. But can Cannon, who has had a blessed show business existence, find the darkness inside Pryor? Can anyone?

Back in 2006, the Motion Picture Association Of America’s Review Board was publicly unmasked for the first time thanks to the fascinating documentary This Film Is Not Yet Rated. The move caused a minor scandal at the time, as some felt it was an invasion of privacy, but now, two of the Board’s longtime members have decided to start their own company and unmask themselves. Needless to say, they have a whole lot of knowledge to share with potential clients, specifically why the MPAA is so much softer on violence than sex. The disparity between what is allowed when it comes to physical violence and what is allowed when it comes to sex has long been a favorite talking point of the MPAA’s biggest critics. Why is it OK for a 13-year-old to watch someone get shot in the head but not see a pair of breasts? Well, it turns out that, along with just about everything else about the hyper-secretive organization, comes to down public opinion polls. Here’s what former MPAA Board Member Howard Fridkin had to say to Indie Wire… "The MPAA has knowledge of certain polls that represent parents' feelings about drugs, sexuality and language. And for some reason, they have become much more sensitive about those issues over, at least, the number of years Barry and I have been there. So, they probably do lean more to the conservative side if there's a questionable scene - whether it's a PG-13 or an R. So, sometimes, they err on the side of caution and go with the R." When The MPAA first started rating movies, it was meant to save filmmakers from the old Production Code. It was a way to inform parents while letting filmmakers do (pretty much) whatever they wanted artistically. Unfortunately, over the years, the ratings system has become its own production code, with filmmakers catering finished products specifically to fall on the right side of the barometer. Maybe that means only using one "fuck". Maybe that means using a little less blood. Regardless, the system is being used the opposite way of how it was intended. Instead of the rating informing parents and not affecting filmmakers, it’s informing filmmakers of how they need to edit their products. It makes some sense that the MPAA would be relying at least somewhat on public opinion to decide where the line is, but unfortunately, public opinion polls are very reactionary. Perhaps more importantly, they vary wildly depending on how the questions are actually phrased.

Yesterday, Sylvester Stallone finally made good on his threat to release anExpendables movie with a PG-13 rating. Fans threw their hands up in protest, but too late is too late: you're just going to have to wait for an "unrated" DVD to rip you off later in the search for more headshots and curses. Of course, the fact that there was waffling regarding the rating calls attention to one of the industry's biggest issues: PG-13 is corrupt, pointless and should be abolished. The PG-13 rating originally was created as a response to the growing indecencies crawling into mainstream blockbusters that could be seen by kids. Previously, the delineation allowed for G films to be suitable for children, PG for older kids and adults, and R for movies with adult ideas and themes. PG-13 was essentially a more commercial designation that flattered the audience instead. Now adults could feel comfortable seeing fare meant for children, and kids could see something that was decidedly more "adult" in nature. What PG-13 did was actually bring the discussion of ratings to the forefront. Before PG-13's existence, PG films (previously GP) were common, meant to designate something more appropriate to a wider range of audiences. But there were still a large amount of adult-appropriate films carrying the R, just as there were many studios making R-rated films. Movies accommodated flights of fancy, but mostly they were being made for adults who didn't glance at the rating. But with the arrival of PG-13 (attached to Red Dawn and The Flamingo Kid) came the proliferation of the modern blockbuster, aimed at both the smallest in the audience as well as the biggest, creating watered-down product that has the same appeal to everyone. Now, studios use PG-13 as a creative tool, not a restriction. Films are designed to specifically be PG-13, based on what is rumored to be the MPAA's approach towards the ratings. Without the PG-13 rating, context was everything: the bare breasts in the PG-rated Airplane! were obviously a joke, not meant to be arousing, while Barbarella's embrace of sex and violence were obviously ludicrous fantasy elements. Now, the rules are as they have been for the last 30 years, even though the ratings were constantly revised in years prior: you get one bit of nudity (definitely not a sex organ), you get a finite amount of blood and gore, you get one "fuck" (maybe two if you're Entrapment!) and you get all the violence in the world, despite pretend-violence probably being the most influential and potentially damaging thing to see for an impressionable mind. The rumors were that the first two Expendables films were shot with a PG-13 rating in mind. The second film seems pretty graphic, so that may be unlikely, unless they planned on editing the blood and the few curse words out. But the first film is unquestionably meant to be a PG-13 rated film, given it's limited foul language and laughably fake last-minute blood squirts. But what do a PG-13 Expendables and an R-rated Expendables have in common? Big stars, sure. Neat stunts, maybe. Endless guns, gun fetishization and the deaths of dozens, maybe hundreds of extras. If you ask most people, they'd be in favor of getting rid of the ratings system altogether. But if you want to be a cultural watchdog, as the MPAA pretends to be, then wouldn't that be more concerning to you? Particularly after a rash of gun-related tragedies gaining mass media coverage, isn't it odd that a high schooler could buy a ticket to see The Expendables 3, but he/she couldn't see The Kings Of Summer? That film, released last year, is ABOUT young teenagers growing up, moving out of their houses to build their own home away from home in the forest. It earned an R-rating because these kids have occasionally, but not gratuitously, dirty mouths. Does this make any sense? Is this a great use of PG-13 and R-ratings? Does it have anything to do with The Expendables 3 earning a blockbuster release from a major studio, andThe Kings Of Summer being a small independent film quietly platforming through smaller venues? And we're not even going to talk about the double standards regarding sex. Yikes. The point being, we've been down this road already. Kirby Dick's This Film Is Not Yet Rated made this observation for us: that documentary depicted the shady MPAA as a draconian organization that needn't make explanations for their decisions, who request arbitrary cuts to films, and abide by what seems to be the prior restrictions involving limiting nudity, foul language and blood. But we're not going to get rid of them, mostly because they seem like an untouchable Illuminati of the movie industry. Even Dick had to hire a private investigator find out the actual identities of the people on the MPAA board. So here's what we do. We lobby to eliminate PG-13. What this does is force the MPAA to look at content differently. That means, no more arbitrary rulings or beliefs about one breast versus two, one headshot versus five. Whatever they think is a movie for "adults" will earn an R-rating. This means that anyone making a movie with a decent amount of violence and sex is going to get an R. Rather them limiting their audience (which is b.s. because tons of theaters don't enforce the ratings, and many teens or kids will still see an R-rated film with older people), the studios will see this opportunity to actually engage with adult ideas and concepts. A superhero film can actually still be thrilling and feature politics and romance. A comedy can be as naughty as it wants to be. And The Expendables 3 can be filled with exploding heads everywhere. Instead of shaming adults into seeing a PG-rated film, embolden them to see an R-rated movie, knowing there's more adult content available for them. And parents won't have to worry about taking their child to a PG-13 movie and having to have a talk with them about content, or try to tamp down their hyperactivity after seeing a particularly violent film. The flipside could be true, of course. Maybe the PG-13 material just softens further and moves down to PG-level, saving G for strictly kids fare. That would be an unfortunate change, and you'd hope studios would seize the opportunity to make movies for older teens and adults (and the kids who rent them, stream them, or download them with zero adult supervision). As of now, not only is PG-13 specifically financially driven, dedicated to protecting no one from anything, but it's outdated. It's a decision created to make money, to water down films so that The Expendables 3 could be the same movie for a kid that it is for an adult. And it's not, and these decisions split the difference in a way that, right now, pleases nobody.

