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The top 10 most downloaded movies on BitTorrent are in again. 'Joker' tops the chart this week, followed by ‘Ad Astra'. 'JoJo Rabbit' completes the top three. This week we have four newcomers in our chart. Joker is the most downloaded movie. The data for our weekly download chart is estimated by TorrentFreak, and is for informational and educational reference only. All the movies in the list are Web-DL/Webrip/HDRip/BDrip/DVDrip unless stated otherwise. RSS feed for the articles of the recent weekly movie download charts. This week’s most downloaded movies are: Movie Rank Rank last week Movie name IMDb Rating / Trailer Most downloaded movies via torrents 1 (10) Joker 8.8 / trailer 2 (2) Ad Astra 6.9 / trailer 3 (…) JoJo Rabbit 8.1 / trailer 4 (1) 6 Underground 6.2 / trailer 5 (…) Zombieland Double Tap 7.1 / trailer 6 (3) Once Upon a Time … in Hollywood 7.9 / trailer 7 (…) The Lighthouse 8.2 / trailer 8 (5) Rambo: Last Blood 6.6 / trailer 9 (…) The Aeronauts 6.6 / trailer 10 (7) Gemini Man 5.7 / trailer

Indonesia's Information and Communications Ministry continues to crack down on pirate sites. The Government body has blocked more than 1,000 domain names since July with streaming giant 'IndoXX1' as the main target. The authorities hope to decrease local piracy rates but, thus far, the streaming service keeps coming back. With millions of views per day, ‘IndoXX1’ is of one the largest pirate sites on the Internet. In the West, the site doesn’t ring a bell with most people. In Indonesia, however, it is among the top 25 most visited websites in the country, only beaten by Google, YouTube, and a few others. The site’s popularity didn’t go unnoticed by Hollywood. Earlier this year the MPA listed the site in its yearly overview of notorious pirate sites submitted to the US Trade Representative. “Indo 21” has emerged as the main brand for piracy in Bahasa throughout Indonesia and Malaysia. One of the related sites, indoxx1.center, has a local ranking of 40 in Indonesia according to SimilarWeb data with 23.85 million monthly visits in August 2019,” MPA wrote. Today this information is already outdated. While IndoXX1 remains the most visited pirate brand in the country, it continuously relocates in order to evade local blocking efforts. Most recently the portal was available through domains including idxx1.cam, indoxx1.art, and indoxx1.kim. However, a few days ago, Indonesia’s Information and Communications Ministry (Kominfo) stepped in to block these domains. Kominfo’s actions coincide with the release of a new survey, commissioned by the Asia Video Industry Association’s Coalition Against Piracy (CAP), which shows that streaming piracy is rampant in Indonesia. According to the study, 63% of Indonesians have accessed streaming piracy websites or torrent sites. In addition, 29% of consumers use set-top boxes that can stream pirated video content, with indoXXI(Lite) being the most popular app by far. This isn’t the first time Kominfo has taken action against IndoXX1. Other domains have been banned previously as part of a national anti-piracy effort. In fact, the Government organization has blocked more than 1,000 domain names since July. Revealing the gravity of the situation, Kompas reports that these anti-piracy efforts can also count on the support of the national police. While it’s clear that the authorities are taking the piracy problem seriously, it seems rather hard to curtail. On social media, many people are pointing out alternatives and, when we checked, indoXXI mirrors or copies were indeed available. Many of the site’s users don’t really seem impressed by yet another blockade, and a meme illustrating the ineffectiveness of the measures has been viewed over a dozen million times in a few days. Since blocking isn’t 100% effective, to say the least, it may also be worth looking at other means to address the piracy problem. At the supply end, for example. That’s where help from the Government may also be welcome. Local news site Coconuts reports that Indonesia’s largest Internet provider Telkomsel currently blocks its subscribers from accessing Netflix. The state-owned ISP officially bans Netflix on censorship grounds, but some believe there may be financial reasons as well, as the company has ties to a local streaming service. Source: torrentfreak.com

