By now, most UK Internet users have gotten used to pirate sites being blocked by their ISPs. However, instead of 'going legal' it turns out that many people simply move on to unblocked sites, or find other tricks to circumvent the restrictions. Today, we take a look at the most used 'pirate' sites in the UK, with some surprising results. Website blocking has become one of the favorite anti-piracy tools of the entertainment industries in recent years. The UK is a leader on this front, with the High Court ordering local ISPs to block access to many popular file-sharing sites. Over time the number of blocked URLs has expanded to well over 1,000, with popular torrent, streaming, and direct download sites being the main targets. While research has shown that this approach is somewhat effective, there are plenty of options through which people can circumvent the blockades, including many reverse proxies. Similarly, pirate sites can simply switch to a new domain name to evade the court orders, and new sites are allowed to flourish in the shadow of those that are no longer available. This week we decided to take a look at the current pirate site landscape in the UK, with some surprising results. As it turns out, the list of top ten most-used pirate sites in the UK includes several sites that are on the ISPs blockists. In some cases the sites remain accessible on their original domain names, via the HTTPS URL. As we’ve highlighted before, not all ISPs are able to block HTTPS traffic, which allows their subscribers to load The Pirate Bay and other blocked sites just fine. There are also websites that intentionally help visitors to circumvent the blocks by registering new domain names. Unblocked.vip, for example, has cycled through various domain names in order to remain available. And then there are the newcomers. 123movies.to deserves a mention here as it’s currently the most-used pirate site in the UK. With an Alexa rank of 81, it’s even one of the 100 most-visited sites in the country. 123movies.to Below we’ve made an overview of the ten most-used pirate sites in the UK. Several of these are on the blocklist, with a current or previous URL. This suggests that the blocking efforts are not as effective as rightsholders would like them to be. The conclusion is also in line with research from Italy, which suggested that site-blocking can actually be counterproductive. Similarly, a UK report revealed that it significantly boosts traffic to non-blocked websites. While the entertainment industries still see enough value in website blocking, it’s clear that it’s not the silver bullet that will defeat piracy. And at a rate of £14,000 per site, it comes at a high cost. — The label “pirate site” applies to sites that have been classified as such by entertainment industry groups. It’s worth noting that at the time of writing, several of the sites (*) had already started redirecting to new domain names. Putlocker.is is currently down. Site Alexa rank Type Original site blocked? torrentfreak.com 123movies.to 81 Streaming No Watchseries.ac (*) 126 Streaming Yes Unblocked.vip (*) 127 Proxy links Yes Putlocker.is (down) 161 Streaming No Pirateproxy.red (*) 183 Torrents (proxy) Yes Thepiratebay.org 316 Torrents Yes Rutracker.org 384 Torrents No Vodlocker.com 407 Cyberlocker No Zippyshare.com 412 Cyberlocker No Yify-torrent.org https://torrentfreak.com/pirate-sites-remain-popular-in-the-uk-despite-website-blockades-161022/

Tracker's Name : Videoteka (VT) Genre : MOVIES / TV Sign-up Link : http://videoteka.org/?p=signup&pid=16 Additional information : Videoteka (VT) is a SLOVENIAN Private Torrent Tracker for MOVIES / TV

Four years ago a unique FBI operation took down several pirate Android app 'stores' and arrested their operators. One of the defendants went to trial last week but after careful deliberation the jury failed to reach a decision, with a mistrial declared instead. The Department of Justice could move for a retrial but says it will review its options first. Assisted by police in France and the Netherlands, the FBI took down the “pirate” Android stores Appbucket, Applanet and SnappzMarket during the summer of 2012. During the years that followed several people connected to the Android app sites were arrested and indicted, and slowly but surely these cases are now reaching their conclusions. Two months ago the first sentencing was announced, and it was a big one. SnappzMarket’s ‘PR manager’ Scott Walton was handed a 46-month prison sentence for conspiracy to commit copyright infringement. Like several others, Walton had pleaded guilty in order to get a reduced sentence. However, not all did. David Lee, a California man linked to Applanet, decided to move to trial instead. The indictment charged Lee with aiding and abetting criminal copyright infringement (pdf). In addition, he was charged with conspiring to infringe copyrights and violating the DMCA’s anti-circumvention provision. As the case progressed it became clear that the U.S. Government’s evidence wasn’t as strong as initially thought. Before the trial even started, the prosecution voluntarily dropped the criminal copyright infringement charge. The “overt” acts that were scrapped due to a lack of evidence are all related to an undercover FBI agent in the Northern District of Georgia, who supposedly downloaded pirated apps from Applanet’s computer servers. What remained was the conspiracy charge and last week both parties argued their case before the jury. Over the course of several days many witnesses were heard, including FBI agents and co-defendant Gary Sharp, who previously pleaded guilty. Friday last week the closing arguments were presented after which the jury retreated to deliberate at 10:30 in the morning. At the end of the day, however, they still hadn’t reached a decision so the court decided to continue after the weekend. On Monday the jury got back together but after having failed to reach a verdict by the end of the day, a mistrial was declared. This means that David Lee has not been found guilty. Mistrial TorrentFreak reached out to Lee’s lawyers for more information but they declined to comment. In the jury instructions the defense hammered on the fact that the government must prove that either the conspiracy or an overt act took place in the District of Georgia, even if the defendant never set foot there. It could be that the Jury couldn’t reach a unanimous decision on that point or any of the other key issues. TF also contacted the Department of Justice, who didn’t go into detail either, but informed us that they are still evaluating the outcome. “We are considering our options,” a DoJ spokesperson said. In theory, the U.S. Government can ask for a retrial, which means that the case has to be tried again. For now, however, David Lee remains out of prison. https://torrentfreak.com/android-pirate-app-store-case-ends-in-mistrial-jury-undecided-161021/