Pacific Rim 2 will monster stomp its way to theaters in a few years. But if you're drooling for details on where this Kaiju vs. Jaeger battle might lead, you'll be glad to know Guillermo del Toro is dropping hints already. Speaking to The Wall Street Journal, Pacific Rim's writer/director/producer Guillermo del Toro confessed he and collaborators Travis Beacham and Zak Penn have been brainstorming on where this epic battle could go for a about a year and a half already. He expands: "I said to Zak, let’s keep kicking ideas till we find one that really, really turns the first movie on its ear, so to speak…It was hard to create a world that did not come from a comic book, that had its own mythology, so we had to sacrifice many aspects to be able to cram everything in the first movie. Namely, for example The Drift, which was an interesting concept. [Then there was] this portal that ripped a hole into the fabric of our universe, what were the tools they were using? And we came up with a really, really interesting idea. I don’t want to spoil it, but I think at the end of the second movie, people will find out that the two movies stand on their own. They’re very different from each other, although hopefully bringing the same joyful giant spectacle. But the tenor of the two movies will be quite different." The director didn't expand on how the tenor of Pacific Rim 2 might be different; however, he did confess that the sequel will bring in some new characters who will mirror the diversity shown in the first film. He says: "I’m hoping to bring the same idea I had in the first movie, that was to make it multicultural and humanistic as much as possible, to make characters from many nationalities or gender, to make them equal in the scope of the adventure, in the day-to-day of the adventure. So, we’re bringing a few characters that are new and hopefully doing good work managing those that survived the first movie." Fans of this growing franchise will be thrilled to learn that Guillermo del Toro will be in full-on Pacific Rim 2 mode in just six weeks. That's when a projected nine-month period of Kaiju and Jaeger designs will begin. By August, del Toro will be reuniting with his production design team to tackle the intimidating task of creating a new slew of robot warriors and massive monsters. But don't expect Cthulhu to make an appearance. The beast is associated with H.P. Lovecraft’s At the Mountains of Madness, which Del Toro has long been trying to adapt. But no matter how long that takes, he doesn't intend to throw the iconic creature into Pacific Rim's world, dismissing the idea with a chuckle. Pacific Rim 2 will open April 7, 2017.

