MGM will have two James Bond 25 movie scripts to choose from, now that Trainspotting writer John Hodges is working on a separate screenplay. The future for Daniel Craig as 007 seemed grim following the release of Spectre in 2015. Craig was vocally unhappy with the experience and long delayed making any commitment to reprising the Bond character again. When the 007 movie distribution rights went up for grabs, it only prolonged the process, especially with Sam Mendes leaving the franchise after having directed two films. The studio has been searching for a big name director to tackle the landmark 25th Bond film, but has proven unable to land the likes of Denis Villeneuve and Christopher Nolan thus far. Yesterday, it was revealed Trainspotting director Danny Boyle is a frontrunner to direct the movie. However, his interests in other projects could keep a deal from being made. Further showing his interest in Bond 25, it has just been revealed by Deadline that Boyle is working with his Trainspotting writer John Hodge to hash out the story. Hodge will write a full script once the story beats for Boyle’s vision are finalized. The twist here is that MGM already has a script for Bond 25 by the duo who wrote the last three Bond films. According to this report, MGM will wait until Hodge’s script is done (which won’t be for a few months) to decide whether or not to make Boyle’s movie or move ahead with their current idea. If nothing else, this development shows a true interest from the studio in getting Boyle to direct Bond 25. Craig has already confirmed that Bond 25 will indeed be his final appearance as Agent 007, so Boyle can approach this as a one-and-done installment to a massive franchise. It is also not terribly shocking that Boyle turned to Hodge to knock out the script. The two just reteamed for T2: Trainspotting, but also have worked together on Trance, The Beach, and Shallow Grave. This could, however, be a risk for the studio at this point. They previously dated Bond 25 to hit theaters in November 2019, one week after Wonder Woman 2 arrives on the scene. The director search has been ongoing for months, so waiting several more months to decide on Boyle’s script could backfire. There’s so far no word on when production would begin on the movie, but after filming and releasing Spectre in less than a year, MGM would presumably want more time to work on Bond 25. If they ultimately decide to not go with Boyle’s take, MGM could potentially lose months of pre-production time. Should this work out though, MGM will have secured the top tier director they’ve been searching for, and given him a chance to do his own thing. Unfortunately, that also means we may not know what Bond 25‘s director status is for a few few more months. Of course, when the decision is ultimately made, we will be sure to let you know.

Select fans will get to visit a town from Westworld (or, the next best thing) when the 2018 SXSW festival gets underway in March. Following the mystery box narrative that was season 1 of HBO’s Westworld, fans are anxiously awaiting the new season of the TV series. When things left off, a new status quo was on the horizon as the hosts revolted and Ford was executed by his own creation. The Super Bowl trailer for Westworld season 2 teased plenty of chaos following the events of season 1, as well as something of a return to regular operations for the park. Given that season 1 of Westworld secretly used time jumps to disorient the narrative (and viewers), it seems safe to assume that season 2 will incorporate flashbacks into the proceedings too. Meanwhile, the fallout of the season 1 finale will continue to unfold in the present, and usher in a new era. Westworld viral marketing is hinting at the existence of other parks too, though the main park will remain the show’s focus – and will soon be entering our own reality, in a manner of speaking. HBO has launched Discover Westworld, a site that allows fans of the show to experience a simulation of the Westworld park. The video embedded above offers a glimpse of what’s to come, and the site allows you to book a limited spot in the real-life town, which will be built on the outskirts of Austin, Texas during SXSW next month. From March 9-11, those who have purchased tickets will get to interact with actors posing as hosts, experience a number of Western-themed food and drinks, and solve mysteries based upon the show. They’ll also get to visit locations from the series within the town of Sweetwater, including Mariposa Saloon and the Coronado hotel. The event will even kick off when a Delos shuttle whisks attendees away and offers them their choice of a black or white hat. In addition to the premium experience, those attending the film and TV portion of SXSW will get their chance to see a panel with the cast and creators. On March 10, showrunners Jonathan Nolan and Lisa Joy will be joined by actors James Marsden, Jerffrey Wright, Evan Rachel Wood, and Thandie Newton. While it won’t be as immersive as the park experience, it will hopefully offer some teases regarding season 2. This isn’t the first time HBO has done something like this. A Westworld experience at New York Comic-Con last year adapted some elements of the show, but the SXSW town will be like nothing fans have seen before. Though the festival was once a small music showcase, its growing popularity could see it go the way of NYCC eventually. But for die-hard fans, it’s hard to argue with the appeal of stepping inside your favorite show.