It's Friday Which means it's time for anotherFriday Freeleech EventFrom 09.00 to 15.00 UTC all torrents on Empornium are freeleech Enjoy!

Halloween nærmer sig igen!Vi elsker jo Halloween på Hounddawgs, og derfor gentager vi sidste års konkurrence. Vis os din græskarudskæring! Vi kårer igen HDs flotteste græskar udskæring. I har en uge fra i dag, så det er bare med at komme i omdrejninger. Post et billede af din græskar udskæring i DENNE TRÅD og vind en af de flotte præmier. Husk en seddel med dit HDnavn med på billedet (og nej, ikke photoshoppe). Sidste frist for indsendelse er d. 25.-10., og derefter vil der blive afholdt brugerafstemning. Vinderne bliver kåret d. 1.-11 Præmierne er som følger: 1. præmie: 1 måneds donorstatus, 250.000 bones samt tre invites til HD 2. præmie: 1 uges donorstatus, 150.000 bones samt to invites til HD 3. præmie: 24 timers F2L, 100.000 bones, samt en invite til HD

Cisco says it has developed a system to disable live pirate streams . The network equipment company says its Streaming Piracy Prevention platform utilizes third-party forensic watermarking to shut down pirate streams in real-time, without any need to send takedown notices to hosts or receive cooperation from third parties. While torrents continue to be one of the Internet’s major distribution methods for copyrighted content, it’s streaming that’s capturing the imagination of the pirating mainstream. Easy to use via regular web browsers, modified Kodi installations, and fully-fledged IPTV services, streaming is now in the living rooms of millions of people. As such it is viewed as a threat to subscription and PPV TV providers worldwide, especially those offering live content such as sporting events. Pirate services obtain content by capturing and restreaming feeds obtained from official sources, often from something as humble as a regular subscriber account. These streams can then be redistributed by thousands of other sites and services, many of which are easily found using a simple search. Dedicated anti-piracy companies track down these streams and send takedown notices to the hosts carrying them. Sometimes this means that streams go down quickly but in other cases hosts can take a while to respond or may not comply at all. Networking company Cisco thinks it has found a solution to these problems. The company’s claims center around its Streaming Piracy Prevention (SPP) platform, a system that aims to take down illicit streams in real-time. Perhaps most interestingly, Cisco says SPP functions without needing to send takedown notices to companies hosting illicit streams. “Traditional takedown mechanisms such as sending legal notices (commonly referred to as ‘DMCA notices’) are ineffective where pirate services have put in place infrastructure capable of delivering video at tens and even hundreds of gigabits per second, as in essence there is nobody to send a notice to,” the company explains. “Escalation to infrastructure providers works to an extent, but the process is often slow as the pirate services will likely provide the largest revenue source for many of the platform providers in question.” To overcome these problems Cisco says it has partnered with Friend MTS (FMTS), a UK-based company specializing in content-protection. Among its services, FMTS offers Distribution iD, which allows content providers to pinpoint which of their downstream distributors’ platforms are a current source of content leaks. “Robust and unique watermarks are embedded into each distributor feed for identification. The code is invisible to the viewer but can be recovered by our specialist detector software,” FMTS explains. “Once infringing content has been located, the service automatically extracts the watermark for accurate distributor identification.” Friend MTS also offers Advanced Subscriber iDentification (ASiD), a system that is able to identify legitimate subscribers who are subsequently re-transmitting content online. According to Cisco, FMTS feeds the SPP service with pirate video streams it finds online. These are tracked back to the source of the leak (such as a particular distributor or specific pay TV subscriber account) which can then be shut-down in real time. “The process is fully automated, ensuring a timely response to incidents of piracy. Gone are the days of sending a legal notice and waiting to see if anyone will answer,” Cisco says. “SPP acts without the need to involve or gain cooperation from any third parties, enabling an unmatched level of cross-device retransmission prevention and allowing service providers to take back control of their channels, to maximize their revenue.” Friends MTS and Cisco believe the problem is significant. During the last month alone the company says it uncovered 12,000 HD channels on pirate services that were being sourced from Pay TV providers. How much of dent the companies will be able to make in this market will remain to be seen but not having to rely on the efficiency of takedown requests certainly has the potential to shift the balance of power. https://torrentfreak.com/cisco-develops-system-automatically-cut-off-pirate-video-streams-161021/