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In a bid to tackle alleged infringement, popular music sharing platform SoundCloud is offering unlimited removal powers to certain copyright holders. Responding to a complaint from a UK DJ the company admitted that Universal Music can delete any and all SoundCloud tracks without oversight. The major record labels still see online piracy as one of the main threats to their industry. To counter this problem they are constantly monitoring the Internet for copies of their work being shared without permission. This also happens at SoundCloud, which in recent years became one of the most popular services for people to share music. As a legitimate service, SoundCloud helps copyright holders by accepting takedown requests. However, in some cases SoundCloud goes a step further. This is what DJ Mr Brainz discovered after his paid account was terminated due to repeated copyright infringements. Mr Brainz used SoundCloud to post copies of his radio show, which he believes drives more sales, but Universal Music disagreed and took down his files. To find out more about the alleged infringements the DJ asked SoundCloud for additional details, as Do Androids Dance reports. Quite surprisingly, however, SoundCloud couldn’t provide more information as the removals were carried out by Universal music directly. “Your uploads were removed directly by Universal. This means that SoundCloud had no control over it, and they don’t tell us which part of your upload was infringing. If you look at your tracklist it may help you find the Universal content they wanted blocked,” SoundCloud’s copyright team explained. “The control of removing content is completely with Universal. This means I can’t tell you why they removed your uploads and not others, and you would really need to ask them that question,” the SoundCloud representative adds. In other words, SoundCloud grants Universal Music the power to delete any and all content they deem to be infringing. This apparently happens without oversight or any record of what’s being taken down. This blanket removal power is especially problematic since the affected users don’t know what they have done wrong. Without any details on the allegedly infringed track, it’s pretty much impossible to file a counter notice. These type of broad takedown powers are not unique to SoundCloud. Previously YouTube has come under fire because the company allowed record labels to remove “disrespectful” videos or other non-infringing files the labels deemed inappropriate. The recent issues at SoundCloud are not an isolated incident either. Over the past several months many users have complained about an avalanche of takedown notices. After America’s DJ Kaskade had 70 percent of his SoundCloud tracks removed due to alleged copyright infringements, he said he would start his own music sharing site instead. “I will move forward with constructing my own portal where I can share what I like when I like,” Kaskade said. Despite the critique SoundCloud sees no wrongdoing. The company points out that users are free to dispute any inaccurate takedowns. Unfortunately that’s easier said than done. It is clear that SoundCloud is putting its users at a significant disadvantage here. http://torrentfreak.com/record-labels-can-remove-soundcoud-tracks-without-oversight-140703/

After being arrested just over a month ago, Peter Sunde has sent a plea to the authorities over his detention. The Pirate Bay co-founder says that his prison conditions don't match the nature of his crime and that his health is deteriorating as a result. In addition to psychological issues, Sunde says he's lost 11 pounds in weight. In February 2012, Sweden’s Supreme Courtdetermined that the sentences handed out to The Pirate Bay’s Peter Sunde, Fredrik Neij, Gottfrid Svartholm and Carl Lundström would stand. Carl Lundström’s sentence was quickly served but there was a months-long delay before Gottfrid Svartholm could be removed from Cambodia and placed in Swedish detention. It took even longer to trace and detain Peter Sunde. More than two years had passed when the former Pirate Bay spokesman was eventually captured on May 31, 2014, the eight year anniversary of the 2006 raid on the infamous site. A special police unit dedicated to tracking down fugitives found Sunde on a farm in Skåne, Sweden. Sunde is now detained in Västervik Norra, the prison originally allocated to him in 2012. Converted from a hospital over the past nine years, in 2012 the facility had 262 inmates and 250 staff. Sunde feels that the establishment is an inappropriate venue for his incarceration. In a letter recently sent to the probation board, Sunde asks to be removed to a location more in keeping with his offenses. “I hereby appeal the placement decision regarding the institution I am in. I believe that the safety class is too high for the crime I have been convicted of,” Sunde writes. Sweden prisons are split into three security categories. Category One is reserved for the most dangerous of prisoners. Category Two covers the majority of the country’s closed prisons, while Category Three contains trusted prisoners who are believed to pose the lowest risk. Sunde was found guilty of non-violent copyright-related offenses which means he should pose little to no risk to the public. On this basis Sunde believes he should be transferred to a Category Three prison, specifically Tygelsjö, which is close to his family. He says there is no risk of him trying to escape. Health issues also feature prominently in Sunde’s plea to the authorities. “I’m suffering tremendously – socially, physically as well as psychologically – by the shortcomings of Västervik,” he explains. Those shortcomings include problems with food. While Sunde has described himself as a vegetarian, on occasions he has expressed a clear preference for vegan food. It’s not clear where the diet in Västervik falls short, but Sunde says he’s suffering to the point of going hungry. The 35-year-old reports that in the last four weeks he’s lost 11 pounds (5kgs). While Sunde evaded capture for two years, that time didn’t go to waste. Before running for the European Parliament with the Finnish Pirate Party this year, Sunde invested in several tech-focused startups including the micro-donation service Flattr and the NSA-proof messenger app Heml.is. While those operations are likely to continue in his absence, Sunde’s incarceration has already led to issues with a historic domain. Piratbyrån (The Bureau of Piracy) was the group behind the founding of The Pirate Bay and although it disbanded in 2010, Sunde remained the person responsible for administering Piratbyran.org. That domain now has issues which Sunde clearly can’t solve, although others are currently trying. In the meantime, Fredrik Neij – who is also required to serve a Pirate Bay-related 10 month prison sentence – remains a fugitive and currently resides in Asia. http://torrentfreak.com/losing-weight-pirate-bay-founder-requests-security-downgrade-140703/