Both YouTube and Yandex's video platforms are edging dangerously close to being permanently blocked by ISPs in Russia. The Moscow City Court has upheld a complaint from publisher Eksmo and has ordered the services to remove pirated audiobook content. However, anti-piracy group AZAPI says it is preparing other cases too and if they are successful, "we can insist on the eternal blocking of Yandex.video and YouTube in Russia." As the most popular video hosting platform on the Internet, YouTube is awash with both legal and unlicensed content. However, since the company is responsive to copyright complaints, it is largely protected by the safe harbor provisions of the DMCA. The system is far from perfect and is nowhere near comprehensive. False positives, abusive copyright claims and the sheer volume of uploads make it almost impossible to police the platform to a standard acceptable to everyone. The same can be said of the Internet has a whole but with automated and manual takedown tools, YouTube does what it can. One copyright holder that isn’t happy with YouTube’s efforts is Russian publishing giant Eksmo and its anti-piracy partner AZAPI, the Association for the Protection of Copyright in the Internet. It says the YouTube system “does not always work” so has decided to step up its efforts to protects its clients’ rights. As a result, Eksmo recently filed a court case against YouTube and the video platform of local search giant Yandex, claiming that the sites offer pirated audio copies of the sci-fi novel ‘The Three-Body Problem’ by the Chinese author Liu Cixin. The December complaint was initially rejected due to lack of evidence but on appeal, the Moscow City Court has now ruled that YouTube and Yandex.video must remove the content or face having it blocked by local ISPs. According to a report by local news outlet Vedomosti, the content in question still exists on both platforms. According to a statement from the Moscow City Court published by TASS on Monday, it has now taken preliminary measures against both sites. “The court ordered Yandex.video and YouTube to remove the link to the Cixin audiobook. As a security measure, the court imposed a block on this material on both hosting sites,” the press service said. The Court spokesperson had no comment on the potential for YouTube or Yandex.video to be permanently blocked in Russia but it appears that AZAPI has plans for just that. “We are ready to go to court using other books. If the complaints are satisfied, we can insist on the eternal blocking of Yandex.Video and YouTube in Russia,” AZAPI chief Maxim Ryabyko informs Vedomosti. AZAPI represents the interests of Russia’s biggest publishers so the possibility for additional complaints is substantial. What remains unclear is the standard to which YouTube is being held. If the site receives a valid copyright complaint against a specific URL, it usually removes the content in a timely manner. However, that doesn’t necessarily prevent the same content from being uploaded again. At least from AZAPI’s perspective, this appears to be a case of repeat infringement. “There were situations even when, after making a court ruling, we continued to find controversial copies on this platform,” Ryabyko says. From the limited comments available, AZAPI seems to be demanding a “takedown, staydown” arrangement in response to its complaints, something which goes beyond Google’s responsibilities under the DMCA. Whether AZAPI’s threats are ultimately designed to bring YouTube to the negotiating table is unclear but having the site blocked in Russia seems like the nuclear option, particularly when YouTube offers a number of special tools that may help to prevent further infringement. Source: torrentfreak.com

Film distribution company Dutch FilmWorks is continuing its legal battle to identify BitTorrent pirates. The company is now taking its case against Internet provider Ziggo, where it requests the personal details of subscribers connected to 377 IP-addresses, to the Supreme Court. Piracy settlement letters have become a serious threat in countries all round the world. Until now, Dutch Internet users have been spared from this practice but local movie distributor Dutch Filmworks would like that to change. Two years ago the company received permission from the Dutch Data Protection Authority to track the IP-addresses of BitTorrent users who shared pirated movies. However, that was only the first hurdle. The next step was to identify the subscribers behind the IP-addresses and Dutch Internet provider Ziggo didn’t want to share any customer data without a court order. The case went to court, where the movie company requested the personal details of 377 account holders whose addresses were used to share a copy of “The Hitman’s Bodyguard”. This didn’t go as planned for Dutch FilmWorks. In February, the Central Netherlands Court denied the company’s request for data and last month the Court of Appeal reached the same conclusion. Both courts concluded that Dutch Filmworks’ plans lacked transparency and it’s not clear what the movie company plans to do with the personal data it obtains. Dutch Filmworks said that it could either warn subscribers or request damages, but the criteria remain a guess. It also remains unclear how large the proposed settlements will be. An initial figure of €150 per infringement was mentioned in the past, but this number could also be significantly higher. The movie company is unhappy with both verdicts and told the Dutch newspaper NRC that it will take the matter to the Supreme Court. This means that the 377 account holders from ISP Ziggo remain at risk. In theory, it’s not impossible to obtain an order compelling Dutch Internet providers to hand over personal details of accused pirates. However, the previous verdicts make it clear that Dutch Filmworks has to come with a concrete plan. Ultimately, the Supreme Court must find a balance between the privacy rights of subscribers and Dutch Filmworks’ intellectual property rights. When there’s too much uncertainty for accused subscribers, their rights tend to weigh stronger. Source: torrentfreak.com