Tracker's Name : TorrentLeech (TL) Genre : 0DAY / GENERAL Sign-up Link : https://torrentleech.org/user/account/signup Additional information : TorrentLeech (TL) is a Private Torrent Tracker for 0DAY / GENERAL Use the Invitation Code: BLACKTHATCAT

Two UK men, who released thousands of movies onto popular torrent sites, lost their appeal this week. The Appeal Court upheld their sentences of more than four years each, arguing that the punishments are "stiff" but not "manifestly excessive". Early 2013, five UK men were arrested for their alleged involvement in several interrelated movie release groups including RemixHD, 26K, UNiQUE, DTRG and HOPE/RESISTANCE. The groups were responsible for distributing no less than 9,000 copyright infringing movies on popular torrent sites, including ExtraTorrent. These releases generated five million unauthorized ‘views’ and a million pounds in lost revenue, according to a calculation from UK’s Federation Against Copyright Theft, which was actively involved in the case. All the men opted to plead guilty and late last year Wolverhampton Crown Court handed down sentences adding up to 17 years of jail time. Sahil Rafiq and Reece Baker received the toughest sentences, four-and-a-half years and four years and two months, respectively. The pair appealed the decision in court this week, but without the desired result. Defense lawyers argued that a reduced sentence would be appropriate as the men didn’t profit from the widespread copyright infringement. However, the Court of Appeal rejected this argument and denied the appeal. “Whilst we accept that the sentences passed on these two young men were stiff, we are unpersuaded that they were manifestly excessive,” Mr Justice Hickinbottom said, quoted by Express & Star. This means that Sahil Rafiq, who was accused of uploading more than 880 movies and causing 1.5 million illegal downloads as founder of 26K, will have to sit out his four-and-a-half year sentence. Reece Baker, a member of DTRG and the founder of HOPE/RESISTANCE, has to serve four years and two months. He was said to have triggered more than 226,000 illegal downloads and aggravated his circumstances by continuing to upload movies while he was on bail. The three other men haven’t appealed their sentences, as far as we know. Graeme Reid, founder of ‘RemixHD,’ was jailed for three years and six months and ANALOG and TCM founder Ben Cooper received the same sentence. Scott Hemming, who uploaded some 800 movies, received a two-year suspended sentence. Due to the distributed nature of BitTorrent, many of the movies the men released online are still being shared on public torrent sites, and perhaps will still be long after they’ve served their sentences. — Additional background and information is available in our previous in -depth coverage on these cases, here and here. https://torrentfreak.com/uk-movie-pirates-lose-appeal-prison-time-stands-161020/

Tracker's Name : RainbowNation Sharing (RNS) Genre : EBOOKS / AUDIOBOOKS Sign-up Link : http://rainbownationsharing.net/signup.php Additional information : RainbowNation Sharing (RNS) is a Private Torrent Tracker for EBOOKS / AUDIOBOOKS

Tracker's Name : Ultimate Gamer (UGC) Genre : GAMES Sign-up Link : https://ultimategamer.club/application.php Additional information : Ultimate Gamer (UGC) is a Private Torrent Tracker for GAMES

Last week, massively popular YouTuber KSI went crazy at fans who pirated his movie Laid in America. However, those with long memories remembered that KSI himself has a history of pirating software. In a new video, KSI admits he's a hypocrite and sets about atoning for his sins - by buying dozens of copies of his own movie and giving them away. KSI, the UK-based YouTubing, videogaming, rapper-comedian has 14.8 million channel subscribers. As a result he’s own of the most popular stars on the Internet. The London-based jack-of-all-trades recently released a movie called Laid in America. It came out on Blu-ray earlier this month but rather than all of his fans buying it, many pirated it on torrent sites. That led to KSI going crazy in a video published last week, in which he called his pirating fans some terrible, awful things. Quickly, however, people with long memories recalled that KSI himself isn’t so innocent when it comes to getting stuff without paying for it. Indeed, KSI had previously downloaded a pirate copy of Sony Vegas and even asked for help on Twitter to get it working. As a result, the cries of ‘hypocrite’ on his channel became deafening but of course, someone of KSI’s YouTubing abilities was hardly going to let this opportunity go to waste. We were waiting for a response and yesterday morning it came, albeit briefly. KSI uploaded a new video titled “I’M A HYPOCRITE” but immediately made it private before we could get a sneak preview. Was this his long-awaited apology? In the past few hours it became clear that, yes, yes it was. In a new five minute long, well-produced video, KSI gets on his knees and asks for forgiveness. Ok, he doesn’t at all. He dresses up as a pirate, goes for a swashbuckling adventure around London, and attempts to atone for his sins by buying stuff. However, instead of buying Sony software to make up for his earlier transgression, KSI does the next best thing. He visits HMV, buys every single copy of his OWN movie that the store has in stock, takes them out onto the streets, and gives them all away to adoring fans. No doubt impressed, Sony are probably recalling their lawyers right now. While some might find his style unpalatable, there’s little doubt that KSI is a master of YouTube and utterly brilliant at getting clicks. Of course, everyone who reports on his antics only adds to his popularity, but when people like him are prepared to deal with a difficult topic like piracy in a refreshing way, that’s worthy of a second look. Last week we toyed with the tantalizing possibility that KSI might be engaged in a guerilla anti-piracy campaign. While that may or may not be the case, if you’re trying to reach the YouTube generation with that kind of message, there doesn’t seem to be a better way to go about it. Young people aren’t best known for following the advice of men in suits. Young men dressed as pirates, on the other hand…. GetitRight campaign take note? Finally, while the video is no doubt entertaining, even the cleverest anti-piracy campaigns can backfire in unexpected ways, as the YouTube comment below illustrates. https://torrentfreak.com/ksi-buys-his-own-movie-62-times-to-atone-for-piracy-sins-161020/