When the PlayStation 4 launched last November, Sony made the DualShock 4 controller compatible with the PlayStation 3 if it is plugged in via USB charge cable. With recently-released update 4.60 to the PS3, you can now use a DualShock 4 wirelessly to control PS3 games. A post on Reddit details the new feature, which simply requires you to pair a PS4 controller with the PS3 using Bluetooth. Unfortunately, the PlayStation button, vibration, and Sixaxis tilt controls still do not work. But you can now turn on the PS3 using the DualShock 4's PS button, which was not possible before. You can see the step-by-step guide to pairing a DualShock 4 with a PS3 below. Select "Manage Bluetooth Devices" under "Accessory Settings" in the PS3 settings menu. Select "Register New Device," then start the PS3's bluetooth scanning. While it's scanning, press and hold the share and PS buttons on the DualShock 4 at the same time until the light bar starts blinking. The PS3 should then detect the controller, which will appear as "Wireless Controller.' Select the controller and complete the pairing. This will not turn on both a PS3 and PS4 simultaneously if the consoles are close together. The controller must be re-paired with the PS4 before it can be used. Will you use the DualShock 4 for your old PS3 games? Or will you stick with the DualShock 3 for all your PS3 gameplay? Let us know in the comments! http://www.gamespot.com/articles/playstation-4-controller-now-works-wirelessly-with-playstation-3/1100-6420866/

The way Electronic Arts COO Peter Moore sees it, right now we're entering a "golden age" of gaming, with a wide variety of games and price points available at any moment. But this expansion into new sectors (free-to-play being one of them) is not universally adored, especially by some core gamers, Moore says in a wide-ranging interview with GamesIndustry International. "I think we're going into almost a golden age of gaming, where it doesn't matter where you are, at any time, any place, any price point, any amount of time, there's a game available to you," Moore said. "And our job as a company is to provide those game experiences. And then on our big franchises, tie them all together." "I think the challenge sometimes is that the growth of gaming... there's a core that doesn't quite feel comfortable with that," Moore said. "I don't get frustrated, but I scratch my head at times and say, 'Look. These are different times.' And different times usually evoke different business models. Different consumers come in. They've got different expectations. And we can either ignore them or embrace them, and at EA, we've chosen to embrace them."Tying games together is likely in reference to EA's well-stated "games-as-a-service" model, where the publisher hopes to provide unified experiences across franchises like Battlefield and FIFA through tie-in games and the like. But as the gaming industry moves beyond the time-honored retail model and into a world of new business models and digital distribution, some consumers are having a tough time accepting this growth, Moore said. Moore said he sees the rise in new business models as a positive thing for the game industry, but pointed out that there are certainly some dissenting views. "There is a core--controversial statement coming from me, sadly--that just doesn't like that, because it's different," Moore said. "It's disruptive. It's not the way it used to be. I used to put my disc in the tray or my cartridge in the top, and I'd sit there and play. And all of these young people coming in, or God forbid, these old people coming into gaming!" "I think the core audience that dislikes the fact that there are play-for-free games and microtransactions built into those... fine, I get that," Moore said. "I don't think anybody has to like it. I think that's where it goes. It's like me; I get grumpy about some things, but if the river of progress is flowing and I'm trying to paddle my canoe in the opposite direction, then eventually I'm just going to lose out. From the perspective of what needs to happen in this industry, we need to embrace the fact that billions of people are playing games now."Moore went on to say that he's not blind to theissues some people have with new business models like free-to-play and the way in which microtransactions are implemented in such games. In the end, however, Moore contends that gamers will eventually understand that the "disruptive" changes the industry is currently seeing will end up being a net positive. The risk of failing to accept these dynamic changes, Moore said, is the game industry experiencing the same fate of the pre-Napster music era. "We just have to embrace it," Moore said. "We as an industry have to embrace change. We can't be music. We cannot be music. Because music said, 'Screw you. You're going to buy a CD for $16.99, and we're going to put 14 songs on there, two of which you care about, but you're going to buy our CD.' Then Shawn Fanning writes a line of code or two, Napster happens, and the consumers take control." Part of the way forward for EA is to better listen to consumers, Moore said, reiterating the "player-first" mantra that CEO Andrew Wilson previously laid out. "You have to embrace social media as a plus rather than a negative," Moore said. "Everybody has a megaphone now. Everybody has an opinion, and you learn to filter the rant from the constructive feedback." http://www.gamespot.com/articles/ea-golden-age-for-gaming-upon-us-industry-needs-to-embrace-change/1100-6420874/

