The UK government says it will address the so-called music 'value gap' as part of Brexit negotiations. The confirmation came in response to a probing Digital Economy Bill amendment which would see sites like YouTube lose their safe harbor protections if they "optimize the presentation" of uploaded works. Earlier this year, RIAA chief Cary Sherman accused YouTube of running a protection racket. The DMCA requires the site to take down infringing content on request. However, millions of pieces of content are missed or are reuploaded after being taken down, meaning that YouTube is able to monetize them, without paying an appropriate license fee. Services like Spotify and Apple Music, on the other hand, must license all the content they offer. While YouTube acts within the law, industry players have been working to get law in the United States and Europe tightened up so it cannot continue to exploit was has become known as the “value gap”. This week the issue was raised again, this time as part of the debates surrounding the UK’s Digital Economy Bill. In order to assess the government’s position, Kevin Brennan MP tabled a probing amendment to section 19 of The Electronic Commerce (EC Directive) Regulations 2002, which deals with service provider safe harbor. “The Electronic Commerce (EC Directive) Regulations 2002, which put into law the EU’s e-commerce directive 2000, include certain exemptions from liability for online services, including copyright-protected works,” Brennan said. “The fundamental concern from the music industry is that the hosting defense provided by regulation 19 of the 2002 regulations acts as a safe harbor and allows some services, including user-uploaded services such as YouTube, to circumvent the normal rules of licensing.” Noting that this situation has led to the “value gap”, Brennan cited some figures from UK Music. “User-uploaded service YouTube, the most widely used global streaming platform, increased its payments to music rights holders by 11% in 2015, despite consumption on the service growing by 132%. That is the value gap in a nutshell. Further industry analysis indicates that video streams increased by 88% year on year, but generated only a 0.4% increase in revenues,” he said. To deal with the issue, Brennan suggested a new clause which would only permit sites like YouTube to enjoy safe harbor if they do not “play an active role in the storage of information including by optimizing the presentation of the uploaded works or promoting them.” Brennan told MPs that the status quo is distorting the digital market, since YouTube benefits while services like Spotify do not. A line needs to be drawn in the sand, he said, to ensure that music services don’t enjoy the same protections as ‘dumb’ service providers. “There was, and continues to be, a justification for exemptions in some areas for passive hosts, but those must reflect the balance between the rights of rights holders and users. The industry is concerned that existing provisions are not sufficiently defined and as a result are open to deliberate manipulation,” he said. Minister of State for Digital & Culture Matt Hancock said he understood the concerns. “As we have debated, the Bill sends a clear message about copyright infringement, not least because we are increasing the penalty for online copyright infringement from two to 10 years,” Hancock said. “Of course, I know about the concern in the music industry and elsewhere that online intermediaries need to do more to share revenues fairly with creators. That is what this new clause seeks to tackle, and I agree with that concern.” However, as the government seeks to make new laws it also has to consider current European Union law and what will happen when the UK eventually leaves the block. Hancock says that the new clause tabled by Brennan is already supported by European Court of Justice case law, a position supported in the UK. He then turned to the issue of the EU’s Digital Single Market. “We are heavily engaged in the digital single market negotiations and the discussions ongoing in Europe. While we are a member of the EU, we will continue to do that. The issue of the value gap, which the hon. Gentleman mentioned, is important, and the development of ECJ case law in that direction has been helpful,” Hancock said. Indeed, during September the European Commission issued its draft Directive on Copyright in the Digital Single Market. It contains the following text: Article 13 creates an obligation on information society service providers storing and giving access to large amounts of works and other subject-matter uploaded by their users to take appropriate and proportionate measures to ensure the functioning of agreements concluded with rightholders and to prevent the availability on their services of content identified by rightholders in cooperation with the service providers. “That brings me to Brexit because, as the e-commerce directive is EU single-market legislation, we will have to consider what the best future system will be as we exit the European Union,” Hancock continued. “We will have to consider how the e-commerce regulations as a whole should work in the future. That will be part of the debate about leaving the European Union.” Hancock said that given the progress in EU law he is “wary about making peacemeal changes” to the current UK regime, but offered assurances that he would take Brennan’s proposals into account as the UK leaves the EU. “I acknowledge the need, through the Brexit negotiations and the process of setting domestic law where there is currently European law, to take into account the important considerations that have been raised,” he said. Brennan subsequently withdrew the probing amendment but it’s clear that the value gap dispute won’t be going away anytime soon. However, in a sign that progress can be being made voluntarily, this week YouTube and German music rights group GEMA laid years of legal battles to rest with a landmark deal. Who knows what might follow next. https://torrentfreak.com/uk-govt-will-address-music-value-gap-as-part-of-brexit-161103/