Stan Lee took to Twitter on Tuesday to personally congratulate Marvel Studios and director Ryan Coogler for the massive early success of Black Panther. The Chadwick Boseman-starring movie is already one of the greatest successes of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, beating The Avengers’ four-day record in its opening weekend at the box office. Likewise, the overwhelming majority of critics have praised Black Panther for its riveting story, memorable performances, and unique handling of a superhero tale compared to the rest of the MCU. Coogler and others involved with Black Panther have been showered with praise for delivering one of the MCU’s greatest triumphs, from both their colleagues within Marvel and in other circles of Hollywood. Now, it will be hard for the director to earn higher praise than the congratulations he’s gotten from the top – from Stan Lee himself. Quoting a congratulatory tweet from Disney Chairman and CEO Robert Iger, Lee tweeted his own message of congratulations for both Coogler and Marvel Studios to his Twitter account on Tuesday. Sharing Iger’s sentiment that the “world has embraced” Black Panther, Lee described the movie as “dynamic” and “thoughtful” as he celebrated its smash success, especially with its record-breaking box office numbers. https://twitter.com/TheRealStanLee/status/966115701994921984 Lee is without question one of the most prominent figures to personally congratulate Coogler and Marvel on Black Panther, but he’s far from the first. Actor Will Smith recently posted a heartfelt message about the movie on Instagram, while Chris Pratt also praised the “thought-provoking” film. Coogler’s peers, Wonder Woman director Patty Jenkins and Guardians of the Galaxy’s James Gunn, also congratulated him. Even former U.S. First Lady Michelle Obama and Oprah Winfrey are among those to comment publicly on how much they enjoyed the movie. Congratulations from Lee on Twitter aren’t unprecedented, but it’s exceptionally rare. Lee also congratulated Scott Derrickson for the success of Doctor Strange in 2016. Can’t say the same for recent releases like Thor: Ragnarok or Spider-Man: Homecoming, though. Maybe he’s just particularly proud of first installments in the MCU. Either way, to get this kind of message from Marvel’s biggest figurehead in the first place is perhaps the highest compliment Coogler, and everyone else who made Black Panther a reality, could possibly get. Black Panther has soared so tremendously in just one week at the box office, it’s even beating records set by Star Wars: The Force Awakens at this point. The amount of praise it’s also earned from those in the industry feels unprecedented and groundbreaking. You almost have to fear that a backlash is inevitable for Coogler’s film. But for now, the director can enjoy the fact that he’s created what will inevitably be one of the most successful superhero movies of all time.

Warning: security bug in uTorrent Recently, two security bugs were found in uTorrent in how it sets up its web interface (affecting both uTorrent Web and uTorrent Classic). The full bug report can be found : here More info here ...

A new rumor suggests that director Danny Boyle may soon take the helm of the next James Bondmovie, more popularly known as Bond 25. Development on 007’s next big screen outing has been slow moving. Following the 2015 release of Spectre — which debuted to lukewarm reviews but still managed to rake in a cool $880 million at the global box office — the long-running franchise found itself at a crossroads. After having helmed both Spectre and Skyfall, director Sam Mendes chose to leave the series to pursue other projects. Franchise star Daniel Craig became the primary enigma, however, as he remained noncommittal to returning to the role for nearly two years after Spectre hit theaters. Craig finally confirmed that he’d be coming back to play 007 for a fifth time last August, though he did stress that this next outing would be his last with the franchise. Looking to send the actor out on a high note, the focus then turned to finding Bond 25′s director. Big names like Denis Villeneuve and (of course) Christopher Nolan were floated as candidates, but despite both directors having expressed interest in the franchise previously, it seems that MGM studios has now set it sights on someone else. According to a new report from Variety, Danny Boyle is at the top of MGM’s wishlist for the Bond 25 directing gig. The report also states that no formal offer has been made to the filmmaker just yet, and that Boyle had been hoping to helm a project for Working Title, a subsidiary production company for Universal Pictures. He apparently has a “keen interest in the project and has always wanted to direct a Bond film”, however, so the Working Title film could always be bumped back for 007. An additional report from THR‘s Borys Kit confirms that Villeneuve, David Mackenzie and Yann Demange (the previous top candidates for the Bond 25 director’s chair) are no longer in consideration. Boyle, of course, is one of the most talented filmmakers in Hollywood, having first made waves for his 1996 cult hit, Trainspotting. He’s since gone on to helm a number of successful films, including 28 Days Later, Sunshine, and 127 Hours. Boyle even won a Best Director Oscar back in 2008 for his masterful work on Slumdog Millionaire. What do you think of the possibility of Danny Boyle directing the 25th James Bond film? Is he the right man (or woman) for the job, or do you fall into the ‘Chris Nolan or die’ camp? Sound off in the comments.

Last month, Bell and a coalition of other media companies, including Rogers, CBC, Quebecor, Corus and more, announced the launch of FairPlay Canada, which is urging the CRTC to create a website blocking service to blacklist piracy websites. This non-profit organization FairPlay Canada wants to create, would be called the Internet Piracy Review Agency (IPRA), and its mandate would have Internet service providers comply to block nefarious websites which spread piracy, which results in fewer users subscribing to cable TV or paying for content. Now, according to Ottawa Law Professor and Canada Research Chair in Internet and E-commerce Law, Michael Geist, Bell has started to encourage its own employees to file submissions to the CRTC to help support the website blocking proposal from FairPlay Canada: https://twitter.com/mgeist/status/966061853422923776 The corporate memo was shared with Geist from one of his sources and reads “help stop online piracy and protect content creators.” Bell informs employees to “make your voice heard” and to send comments to the CRTC online, encouraging support for FairPlay Canada. Currently, the CRTC is holding public consultations on the matter and to date, thousands of Canadians have submitted comments opposing the website blocking plan, which many argue endangers net neutrality in Canada. According to FairPlay Canada, “online piracy is theft, plain and simple”, which apparently affects 630,000 Canadian jobs. Back in 2015, Bell was fined $1.25 million by the Competition Bureau, for having employees post fake glowing reviews of the company’s apps in the App Store. Now, it is encouraging employees to post CRTC submissions supporting FairPlay Canada, which appears disingenuous. Earlier today, Geist argued on his blog, a website blocking service would most likely erroneously over-block thousands of legitimate websites, as has been the case in other jurisdictions around the world, who have tried similar setups.