Nintendo's Wii dominated the last generation of consoles, selling 100 million units, compared to around 80 million each for the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3. But so far in this generation, the PlayStation 4's 7 million units sold is already ahead of the Wii U's latest confirmed sales figure of 6.17 million, despite Sony's console launching an entire year after Nintendo's. How can Nintendo improve its fortunes and come out on top this console generation? That's the question IGN put to Nintendo of America executive Reggie Fils-Aime during a recent interview. "It's all about content," Fils-Aime said. "For us, if you look back at what we were able to do during the Wii generation. What we're able to do with DS. What we're doing now with 3DS. It's about content. It's about content that widens the footprint for the platform. It's about content that drives the install base. And as we do that, guess what? People buy hardware." Reggie said as people buy Wii U consoles, they'll talk with their friends about the "great experiences that they're having," and this will in turn lead to even more sales, he argued. He went on to suggest that though the Wii U has gotten off to a slower start than Nintendo might have wanted, it doesn't mean the console can't reach 100 million units sold someday. "That's what we did with the Wii. That's what we did with the DS on a global basis. That's what we're looking to do with both 3DS and Wii U, but it starts with content," Fils-Aime said. "And that's why, for us, at events like E3, our developers spend so much time talking about the content and how we're driving innovation there." Explaining why the Wii U may have gotten off to a slow start, Fils-Aime acknowledged that games like Super Mario 3D World, Wii Fit U, Pikmin 3, and The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker HD were all late to market. "These are all games that we wanted to launch earlier in the system's life," he said. As a result, Nintendo was unable to gather sufficient momentum. But this is now changing. Mario Kart 8 launched in late May and sold more than 2 million copies during its first month. The game also drove some "very nice momentum" for Nintendo's business overall, Fils-Aime said. Looking ahead, Nintendo will look to games like Bayonetta 2 and the new Super Smash Bros. game for continued growth. "We think it's this pace of product launch that we need to really drive momentum for Wii U," Fils-Aime said. But it's not just about games for Nintendo. The company will launch an ambitious toys-to-life initiative called amiibo later this year. Here's how console sales compare for the Big Three right now. Wii U - 6.17 million systems sold as of March 31 PS4 - 7 million systems sold as of April 6, 2014 Xbox One - 3 million systems sold as of December 31, 2013; 5 million shipped as of April 2014 http://www.gamespot.com/articles/how-can-wii-u-beat-ps4-xbox-one-it-s-all-about-content-nintendo-exec-says/1100-6420877/

Oculus VR, developer of the Rift virtual reality headset for the PC, has announced that it has sold over 45,000 units of the Rift Development Kit 2. This means that, even in its pre-release state, the Rift has sold over 100,000 units already between the first and second dev kits. On a post on its forums, Oculus detailed the milestone and explained the way that the units will ship in the coming months. The company will be able move about 10,000 headsets from its factory in July, with more coming in August and September. The Rift DK2, as it's called, has been available for pre-order since March and brings a number of improvements from the original kit. Among the most substantial is the inclusion of an external camera, which allows for tracking a head as it moves forward, backward, and side to side. DK2 also has new 960x1080p (per eye) OLED screens which reduce blur and motion sickness, and increase pixel density. These dev kits are intended for game developers, and as a result everything in the headset is subject to change. Pre-orders are, however, open to everyone and cost $350. There is no word yet on when a full release of a consumer version of the headset will be made available. Recently, Oculus announced its acquisition of design firm Carbon to work on unknown projects. http://www.gamespot.com/articles/oculus-has-sold-over-100-000-units-of-its-rift-vr-headset-targeted-for-devs/1100-6420879/