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Today we bring you the next episode of the Steal This Show podcast, discussing renegade media and the latest file-sharing and copyright news. In this episode we talk to The Yes Men's Mike Bonanno, aka Igor Vamos. If you enjoy this episode, consider becoming a patron and getting involved with the show. Check out Steal This Show’s Patreon campaign: support us and get all kinds of fantastic benefits! In this episode we meet Mike Bonanno, akaIgor Vamos, one half of the dynamic, culture jamming activist duo The Yes Men. To date, they’ve produced three films: The Yes Men (2003), The Yes Men Fix the World(2009) and The Yes Men Are Revolting(2014). In these films, they impersonate entities that they dislike, a practice that they call “identity correction”. In reality The Yes Men are maybe the original mass media trolls, having successfully flummoxed the BBC, Chamber of Commerce, and even George W. Bush. But it’s trickery for good causes, from raising awareness around the Bhopals disaster to global warming. After a news roundup from Jamie (AT&T/Time Warner merger, Pirate Party showing in Iceland elections, and copyright lobbies going after core Internet infrastructure) the episode explores the increasing power of media activists and the capacity figures like Julian Assange and Edward Snowden have to affect the political stage. It’s a bumper episode of STEAL THIS SHOW, weighing in at about 1hr 15mins. Some fun topics: The origins of The Yes Men in a bizarre, pornographic, surrealist piece of videogame sabotage; The Yes Men’s dubious claim to be the internet’s Original Trolls.; Trolling George W. Bush as a claim to fame; How to knock billions of dollars off Fortune 100 company; The perils of liberating porn, and why you just do not (ahem) fuck with Big Porno; What it’s like to visit Julian Assange at the Ecuadorian Embassy. — Steal This Show aims to release bi-weekly episodes featuring insiders discussing copyright and file-sharing news. It complements our regular reporting by adding more room for opinion, commentary and analysis. The guests for our news discussions will vary and we’ll aim to introduce voices from different backgrounds and persuasions. In addition to news, STS will also produce features interviewing some of the great innovators and minds. Host: Jamie King Guest: Mike Bonanno Produced by Jamie King Edited & Mixed by Riley Byrne Original Music by David Triana Web Production by Siraje Amarniss https://torrentfreak.com/steal-show-s02e05-trolling-justice/

Tracker's Name : SuperBits Genre : MOVIES / TV / GENERAL Sign-up Link : https://superbits.org/signup/c05b3a471c156c0a592f4fb812531979 Additional information : SuperBits is a SWEDISH Private Torrent Tracker for MOVIES / TV / GENERAL

Tracker's Name : The Internationals (TTi) Genre : 0DAY / GENERAL Sign-up Link : https://theinternationals.nu/signup.php Additional information : The Internationals (TTi) is a SWEDISH Private Torrent Tracker for 0DAY / GENERAL

A Polish appeals court has ruled that Artem Vaulin, the alleged owner of KickassTorrents, will remain in prison. The court refused the request for a supervised release and deems the accusations of the U.S. Government serious enough to keep him in custody. In July, Polish law enforcement officers arrested Artem Vaulin, the alleged owner of KickassTorrents, who’s been held in a local prison ever since. The 30-year-old Ukrainian was arrested on behalf of U.S. authorities who want him extradited. According to a grand jury indictment, Vaulin is one of the brains behind the popular torrent search engine. Vaulin’s defense team refutes these claims and has asked the U.S. federal court to dismiss the case in its entirety. At the same time, they have been trying to get their client released from prison on bail. The case has now been heard before the Court of Appeals in Warsaw, Poland, but with a disappointing result for the KickassTorrents defendant. The court ruled that Vaulin should remain in custody during the extradition proceedings. The defense argued that Vaulin should be released on bail while awaiting his trial. Among other things, they questioned how the crimes alleged by the U.S. applied under Polish law. In addition, they stressed that their client is in need of good medical care, possibly surgery, for a spinal hernia he’s suffering from. His release could have been under police supervision and Vaulin was willing to hand over his passport and remain in Warsaw, if needed. The Court of Appeals reviewed the arguments and concluded that the alleged KickassTorrents owner will remain in prison, citing a fear of complications during the extradition proceedings. According to Judge Marzanna Piekarska-Drążek, there are still valid reasons to extend the detention. She noted that the evidence provided by the U.S. authorities is “sufficient” to warrant this decision. The health issues cited by the defense were not seen as severe, with the court noting that Vaulin could get the help he needs while in custody. Vaulin’s Polish counsel, Tatiana Pacewicz, is disappointed by the outcome. She believes that her client’s rights are being violated and notes that the case has been referred to the Helsinki Foundation for Human Rights. TorrentFreak asked the defense team for a comment on its future plans, but we haven’t heard back before publication. For now, however, it doesn’t look like Vaulin will be released anytime soon. https://torrentfreak.com/alleged-kickasstorrents-owner-stays-in-prison-court-rules-161002/

