TorrentFreak Email Update |
- Cyberlocker Ecosystem Shocked As Big Players Take Drastic Action
- Top 10 Most Pirated Movies on BitTorrent
- Judge Delays Megaupload Bail Decision, More Site Operators Arrested
- Filesonic Kills File-Sharing Service After MegaUpload Arrests
- It’s Time To Go On The Offensive For Freedom Of Speech
- White House Petitioned to Investigate MPAA Bribery
| Cyberlocker Ecosystem Shocked As Big Players Take Drastic Action Posted: 23 Jan 2012 04:58 AM PST
Over the past 48 to 72 hours, the operators of many prominent cyberlocker services have been taking unprecedented actions that can not simply be explained away by mere coincidence. The details in the Megaupload indictment clearly have some players in the file-hosting world spooked. One of the key allegations is that between 2005 and mid 2011, Megaupload ran a program that rewarded users for uploading infringing material. A cited internal email allegedly shows staff members discussing cash payments going to people uploading "full popular DVD rips" and "software with keygenerators (Warez)". Although Megaupload stopped paying out rewards in July 2011, that didn’t stop the site from getting raided. Other cyberlocker services are clearly hoping they will be more lucky. Last evening Filesonic, a top 10 player in the file-sharing world with a billion pageviews a month, not only withdrew its affiliate rewards program, but also banned any third parties downloading files. Simply put, users can now only download files from the service that they uploaded themselves. But according to reports, there’s no guarantee of that. Account owners report that their files are being mass deleted, that’s if their entire account has been banned already. Fileserve, another leading player, also ended its affiliate program this weekend. Additionally, this morning TorrentFreak received news that Fileserve has now joined Filesonic in banning all 3rd party downloads.  “I just paid for a premium account and can now only download my own fucking files an unlimited number of times,” said one angry user. “What use is that?” Other users of Fileserve are experiencing an even further degraded level of service. Reports describe mass deletion of their uploads and the banning of accounts on apparent ‘Terms of Service’ violations.  But the changes at these two services appears to be just the tip of a very big and very complex iceberg. Developments at other file-hosting services are widespread. As previously reported, Uploaded.to banned all US IP addresses in what appears to be an effort to distance itself from US jurisdiction. Its affiliate program is still listed as operational but the same cannot be said about those run by some of its competitors. VideoBB and VideoZer have both reportedly closed their rewards program and according to reports have also been mass deleting accounts and huge numbers of files. Other sites closing their affiliate programs and/or deleting accounts/files include FileJungle, UploadStation and FilePost. Another interesting development involves so-called ‘release blogs’, sites that report on leaked material but either provide links to the material on cyberlockers or allow their users to do the same. The number of overall releases hasn’t changed much but the links currently being posted on some of these sites show less variety and volume than they did this time last week. Do you know of other file-hosts/cyberlockers taking similar action? Send us your stories and screenshots to the usual address. Source: Cyberlocker Ecosystem Shocked As Big Players Take Drastic Action
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| Top 10 Most Pirated Movies on BitTorrent Posted: 23 Jan 2012 04:30 AM PST
The data for our weekly download chart is collected by TorrentFreak, and is for informational and educational reference only. All the movies in the list are BD/DVDrips unless stated otherwise. RSS feed for the weekly movie download chart.
Source: Top 10 Most Pirated Movies on BitTorrent
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| Judge Delays Megaupload Bail Decision, More Site Operators Arrested Posted: 23 Jan 2012 12:50 AM PST
Dotcom, who was raided by 76 armed police in helicopters the day before, is wanted in the United States alongside other key MegaUpload employees on racketeering, copyright infringement and money laundering charges. Today, he reappeared in court again. Dotcom denied charges of copyright infringement and money laundering and said that he was the victim of a campaign to paint him in the worst possible light. Dotcom’s lawyer, Paul Davison, told the hearing at the North Shore District Court in Auckland that his client merely ran a site offering online storage for Internet users and had not been involved in any criminal activity. Dotcom’s height and significant frame would only reduce the chances his client would abscond from bail, Davison insisted. “He is not the sort of person who will pass unnoticed through our customs and immigration lines and controls,” Davison told the court. The prosecution, pointing to nearly four dozen credit cards found when Dotcom was arrested, said that Dotcom’s significant financial resources meant that fleeing was a real possibility. But despite Davison’s assurances that Dotcom is merely a collector of credit cards, most of which had expired, Prosecutor Anne Toohey persisted. Dotcom’s resources, multiple identities, multiple passports, and past history of fleeing criminal charges placed him as a flight risk “at the extreme end of the scale,” she said. Judge David McNaughton said that due to the complex nature of the case he would delay his decision. On the other side of the world, two other Megaupload operatives have been arrested in Europe. Although currently unnamed, they are believed to be Julius Bencko, 35, Mega's graphics designer from Slovakia