A new tool released by the Open Rights Group today reveals that 20% of the 100,000 most-visited websites on the Internet are blocked by the parental filters of UK ISPs. With the newly launched website the group makes it easier to expose false positives and show that the blocking efforts ban many legitimate sites, TorrentFreak included. Internet filters are now on the political agenda in many countries around the world. While China and Iran are frontrunners for political censorship, the UK is leading the way when it comes to porn and other content deemed unsuitable for children. In addition to the mobile restrictions that have been in place for years already, last summer Prime Minister David Cameron announced a default filter for all Internet connections. This means that UK Internet subscribers are now required to opt-in if they want to view ‘adult’ content online. These default filters have led to many instances in which perfectly legitimate sites can no longer be accessed. This very website, for example, was inaccessible on Sky Broadband after it was categorized as a “file-sharing” site. The false positive was eventually corrected after the BBC started asking questions, but that didn’t solve the underlying problem. In an attempt to make it easier to spot overblocking the Open Rights Group (ORG) has today launched a new site. The embedded tool runs probes on all the major broadband and mobile filters of UK ISPs, and allows people to check which sites are blocked and where. The first results are quite scary. A review of the 100,000 most-popular sites on the Internet reveals that 20% are blocked by at least one of the filtering systems. “We’ve been surprised to find the default filtering settings are blocking around a fifth of the Alexa top 100k websites. That’s a lot more than porn, which accounts for around 4% of that list,” ORG’s Executive Director Jim Killock informs TorrentFreak. The list of blocked domains includes many legitimate sites that aren’t necessarily harmful to children. TalkTalk, for example, blocks all file-sharing related websites including bittorrent.com and utorrent.com. TorrentFreak also appears to be listed in this category and is blocked as well. Linuxtracker, which offers free downloads of perfectly legitimate software, is blockedby Sky, TalkTalk and Three’s filters, while the blocked.org.uk tool itself is off-limits onBT, EE and Virgin Media. Perhaps even worse, the BT and TalkTalk filters also categorize social networking sites such as Facebook and Twitter as potentially dangerous to children, and the same applies to Reddit. Reddit is blocked as well With the new tool ORG hopes to provide more insight into what these filters do and how many sites they block. The ISPs themselves have thus far failed to reveal the scope of their filters. “People need to know what filters are, and what they block. They need to know they are inaccurate, and also disrupt people’s businesses and speech,” Killock tells TF. “If people feel they need them, that is their right, but they should at least know they’re very flawed technology that won’t protect them very much, but will also be likely to cause them problems. In short, they are a bit rubbish,” he adds. The current results of the tool are based on various filtering levels. This means that the list of blocked sites will be even longer when the strongest settings are used. It’s worth noting that all ISPs allow account holders to turn filters off or allow certain sites to be unblocked. However, many people may not even be aware that this option exists, or won’t want to unblock porn just to get access to file-sharing software. The results of ORG’s new tool show that what started as a “porn filter” has turned into something much bigger. Under the guise of “protecting the children” tens of thousands of sites are now caught up in overbroad filters, which is a worrying development to say the least. http://torrentfreak.com/uk-porn-filter-triggers-widespread-internet-censorship-140702/

During the past 24 hours a brand new Pirate Bay blockade was put in place in Argentina following a complaint from the IFPI-affiliated music industry group CAPIF. Now, just hours later, the tables have been turned after hackers transformed CAPIF's website into a fully functioning and blockade-circumventing Pirate Bay proxy. There was a time when music and movie industry aggression against The Pirate Bay was met with aggression right back, with sites belonging to the MPAA, RIAA, IFPI and others targeted in retaliatory moves. In recent times, however, that kind of reaction has largely been on the wane. It’s not immediately clear why, but it’s certainly possible that supporters have become used to the world’s largest torrent site being under assault. And under assault it has definitely been, with web blockades now in place all over Europe. Yesterday the phenomenon spread to Argentina, where local music industry group CAPIF obtained a preliminary blocking injunction against the famous torrent site, the first of its type in Latin America. The order issued by the 67th District Federal Court compels eleven ISPs to block 256 Pirate Bay IP addresses and 12 domains, which will soon render The Pirate Bay pretty much inaccessible across Argentina. However, unlike their European counterparts, the Argentinians didn’t get the memo about not retaliating against music industry aggression. With the blockade now in place across several ISPs, it appears that local hackers have already turned the ban on its head in the most dramatic way possible. Right at this moment, CAPIF’s very own website is operating as a fully functioning Pirate Bay proxy site. Visitors to adminlic.capif.org.ar are greeted with the familiar TPB homepage and are granted full access to the site. It’s very likely that CAPIF will soon move to shut down access to the proxy, but already the damage will have been done. This act of rebellion has the potential to generate more headlines than the blockade itself, meaning that over the next couple of days all blocked Argentinian TPB users will know what a reverse proxy is and what they are capable of. Activism in support of torrent and file-sharing sites might be an art on the decline, but its ability to send powerful messages remains, especially when it turns the resources of ‘enemies’ right back against themselves. Update: After serving torrents for at least 10 hours the proxy has now been pulled offline. http://torrentfreak.com/hackers-turn-music-industry-site-into-the-pirate-bay-140701/