Tracker's Name : AudioNews (AN) Genre : AUDIO SOFTWARE / SAMPLES / ETC Sign-up Link : https://audionews.org/profile.php?mode=register Additional information : AudioNews (AN) is a Private Torrent Tracker for AUDIO SOFTWARE / SAMPLES / ETC

After years of legal battles, YouTube and German music rights group GEMA have reached a landmark licensing agreement. As a result, Germans now have access to tens of thousands of music videos that were previously "not available" in their country. Over the years, many Germans have gotten used to YouTube’s blocking notice, which prevented them from playing music videos that are widely available in the rest of the world. At the root of this issue is a dispute between the video hosting platform and GEMA, a local music group that claims to represent 70,000 artists. YouTube and GEMA have been fighting several court cases for more than half a decade, but today they announced a breakthrough. The two parties have signed a licensing agreement where the video hosting platform agrees to pay a fee for making the music videos of GEMA members available in Germany. As a result, the blocking notifications on many videos will disappear. “This is a win for music artists around the world, enabling them to reach new and existing fans in Germany, while also earning money from the advertising on their videos,” says YouTube’s Christophe Muller. “And for YouTube users in Germany, who will no longer see a blocking message on music content that contains GEMA repertoire, for the first time in seven years.” YouTube created a special GIF to celebrate the occasion GEMA is happy with the outcome as well, in particular because YouTube agreed to pay retroactive compensation for videos that have been published since the start of the dispute in 2009. “After seven years of tough negotiations, signing a deal with YouTube marks a milestone for GEMA and its members,” GEMA’s Harald Heker comments. “What is crucial is that the license agreement covers publications from both the future and the past. With this agreement, we can provide our members their royalties,” he adds. Increasingly, music groups are criticizing YouTube for “profiting” from the hard work of artists without paying proper compensations, so it’s not unlikely that similar deals will follow in other countries. On the other hand, music insiders have also complained about GEMA’s restrictive policies. Sony Music’s Edgar Berger previously said that millions were lost because of the YouTube ban. At the same time, some musicians complained that there were not able to share their music freely. With this in mind, the current agreement is certainly a big step forward for both musicians and the public at large. https://torrentfreak.com/youtube-signs-landmark-deal-to-end-music-video-blocking-in-germany-160101/

Tracker's Name : HDHome (HDBiger) Genre : HD MOVIES / TV Sign-up Link : https://hdhome.org/signup.php Additional information : HDHome (HDBiger) is a CHINESE Private Torrent Tracker for HD MOVIES / TV