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Grangemouth bar The Ellwyn is one of three Scots pubs to be hit with £10,000 in damages for infringing Sky TV’s copyright. The award against the pubs followed a Court of Session ruling after the three screened programmes without the appropriate licence. The Ellwyn, the Thistle Tavern in Fife and and the Fourways in Wishaw were identified as having breached the rules after undercover Sky representatives monitored what programmes they were showing. The action was carried out by Burness Paull LLP on behalf of Sky, in line with a longstanding policy of pursuing pubs and clubs across Britain who are said to breach its commercial conditions, Publicans, including main trade body the Scottish Licensed Trade Association, regularly complain the satellite TV giant’s charges to licensees are unreasonably high. Over the years some Scots publicans have also argued that Sky’s package offers poor value for money in terms of content. But all trade bodies consistently warn against attempts to bypass Sky’s commercial agreement. The firm visits thousands of pubs across Britain every year in hopes of catching out licensees who flout its rules, and damages are regularly awarded against pubs in Scotland. Sky’s head of commercial piracy, George Lawson, argues its investigations protect publicans said to lose business unfairly because of illegal screenings. He said the advertisement of the findings would send a signal out to others in the trade about the consequences of illegal Sky screening. Nobody was available for comment at the Ellwyn.

Village Roadshow co-chief executive Graham Burke has slammed Google for "facilitating crime" by allowing piracy, saying the multibillion-dollar company is welcome to sue him for his comments. Mr Burke believes Google is partly responsible for hundreds of thousands of illegal downloads of the films Lion and Mad Max: Fury Road causing "millions of dollars lost to piracy". "If piracy isn’t nailed ... the Australian film industry will be over," he said. "It will become like a remote Los Angeles suburb." Lion has been downloaded illegally more than 350,000 times and is likely to have been streamed more than 1 million times, he said. With major films' success relying on ticket sales at the box office, illegal access to the films online can quickly eat into an entertainment company's bottom line. By allowing pirate websites to be on its search engine, the film industry veteran said Google was allowing criminal activity and was "welcome" to sue him for his comments. "We have been involved with films more than any other production company," he said. Mr Burke has been a board member for Village Roadshow since 1988 and describes his involvement with Red Dog as "one of the great joys" of his life. It is the second-best selling DVD in Australian history behind Finding Nemo. "I have an incredibly rich life and a large part of that has been thanks to film ... I want to put something back and if it means taking a risk then that is what is necessary," he said. "How can you make these films commercially viable if it’s being given away free?" One way copyright holders can stop pirate websites is by getting a court order for internet service providers to block a site. In 2016, the Federal Court ordered major piracy website Pirate Bay to be blocked in Australia. In August, Foxtel and Village Roadshow had 59 pirate sites blocked by using these site-blocking laws. Mr Burke is a 13 per cent shareholder in Village Roadshow. On Wednesday, the government put its site blocking laws up for review to determine if they are working and any needed changes. Google does not actively block pirate sites, nor proxy sites that show work-arounds to reach blocked sites. “My view is they are complicit and they are facilitating crime," he said. Mr Burke wants the search giant to be more proactive, rather than relying copyright holders to go through the court for every pirate site. In Korea, where Google is not the dominant search engine, local search platforms remove links to pirated content themselves. A Google spokesman said it took the fight against online piracy "very seriously" and had invested "tens of millions of dollars" to deal with the issue. "We down-rank sites in Search that have a large number of valid [copyright infringement] notices and ban pirate sites from our ad network." He said Google continues to hold "meaningful and earnest conversations with industry about copyright". Mr Burke said the company's efforts on piracy since he first raised concerns with Google Australia two years ago were not enough. "The people [with Google] in Silicon Valley are looking at their global internet and don't think 25 million people in Australia are a priority for them," he said. He likens it to businessman Frank Lowy allowing a shop in a Westfield shopping centre to sell stolen goods and steal its customer's credit card details. "Frank would say he doesn’t want it in his shopping centre," he said. Mr Burke doesn't believe Google would do the same because piracy sites are popular, attracting "eyeballs" to its search engine. "This is revenue lost to the producer, lost to Australia and lost to taxes." At Village Roadshow's half yearly results on Friday, posting a weak result for its cinema arm, Mr Burke told shareholders getting rid of piracy would have an "upside" for the company. The lower earnings of $21.6 million in the six months to December 31, compared to $29.1 million in the first half of 2017, was mostly driven by a "lack of quality titles" due to scheduling. The company also posted "disappointing" results for its theme parks. Mr Burke said the "Dreamworld effect", after four people died in an accident on a ride in October 2016, was still being felt across its business, including Wet'n'Wild Sydney. The Sydney weather also had an impact.