Millions of people have tuned in to pirated World Cup streams thus far, with some games getting nearly half a million unauthorized viewers. TorrentFreak spoke with the French-Israeli content protection firm Viaccess-Orca, who sent roughly 2,000 takedown notices to content platforms that host or link to illegally streamed World Cup matches. While most people watch World Cup matches through licensed broadcasters, there is also a large group of people who resort to unauthorized sources. These so-called “pirate” streams are available through dozens of sites, including Firstrow and Rojadirecta, which generate a lot of traffic during popular sporting events. Before the World Cup started FIFA reached out to several of these sites, asking their operators to make sure that content is removed as soon as possible. Despite these requests, there are still plenty of illegal streams available for each game. Content protection firm Viaccess-Orca, one of the companies that monitors these unauthorized broadcasts, is also tasked with sending takedown notices for some of the matches. The company informs TorrentFreak that up to last Friday they have sent 2,000 takedown notices to various sites. One of the problems with live events is that takedown requests only have an effect when they are processed before the match ends. According to David Leporini, Viaccess-Orca Executive Vice President of Marketing, Products and Security, the linking sites have been rather cooperative on this front. “The success rate varies per content platform but overall we manage to get 35 percent of the streaming links disabled before the game ends. I think this is a great success rate, especially compared to direct download sites,” Leporini informs us. A success rate of 35% is pretty decent indeed, considering that the notices have to be sent and processed in a very small time frame. Also, the process is further complicated because many sites don’t publish the links to the streams until a few minutes before the game starts. The content protection company also targets traditional social media sites where links to live streams are posted. Here, the success rate was the best at Facebook where half of all infringing links were taken down before the game ended. “For the first ten days we have sent around 150 takedown notices to Facebook and Twitter pages. Among all content platforms notified, we measured a success rate of about 51% for link removals from Facebook pages.” While Viaccess-Orca’s efforts may limit the availability of pirated live streams, there are still hundreds of thousands of people getting through. The company estimates that between 100,000 and 500,000 people tune in to an average game. Up until last week, Belgium versus Russia was the most-watched match with 471,541 unauthorized viewers. Belgium vs. Russia streaming locations Viaccess-Orca can measure part of the audience directly though P2P streaming services such as Sopcast and Acestream. This also allows the company to see from what location people are watching. As the overview above shows, Belgium vs. Russia was particularly popular in Europe and Asia. The remainder of the streams go through centralized streaming services, with Hdcast and Iguide being the most frequently used. Rojadirecta and Wiziwig are the sites where Viaccess-Orca found the most infringing links. Looking ahead, the content protection firm expects that the number of viewers per match will continue to increase, as will the enforcement actions. http://torrentfreak.com/millions-watch-world-cup-through-pirated-live-streams-140701/

Argentina has become the first country in Latin America to block The Pirate Bay on copyright grounds. A court order obtained by the country's leading recording labels compels eleven ISPs to block 255 Pirate Bay IP addresses and 12 domains. According to early reports from the region, some ISPs have already implemented the ban. It’s very common to hear of a country in Europe opting to block The Pirate Bay. Court orders across the region compel dozens of ISPs to block the infamous torrent site following action by the world’s largest recording labels and movie studios. On the heels of those multiple actions spanning several years comes news today that Argentina has become the first Latin American country to block The Pirate Bay on copyright grounds. The action against the site was initiated by Cámara Argentina de Productores de Fonogramas (CAPIF), an Argentinian music industry group. A local member of the IFPI, CAPIF represents both leading and independent labels. In its application to the court the group said it wanted to do something about the rampant copyright infringement being enabled by The Pirate Bay. A National Court of First Instance looked favorably upon the labels’ plight and last month issued an order to have local ISPs block The Pirate Bay. Details of the case and court order, obtained by Acceso-Directo, only leaked out a few hours ago. Here are the key points. In a directive stamped May 28 and June 26, the National Communications Commission, an organization that regulates and supervises telecommunications and the post office in Argentina, ordered ISPs to take action against a range of domain names and IP addresses associated with the site. As can be seen from the image below, the ISPs – Arnet, Speedy, Fibertel, Claro, Personal, Movistar, Prima, Telecentro, Iplan, Metrotel and Sion – are now required to block 12 Pirate Bay domains and a total of 255 IP address. According to local sources, the ISPs Arnet, Fibertel, Telecentro, Iplan and Metrotel are already blocking the site. An interesting side-effect of the Argentinian blockade was reported to TorrentFreak by a reader in Paraguay. Internet services in the landlocked country are supplied jointly by Argentina and Brazil. This means that anytime now much of Paraguay will also be blocked from accessing The Pirate Bay, even though no court order was issued in that country. The blocking injunction in Argentina is preliminary, so will take effect pending the outcome of a full trial. http://torrentfreak.com/the-pirate-bay-now-blocked-in-argentina-140701/

The top 10 most downloaded movies on BitTorrent are in again. 'Rio 2‘ tops the chart this week, followed by ‘A Million Ways to Die in the West.' 'X-Men: Days of Future Past' completes the top three. This week we have three newcomers in our chart. Rio 2 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. 1 (7) Rio 2 6.7 / trailer 2 (1) A Million Ways to Die in the West (Webrip) 6.4 / trailer 3 (3) X-Men: Days of Future Past (HDCAM) 8.5 / trailer 4 (…) Captain America: The Winter Soldier (HDTS) 8.2 / trailer 5 (2) 300: Rise Of An Empire 6.6 / trailer 6 (…) Neighbors (Webrip) 7.0 / trailer 7 (4) Godzilla (TS) 7.2 / trailer 8 (6) Maleficent (TS) 7.4 / trailer 9 (5) The Grand Budapest Hotel 8.3 / trailer 10 (…) Bad Words 6.8 / trailer http://torrentfreak.com/top-10-most-pirated-movies-of-the-week-140630/