A legal campaign that promised to hit file-sharers with demands for cash has been abandoned in Sweden. The law firm at the heart of the plan says that it effectively misjudged the gap between public opinion and the fact that file-sharing is illegal under local law. Strangely, it also claims victory. In the US, Europe, and Canada, copyright holders have been teaming up with piracy monitoring firms to develop a new flow of revenue. Together they track down alleged pirates and hit them with a demand for cash settlement – or else. This so-called ‘copyright-trolling’ hit Sweden earlier this year. An organization calling itself Spridningskollen (Distribution Check) headed up by law firm Gothia Law, said its new initiative would save the entertainment industries and educate the masses. “One can compare it to a speed camera. In the same way that a speed camera only records those who drive too fast, only those Internet users who share copyrighted material without permission are logged,” said spokesman Gordon Odenbark. Those ‘speeding fines’ were set at around $250 but backed up by threats that they would increase if file-sharers were uncooperative. Predictably there was a huge backlash, both among the public and in the media, but few expected the announcement that came yesterday. “Gothia Law, who on behalf of rights holders in the film and television industry created Distribution Check, is now ending its involvement in the file sharing issue,” the firm said. “In a short time, Distribution Check has given rise to criticism but also a decline in illegal file sharing. This without a single collection letter being sent out.” Noting that in a short time the anti-piracy campaign had generated intense debate, the law firm also went on to claim that it had been a success. “Knowledge of an individual’s legal responsibility is higher today than it was before the initiative was launched. It also established that the method to address a claim against a person who held a particular IP address through which copyrighted materials were distributed illegally, is in full compliance with both Swedish and European legislation,” the company added. The claim that the campaign had somehow achieved its aims is somewhat weak, especially when one considers the legal and administrative costs that have been accrued in what was a sizeable operation. That is further compounded by the fact that no letters being sent out means that a) all the threats and promises were hollow and b) zero revenue was generated. Perhaps worse still, those threats were made by a law firm that now has to deal with damage to its reputation among both its clients and the general public. “The polarized debate focused on how to act to avoid the Swedish law. Many hold the belief that it is socially acceptable to withhold the truth in order to escape the penalty for a criminal act, which also seriously damages the cultural sector,” Gothia said. “As legislation and public opinion differs in a significant way, Gothia Law has now ended its involvement in the file-sharing issue.” It is quite something for a law firm to state that it’s backed out of a project because people have no respect for the law. Then again, it’s not unusual for law firms to get involved in this type of work only to find that it’s more trouble than it’s worth. Still, the company signs off with its successes, which were apparently achieved in just two months and without sending out a single letter. “The initiative has meant a certain success for rights holders who will continue to protect their own interests in the file-sharing issue. Not only has the issue risen on the agenda, during the time that has passed since the initiative was launched, illegal downloading in Sweden also declined,” Gothia said. While it’s reportedly true that file-sharing in Sweden is on the decline, it seems unlikely that this campaign had much of an effect on that since its launch in September. Nevertheless, Gothia insists that it did. “The decline in sharing of the 150 titles represented by Distribution Check has been greater than the overall decline. For some titles, the download has fallen by 17 percent,” the company concludes. It’s difficult to see the announcement as anything less than a damage limitation exercise but for local ISP Bahnhof, the news is still welcome. Bahnhof CEO Jon Karlung has been Distribution Check’s most vocal critic and through his company has been a thorn in the side of the project. Now it’s all over, people can relax again. “This means that ordinary families do not have to come home to mysterious invoices that you have to think about whether to pay or not,” Karlung says. “Hopefully this means that the copyright industry will seriously leave the 90s behind and put their resources into better experiences instead, such as Netflix and Spotify have done.” https://torrentfreak.com/copyright-trolls-abandon-sweden-in-blaze-of-bad-publicity-161101/

Since it's become mandatory for ISPs to forward piracy notifications in Canada, hundreds of thousands of people have received letters over alleged copyright infringements. One of these accused pirates is an elderly woman, who's threatened with $5,000 in potential damages for downloading a zombie game she's never heard of. Not to sound ageist, but generally speaking 86-year-old women are not that interested in zombie games like Metro 2033. This also applies to Christine McMillan from Ontario, Canada. In fact, she’d never even heard of the game until an anti-piracy group accused her of pirating a copy via BitTorrent. McMillan is one of the hundreds of thousands of people who’ve been accused of copyright infringement under Canada’s “notice and notice” regime. Due to a change to Canada’s copyright law early last year, ISPs are now required to forward copyright infringement notices to their customers. As a result, tens of thousands of Internet subscribers have received warnings in their mailboxes, with some asking for cash settlements. The 86-year-old woman falls in the latter category. In the letter received from anti-piracy group Canipre, she’s threatened with thousands of dollars in damages, if she doesn’t comply. “They didn’t tell me how much I owed, they only told me that if I didn’t comply, I would be liable for a fine of up to $5,000 and I could pay immediately by entering my credit card number,” McMillan told Go Public. At first, McMillan thought she was dealing with spammers but Cogeco, her Internet provider, confirmed that the email with the settlement offer was legitimate. The power of the settlement scheme lies in the uncertainty people face. Most recipients are unaware of the notice-and-notice system and fear that a lawsuit is looming. However, thus far not a single lawsuit has followed in these cases. They are basically regular takedown notices, bundled with a settlement request, which are common in the U.S. as well. The rightsholders have no idea who the accused are and have no way to contact them directly. McMillan is obviously not happy with the notice-and-notice legislation which she brands as “foolish.” “That somebody can threaten you over the internet … that to me is intimidation and I can’t believe the government would support such action,” she says. Canipre’s owner Barry Logan, however, doesn’t see anything wrong with the practice and says that his company is helping its clients to educate the public on piracy and theft. The threatening language in the letters doesn’t cross any lines, he notes. For the anti-piracy group the new legislation has been a great success. By sending out tens, or hundreds of thousands of warning letters, they’ve collected about $500,000 in settlements since it was put in place last year. This also means that Canadian Internet subscribers are half a million lighter as a result. Interestingly, McMillan is not one of them. While she made herself known by going to the press, she has no intention of paying up for pirating a zombie game she’d never even heard of. https://torrentfreak.com/86-year-old-grandma-accused-of-pirating-a-zombie-game-161031/