After hiring the services of a private investigations firm, Epic Games discovered they'd sued another minor for alleged cheating. The gaming company asked the court to keep the personal information of the kid under seal. A private investigator was also used to locate another minor defendant in a separate case, who is now risking a default judgment. Last fall, Epic Games released Fortnite’s free-to-play “Battle Royale” game mode for the PC and other platforms, generating massive interest among gamers. This also included thousands of cheaters, many of whom were subsequently banned. Epic Games then went a step further by taking several cheaters to court for copyright infringement. In the months that have passed several cases have been settled with undisclosed terms, but it appears that not all defendants are easy to track down. In at least two cases, Epic had to retain the services of private investigators to locate their targets. In a case filed in North Carolina, the games company was unable to serve the defendant (now identified as B.B) so they called in the help of Klatt Investigations, with success. “[A]fter having previously engaged two other process servers that were unable to locate and successfully serve B.B., Epic engaged Klatt Investigations, a Canadian firm that provides various services related to the private service of process in civil matters. “In this case, we engaged Klatt Investigations to locate and effect service of process by personal service on Defendant,” Epic informs the court. As Epic Games didn’t know the age of the defendant beforehand they chose to approach the person as a minor, which turned out to be a wise choice. The alleged cheater indeed appears to be a minor, so both the Defendant and Defendant’s mother were served. Based on this new information, Epic Games asked the court to redact any court documents that reveal personal information of the defendant, which includes his or her full name. Epic’s request to seal https://torrentfreak.com/images/epicminor.png This is not the first time Epic Games has used a private investigator to locate a defendant. It hired S&H Investigative Services in another widely reported case, where the defendant also turned out to be a minor. In that case, the mother of the alleged cheater wrote a letter to the court in her son’s defense, but after that, things went quiet. This lack of response prompted Epic Games to ask the court to enter a default in this case, which means that the defendant risks a default judgment for copyright infringement. — Epic’s declaration for the motion to seal the personal details of minor B.B. is available here (pdf). The request to enter a default in the separate C.R case can be found (here pdf). Source: Torrentfreak.com

Online education site Udemy is under fire for stealing content from YouTubers for its paid courses. After one YouTuber spoke out last week, Udemy removed an infringing course, but others say there’s still work to be done. YouTuber Chris Hawkes, who specializes in videos on programming and web development, uploaded a video this week accusing online course company Udemy of pirating his content for its site. In a brief YouTube video on the matter, Hawkes highlighted how a paid course listed on the website included one of Hawkes’ own videos on the programming language Python. Hawkes claims he was not asked for permission to use the video, and characterized Udemy’s use of it as content theft. Udemy is a paid platform for MOOCs—massive open online courses—on a variety of topics that boasts 65,000 courses and 15 million students, so Hawkes figured he was owed some sort of penalty for its use of his content without attribution. Or, in his words, “Udemy seems like kind of a sleazy-ass company.”

Google often indulges in theatrics, where it pretends that it is doing what it is required to do. In reality, the 800-lb search gorilla is laughing heartily at having apparently hoodwinked everyone. Earlier, this month iTWire detailed how Google indulges in security theatre, in order to try and make people believe it is serious about security. The most recent case involves images. In April 2016, Google was hit with a complaint by Getty Images under EU competition law, accusing it of creating galleries of “high-resolution, copyrighted content", and “promoting piracy resulting in widespread copyright infringement". Remember the EU is the one which has had the guts to fine Google €2.42 billion (US$2.7 billion) for allegedly abusing its search engine dominance to give illegal advantage to its own comparison shopping service. Google also faces EU fines over its AdSense advertising system and its Android mobile operating system. Hence, it was in Google's interest to pretend that it was doing something to satisfy Getty. But what it has done is a joke. The company said it would remove the "View Image" button that appears when one views an image after locating it by using the Images search option. This View Image button, when clicked, allows a user to see the image alone on a blank Web page, presumably to be saved and used. https://twitter.com/searchliaison/st...26180776845312 But removing that does little good. A user can use a context menu, that is available with a right-click of one's mouse, and save the image using the "Save Image as" option. This option is present in both Chrome (Google's own browser which has a 56% share of the browser market) and Firefox. Or one can obtain an extension for Chrome that provides the same functionality that the View Image button did. So how does losing the View Image button help in keeping down the frequency of copyrighted images being used without proper authorisation? Truth be told, it is a figleaf. Google's act is what is described in Hindi as naam ke vaaste – doing a thing simply for the sake of doing something, anything, in order to con someone else into believing one has done what one was supposed to do. If Google was serious about preventing the unauthorised use of copyrighted images, it could have removed the "save image as" option on the context menu that appears when one right-clicks on an image within Chrome. But then when was Google serious about anything except grabbing users' personal data in order to monetise it?

Lunar New Year Annoucement During the Lunar New Year, as part of our tradition, sitewide freeleech will be expired midnight on February 22(GMT+8). HDChina Staff wishing you peace, joy and happiness through the coming year. Staff will send out "pocket money(bonus)" here! Use translator to find THAT post! ====HDChina Staff====