Tracker's Name : Blu-Bits Genre : HD Sign-up Link : https://blu-bits.com/index.php?page=signup Additional information : Blu-Bits is a Private Torrent Tracker for HD MOVIES / TV

The Police Intellectual Property Crime Unit has confirmed the arrests of two individuals connected to private torrent site BlackCats-Games. The men, aged 47 and 44, are both from the UK. They were arrested on suspicion of copyright infringement and money laundering offences. After being down for several hours, yesterday the domain of private tracker BlackCats-Games was seized by the UK’s Police Intellectual Property Crime Unit. The domain used to point to an IP address in Canada, but was later switched to a server known to be under the control of PIPCU, the UK’s leading anti-piracy force. Following several hours of rumors, last evening sources close to the site began to confirm that the situation was serious. Reddit userFarow went public with specific details, noting that the owner of BlackCats-Games had been arrested and the site would be closing down. Former site staff member SteWieH added that there had in fact been two arrests and it was the site’s sysops that had been taken into custody. While both are credible sources, there was no formal confirmation from PIPCU. That came a few moments ago and it’s pretty bad news for fans of the site and its operators. “Officers from the City of London Police Intellectual Property Crime Unit (PIPCU) have arrested two men in connection with an ongoing investigation into the illegal distribution of copyright protected video games,” the unit said in a statement. Police say that the raids took place on Tuesday, with officers arresting two men aged 47 and 44 years at their homes in Birmingham, West Midlands and Blyth, Northumberland. Both were arrested on suspicion of copyright infringement and money laundering offenses. Detectives say they also seized digital media and computer hardware. PIPCU report that the investigation into the site was launched in cooperation with UK Interactive Entertainment (UKIE) and the Entertainment Software Association (ESA). Former staff member SteWieH says that a PayPal account operated by the site in 2013 appears to have played an important role in the arrests. Detective Sergeant Gary Brownfrom the City of London Police Intellectual Property Unit said that their goal was to disrupt the work of “content thieves.” “With the ever-growing consumer appetite for gaming driving the threat of piracy to the industry, our action today is essential in disrupting criminal activity and the money which drives it,” Brownfrom said. “Those who steal copyrighted content exploit the highly skilled work and jobs supported by the gaming industry. We are working hard to tackle digital intellectual property crime and we will continue to target our enforcement activity towards those identified as content thieves whatever scale they are operating at.” UK Interactive Entertainment welcomed the arrests. “UKIE applauds the action taken by PIPCU against the operators of the site. Sites like this are harmful to the hard work of game creators around the world. PIPCU’s actions confirm that these sites will not be tolerated, and are subject to criminal enforcement,” a spokesman said. Stanley Pierre-Louis, general counsel for the Entertainment Software Association, thanked PIPCU for its work. “ESA commends PIPCU for its commitment to taking action against sites that facilitate the illegal copying and distribution of incredibly advanced works of digital art. We are grateful for PIPCU’s leadership in this area and their support of creative industries.” Both men have been released on police bail. https://torrentfreak.com/police-confirm-arrests-blackcats-games-operators-161020/

The operator of streaming sites detailed in a UK High Court order obtained by the MPA has been arrested. Rainier Tamayo was reportedly arrested while uploading movies to his site but tracking him down probably wasn't that hard. The computer graduate included his own name in his site's URLs. For the past several years, the Hollywood studios of the MPA/MPAA and the major recording labels have regularly attended the UK High Court to force ISPs to block pirate sites. Following a slow start in 2012, a year later a wide range of sites were blocked, including EZTV, Movie2K, PrimeWire, Vodly, YIFY-Torrents, SolarMovie and TubePlus. Dozens of additional sites were targeted in 2014 and 2015, but with so many sites operational, a sizeable task lay ahead. In May 2016, the MPA obtained a new injunction, this time against several streaming sites including Putlocker, WatchFree and Couchtuner. Also included in the package were Rainierland and RainierTamayo, two popular domains for a site showing the latest movies and TV shows. Soon after the ISPs put their blocking measures in place the site’s operator began receiving notifications from users having difficulty reaching the site. In response, he published a Facebook postcontaining advice on how to circumvent the blockades. Earlier this month, however, the site experienced much bigger problems. According to media reports in the Philippines, the operator of Rainierland and RainierTamayo was arrested following a complaint from Australia-based anti-piracy outfit Internet Fraud Watchdog. Members of the Philippine National Police Anti-Cybercrime Group swooped on the computer science graduate who was reportedly “caught red-handed” as he uploaded movies to his site. In a sign that the authorities wanted to send a message, the arrest was televised on national TV, including Tamayo being put into a cell with several other prisoners. Internet Fraud Watchdog (IFW) Executive Chairman Ken Gamble said they had been “investigating a person running a number of websites that were pirating a lot of US movies, big blockbuster movies online.” It’s not clear how complex that investigation became but the suspect certainly didn’t make himself difficult to identify. Local media identified the operator of RainierTamayo.com as a local man called Rainier Tamayo. IFW say they were able to trace him through his website which had been leaking films online since 2011. Perhaps pointlessly, all domains currently registered to Tamayo are WHOIS-protected, despite featuring his name in various forms in their URLs. Police say that during the raid they also seized several computers, laptops and routers but that is likely to be the least of the computer graduate’s worries. According to police sources, if found guilty Tamayo could face up to 12 years in jail for violating copyright law. The sites in question are currently still up but appear to be non-functional when it comes to playing movies. Tamayo didn’t immediately respond to TF’s request for comment which raises the possibility that he’s still being held. https://torrentfreak.com/man-uses-his-own-name-for-pirate-streaming-site-gets-arrested-161018/