Dubbed the most hated man in America, pharmaceutical executive Martin Shkreli is always neck-deep in controversy. Currently on bail after being indicted on federal charges of securities fraud, Shkreli has taken to Twitter to beg for an invite to private torrent site, What.CD. Martin Shkreli is the founder and former CEO of Turing Pharmaceuticals and wherever he appears, controversy is never far behind. Last year the 33-year-old was subjected to massive criticism when Turing obtained a license to produce antiparasitic drug Daraprim and promptly boosted its price by more than 5,000%. It was a move that saw him being branded in the media as the most hated man in America. But it’s not just pharma that has built Shkreli’s reputation. With a reported net worth of between $45m and $100m, the entrepreneur’s flamboyant spending has also hit the headlines. A keen hip-hop fan, Shkreli was revealed in 2015 as the buyer of Once Upon a Time in Shaolin, a one-off album from Wu-Tang Clan. With a price tag of a cool $2m, it’s clear that Shkreli doesn’t mind digging deep when it comes to spending money on exclusive music. However, it appears that the businessman might also have a penchant for getting music for free, when the circumstances are right. Rising from the ashes of the defunct private tracker OiNK, What.cd is currently the most prestigious music torrent site on the Internet, bar none. The site has a largely hand-picked userbase who in turn are allowed to invite friends. Somehow it appears that Shkreli managed to get on board. Tweeting from Manhattan late Friday, Shkreli appeared to indicate that he was having trouble with his account on What.cd. This led him to start begging for an invitation to get back on the site. Somewhat inevitably, people following him on Twitter decided this would be a good time to have some fun. “Why don’t you use USE.net like a normal person Martin,” one asked, sarcastically referencing the Usenet system. “Newsgroups?” Shkreli accurately responded. This guy clearly knows his piracy haunts. As fans already know, What.cd prides itself on covering every musical genre in depth, while offering the rarest of rare releases. With that in mind, if only there was an individual with access to the rarest recording of all time who might upload that to What.cd in exchange for an invitation…. While Shkreli does some wild stuff, uploading Once Upon a Time in Shaolin to What.cd is probably going to be a step too far, even for him. However, he could do so if he wishes. He’s under investigation by the FBI but last year they revealed that they hadn’t seized the album. Contractually, the album can’t be exploited commercially until 2103, but according to Wu-Tang, Shkreli could legally give it away for free. “It can be exhibited publicly and it can be given away for free. But it cannot be commercialized as a conventional album release until 2103. Even then, it will be the owner’s decision to release it or keep it as a single unit, not the Wu-Tang,” the group said following the album’s sale. However, there is a bigger problem. If you’ve ever had a What.cd account, you can’t have another. Those are the rules and not observing them can get both you and your inviter banned. Shkreli’s only real option is to head off to the site’s IRC channels and ask for his account to be reinstated. If the disabling of the account was for a minor issue, it’s possible they’ll just re-enable it. He might also try the “do you know who I am” routine to get some leverage, although that might not go entirely to plan. https://torrentfreak.com/martin-shkreli-begs-for-private-torrent-site-invitation-161031/

The top 10 most downloaded movies on BitTorrent are in again. 'Finding Dory' tops the chart this week, followed by ‘The BFG'. 'Suicide Squad' completes the top three. This week we have three newcomers in our chart. Finding Dory is the most downloaded movie. 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 Web-DL/Webrip/HDRip/BDrip/DVDrip unless stated otherwise. RSS feed for the weekly movie download chart. Ranking (last week) Movie IMDb Rating / Trailer torrentfreak.com 1 (…) Finding Dory 7.7 / trailer 2 (…) The BFG 6.6 / trailer 3 (1) Suicide Squad 6.7 / trailer 4 (2) Bad Moms 6.5 / trailer 5 (…) Jack Reacher: Never Go Back(HDTS) 6.4 / trailer 6 (4) Sausage Party 6.7 / trailer 7 (6) Lights Out 6.6 / trailer 8 (10) Captain America: Civil War 8.1 / trailer 9 (3) Don’t Breathe 7.5 / trailer 10 (9) The Infiltrator 7.2 / trailer https://torrentfreak.com/top-10-pirated-movies-week-103116/

