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Hey, welcome to Invitehawk.. Enjoy your stay and hope you have a good time here.
 

Hey, welcome to Invitehawk.. Enjoy your stay and hope you have a good time here.
 

Hey, welcome to Invitehawk.. Enjoy your stay and hope you have a good time here.
 

West Midlands Police and the Federation Against Copyright Theft say they have dismantled a major illegal streaming operation in the UK. Two men and a woman have been arrested on suspicion of copyright infringement, fraud and conspiracy to commit fraud. Hundreds of thousands of customers are reportedly being greeted by a police message instead of their expected TV content.

With pirate IPTV services providing access to thousands of TV channels at a cheap price, the Federation Against Copyright Theft is continuing its quest to disrupt piracy in the UK.

FACT acts on behalf of broadcasting partners including Sky and for years has been cracking down on pirate suppliers of live sporting content. Today the anti-piracy company has announced what appears to be a particularly significant operation carried out in partnership with police in the UK.

‘Top UK Content Provider’ Targeted By Police Raids

In common with many operations of this type, neither police nor FACT are providing the name of the IPTV provider/supplier targeted. However, the details released thus far indicate a player of some importance.

According to a joint statement, West Midlands Police targeted what is being described as a “top UK content provider” that facilitated access to more than 100 separate pirate TV services. The operation was months in the planning and resulted in the arrest of three people.

“Two men aged 53 and 35 and a 40-year-old woman were arrested on suspicion of copyright infringement, fraud and conspiracy to commit fraud. Our joint investigation is ongoing,” says Detective Sergeant Allan McDonald from the West Midlands Police Economic Crime Unit.

“Hundreds of Thousands of Customers”

Police say they were able to dismantle the illegal streaming network which they believe served hundreds of thousands of customers.

“The streaming services in question illegally made available a large catalog of live TV and video content from around the world, including sports, for use on smart TVs, smartphones, tablets and illicit streaming devices,” the statement reads.

“The operation, which was months in the planning, shut down the network, disabled the illegal streams and delivered an on-screen message to those who received the streams warning them that their access to the content was unlawful.”

At the time of writing, TF has not received news from other sources concerning a shutdown or the displaying of any messages on devices configured for this service. We have asked FACT if it can supply a screenshot of the police warning message but if any readers have a copy or information on the operation, we’d certainly appreciate a tip.

Update: FACT-supplied screenshot below

In the meantime, it’s worth going over the joint statement in a little more detail to consider what this is about.

Lack of Clarity on the Type of Service Shutdown

It is not uncommon for so-called IPTV ‘resellers’ to be targeted by the authorities since they often sell access to one or more pirate IPTV providers. In this case, however, police say the targeted operation “provided illegal access to content to more than 100 separate pirate TV services.”

That is a very high number of services for a reseller to be selling subscriptions to, almost unmanageable in fact. That leaves us with the possibility that this service may have aggregated content from 100 higher-level pirate TV providers and sold access to that package. That would perhaps make more sense since police say they were able to display a warning message on customer devices.

What the police and FACT statement doesn’t claim is that 100 pirate providers have been shut down, merely that the service in question utilized 100 pirate services in its offering. The fate of those 100 services isn’t clear but we have asked FACT for comment and will update this article accordingly.

In the meantime, Kieron Sharp, CEO of FACT offers the following comment:

“We’re pleased to support West Midlands Police in their work to dismantle such a major network. This should be a serious warning to anyone motivated by the financial gains from engaging with piracy – it is a crime which will be taken seriously by Police.”

Update: FACT has confirmed that the operation “targeted a major content source supplying reseller networks.”

The pirate movie screener season has started early this year. After two Netflix films leaked a few days ago, reportedly from festival screeners, a 'webscreener' copy of "The Card Counter" has just appeared online. All movies are linked to the pirate release group EVO, which appears to have multiple sources.

Historically, pirated copies of movie screeners often start to leak on pirate sites around Christmas.

This year Christmas has come early for pirates. A few days ago, two screener copies of the Netflix movies “The Power of the Dog” and “The Guilty” leaked online, ahead of their planned premieres.

EVO

The releases are linked to the piracy group EVO, which also leaked the first screeners early last year. The copies were ripped from so-called “webscreeners” that, according to EVO, were sourced from a film festival.

The name of the festival wasn’t mentioned but the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) was a potential candidate, as it screened both movies. TIFF didn’t reply to our request for comment but soon after the leaks appeared, TIFF started to send DMCA notices targeting the leaks.

While there is no confirmation that the leaks trace back to TIFF screeners, a new leak shows that – even if that was the case – EVO has more sources as well.

“The Card Counter” Screener

A few hours ago EVO released a screener copy of the Paul Schrader film “The Card Counter“. The film premiered at the Venice Film Festival earlier this month and it’s currently playing in theaters.

The Card Counter.2021.WEBSCREENER.XviD-EVO

As shown in the screencap above, the video is clearly marked as a screener and notes that the film is “Property of Focus Features,” which is the official distributor. The release notes don’t include any specific information about the origins of this screener but EVO thanks “Visionary” as the source.