x264.me 11th Birthday Celebrations! The time has come once again for x264.me's birthday celebrations! We're turning 11 this year, which is quite old in "private tracker years". Please help us to celebrate in any number of ways; take advantage of the free leach, upload some nice content you have laying around, or even just wish us a happy bday in the forums or on IRC! Our Birthday topic in the forums can he found here. We'll kick off the Celebrations with Site-Wide Free Leech on EVERY torrent, old and new! Please note that every torrent will be free, even if it doesn't have the normal red *FREE* marker on it. Then after a few weeks of that we will turn things up a notch and add Site-Wide 2x Upload into the mix. When the Free Leech kicks off you will see a red notice on every page that will say something like "11th Bday Free Leech". Once we start the 2x upload that will change to something like "Free Leech + 2x Upload". We will also edit this News post to reflect when things start and end. Site-Wide Free Leech turned on!

We will have some planned downtime on Saturday morning. It should last for no more than 3 hours max and will begin around 8AM GMT on Saturday morning. Both the site and the tracker will be down during this period but the IRC will remain up. That said vertigo authorization may not work for about 15 minutes during that period. We'll keep you updated if anything changes!-GGn Staff

The legal defense team of alleged KickassTorrents owner Artem Vaulin has asked the Illinois District Court to dismiss the entire case. The fundamental flaw of the case, according to the defense, is that torrent files themselves are not copyrighted content. In addition, any secondary copyright infringement claims would fail as these are non-existent under criminal law. In July, Polish law enforcement officers arrested Artem Vaulin, the alleged owner of KickassTorrents, who’s been held in a local prison ever since. While awaiting the start of extradition hearings, Vaulin’s U.S. defense team has asked the Illinois federal court to dismiss the entire case. In a detailed memorandum, lead counsel Ira Rothken argues that the U.S. Government’s allegations of criminal conduct are flawed. Assuming that Vaulin is indeed the site’s founder, he didn’t commit any crimes. KickassTorrents (KAT) was merely a torrent search index, the defense explains. It provided a search function for torrent files which in and by themselves do not contain any copyrighted content. “Websites like KAT are devoid of content files. Instead, KAT is nothing more than a search engine, no different in any material way from Google and other popular website search engines, except that KAT indexes BitTorrent files,” Rothken writes. “Thus, at its core, the indictment merely alleges that visitors to KAT may take advantage of KAT’s automated search processes to search for and locate ‘dot torrent’ files. Such files contain textual information assembled by automated processes and do not contain copyrighted content.” If KAT’s users downloaded any infringing content, this would occur away from the site on their local computers, beyond KAT’s control. Merely downloading a torrent file by itself is not an infringing act. The fact that torrents themselves are not illegal means that operating a torrent index can’t be classified as a direct copyright infringement, according to the defense. As such, torrent search indexes don’t commit any criminal acts. “The fundamental flaw in the government’s untenable theory of prosecution is that there is no copyright protection for such torrent file instructions and addresses. Therefore, given the lack of direct willful copyright infringement, torrent sites do not violate criminal copyright laws,” the memorandums reads. It is possible to hold torrent site operators liable for “secondary” infringements committed by their users, as we have seen in the past. However, this is only possible under civil law, Vaulin’s defense team argues. Congress has declined to include “secondary copyright liability” in criminal legislation. As such, the indictment accuses Vaulin of a crime that doesn’t exist. “The indictment would make defendant responsible for infringements committed by former visitors to KAT who are acting in an entirely different online context. In the global connected culture, such elastic expansions of criminal exposure cannot be permitted to stand absent overt action by Congress updating the Copyright Act,” the defense notes. Vaulin’s legal team further points out that the indictment fails to specify any copyrighted media that was downloaded or infringed in the United States. In addition, the money laundering claims are moot since these are based on the criminal copyright infringement claims. In summary, the defense says that the U.S. Government’s claim of willful direct criminal copyright infringement for operating a torrent site fails. As such, they ask the federal court to dismiss the case in its entirety. “Any theory that a torrent search engine could be held responsible for the offsite infringing acts of its users would be a theory of civil secondary copyright infringement. Such a civil theory is not an offense against the United States and fails as a matter of law.” “Any and all counts that are dependent on criminal copyright infringement, including the conspiracy and money laundering counts, must fail. For all the reasons set forth above, the Court should dismiss the indictment,” Rothken adds. The KAT case shows a lot of similarities to the criminal proceedings against Kim Dotcom, for whom Ira Rothken is also the lead counsel. Both cases center around questions of whether the defendants be extradited for secondary copyright infringement charges. The U.S. Government is expected to counter these claims during the weeks to come, after which the court must make a decision. The full memorandum of law in support of the motion to dismiss is available here (pdf). https://torrentfreak.com/kickasstorrents-defense-torrents-are-not-copyrighted-content-us-has-no-case-161018/