Torrent site 1337x.to has enjoyed a massive spike in traffic in recent weeks, mainly due to the demise of KickassTorrents. However, due to a Google ban of its homepage the site is not always easy to find. With a new design, 1337x hopes to turn the tide. For many veteran BitTorrent users, 1337x is a familiar name. The site has been around for many years and was generally known for its lively community. While 1337x hasn’t been at the center of attention much, the past year has been quite an eventful one for the torrent index. After weathering a revolt of its moderators last December, this summer 1337x suddenly had to deal with a massive spike in traffic after KickassTorrents was shut down by the Us.S Government. Most new visitors came in through Torrentz, and these disappeared just as quickly when the torrent meta-search engine called it quits in August. However, traffic has been steadily increasing since, as the graph below nicely illustrates. “To be honest, it has been a rollercoaster with traffic,” the site’s operator tells TorrentFreak in a comment The end result is that 1337x.to now has a steady place among the most-visited torrent sites, currently ranked in the top five. Still, the site is not always easy to find for newcomers as the homepage has been taken out of Google’s search results due to a takedown notice. Traditionally, the homepage listed a variety of popular torrents, so Google has no other option than to remove the URL when Feelgood Entertainment reported it last year. To address this issue and prevent similar problems in the future, the site recently released a new design. Aside from various layout changes and using a responsive design, the homepage now only features a search box, no torrents. “Due to our old index being blocked by search engines, new users were having issues finding the website. We developed a new index page that contains only search, so we don’t get blocked by search engines in the future,” a notice on the site explains. TorrentFreak spoke to the 1337x operator who doubts that Google will reinstate their homepage right away. However, the new design should prevent similar problems in the future. The new design has been in the planning for a very long time already and spiraled a bit out of control. Initially, the plan was to only update the homepage, but it didn’t stop there. “Seeing how cool a responsive layout could look we decided to make a whole new frontend. That literally took months to develop, and we changed backend code as well, which fixed several bugs and issues that were in the old version,” 1337x’s operator tells us. And the work is not done yet. The next step is to release the new forums which people will be able to use with their existing 1337x account. If there are no major issues, this will go live in a month or so. In moderator ‘relations’, progress has been made as well. While some have left the site for good, others came back and continue to remove spam and fake torrents with some new and improved tools. The 1337x.to operator is mostly looking ahead at the moment. Work on the site and moderator features is far from completed, but the team is trying hard to move a few steps closer every week. https://torrentfreak.com/torrent-site-1337x-hopes-new-design-will-prevent-search-engine-bans-161030/

Rights Alliance lawyer Henrik Pontén says that the trend of huge increases in people file-sharing has come to an end, while piracy complaints to the police more often than not lead to prosecution. Meanwhile, the Swedish government wants to develop a code of conduct to further reduce infringement. Like many European countries, Sweden has millions of file-sharers. Many will have been inspired to take up their hobby through the antics of The Pirate Bay, a site that their government tried and failed to contain. But despite the site managing to regain and maintain its position as the world’s most popular torrent site, it appears that at least to some extent, file-sharing is falling out of fashion in Sweden. That’s according to Henrik Pontén, a lawyer with infamous anti-piracy outfit Rights Alliance (Rättighetsalliansen) “We see a trend reversal. Until now, we have seen a huge increase in file sharing, but we do not see that anymore,” Pontén told SVT. Pontén and his colleagues have been waging a war against local pirates for more than a decade and despite the progress, it isn’t one that’s likely to end anytime soon. The legal chief says they’re now filing more complaints with the police, who are becoming used to handling these types of cases. “We do not say how many referrals we make, but it is becoming more and more. The police are becoming better at investigating these cases and now the majority of complaints lead to a prosecution,” he said. While Rights Alliance isn’t particularly well-known for going after the very casual file-sharer, it has a track record of aggressively pursuing bigger cases. Pontén warns that a successful prosecution these days is likely to end in big claims from the studios. “It is always millions per movie. It rests on various things, including what a license to distribute the film legally costs,” he says. “We could claim damages on many more movies, but we usually run with just one, that’s enough.” While peer-to-peer file-sharing in Sweden and elsewhere may well be on the decline, other instances of piracy are on the rise. In particular, streaming is proving very popular with consumers and Pontén says that his group is currently focusing on people who operate streaming sites. But in common with other countries facing a similar climate of illicit consumption, it’s now becoming clear that enforcement is only part of the solution. Alice Bah Kuhnke, Swedish Minister of Culture and Democracy, believes that cooperation between stakeholders will play a key role. “We have collected a number of actors involved in this, and had round tables. There are different players with different interests. A code of conduct is one of the concrete proposals we came up with,” Bah Kuhnke says. Describing the protection of intellectual property as a central issue for the government, the minister says that developing a voluntary code will assist with that aim. “The code is also designed to make the Internet a safe and legal place for consumers and businesses. To promote innovation and investment in legal options and limit economic crime based on copyright infringement. I hope that more people want to subscribe to the code to make it a growing platform,” the minister concludes. https://torrentfreak.com/swedish-file-sharing-in-decline-anti-piracy-chief-says-161030/