and Andrus Nomm, 32, programmer and head of the development from Estonia. In the meantime, an immigration scandal is forming around Dotcom’s New Zealand residency. This week authorities there confirmed that it had taken Dotcom’s colorful past into consideration before giving him permanent residency in 2010 – but only after he’d invested NZ$10 million in government bonds. "The Immigration Act allows for discretion to be exercised in certain cases. In this particular case Immigration NZ weighed the character issue and any associated risk to New Zealand against potential benefits to New Zealand,” the Immigration Service said in a statement at the weekend. Residency was eventually granted to Dotcom under the "investor plus" category. Judge David McNaughton will deliver his decision on bail no later than Wednesday. Source: Judge Delays Megaupload Bail Decision, More Site Operators Arrested
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| Filesonic Kills File-Sharing Service After MegaUpload Arrests Posted: 22 Jan 2012 02:57 PM PST
According to a shock announcement by the site, all file-sharing functionality has now been disabled, leaving current users only with access to files that they have personally uploaded. Many hundreds of thousands (probably millions) of links all around the web have now been rendered useless, at least temporarily. But the bad news for the site’s users doesn’t end there. In the last few hours, before file-sharing was disabled, Filesonic also ended its rewards program, meaning that uploaders to the site no longer earn money when people download their files. A moot point perhaps, since no-one will be downloading files anyway. However, there is the matter of what will happen to the reward money that was sitting in uploader’s accounts before the rewards program was discontinued. Will it be paid out, or will it simply disappear? Many users fear the latter. No File-Sharing at Filesonic
While there has been no official explanation from the site as to why the above actions were taken, all eyes are turned towards events of the last week – the closure of Megaupload and the arrest of its founder and management team. Like Megaupload, Filesonic appears to be based in Hong Kong and it’s clear that the authorities there already worked with the US government to shut down Kim Dotcom’s operations and seize his assets there. Filesonic is also believed to have some US-based servers. In December, Filesonic announced it had partnered with Vobile, a provider of content identification services. All uploads to the service were said to be being checked for copyright infringement before users were able to share them publicly, although it is unclear if this system was ever implemented by the site. The events of the last week have turned the cyberlocker world upside down and there is quite literally panic among users and site operators. Stay tuned for our detailed report tomorrow – the Megaupload takedown appears to be a game-changer. Source: Filesonic Kills File-Sharing Service After MegaUpload Arrests
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| It’s Time To Go On The Offensive For Freedom Of Speech Posted: 22 Jan 2012 01:12 PM PST The copyright industry is tenacious and effective in using the “Daddy, I want a pony” tactics in legislation. They go at it again, and again, and again, and again. The result is a continuous erosion of our civil rights and an entrenchment of their entitlement to taxpayer funds. The “Daddy, I want a pony” tactic goes roughly like this: Little girl: Daddy, I want a pony! Want pony! Want want want pony! At this point the dad thinks, “Phew, that was a close call!”. The little girl on the other hand thinks “Wow, that’s the easiest dog I ever got.” That’s the “Daddy, I want a pony” tactic. You saw it with the DMCA in the United States, which severely restricted our rights to our own property, and the corresponding InfoSoc directive in the European Union. You see it right now with ACTA, which again shows this “the most offensive, repugnant may be gone” attitude, despite still being a giant leap backwards for human rights. You’ve seen it with the Data Retention Directive. And each time, we defend and defeat the worst parts, burning our activist reserves way into the red, and then there’s another assault three years later. Plus the fact that while we’re fighting one of these evils, another 11 pass in the background. The point is, as long as we’re just defending, we will always be on the retreat, and we will always lose. The copyright industry has the initiative and the best we can do is to delay or reduce the damages done. That’s not good enough. It gets worse. The copyright industry has also gotten the rights to collect levies from trade with unrelated items, notably blank media but as unrelated as game consoles, because they can theoretically be used to copy in legal ways. Did you get that? It does not break the copyright monopoly to copy in these ways, and just therefore the copyright industry is compensated. Let’s take that again. The copyright monopoly, as wet a blanket as it may seem, does not cover every conceivable act of copying. There are many acts of copying that are fully legal and not covered. But in the industry’s sense of entitlement, they have demanded — and received — compensation for the areas where their monopoly does not extend. Compensation from taxpayer money to a private industry. For not having a monopoly. Really, can you believe this? In this compensation scheme, they collect ridiculous amounts of money every year for doing absolutely nothing. A lot of the money goes straight towards the war on our civil rights and to collect yet more taxpayer money in new “Daddy, I want a pony” schemes. For us, it’s a vicious circle. Anybody familiar with incentives knows that it’s an absolutely terrible way