We made an IRC channel for UHDBits, all registered members are welcome!Server: irc.p2p-network.net:6667Main Channel: #UHDBits (Password: uhdbits2916)Support Channel: #UHDBits.Support (No password)

Tracker's Name : Audiobook Torrents (ABT) Genre : AUDIOBOOKS Sign-up Link : https://abtorrents.me/signup.php Additional information : Audiobook Torrents (ABT) is a Private Torrent Tracker for AUDIOBOOKS

Despite a number of recent setbacks, anti-piracy company Denuvo says it is still winning the war against video game pirates. In a new interview the company's CEO and marketing director say it's all a question of maintaining perspective while understanding that no anti-piracy technology is flawless. There have been a number of anti-piracy technologies that have become loathed by video games pirates over the years. Some are hated due to their tendency to reduce the quality of the gaming experience. Others are predictably hated due to their effectiveness. In fact, if one took the time to map dislike of a particular technology and place it on a timeline of how long it takes it to get bypassed or ‘cracked’, those graphs would look very similar indeed. So, when we say that Denuvo is currently the most-hated of all anti-piracy technologies, there’s no real need to ask why. Just recently, however, pirates have had reason to celebrate. In a matter of months, Denuvo has gone from pretty much uncrackable to a little bit vulnerable. Early August, a cracker known as Voksi found a loophole in Steam which allowed many Denuvo-protected titles to be played for free. It was a Denuvo bypass, not a full crack, but pirates were grateful. Then, just a few days later the gratitude developed into glee when the first full crack of Denuvo appeared online courtesy of cracking group CPY. But pirates are always hungry for more and immediately wanted to know when new games would become available. They didn’t have to wait long. Just a couple of weeks later the iteration of Denuvo protecting ‘Inside’ was cracked in record time. Not long after, those victories were followed by cracks for new games including Doom and Mirror’s Edge Catalyst, so was this the beginning of the end for Denuvo? Well, it all depends on one’s perspective. Over the years, anti-piracy companies have learned that claiming their technology is flawless has always come back to bite them. Denuvo is no different. In a new interview with MCVUK, the company explains that being uncrackable is neither the claim nor the aim. “You have to have a realistic view of anti-piracy measures,” marketing director Thomas Goebl explains. “There is no such thing as unbreakable protection. That’s something we always tell our clients to help manage their expectations. Our scope is to prevent early cracks for every title. We want to allow an initial window when a game is released to have an uncracked version and thus guarantee sales.” When one considers the effort and funds expended leading up to a game’s release, it’s no surprise that the first few days and weeks are the most important in terms of sales. For so-called ‘AAA titles’ (a big target market for Denuvo), marketing expenses can run into millions of dollars, with every cent designed to make gamers salivate with anticipation while moving their hands ever closer to their wallets. Any delay on stopping a pirate copy appearing quickly translates to more sales, Denuvo says. But despite notable recent setbacks, Denuvo-protected titles still do not appear online on day one. Or week one. Or even month one. If people want these games, they’re going to have to pay for them. In fact, it is not unusual for games to remain unpirated for months, something that was unthinkable only a year or two ago when titles often appeared online before launch. Denuvo CEO Reinhard Blaukovitsch told MCVUK that there are a number of strategies that can be employed by developers in order to recoup their development costs and Denuvo is just one piece of the puzzle. “Some trust in DRM solutions, ones that are user-friendly. They also trust in our solution. There may be other solutions, where you go DRM free or do different price ranges in different territories. This is a marketing decision and strategy that the publishers may want to use. If they decide on some DRM technology or techniques, we can help them,” Blaukovitsch says. Marketing man Thomas Goebl says that good games will always sell well but as soon as a working pirated version is available online, suddenly developers have to compete with free. “Even if the service is good, if it has nice community features and so on, those people who don’t want to pay for it simply won’t pay because there is free competition,” he says. Interestingly, Goebl notes something that many pirates will understand already. Multi-player games that require constant access to an online service are in many cases less vulnerable than variants that can also be played substantially offline. Just Cause 3 (released 11 months ago but yet to be cracked) might be considered one such example. “Especially for single player games, or if there’s a big single player portion to the game, it makes perfect sense to use an anti-tamper solution like ours to prevent any cracks during the launch window time frame,” Goebl says. Some pirates might be asking why it’s possible to quickly crack Inside, for example, but not other games that have been released since. The partial answer to that is while crackers like CPY burn the midnight oil circumventing Denuvo, the developers at Denuvo are doing the same with CPY’s work. “The procedure [after a crack] is the same every time. We analyze how the crack was done and then we update our protection. It’s a game of cat and mouse that we play,” Blaukovitsch says. “There are many techniques we use to prevent people from debugging, reverse engineering and otherwise tampering with our software. We are improving that technology or those techniques on a day-to-day basis, and coming up with new ideas that are almost entirely new inventions on a monthly basis on how we improve our service.” The end result, no matter how unpopular with pirates, is that by the company’s own metrics, Denuvo is winning. In the majority of cases the technology does indeed stop games being pirated before, during and after launch, and indeed many months on in most cases. Whether that will continue to be the case moving forward is unclear, but right now Denuvo is still the most-hated anti-piracy technology on the market. As long as it remains that way, it will be doing its job. https://torrentfreak.com/denuvo-says-its-still-winning-the-war-against-games-pirates-161017/