Google and one of Australia's leading movie companies are on a collision course over piracy. Village Roadshow's outspoken co-chief Graham Burke has twice this month accused Google of facilitating crime and is now inviting the company to sue him. Meanwhile, Google is fighting for new safe harbor protections that Village Roadshow insists should be denied. Wherever Google has a presence, rightsholders are around to accuse the search giant of not doing enough to deal with piracy. Over the past several years, the company has been attacked by both the music and movie industries but despite overtures from Google, criticism still floods in. In Australia, things are definitely heating up. Village Roadshow, one of the nation’s foremost movie companies, has been an extremely vocal Google critic since 2015 but now its co-chief, the outspoken Graham Burke, seems to want to take things to the next level. As part of yet another broadside against Google, Burke has for the second time in a month accused Google of playing a large part in online digital crime. “My view is they are complicit and they are facilitating crime,” Burke said, adding that if Google wants to sue him over his comments, they’re very welcome to do so. It’s highly unlikely that Google will take the bait. Burke’s attempt at pushing the issue further into the spotlight will have been spotted a mile off but in any event, legal battles with Google aren’t really something that Burke wants to get involved in. Australia is currently in the midst of a consultation process for the Copyright Amendment (Service Providers) Bill 2017 which would extend the country’s safe harbor provisions to a broader range of service providers including educational institutions, libraries, archives, key cultural institutions and organizations assisting people with disabilities. For its part, Village Roadshow is extremely concerned that these provisions may be extended to other providers – specifically Google – who might then use expanded safe harbor to deflect more liability in respect of piracy. “Village Roadshow….urges that there be no further amendments to safe harbor and in particular there is no advantage to Australia in extending safe harbor to Google,” Burke wrote in his company’s recent submission to the government. “It is very unlikely given their size and power that as content owners we would ever sue them but if we don’t have that right then we stand naked. Most importantly if Google do the right thing by Australia on the question of piracy then there will be no issues. However, they are very far from this position and demonstrably are facilitating crime.” Accusations of crime facilitation are nothing new for Google, with rightsholders in the US and Europe having accused the company of the same a number of times over the years. In response, Google always insists that it abides by relevant laws and actually goes much further in tackling piracy than legislation currently requires. On the safe harbor front, Google begins by saying that not expanding provisions to service providers will have a seriously detrimental effect on business development in the region. “[Excluding] online service providers falls far short of a balanced, pro-innovation environment for Australia. Further, it takes Australia out of step with other digital economies by creating regulatory uncertainty for [venture capital] investment and startup/entrepreneurial success,” Google’s submission reads. “[T]he Draft Bill’s narrow safe harbor scheme places Australian-based startups and online service providers — including individual bloggers, websites, small startups, video-hosting services, enterprise cloud companies, auction sites, online marketplaces, hosting providers for real-estate listings, photo hosting services, search engines, review sites, and online platforms —in a disadvantaged position compared with global startups in countries that have strong safe harbor frameworks, such as the United States, Canada, United Kingdom, Singapore, South Korea, Japan, and other EU countries. “Under the new scheme, Australian-based startups and service providers, unlike their international counterparts, will not receive clear and consistent legal protection when they respond to complaints from rightsholders about alleged instances of online infringement by third-party users on their services,” Google notes. Interestingly, Google then delivers what appears to be a loosely veiled threat. One of the key anti-piracy strategies touted by the mainstream entertainment companies is collaboration between rightsholders and service providers, including the latter providing voluntary tools to police infringement online. Google says that if service providers are given a raw deal on safe harbor, the extent of future cooperation may be at risk. “If Australian-based service providers are carved out of the new safe harbor regime post-reform, they will operate from a lower incentive to build and test new voluntary tools to combat online piracy, potentially reducing their contributions to innovation in best practices in both Australia and international markets,” the company warns. But while Village Roadshow argue against safe harbors and warn that piracy could kill the movie industry, it is quietly optimistic that the tide is turning. In a presentation to investors last week, the company said that reducing piracy would have “only an upside” for its business but also added that new research indicates that “piracy growth [is] getting arrested.” As a result, the company says that it will build on the notion that “74% of people see piracy as ‘wrong/theft’” and will call on Australians to do the right thing. In the meantime, the pressure on Google will continue but lawsuits – in either direction – won’t provide an answer. Village Roadshow’s submission can be found here, Google’s here (pdf). Source: Torrentfreak.com

