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| Demonoid Starts Redirecting to Ads and Malware Posted: 02 Aug 2012 03:45 AM PDT
Although the site has a reasonable uptime record, there have been a few occasions where it has not only gone down, but has disappeared completely. We are currently in one of those periods. Last week the latest of Demonoid’s difficulties turned out to be caused by a massive DDoS attack which initially crippled the site and then took it completely offine. But while DDoS attacks usually stop after a point has been made or the attackers get bored, the Demonoid admin explained that he had more on his mind. "There might have been an attack from another angle, an exploit of sorts, but it's hard to tell right now without a full check of everything," he told TorrentFreak. What that attack is, or was, remains unclear, but today even more problems are becoming apparent. On July 1 and then again today Aug 2, the domain entries for Demonoid.me were updated and now the URL is redirecting to straight to adverts. Unfortunately – and we presume this is something Demonoid’s admin would be completely against – some of those adverts contain a virus and other malware.  This particular one is redirecting to a variation of the 52664.bestfastget.com domain, a site with a particularly low trust rating. Today, TorrentFreak contacted Demonoid’s admin to ask about the current situation but we are yet to receive a response. That said, we are not overly optimistic about the site’s health and future prospects. To begin, while Demonoid’s admin told us that he would eventually bring the site back online, he clearly has other things on his mind. A really important family event puts a torrent site nowhere near the top of his priorities. Also, the site redirecting to ads, without so much as a “Demonoid is down for maintenance” homepage, is not a good sign either – particularly when those ads serve up malware. Next, Demonoid has been experiencing staffing issues this year. As we mentioned in an earlier article, there were rumors that one or maybe more Demonoid staffers had been questioned by authorities about their involvement in the site. Details are scarce, but according to sources pressure may have been mounting for some time. Readers of our earlier article detailing IFPI’s anti-piracy strategy will recall that the music industry group said it had taken “strategic action” against Demonoid. Although its exact nature is unknown (and presumably wouldn’t extend to a DDoS), legal and/or political pressure is almost guaranteed. It is also worth noting that pressure on file-sharing sites ratcheted up several levels in January and February this year following the raids on Megaupload. BTjunkie decided to throw in the towel and the uncertainty spread to several other sites, including Demonoid. For now we’ll just have to wait, but it wouldn’t come as a shock if Demonoid remained down for months. Equally, and this is a distinct possibility given all the variables, don’t be surprised if its doors stay closed for good. Source: Demonoid Starts Redirecting to Ads and Malware |
| Copyright Trolls Ignore Court, Undermine Alleged BitTorrent Sharers’ Rights Posted: 01 Aug 2012 11:05 AM PDT Earlier this year, adult studios Malibu Media and Patrick Collins were criticized by a New York District Court for using “abusive litigation tactics” against John Doe defendants. The claims were that plaintiffs had, amongst other things, subjected defendants to harassing telephone calls demanding $2,900 to end the cases against them. In order to deal with these complaints but also allow the cases to progress, the Court decided that it would allow limited discovery, but would also take measures to uphold the defendants’ rights. To that end the Court said that while ISPs would still have to hand over the identities of two John Does, they would have to do so directly to the Court. Plaintiffs would then be able to access that information at a status conference attended by the Does, which would give them a chance to be heard and obtain counsel. But as detailed in an order filed yesterday in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of New York by Judge Gary R. Brown, things clearly didn’t go to plan. The order starts badly and only gets worse. “Less than three months after addressing concerns about potentially abusive litigation tactics by plaintiffs in these actions, this Court is again confronted with indicia of improper conduct by plaintiffs' counsel,” Judge Brown begins. It turns out that despite the orders of the Court put in place to protect everyone’s rights, the studios simply ignored them and in May served two subpoenas on the ISP Cablevision. “Notwithstanding this Court's unambiguous order that the identities of two John Doe defendants should be produced only to the Court, it appears that plaintiffs' counsel issued subpoenas directing the relevant Internet Service Provider to produce names and addresses of the John Doe defendants directly to plaintiffs' counsel,” Judge Brown wrote. Fortunately, Cablevision did manage to follow the instructions by sending the information to the Court in a sealed submission as required. “This Court's Order cataloged abuses tactics by plaintiffs in related actions against John Doe defendants, and expressed, in no uncertain terms, this Court's concerns about the conduct of this litigation going forward, particularly in light of the serious questions about plaintiffs ability to properly identify defendants based solely upon their IP addresses,” Judge Brown wrote in yesterday’s order. “As such, it is astonishing that counsel failed to observe the precautions established in the Order. On this record, it is difficult to ascertain whether this apparent failure was deliberate, or simply the result of gross inattention.” Before deciding on any sanction, Judge Brown has now ordered the studios’ counsel to declare under oath exactly what has been going on in advance of a status conference to be held in September. Separately, in an order filed late last month in the United States District Court for the District of Columbia, Judge Ellen Segal Huvelle details a development in a case between adult studio Bubble Gum Productions and Comcast. After much back and forth concerning the unmasking of a Doe defendant, Judge Huvelle declared that Bubble Gum has filed at least one, and possibly two, motions to compel Comcast to comply with an invalid subpoena. “Accordingly, it is further ordered that, by August 3, 2012, Bubble Gum shall show cause why sanctions should not issue against it for attempting to perpetrate a fraud upon the Court,” Judge Huvelle concludes. Last month, lawyer Evan Stone was slammed for sending subpoenas to ISPs without the permission of the court. Source: Copyright Trolls Ignore Court, Undermine Alleged BitTorrent Sharers’ Rights |
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