Nigerian Pastor Joshua Iginla is dedicating his life to helping people in need, including many local Nollywood stars. Due to piracy, many actors and actresses have passed away prematurely, he explains. To show his support, he has handed out dozens of luxury cars to those who are still hanging in there. With more than half of its population living in “absolute poverty,” Nigeria is one of the world’s poorest countries. The economy has been growing in recent years but unfortunately, not all people reap the rewards. This is also true for those in the film industry. With close to a billion U.S. dollars in box office revenue, “Nollywood” appears to be doing well. Still, not all actors and filmmakers are rich, as some people falsely assume. According to Nigerian Pastor Joshua Iginla, piracy is one of the main problems, and he urges the local government to tackle this menace. “The level of piracy in this country is serious; I hope government will do something about it,” Iginla says. The pastor has been preaching this anti-piracy message for quite some time. He believes that Nollywood’s actors and actresses are Nigeria’s ambassadors, showing the world a positive image of the country. However, he warns that the threat of piracy is real, noting that it has already caused several early deaths. “Many [people] have died prematurely because they are hardworking but piracy has crippled them. We enjoy watching their films but we watch them when they are helpless with none to help them,” he says. The public at large believes that all actors and actresses are rich, but the pastor says that this is a misunderstanding. This is something he personally experienced when actor Ayo Emmanuel contacted him with a call for help. “I wept when Ayo Emmanuel sent me a text a few weeks back that he was sick and needed financial assistance,” Iginla says. The pastor, who is known for his philanthropy, decided not to sit idly by. During the Sunday service at Champions Royal Assembly at City of Wonders last week, he generously donated a brand new Peugeot 301 to the sick actor. Emmanuel was floored by the generous surprise gift, as the picture below fittingly illustrates. Emmanuel’s response The actor reportedly suffers from “spiritual and depression” related problems. While a car might not help him to cope with these challenges, he no longer needs a bus to get to church. A full photo-op of the giveaway ceremony was posted on the pastor’sFacebook page, including one in which Emmanuel, popularly known as “Nollywood Policeman”, poses with a handwritten sign in front of his new car. Emmanuel’s new car The pastor is often criticized for giving away expensive gifts while so many others don’t have enough food to feed their families. However, Iginla stresses that actors have it rough too and that it’s up to him to decide where his money is spent. While he has helped a lot of poor people, Nollywood actors and actresses are among his favorites. Over the past several years he has donated dozens of luxury cars to Nollywood celebrities, including a Hummer Jeep, Mercedes G-Wagon, and Mercedes CLS 550. The fortunate pastor clearly has enough money in the bank. In addition, he’s also seen a prophet by some. In 2016 several of his “prophecies” came true, although one publication notes that he’s not always right. How exactly he acquired his fortune remains a mystery though, just like his gift of predicting the future. https://torrentfreak.com/pastor-says-piracy-is-literally-killing-actors-so-he-gives-them-cars-161016/

Tracker's Name : FunkyTorrents (FT) Genre : MUSIC Sign-up Link : http://funkytorrents.com/inviteme.php Additional information : FunkyTorrents (FT) is a Private Torrent Tracker for MUSIC