In a bizarre twist of facts, the FCC has claimed this week that its annual report proves the repeal of Net Neutrality has made the Internet better for all of us. The report is an exercise in contradictions, claiming that "advanced telecommunications capability is being deployed to all Americans," and quoting the phrase "in a reasonable and timely fashion". Those quotation marks are appropriate, since the report also notes that "far too many Americans lack access to high-speed Internet service" and two-thirds of homes only have access to one broadband ISP. Though the FCC wants to reinvent its war against Net Neutrality as a battle for consumer choice, the reality is a monopolized mess. As one dissenting FCC commissioner explained, "Simply put, this report is biased, flawed, and woefully incomplete." There's no convincing Ajit Pai's warriors of that, however. To them, "the marketplace is already responding to the more deployment-friendly regulatory environment now in place," a radiant sign of progress that doesn't require any supporting evidence. Last month, I was invited by the Yale Political Union to speak about Net Neutrality. Whether it was the college debate setting or my desire to forget about recent history, I began with a famous argument from the 17th Century. The quarrel of the Anciens and Modernes, the "Ancients" and the "Moderns", hinged on the notion of progress. The Ancients contended that we could do no better than imitate ancient art and culture, while the Moderns believed we could do much better. What was the reasoning of the Moderns? Ancient societies didn't have access to all the information and scholarship that they had at the time. Before the Enlightenment had even gone into full swing, it was clear that the well-being of a society was intimately tied to the access to knowledge of its people. To an observer today, it's a no-brainer that the Moderns won the quarrel. We have the Internet. Which is, of course, where I learned about this 17th Century debate in the first place. Though Wikipedia gets some of the credit, I also downloaded a series of lectures about the Renaissance and Enlightenment over (gasp!) BitTorrent. That action was considered illegal in the U.S., even in long-ago 2005. In 2018, the BitTorrent protocol can't be used for any purpose, without special permission, on nearly any university network in the U.S. including Yale's. If you have a residential ISP such as Frontier or Comcast, the only two choices in my corner of Connecticut, you might receive a written warning after downloading such a file, as I have a few times, or you might just have your traffic "rate limited", "throttled", or "shaped", to use a more gentle-sounding term. Burger King has now set the stage for any conversation about Net Neutrality in 2018. If you pay more for your Whopper, you'll get it faster. If not, you'll just have to wait. Though it's a useful analogy for network traffic, we have to remind ourselves that we're not just talking about fast food here — we're talking about potentially anything a computer can store and transmit. All the art in the world, all the music, all the literature and history and science and software source code. We don't need gatekeepers telling us what our minds can and can't eat. If I'm on the Internet, I should be able to have proverbial beer and burgers or fine dining. In the 1990s, you'd be forgiven for assuming that the Internet could become an endless, infinite library. Yet we've passively allowed intermediaries to lock it down and wall us off from each other, and our collective culture, in ever more creative ways. With John Perry Barlow's recent passing, maybe it's time to reread his manifesto and revive the concept of the Independence of Cyberspace, a place where "all the sentiments and expressions of humanity, from the debasing to the angelic, are parts of a seamless whole, the global conversation of bits". Such a treatise is far from a quaint relic of the past and, in fact, is more appropriate now than ever. Our lives are almost completely intermediated by network-connected devices. When Peter Sunde was on trial with the other members of The Pirate Bay in 2009, he was asked when he first met his friends IRL, "In Real Life". He responded that he didn't like that word, preferring AFK instead for "Away From Keyboard". In 2018, how often are any of us "Away From Phone"? If I can't access social services, healthcare, or emergency services because I have a bad Internet connection or, worse, no connection, where does that leave me? I'm barely considered a real person at that point, in this age where almost all government, social, and business transactions occur online. How closely do we want Comcast's tiered payment plans for broadband to correlate with a person's status or class in the U.S.? In a country where our government regulators are step-in-time with the broadband providers, we have more to worry about than just a bad connection. Americans often talk about repressive states and how free our Internet is in contrast, but true anonymity and censorship circumvention is treated very harshly here. Privacy and free expression through digital anonymity is worse than a taboo subject; to network operators it borders on criminal or, worse, terrorist. Anonymity is often the only way to send a file or message securely through the Internet, and strong encryption software as well as anonymous networks like Tor are essential tools for digital freedom. Though Comcast claims it had never threatened Tor users in 2014, the gloves are now off for ISPs to block or throttle Tor and any kind of traffic they deem suspicious. Surveillance is an essential part of dividing up and selling chunks of the Internet to different people. The companies running our network infrastructure are now emboldened to increase this surveillance, and have all the legal justification they need to do so. Even if it isn't used to choke or turn off our connections, we should be wary of the lidless eye of each ISP that watches our every movement. Though it's important to fight the battle for Net Neutrality at the government policy level, we also need grassroots solutions. Community networks are springing up all over the U.S., bolstered by people and organizations passionate for a free, fair, and open Internet. At Yale Privacy Lab, we've been able to set up network infrastructure as well, in the form of the FreedomBox "private cloud" server. Thanks to positive engagement with Yale IT staff and members of local makerspace MakeHaven, we now have access to a variety of private, secure services, including Tor. You can set up your own FreedomBox at home, with $50 USD or less. We don't have to go back to an ancient world that has forgotten Internet Enlightenment, at least not yet. Though dark days are looming, there's still time to fight for network freedom, perhaps even expand it. We'll have to do those battles in our local communities as well as at our keyboards. After all, the Internet is an aspect of our real world, not something apart from it.

Anti-piracy outfit Rightscorp has a database of nearly a billion copyright infringements, ready to use, including many repeat infringers. Responding to a crucial court decision last week, the company says that it is ready to help copyright holders identify persistent pirates and hold Internet providers accountable if needed. Last week the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that ISPs are required to terminate ‘repeat infringers’ based on allegations from copyright holders alone, a topic that has been contested for years. This means that copyright holders now have a bigger incentive to send takedown notices, as ISPs can’t easily ignore them. That’s music to the ears of the various piracy tracking companies, Rightscorp included. The piracy monetization company always maintained that multiple complaints from copyright holders are enough to classify someone as a repeat infringer, without a court order, and the Fourth Circuit has now reached the same conclusion. “After years of uncertainty on these issues, it is gratifying for the US Court of Appeals to proclaim the law on ISP liability for subscriber infringements to be essentially what Rightscorp has always said it is,” Rightscorp President Christopher Sabec says. Rightscorp is pleased to see that the court shares its opinion since the verdict also provides new business opportunities. The company informs TorrentFreak that it’s ready to help copyright holders to hold ISPs responsible. “Rightscorp has always stood with content holders who wish to protect their rights against ISPs that are not taking action against repeat infringers,” Sabec tells us. “Now, with the law addressing ISP liability for subscriber infringements finally sharpened and clarified at the appellate level, we are ready to support all efforts by rights holders to compel ISPs to abide by their responsibilities under the DMCA.” The piracy tracking company has a treasure trove of piracy data at its disposal to issue takedown requests or back lawsuits. Over the past five years, it amassed nearly a billion “records” of copyright infringements. “Rightscorp’s data records include no less the 969,653,557 infringements over the last five years,” Sabec says. This number includes a lot of repeat infringers, obviously. It’s made up of IP-addresses downloading the same file on several occasions and/or multiple files over time. While it’s unlikely that account holders will be disconnected based on infringements that happened years ago, this type of historical data can be used in court cases. Rightscorp’s infringement notices are the basis of the legal action against Cox, and are being used as evidence in a separate RIAA case against ISP Grande communications as well. Grande previously said that it refused to act on Rightcorp’s notices because it doubts their accuracy, but the tracking company contests this. That case is still ongoing and a final decision has yet to be reached. For now, however, Rightcorp is marketing its hundreds of thousands of recorded copyright infringements as an opportunity for rightsholders. And for a company that can use some extra cash in hand, that’s good news. Source: Torrentfreak.com