The Pirate Party in Iceland booked an important victory in the local parliamentary election today, scoring 14.5% of the total vote. While lower than most polls predicted, it marks the first time that a Pirate Party, anywhere in the world, has a serious shot at taking part in a government coalition. Founded in 2006 by Rick Falkvinge, the Pirate party movement has scored some significant victories over the years, but what happened in Iceland today trumps them all. According to the first results that came in over the past few hours, one in seven Icelanders voted Pirate in the national parliamentary elections. This is an impressive victory for the Pirate Party, which increased the number of parliament seats from three to ten in just three years. This makes the Pirates one of the big winners of the election, and the third largest party in the country behind the Independence Party and the Left-Green Movement which got 29.1% and 15.8% of the votes. Traditionally, Iceland has a coalition government consisting of several parties. With this outcome the party now has a prominent spot at the negotiation table, where the new government will be formed during the weeks to come. With the current distribution of seats, making a coalition will be quite a challenge, the way it looks now. Today’s success doesn’t come as a surprise as the party has been polling very well this year. At one point it was close to total majority in the polls. That dropped off quite a bit in recent months, but with the current result the Pirates still managed to nearly triple their votes compared to the previous election. The Icelandic Pirate Party was formed in November 2012 by several Internet activists including Birgitta Jónsdóttir, who’s well known for her former involvement with WikiLeaks. Within a year the party participated in its first parliamentary elections, scoring three seats, which was a major milestone for the Pirate movement at the time. The Pirate Party’s success hasn’t gone unnoticed by the mainstream media either. Several prominent publications all across the world have covered the ‘unusual’ candidates this week, and rightly so. Pirate MP Ásta Helgadóttir voting today (photo via @Senficon) Speaking with TorrentFreak last week, Ásta Helgadóttir, Member of Parliament for the Icelandic Pirate Party, said that the party is ready to bring the change many citizens are longing for. “Firstly, by adopting a new constitution which has already been voted on in a non-binding referendum,” Helgadóttir says. “This will change how Iceland functions as a democracy, transitioning into a much more meaningful democracy. The Pirates are focused on decentralization of power, access to information and civil and human rights. The pillars of any meaningful notion of democracy.” Despite the unusual name, at least in politics, the Pirates are by no means a single-issue party. They have a detailed plan for how Iceland can break free from the ruling political establishment. Their core policy has a strong focus on freedom of information and expression, a right to privacy, transparency and direct democracy. But first, it’s time to celebrate, which will undoubtedly involve several bottles of rum and plenty of Pirate flag waving. Update: The seat total was changed to 10 after publication, to reflect the final numbers. https://torrentfreak.com/pirate-party-books-election-victory-in-iceland-161029/

Tracker's Name : Teracod Genre : 0DAY / GENERAL Sign-up Link : http://teracod.org/registration Additional information : Teracod is a HUNGARIAN Private Torrent Tracker for 0DAY / GENERAL

Tracker's Name : PolishSource (PS) Genre : MOVIES / TV / GENERAL Sign-up Link : https://polishsource.cz/signup.php Additional information : PolishSource (PS) is a POLISH Private Torrent Tracker for MOVIES / TV / GENERAL

Tracker's Name : AnimeTorrents (AnT) Genre : ANIME Sign-up Link : http://animetorrents.me/register.php Additional information : AnimeTorrents (AnT) is a Private Torrent Tracker for ANIME

