TorrentFreak Email Update |
- Megaupload Founder Defeats US Govt Attempts To Put Him Back In Prison
- The Pirate Bay, Now Without Torrents
- Game Devs Want Warez Pirates To Switch Sides
| Megaupload Founder Defeats US Govt Attempts To Put Him Back In Prison Posted: 28 Feb 2012 08:50 PM PST
Dotcom had been held in custody since an anti-terrorist police squad raided his Coatesville mansion in January following a lengthy FBI investigation. The prosecution, acting on behalf of the US Government, argued that Dotcom had hidden resources that would enable him to flee the country should he be granted bail. Although four additional bank accounts in the Philippines were discovered, all of them were empty, and the Judge concluded that there was no evidence of significant funds elsewhere As a result the Megaupload founder was released from prison, free to continue the fight against the US authorities who want him extradited to face racketeering, copyright infringement and money laundering charges. When TorrentFreak spoke with Dotcom yesterday he was in high spirits but the Crown, acting on behalf of the US Government, had already appealed the decision to free the Megaupload founder. Crown prosecutor Anne Toohey told the court yesterday that since Dotcom’s release last week two further banks accounts had been discovered – one in the Philippines and another in the British Virgin Islands containing $2000. She said that this, along with allegations that Dotcom might have access to forged travel documents, was enough to have the 38-year-old put back in prison. Representing Dotcom, Paul Davison QC argued that it made no sense for his client to try and flee the country, not least because his wife Mona will shortly give birth to twins. Today Judge Tim Brewer agreed, denying the prosecution’s appeal and allowing Dotcom to remain a free man pending an extradition appeal in August. Also in court today, Dotcom and his wife had asked for access to around NZ $220,000 (US $185,130) to cover their living costs including rent of their mansion, security guards and other household staff. The amount would also cover substantial telephone costs incurred as Dotcom prepares his defense, fuel and tutoring for Dotcom’s children. Previously, Judge Judith Potter agreed to release NZ $74,000 from one of Dotcom’s seized bank accounts to pay creditors left out of pocket after the shutdown of his companies. It also emerged that US authorities are now investigating Mona Dotcom on suspicion of being involved in Megaupload. Source: Megaupload Founder Defeats US Govt Attempts To Put Him Back In Prison
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| The Pirate Bay, Now Without Torrents Posted: 28 Feb 2012 01:06 PM PST
Today, all torrent files being shared by more than 10 people have been replaced by so-called magnet links. This means that instead of downloading the .torrent files directly from a central server, they will be downloaded from other BitTorrent users instead. While a torrent-less Pirate Bay may sound like small disaster, in reality not much is going to change. “It shouldn’t make much of a difference for the average user. At most it will take a few more seconds before a torrent shows the size and files,” The Pirate Bay team told TorrentFreak today. “Just click the red button instead of the green one and all will be fine” Torrents that are only shared by a handful of people (<10 ) will remain available for now, to ensure that the files remain accessible. For magnet links to work at least one person in the swarm should have the complete .torrent file and a BitTorrent client that supports magnet links. "We put the 10 peer limit in just in case someone who created a torrent has an outdated client that doesn't support magnets. By now all common torrent clients support magnets," TorrentFreak was told.
In addition, Pirate Bay users should make sure that they have DHT and PEX enabled in their clients. While the change doesn’t impact users much, external sites that rely on Pirate Bay torrents will have to implement a few changes. If they want to continue serving .torrent files the sites will have to fetch them from DHT. Also, hotlinks to .torrent files will stop working and will soon redirect to The Pirate Bay's detail page for the files in question. The Pirate Bay team told TorrentFreak that the transition to a magnet site is necessary, as it makes the site more resistant to being shut down. It takes only a fraction of the resources that were previously needed. “The new site will be better protected from outside attacks. It uses less bandwidth, less servers, and can even run off a decent home connection,” The Pirate Bay team said. “It’s the future.” Source: The Pirate Bay, Now Without Torrents
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| Game Devs Want Warez Pirates To Switch Sides Posted: 28 Feb 2012 06:06 AM PST
This release of Syndicate, a remake of titles from the 90′s, is written by Sweden-based Starbreeze studios and in common with every software creator in the country, they will be acutely aware of the nation’s close links to the demo, cracking and piracy scenes. In a nod to these rivals, Starbreeze hid away a cool little easter egg on the disc of the more piracy-prone PC version of the game. The file, which was found by Redditor MikkelManDK, is titled Syndicate-SBZ.nfo and initially looks like the calling cards left by most game copy-protection crackers. A closer look, however, shows a different picture.  After the description of the game plus a suspiciously easy set of ‘cracking’ instructions – 1. Insert disc, 2. Play – Starbreeze take the opportunity to directly address those members of the warez Scene who spend their time removing copy protection from their games and putting them on the Internet. “Are you bored with watching from the sidelines? Ready to make the switch?” the company begins. “Do you have considerable talents in any of the following areas? Art, modeling, texturing, sound design. Programming. Game design?” “If you meet one or more of those criteria, and want to be a part of the fun, email us at jobs@starbreeze.com today!” Although it’s been less than a week since launch, TorrentFreak was interested if this unconventional method of recruitment had been a success. We asked Starbreeze if there had been any applicants but unfortunately received no immediate response, possibly because employment is a bit of a sore point with the dev at the moment. However, it is not unprecedented for one-time games crackers to switch sides. This writer personally knew three individuals who jumped from the 1980′s Commodore 64 demo scene to land decent jobs at Ocean, Imagine and distributor Mastertronic. But there are more famous examples. In the 1990′s (and as can be seen from the video embedded below, 50 secs in), an individual known as SS Captain roamed the cracktro high seas with a group called Katharsis. Two decades on he’s better known as Marcin Iwinski, CEO of CD Projekt. Source: Game Devs Want Warez Pirates To Switch Sides
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On February 22nd, Megaupload founder Kim Dotcom was 
As 
The lack of support for magnets is one of the reasons why The Pirate Bay waited more than two years after 
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