Ebay and social media are popular places to sell and obtain 'pirate' streaming devices but for two sellers, things haven't gone to plan. According to the Premier League and partners the Federation Against Copyright Theft, the men have agreed to pay £18,000 and £8,000 respectively, for supplying piracy-configured Kodi boxes and subscriptions to illicit streams. Those on the look out for ready-configured pirate set-top boxes can drift around the web looking at hundreds of options or head off to the places most people know best – eBay and Facebook. Known for its ease of use and broad range of content, eBay is often the go-to place for sellers looking to offload less than legitimate stock. Along with Facebook, it’s become one of the easiest places online to find so-called Kodi boxes. While the Kodi software itself is entirely legal, millions of people have their boxes configured for piracy purposes and eBay and Facebook provide a buying platform for those who don’t want to do the work themselves. Sellers generally operate with impunity but according to news from the Premier League and anti-piracy partners Federation Against Copyright Theft (FACT), that’s not always the case. FACT reports that a supplier of ISDs (Illicit Streaming Devices) that came pre-loaded for viewing top-tier football without permission has agreed to pay the Premier League thousands of pounds. Nayanesh Patel from Harrow, Middlesex, is said to have sold Kodi-type boxes on eBay and Facebook but got caught in the act. As a result he’s agreed to cough up £18,000, disable his website, remove all advertising, and cease future sales. A second individual, who isn’t named, allegedly sold subscriptions to illegal streams of Premier League football via eBay. He too was tracked down and eventually agreed to pay £8,000 and cease all future streams sales. “This case shows there are serious consequences for sellers of pre-loaded boxes and is a warning for anyone who thinks they might get away with this type of activity,” says Premier League Director of Legal Services, Kevin Plumb. “The Premier League is currently engaged in a comprehensive copyright protection programme that includes targeting and taking action against sellers of pre-loaded devices, and any ISPs or hosts that facilitate the broadcast of pirated Premier League content.” The number of individuals selling pirate set-top devices and IPTV-style subscription packages on eBay and social media has grown to epidemic proportions, so perhaps the biggest surprise is that there aren’t more cases like these. Importantly, however, these apparent settlement agreements are a step back from the criminal prosecutions we’ve seen in the past. Previously, individuals under FACT’s spotlight have tended to be targeted by the police, with all the drawn-out misery that entails. While these cash settlements are fairly hefty, they appear to be in lieu of law enforcement involvement, not inconsiderable solicitors bills, and potential jail sentences. For a few unlucky sellers, this could prove the more attractive option. Source: Torrentfreak.com

Chrome and Firefox are actively blocking direct access to the popular pirate streaming site 123movies, also known as 123movieshub and Gomovies. According to Google's Safe Browsing diagnostics service, the site contains "harmful programs," most likely triggered by suspicious advertisements running on the site. With millions of visitors per day, 123movies(hub), also known as Gomovies, is one of the largest pirate streaming sites on the web. Today, however, many visitors were welcomed by a dangerous-looking red banner instead of the usual homepage. “The site ahead contains harmful programs,” Chrome warns its users. “Attackers on 123movieshub.to might attempt to trick you into installing programs that harm your browsing experience.” It is not clear what the problem is in this particular case, but these type of notifications are often triggered by malicious or deceptive third-party advertising that has appeared on a site. Warning These warning messages are triggered by Google’s Safebrowsing algorithm which flags websites that pose a potential danger to visitors. Chrome, Firefox, and others use this service to prevent users from running into unwanted software. In addition to the browser block, Google generally informs the site’s owners that their domain will be demoted in search results until the issue is resolved. Google previously informed us that these kinds of warnings automatically disappear when the flagged sites no longer violate Google’s policy. This can take one or two days, but also longer. This isn’t the first time that Google has flagged such a large website. Many pirate sites, including The Pirate Bay, have been affected by this issue in the past. Chrome and Firefox users should be familiar with these intermittent warning notices be now. If users believe that an affected site is harmless they can always take steps (Chrome, FF) to bypass the blocks, but that’s completely at their own risk. Source: TorrentFreak

Olympics 2018 - 2018-02-09 Uploaders of Olympics coverage, please put Olympics2018 (without space) on the beginning of the title. Like in previous years, all Olympics torrents will be made free leech when they are moderated. Enjoy!