New Twist

It is not clear if this most recent screener is also linked to a festival. However, TIFF doesn’t have the movie on its roster, so we can rule that option out.

It’s not a habit of ours to cover all screener leaks in detail. However, since the earlier coverage was heavily focused on one possible source, “The Card Counter” leak adds a newsworthy twist.

TorrentFreak reached out to Focus Features but the company didn’t immediately reply to our request for comment. If any new information comes in we will update this article accordingly.

Cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase has filed an application with the National Futures Association (NFA) to offer futures and derivatives trading on its platform. The exchange says its new offerings aim to “Further grow the cryptoeconomy.”

Coinbase Registers to Offer Crypto Futures and Derivatives Trading

Coinbase Global Inc. (Nasdaq: COIN) announced Wednesday via Twitter that it has filed an application with the National Futures Association (NFA) to register as a Futures Commission Merchant (FCM). The exchange wrote:

This is the next step to broaden our offerings and offer futures and derivatives trading on our platforms.

The exchange added that its goal is to “Further grow the cryptoeconomy.” The filing shows that the company is registered as Coinbase Financial Markets Inc.

Crypto derivatives have become a huge market and most major cryptocurrency exchanges offer derivatives trading, including Binance, Okex, FTX, CME Group, and Kraken.

In April, Coinbase announced that it had acquired Skew, a crypto data analytics firm that specializes in tracking the derivatives market.

Coinbase is currently raising funds by issuing bonds. Initially, the company planned to issue $1.5 billion worth of senior notes. However, due to high interest, it has raised the amount to $2 billion. Coinbase said it intends to use the net proceeds from the offering “for general corporate purposes, which may include continued investments in product development, as well as potential investments in or acquisitions of other companies, products, or technologies that Coinbase may identify in the future.”

A committee of the U.S. House of Representatives has proposed to subject cryptocurrencies to the “wash sale” rule. Since cryptocurrencies are treated as property by the Internal Revenue Service (IRS), they are currently not subject to the wash sale rule. This proposal attempts to close down a big crypto tax loophole.

Crypto Included in New Proposal

The Committee on Ways and Means, the chief tax-writing committee of the U.S. House of Representatives, proposed to subject cryptocurrencies to the wash sale rule Monday. If adopted, the rules will apply to crypto trades occurring after Dec. 31.

The “wash sales” provision in the bill states:

This section includes commodities, currencies, and digital assets in the wash sale rule, an anti-abuse rule previously applicable to stock and other securities. The wash sale rule in section 1091 prevents taxpayers from claiming tax losses while retaining an interest in the loss asset.

The wash-sale rule was designed to discourage people from selling securities at a loss simply to claim a tax benefit. A wash sale occurs when an individual sells a security at a loss and then purchases that same security or substantially identical securities within 30 days.

Shehan Chandrasekera, head of Tax Strategy at crypto tax software firm Cointracker, commented that with this wash sale proposal, the committee “is trying to close down a big crypto tax loophole.” He elaborated:

Since cryptocurrencies are treated as property (IRS 2014-21), they are not subject to the wash sale rule. This allows you to harvest losses more aggressively in crypto than in stocks. You don’t have to wait 30 days. Ways & Means Committee is trying to subject crypto to the wash sale rule.

According to Chandrasekera, “the new rules will not eliminate the tax benefit, it will defer the tax benefit.”

The world’s largest movie exhibition company, AMC Entertainment, has announced its plan to accept cryptocurrencies by year-end. AMC CEO Adam Aron says the entertainment giant will accept bitcoin, ether, litecoin, and bitcoin cash.

AMC Prepares to Accept Cryptocurrencies

AMC, the largest movie exhibition company in the U.S., Europe, and the world, has unveiled its plan to accept cryptocurrencies by the end of the year. As of March 31, AMC owned or operated approximately 950 theaters and 10,500 screens globally.

AMC CEO Adam Aron tweeted Wednesday:

Cryptocurrency enthusiasts: you likely know @AMCTheatres has announced we will accept bitcoin for online ticket and concession payments by year-end 2021. I can confirm today that when we do so, we also expect that we similarly will accept ethereum, litecoin and bitcoin cash.

AMC unveiled its plan to accept bitcoin during an earnings call in August. The CEO detailed on Twitter at the time: “By year end, we will have the technology in place to use Apple Pay and Google Pay in our online ticketing, and in a breakthrough, we also expect by year end to accept payment online in bitcoin. That’s a historic step for AMC.”

His tweet continues: “I see that many of you are crypto enthusiasts. AMC is pleased to get out in front, by planning to accept payment online in bitcoin.” Aron clarified:

Hey, welcome to Invitehawk.. Enjoy your stay and hope you have a good time here.
 

Hey, welcome to Invitehawk.. Enjoy your stay and hope you have a good time here.
 

Hey, welcome to Invitehawk.. Enjoy your stay and hope you have a good time here.
 

Hey, welcome to Invitehawk.. Enjoy your stay and hope you have a good time here.
 

Hey, welcome to Invitehawk.. Enjoy your stay and hope you have a good time here.
 

Hey, welcome to Invitehawk.. Enjoy your stay and hope you have a good time here.