Just a few days after the first Google Glasses went over the counter in the UK, the gadget is already being banned from local cinemas. Fearing that pirates will use the technology to illegally record the latest Hollywood blockbusters, Google Glass wearers will now be asked to take them off. The movie industry sees the illegal recording of movies as one of the biggest piracy threats and for years has gone to extremes to stop it. It started well over a decade ago when visitors began sneaking handheld camcorders into theaters. These big clunkers were relatively easy to spot, but as time passed the recording devices grew smaller and easier to obfuscate. Google Glass is one of the newest threats on the block. Earlier this year the FBI dragged a man from a movie theater in Columbus, Ohio, after theater staff presumed he was using Google Glass to illegally record a film. While the man wasn’t recording anything at all, the response from the cinema employees was telling. This month Google Glass went on sale in the UK, and unlike their American counterparts, British cinemas have been quick to announce a blanket ban on the new gadget. “Customers will be requested not to wear these into cinema auditoriums, whether the film is playing or not,” Phil Clapp, chief executive of the Cinema Exhibitors’ Association told the Independent. The first Glass wearer at a Leicester Square cinema has already been instructed to stow his device, and more are expected to follow. Google Glass wearers with prescription lenses would be wise to take a pair of traditional glasses along if they want to enjoy a movie on the big screen. Movie industry group FACT sees Google Glass and other new recording devices as significant threats and works in tandem with local cinemas to prevent film from being recorded. “Developments in technology have led to smaller, more compact devices which have the capability to record sound and vision, including most mobile phones. FACT works closely with cinema operators and distributors to ensure that best practice is carried out to prevent and detect illegal recordings taking place,” the group says. In recent years the UK movie industry has intensified its efforts to stop camcording and not without success. In 2012 none of the illegally recorded movies that appeared online originated from a UK cinema while several attempts were successfully thwarted. Last year, cinema staff helped UK police to arrest five people and another nine were sent home with cautions. As a thank you for these vigilant actions, the Film Distributors’ Association awarded 13 cinema employees with cash rewards of up to £500. http://torrentfreak.com/uk-cinemas-ban-google-glass-piracy-fears-140630/

A draft bill for the modernization of Swiss copyright law will be presented for public consultation in the coming months. While downloading for personal use will remain legal, uploading infringing content via BitTorrent will not. In addition to infringement warnings for Internet subscribers, the blocking of "obviously illegal" sites is also on the table. The MPAA, RIAA and associated groups such as the International Intellectual Property Alliance, rarely have positive things to say about Switzerland. “The country has become an attractive haven for services heavily engaged in infringing activity,” the IIPA said in its 2013 USTR submission, while referring to the land-locked nation as “a major exporter of pirated content.” In addition to legislation tipped in favor of service providers, the Swiss also present a fairly unique problem. Thanks to the so-called ‘Logistep Decision’, which wasbemoaned in a recent International Creativity and Theft-Prevention Caucus report, the monitoring of file-sharers is effectively outlawed. As a result it’s estimated that more than a third of Swiss Internet users access unlicensed services each month. With international pressure building the Swiss promised to address the situation and have been doing so via AGUR12, a working group responsible for identifying opportunities to adapt copyright law. In parallel, another working group has been looking at service provider liability. This month the Federal Council took the groups’ recommendations and mandated the Federal Department of Justice and Police to prepare a draft bill for public consultation by the end of 2015. What’s on the table The Federal Council says its aim is to improve the situation for creators without impairing the position of consumers, so there is an element of give-and-take in the proposals for file-sharing, with a focus on balance and “careful consideration” given to data protection issues. Personal file-sharing Current download-and-share-with-impunity will be replaced with an acceptance of downloading for personal use, but with uploading specifically outlawed. This means that while downloading a pirated album from a cyberlocker would be legal, doing so using BitTorrent would be illegal due to inherent uploading. Warnings and notifications While commercial level infringers can already be dealt with under Swiss law, the proposals seek to lower the bar so that those who flout an upload ban on a smaller but persistent scale can be dealt with. AGUR12 has recommended that this should be achieved by sending warning notices to infringers via their ISPs. Only when a user fails to get the message should his or her details be handed over to rightsholders for use in civil proceedings. The Federal Council says it likes the idea, but first wants to investigate how the notification process will work, where the thresholds on persistent infringement lie, and under what process identities can be revealed to rightsholders. Provider liability Under AGUR12′s recommendations, Internet providers will not only be required to remove infringing content from their platforms, but also prevent that same content from reappearing, a standard that U.S. rightsholders are currently pressuring Google to adopt. Additionally, in serious cases authorities should be able to order the blocking of “obviously illegal content or sources”. Any new obligations on service providers would be balanced by granting them with exemption from liability. Conclusion While Switzerland does not wish to render mere downloading illegal, its effective outlawing of BitTorrent for unlicensed content transfers will put it on a par with most Western countries. Furthermore, if service providers are forced to take copyrighted content down and keep it down, Switzerland could become the model that the United States has to live up to. http://torrentfreak.com/swiss-wont-ban-downloading-but-will-block-sites-140630/