Last week, Stan McCoy, president of the Motion Picture Association's EMEA division, met with the head of Russia's telecoms watchdog in Moscow. Rozcomnadzor says that a number of issues were discussed, including strengthening international cooperation. For once, Russia had some anti-piracy achievements to boast about that the United States couldn't match. Given Russia’s historical reputation for having a weak approach to online piracy, the last few years stand in stark contrast to those that went before. Overseen by telecoms watchdog Rozcomnadzor, Russia now has one of the toughest site-blocking regimes in the whole world. It’s possible to have entire sites blocked in a matter of days, potentially over a single piece of infringing content. For persistent offenders, permanent blocking is now a reality. While that process requires the involvement of the courts, the subsequent blocking of mirror sites does not, with Russia blocking more than 500 since a new law was passed in October 2017. With anti-piracy measures now a force to be reckoned with in Russia, it’s emerged that last week Stan McCoy, president of the Motion Picture Association’s EMEA division, met with telecoms watchdog Roskomnadzor in Moscow. McCoy met with Rozcomnadzor chief Alexander Zharov last Friday, in a meeting that was also attended by Ekaterina Mironova, head of the anti-piracy committee of the Media Communication Union (ISS). According to Rozcomnadzor, issues discussed included copyright-related legislation and regulation. Also on the agenda was the strengthening of international cooperation, including between public organizations representing the interests of rightholders. “In particular, an agreement was reached to expand contacts between the MPAA and the ISS,” Rozcomnadzor notes. The ISS (known locally as Media-Communication Union MKC) was founded by the largest Russian media companies and telecom operators in February 2014. It differentiates itself from other organizations with the claim that its the first group of its type to represent the interests of communications companies, rights holders, broadcasters and large distributors. During the meeting, McCoy was given an update on Russia’s implementation of the various anti-piracy laws introduced and developed since May 2015. “Since the introduction of the anti-piracy laws, Roskomnadzor has received more than 2,800 rulings from the Moscow City Court on the adoption of preliminary provisional [blocking] measures to protect copyright on the Internet, including 1,630 for movies,” the watchdog reveals. “In connection with the deletion of pirated content, access to the territory of Russia was restricted for 1,547 Internet resources. Based on the decisions of the Moscow City Court, 752 pirated sites are now permanently blocked, and according to the decisions of the Ministry of Communications, more than 600 ‘mirrors’ of these resources are blocked too.” While it’s normally the position of the US to criticize Russia for not doing enough to tackle piracy, it must’ve been interesting to participate in a meeting where for once the Russians had the upper hand. Even though the MPAA previously campaigned for one, there is no site-blocking mechanism in the United States. “The fight against piracy stimulates the growth of the legal online video market in Russia. Attendance of legal online sites is constantly growing. Users are attracted to high-quality content for an affordable fee,” Rozcomnadzor concludes. The meeting’s participants will join up again during the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum scheduled to take place May 24-26. Source: Torrentfreak.com

The 'Fifty Shades' threequel closes out Universal's profitable BDSM-laced film trilogy. Universal's Fifty Shades Freed is set to seduce the competition at the pre-Valentine's box office with a debut of $30 million or more. The threequel closes out the female-fueled film franchise based on the BDSM-laced novels by E.L. James. Dakota Johnson once again stars as Anastasia Steele, while Jamie Dornan reprises the role of Dorian Grey. Upon the opening of Fifty Shades Freed, the movie series will zoom past the $1 billion mark at the global box office. Overseas, the movie opens in most markets, including France, Australia, Brazil, Germany, Mexico, Japan and the U.K. The weekend's other two nationwide entires are Sony's family film Peter Rabbit and terrorist drama 15:17 to Paris. A CGI/live-action hybrid, Peter Rabbit should hop to an opening in the mid-teens. James Corden voices the iconic rabbit created by author Beatrix Potter. The The voice cast also includes Domhnall Gleeson and Rose Byrne. Prolific director Clint Eastwood returns to the marquee with The 15:17 to Paris, a recounting of the three Americans who helped thwart an attack on a French train in 2016. Village Roadshow Entertainment and Warner Bros. partnered on the film, which is anticipating a domestic debut in the $10 million to $12 million range. 15:17 opens day and date in 23 foreign markets, including France. In an unusual turn, Eastwood cast the real-life heroes as his film's stars — Spencer Stone, Alek Skarlatos and Anthony Sadler.

Netflix has just bought the rights to the movie Extinction, a science fiction thriller starring Michael Peña and Lizzy Caplan. This is the latest Hollywood movie purchase for Netflix, amidst a string of similar high-profile acquisitions. In Extinction, Peña is plagued by nightmares of losing his family. Those nightmares become a reality when a destructive force invades Earth, intent on presumably total destruction. Lizzy Caplan will play his wife, as they fight for their lives and discover some hidden strength to keep them safe. In addition to Caplan and Peña, Mike Colter (Luke Cage himself), Emma Booth, Israel Broussard, Tom Riley, and Lilly Aspell will also appear in the film. Extinction is directed by Ben Young and written by Brad Kane, Spencer Cohen, and Eric Heisserer. This film was originally scheduled for release with Universal, until Universal pulled Extinction from its release slate two months ago to “explore other options.” Netflix confirmed the purchase with Variety merely four days after the now-infamous Cloverfield Paradox marketing stunt, where they unveiled the first footage of the film during the Super Bowl and released it on the same night. In addition to Cloverfield and Extinction, Netflix also has the streaming rights to Paramount’s Annihilation only seventeen days after its U.S. theatrical release. While high-profile Netflix original movies and TV shows are nothing new, the purchase of high-profile titles before a theatrical release date is fairly new territory with the streaming service. Their biggest grab to date is arguably that of director Martin Scorsese’s The Irishman, which is still due to begin streaming through Netflix towards the end of this year. Despite being fairly new to the purchase of titles like The Irishman, Annihilation or even Extinction, Netflix is not necessarily unfamiliar with botched marketing gimmicks. When Netflix announced Cloverfield Paradox during the Super Bowl, it took everyone by surprise. However, once people began to stream Cloverfield, there was an overwhelming amount of disappointment with what many considered squandered potential with the film. While it was probably the wisest possible move for J.J. Abrams and everyone over at Bad Robot to avoid any box office losses, it is a rather disappointing result of some incredibly brave marketing strategies. The film isn’t a total bomb, but it left a lot to be desired in the canon of the Cloverfield universe. Hopefully, Extinction will prove to be a step in the right direction for Netflix after The Cloverfield Paradox, much like the presumed to be successful acquisitions of Annihilation and The Irishman.