A ring of misleading websites is charging people to pay for copyright registrations in the UK, Australia and elsewhere, even though it's a free and automatic right. In India, where there's also an official registration office, the authorities are taking legal action to stop the "fraudulent" operation. In pretty much every part in the world creators can claim copyright on their work without having to register anything. In fact, most countries don’t even have an official copyright registration office. The United States does, as registrations are a requirement for court cases, but that’s one of the exceptions. The same is true for India. While registration is voluntary, an official registration at the Government’s Copyright Office can help to solve legal disputes. Interestingly the Indian Copyright Office has now become the center of a rights dispute itself. As it turns out, the website copyright.in is offering ‘unofficial’ copyright registrations to Indians as well. The website in question offer users “anteriority proof for their copyrights” in 164 countries, charging roughly $10 for a copyright registration. India’s (unofficial) “Copyright Registration Office” The Indian Government is not happy with the unofficial registration site. In a press statement it describes the service as fraudulent, because users can confuse it with the official copyright office. “This claim is totally fraudulent and creating confusion among the general public,” the Government’s press bureau notes. The Government clarifies that it has nothing to do with the site and advises copyright holders not to register their works there or make any payments. In addition, it has taken legal action and hopes to get the website blocked. “The matter has already been referred to the concerned Ministries to block the fake website (i.e. www.copyright.in) and initiate legal action,” the Government statement adds. The misleading Indian copyright registration site is just one of many. The same outfit is also connected to similar sites that target copyright holders in other countries, many of which don’t have an official registration service. In Australia, Italy and the Netherlands, similar sites are operational, all offering paid registrations. The UK even has two separate domains, Copyright.uk and Copyright.co.uk, listing popular brands such as BT and Marks and Spencer to add legitimacy. UK’s (unofficial) “Copyright Registration Office” We reached out to the UK Government’s Intellectual Property Office (IPO) which clarified that copyright holders don’t have to register anything. “Copyright is an automatic right in the UK – you do not need to register or pay a fee. If you create a work of art, from literature to music, you own the rights to that work free of charge,” an IPO spokesperson told TF. The IPO stresses that the websites have nothing to do with the Government and cautions rightsholders to think carefully before handing over any money. “A number of private companies can be found on the internet that offer a form of registration service for a fee. None of these are official or are connected in any way to the Intellectual Property Office. “We advise that people check very carefully before opting to use any paid-for services such as these,” IPO’s spokesperson adds. While it’s absolutely not required to register copyright in the UK, the websites in question are not necessarily breaking the law, since there’s no law forbidding private companies from keeping a copyright register. That said, the registration sites conveniently fail to mention their voluntary nature and are highly misleading to many creators who are not up-to-date on their rights and obligations. https://torrentfreak.com/misleading-sites-charge-people-pay-copyright-registration-161015/

Video-hosting service AllMyVideos.net has announced that it will shut down its website next weekend. The operator says that it's no longer profitable to host videos due to a lack of revenue and encourages users to back up their files before it's too late. Founded five years ago,AllMyVideos.net has become a household name in the video-hosting world. With millions of users per month it is the go-to site for many, but this is about to change as a message on the homepage warns. “We are sorry to inform everyone that effective October 23, 2016 Allmyvideos.net will stop accepting new uploads and the site will close fully at the end of the month,” the site announced. The announcement coincides with a submission from the Hollywood industry group MPAA to the U.S. Government, which listed AllMyVideos as one of the top pirates sites. However, according to the operator of the site, prospective legal issues are not the reason why they’re pulling the plug. The site was forced to take this drastic step due to a lack of revenue. “Honestly, the main reason why the site is closing is the fact that the video hosting business is not profitable any longer, not by any means. Over the years making the site break even has become a massive issue,” Bill from AllMyVideos tells us. Like many other sites that are often associated with piracy, it’s hard to get decent paying ads that are not peddling malware. In addition, payment providers often refuse to work with these type of sites, while overall subscriptions revenues are dropping. “It’s very difficult to get ads that will cover the bandwidth. And AllMyVideos sold maybe five premium subscriptions a week over the last few months, for a total of around $200,” Bill says. The lack of revenue runs directly counter to a report that was published by the Hollywood-backed Digital Citizens Alliance (DCA) two years ago. This report claimed that these hosting services are highly profitable with huge profit margins. For example, DCA’s report estimated the site to have a yearly profit of $997,587, with a very healthy profit ratio of close to 85%. Cyberlocker revenues, estimated by DCA AllmMyVideos says that these figures don’t make any sense, which is evidenced by the fact that they are not shutting down due to a lack of profits. “Honestly, I don’t know how the MPAA thinks people make money off hosting. The unreal $ values they come up with are insane. A profit margin of -20% is more like it,” Bill tells us. The site is not the first to cite money issues as a reason to quit. Earlier this year other file-hosting services shut their doors for thesame reason, and torrent site TorrentHound also cited financial problems as one of the main factors to throw in the towel. In recent years, rights holders and industry groups have pushed hard to cut the money stream to pirate sites in any way they can, which appears to have had some effect. DCA’s profit report, for example, was used to get payment processors to stop serving file-hosting services. Similarly, advertisers are also frequently warned not to do business with these and other “pirate” sites. For AllMyVideos these reflections are moot. While they’ve enjoyed their ride, the team behind the site is ready to move on to new adventures. “It’s been five years and it’s sad to see the site close. My team has met a lot of great people and wishes everyone the best of luck,” Bill concludes. https://torrentfreak.com/allmyvideos-net-to-shut-down-no-longer-profitable-161014/

Tracker's Name : Falkon Vision Team Genre : MOVIES / TV / GENERAL Sign-up Link : http://falkonvision-team.com/signup.php Additional information : Falkon Vision Team is a CROATIAN Private Torrent Tracker for MOVIES / TV / GENERAL