Time Warner Cable has added an interesting clarification to its copyright infringement notifications. In addition to warning pirates of the standard "mitigation measures" that are part of the Copyright Alert System, the ISP now adds that persistent pirates also risk losing their Internet connection, and more. It hasn’t made the news much over the past year, but the U.S. Copyright Alert System is still in full swing. First implemented more than three years ago, the main goal of the “six strikes” program is to educate the public. That is, informing people whose connections are being used to pirate, and pointing them to legal alternatives. While repeat infringers face so-called mitigation measures, the copyright holders and ISPs have made it very clear that no one will permanently lose their Internet access. At least, not under the alerts program itself. However, Time Warner Cable has decided to update its standard copyright alerts to emphasize that people who continue to infringe may risk losing their Internet subscription, email account, and more. In recent months the following paragraph has been added to the copyright alert notification, underlining the point. “In addition, in accordance with our acceptable use policy, your internet service may be subject to termination at our sole discretion if we continue to receive credible allegations that your internet connection has been used to share copyrighted content without permission of the copyright owner.” Time Warner Cable adds that an account termination may also result in the loss of the email account at the ISP, as well as many other third-party services that rely on the Internet, such as Netflix. The text that was added The rest of the copyright alert messaging remains intact and has remained pretty much the same since 2013. Overall it’s well-balanced, informing subscribers how the system works and what their rights are. The big question is, why did Time Warner Cable add the termination language? After all, the acceptable use policy itself isn’t new in any way. Without an official statement we can only speculate, but there have been some recent developments that may have played a role. There’s the lawsuit between BMG and Cox Communications, where the latter lost its safe harbor protection because it failed to implement a repeat infringer policy. As a result, Cox must pay $25 million in damages, a ruling that’s currently under appeal. This may have prompted Time Warner Cable to make its stance on repeat infringers more visible. At the same time, various copyright holder groups have been turning up the pressure. The MPAA, for example, told the U.S. Copyright Office that terminating the accounts of persistent pirates is “critical”. In the U.S. it is currently rare for ISPs to disconnect infringing subscribers, with many arguing that only a court can decide if someone can be stripped of an essential service such as Internet access. However, the MPAA stressed that Internet providers “must terminate users who repeatedly and blatantly infringe copyright, regardless of whether there has been a judicial determination that the user is liable for copyright infringement.” At the same time, ISPs and copyright holders are currently negotiating over the Copyright Alert System, including whether it should continue or if changes are needed to improve the current procedure. Undoubtedly, the repeat infringer requirement will be part of these discussions. Since the MPAA is one of the founding groups of the program, they are likely to ask all ISPs to include this language in their notifications. Despite the added account termination warning, TorrentFreak hasn’t received any reports that Time Warner Cable is disconnecting subscribers on a large scale. Perhaps this means that the threats are doing their job, or…? — — Below is an example of Time Warner Cable’s full alert, in the educational stage (emphasis is original). https://torrentfreak.com/time-warner-cable-threatens-pirates-with-account-termination-161029/

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Tracker's Name : LibraNet (LN) Genre : EBOOKS / LOSSLESS MUSIC Sign-up Link : http://libranet.org/signup.php Additional information : LibraNet (LN) is a HUNGARIAN Private Torrent Tracker for EBOOKS / LOSSLESS MUSIC

In the ongoing copyright infringement lawsuit against alleged pirate sites Sci-Hub, Libgen and Bookfi, a New York federal court has ordered CDN provider Cloudflare to identify the operators of the latter two sites. According to the order, Cloudflare's help is required to identify the alleged offenders. As one of the leading CDN and DDoS protection services, Cloudflare is used by millions of websites across the globe. This includes thousands of “pirate” sites which rely on the U.S. based company to keep server loads down. In addition, Cloudflare has the added benefit that it can ‘obfuscate’ the hosting providers of these sites, offering an extra layer of anonymity. This is an issue academic book publisher Elsevier has dealt with first hand. Last year the company filed a complaint against Sci-Hub, Libgen and Bookfi, but thus far the operators of the latter two sites remain unknown. Since both sites used Cloudflare in the past, Elsevier tried to obtain information through the “trusted notifier” program. However, the CDN provider replied that it could not share this information for sites that are no longer active on its network. This left Elsevier no other option than to take the matter to court. In a request filed last month, the publisher explained that a court-ordered discovery subpoena is the only option to move the case forward and identify the defendants. In a recent order, federal Judge Robert W. Sweet agrees with that assessment. “There is good cause to believe that absent identifying information concerning the operators of libgen.org and bookfi.org, Elsevier will be unable to advance its claims against those operators,” Judge Sweet writes. The court has seen enough evidence to conclude that the two websites are engaging in copyright-infringing activities and concludes that a subpoena is warranted. “Elsevier has made a substantial evidentiary showing that Defendants, through the websites libgen.org and bookfi.org, have engaged in conduct which violates Elsevier’s exclusive rights under [U.S. copyright law],” the order notes. This means that Cloudflare will have to hand over any and all information they have that may identify these former customers. Judge Sweet’s order While Cloudflare is left with no other option than to cooperate, it’s unclear to what degree they can help. Since neither Libgen nor Bookfi are currently using Cloudflare’s services, it remains to be seen whether the company still has the site’s old IP-addresses and other identifiable information on file. Even if the operators are identified, it’s unlikely that they will agree to future U.S. court orders, as they are likely living abroad. After losing their previous domain names through the lawsuit, the Libgen and Bookfi websites continued to serve ‘pirated’ papers and books. Even today, they remain available through their new homes at golibgen.io and bookfi.net. https://torrentfreak.com/court-orders-cloudflare-to-identify-pirate-site-operators-161028/