Nintendo has responded to a motion to dismiss previously filed at court by the operator of the popular site RomUniverse. The game company accuses the site of brazen and mass-scale copyright infringement and stresses that the site's operator is not protected by a "safe harbor" or "first sale doctrine" defense. In September, Nintendo filed a lawsuit against the game download portal RomUniverse. The website, which also allows users to download movies and books, stands accused of massive copyright infringement, including that relating to many Nintendo titles. “The Website is among the most visited and notorious online hubs for pirated Nintendo video games. Through the Website, Defendants reproduce, distribute, monetize, and offer for download thousands of unauthorized copies of Nintendo’s video games,” the Japanese gaming giant wrote. RomUniverse profited from these copyright infringements by offering premium accounts that allow users to download as many games as they want, Nintendo further alleged. The site’s operator, California resident Matthew Storman, is not backing down, however. He decided to defend himself in court and responded to Nintendo’s claims last October through a detailed motion to dismiss. Storman didn’t deny that he is involved in the operation of RomUniverse. However, he sees himself as a Service Provider, who is not part of the ‘forum’ itself. On the contrary, the admin argues that he’s protected by the DMCA’s safe harbor provisions. In addition, RomUniverse’s operator said that Nintendo is not the owner of the files and therefore has no standing in this case. Citing the First Sale Doctrine, Storman argued that those who buy games have the right to sell, destroy, or give them away. “The First Sale Doctrine permits non-copyright or trademark owner to dispose of their copies as they see fit. The Plaintiff does not own copies on websites,” Storman wrote. Late last week Nintendo responded to the motion to dismiss, describing is as wholly inadequate. Storman’s arguments “completely miss the mark” and his “smattering of passing references to other legal arguments are similarly unavailing,” the company counters. Nintendo points out that Storman’s affirmative defenses are not supposed to be pled in a motion to dismiss. Looking beyond this procedural issue, the game company notes that they would not work either. Starting with the first sale doctrine defense, Nintendo points out that this doesn’t apply to mass copyright infringement. It only allows an owner of a lawful copy to dispose of an individual copy of a work. “Mr. Storman is doing much more than simply distributing any copy of Nintendo’s copyrighted video games he many have,” Nintendo writes. “Instead, he is reproducing the video games, creating derivative works, and distributing hundreds of thousands of those derivative works. The first sale doctrine does not permit such blatant infringement.” The DMCA safe harbor defense doesn’t work for Storman either, Nintendo notes. While RomUniverse’s operator didn’t specify which of the four safe harbors he relies on, it appears to be the one related to storage providers. This safe harbor doesn’t apply, Nintendo says, as Storman himself uploads, organizes, and catalogs infringing content. That alone is enough to lose safe harbor protections. In addition, the operator also receives a direct financial benefit that can be linked to the infringing material. In the motion to dismiss, Storman highlighted that Nintendo sent him DMCA notices, which should confirm that he indeed has safe harbor protection. However, the game company counters that these notices are irrelevant. A service operator itself has to make sure that it ticks all the boxes when it comes to safe harbor eligibility. All in all, it appears that by defending himself, Storman’s motion to dismiss is not as strong as he might have hoped. The matter is now in the hands of the court which, at the time of writing, has yet to rule on the matter. Meanwhile, RomUniverse remains up and running and Storman continues to request financial support for his legal battle. — A copy of Nintendo’s response to Storman’s motion to dismiss the complaint is available here (pdf). Source: torrentfreak.com

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