of optimizing production to give money to an industry regardless of whether they’re doing the right thing, the wrong thing, or no thing at all. So, to summarize, the copyright industry has put itself in a position where they get insane amounts of money for doing absolutely nothing, and use that money to buy laws that give them even more money and restrict our freedoms of speech. That is not just unacceptable. That is repulsive. It comes as no surprise that I think the copyright monopoly is harmful (or at best useless) as a whole, and that creativity, business, and civil liberties would be much better off without it. Having studied the topic for six years straight, I discover more and more arrows that point in this direction. But I’m also pragmatic enough to realize that if you shoot for the moon and insist on not doing any steps in between, you’re not only never going to the moon, but you’re also never taking a single step forward. Besides, getting a small way to the moon may be enough to give you that great view you really wanted. In the same vein, 99% of the problems with today’s copyright monopoly can be solved with a much smaller reform that is both reasonable, achievable and doable. When it comes to large matters, after all, you can’t change all of the rules of the game overnight. So let’s shoot for a balanced, reasonable proposal that restores our civil liberties while retaining some of today’s investment incentives in culture. I’m borrowing this blueprint from the Green group in the European Parliament (where, in turn, it came from the Pirate delegation). Let’s try this for a legislation package in Europe, the United States, Australia, and everywhere else we can:
This reasonable, balanced, achievable, and doable proposal would solve 99% of today’s problems, while still maintaining all four aspects of the copyright monopoly. It solves the witch-hunt on teenagers sharing TV series. It solves the problem with orphan works and restores our access to the cultural heritage of the 20th century. It solves the problem with the copyright industry getting taxpayer money for nothing. On the other hand it still maintains a 20-year commercial monopoly (at the most) for investments in cultural productions, defeating every argument from the copyright industry lobby that the monopoly is needed for more culture to be created. While I don’t agree with patent monopolies, it’s a good talking point here that if pharma companies can do with a 20-year commercial monopoly (patents), then that term should certainly suffice for Disney and Elvis, too. This, or something along these lines, is what we need to do. We need to go on the offensive for our freedom of speech.  About The Author Rick Falkvinge is a regular columnist on TorrentFreak, sharing his thoughts every other week. He is the founder of the Swedish and first Pirate Party, a whisky aficionado, and a low-altitude motorcycle pilot. His blog at falkvinge.net focuses on information policy. Book Falkvinge as speaker? Source: It’s Time To Go On The Offensive For Freedom Of Speech
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| White House Petitioned to Investigate MPAA Bribery Posted: 22 Jan 2012 05:30 AM PST
First, MPAA CEO Chris Dodd described the blackouts of Wikipedia, Reddit and others as corporate PR stunts which manipulated and exploited the sites’ users. “Some technology business interests are resorting to stunts that punish their users or turn them into their corporate pawns,” Dodd said. Then, a few days later when many lawmakers had already dropped their support for the anti-piracy bills, the MPAA’s comments turned even more grim. Talking to Fox News, the MPAA’s boss threatened to stop contributing to politicians who don’t back legislation designed to protect Hollywood. “Those who count on quote ‘Hollywood’ for support need to understand that this industry is watching very carefully who’s going to stand up for them when their job is at stake. Don’t ask me to write a check for you when you think your job is at risk and then don’t pay any attention to me when my job is at stake,” Dodd said. Although it’s no secret that the movie industry has a powerful lobby in Washington, explicitly admitting that bribery is one of the tactics the MPAA uses to have their way wasn’t well received by the public. A few hours ago a White house petition was started to investigate Chris Dodd and the MPAA for alleged bribery. “This is an open admission of bribery and a threat designed to provoke a specific policy goal. This is a brazen flouting of the ‘above the law’ status people of Dodd’s position and wealth enjoy,” the petition reads. “We demand justice. Investigate this blatant bribery and indict every person, especially government officials and lawmakers, who is involved.” In just a few hours the petition amassed more than 5,000 votes and this number is increasing rapidly. As a former Senator, Chris Dodd has many friends in Washington so it’s unclear whether the petition will accomplish anything, but if the numbers grow big enough the White House won’t be able to ignore it either. The MPAA’s response to the PIPA and SOPA opposition this week is a sign that they might be losing control in Washington. At the very least, they are starting to lose their patience and become frustrated, which may not help their cause at this point.  Source: White House Petitioned to Investigate MPAA Bribery
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This week there are five newcomers in our chart. Special Forces is the most downloaded movie.
To users of systems like BitTorrent, file-sharing means just that – the sharing of files with others. But this weekend users of Filesonic, one of the Internet’s leading cyberlocker services, sharing files is currently a thing of the past.
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