YTS Operator Helped Movie Companies Catch a Pirating User

A group of movie companies is demanding nearly $100,000 in statutory piracy damages from US army veteran Mical Mesot. While the evidence is often flimsy in piracy cases, the rightsholders managed to get logs from the popular pirate site YTS to back up their claim. That evidence is corroborated by the operator of YTS, under penalty of perjury.

Lawsuits against pirating Internet subscribers are far from new. In the US, they first appeared more than a decade ago.

Over the years, the evidence in these lawsuits was regularly contested. In some cases this led to success, with courts concluding that an IP-address alone is not enough. After all, an IP-address doesn’t identify a person.

https://torrentfreak.com/yts-operator-helped-movie-companies-catch-a-pirating-user-200817/

#US #piracy

Torrent Site 1337x Bans ‘YTS’ For Handing User Data to Movie Companies

1337x.to, one of the world's most-visited torrent sites, has banned uploads from the YTS group. The decision comes after YTS, a popular torrent site in its own right, shared user details with several movie companies. Shortly after the decision, the account of EZTV.io was banned for its apparent association with the YTS group.

For many seasoned BitTorrent users, 1337x.to is a familiar name. The site has been around for more than a decade and is generally known for its lively community.

Over the years 1337x has steadily climbed through the ranks. It is currently the third most-visited torrent site, trailing only behind The Pirate Bay and YTS.mx.

https://torrentfreak.com/torrent-site-1337x-bans-yts-user-data-200820/

#piracy

Anti-Piracy Outfit Hires VPN Expert to Help Track Down The Pirate Bay

Movie companies and their anti-piracy partners are pressing ahead with their legal action to track down The Pirate Bay. The site reportedly used VPN provider OVPN, which carries no logs, but a security expert - one that regularly penetration tests several major VPN providers - believes that information about the notorious site could still be obtained.

Tracking down, prosecuting, blocking and otherwise trying to prevent The Pirate Bay from operating has become an entertainment industry project for the last 15 years.

The torrent site has faced more adversaries than any other on the planet yet today the site remains stubbornly online. Exactly where and operated by whom remains either a mystery or a topic of speculation.

After a period of what seemed like calm, this year it became clear that the site’s old enemies, Swedish anti-piracy group Rights Alliance, were again working to get closer to the site and its operators.

We’ve covered the back story in detail but in summary, the site is alleged to have used Swedish VPN provider OVPN to hide its true location and Rights Alliance is now engaged in legal action to get its hands on whatever information the VPN provider may hold.

👀 👉🏼 https://torrentfreak.com/anti-piracy-outfit-hires-vpn-expert-to-help-track-down-the-pirate-bay-200821/

#piracy #vpn #thepiratebay
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Dutch ISPs Unblock Pirate Bay Proxies, Because They Can

Dutch ISPs Ziggo and XS4ALL have unblocked dozens of Pirate Bay proxies and mirrors. While the companies must block the torrent site itself, the latest court order supersedes the injunction which covered the site's proxies. Anti-piracy group BREIN characterizes the ISPs move as "shenanigans" and "downright silly."

The Pirate Bay is blocked in dozens of countries around the world. In most cases, ISPs are ordered to take action after a relatively short court proceeding.

In the Netherlands, however, the process took more than a decade, and it’s still not completely over yet.

https://torrentfreak.com/dutch-isps-unblock-pirate-bay-proxies-because-they-can-200822/

#Europe #Netherlands #ISP #PirateBay #piracy

Law Firm Working With YTS Obtains Subpoena To Discover Registrant of 1337x.to

The law firm that is obtaining user information from torrent site YTS has a new target. Via a DMCA subpoena, Culpepper IP hopes to compel a domain registry and Cloudflare to hand over information allowing it to identify the person who registered the 1337x.to torrent site domain and the uploader of a specific five-year-old torrent.

1337x the past several months we’ve been documenting the unfolding of one of the most unusual situations in torrent site history.

After being placed under intense legal pressure by Hawaii-based law firm Culpepper IP, torrent site YTS – the second most-visited torrent site on the planet – is now confirmed to be working with the law firm, providing it with user data to be used in copyright infringement actions.

https://torrentfreak.com/law-firm-working-with-yts-obtains-subpoena-to-discover-registrant-of-1337x-to-200824/

#US #YTS #piracy

Two members of movie piracy group 'Sparks' arrested in Cyprus and the US

Investigators said the group posed as real-world DVD/Blu-Ray retailers to obtain and leak unreleased movies and TV shows.

Officials from the US Department of Justice have unsealed today charges against three men involved in a movie piracy group known as Sparks.

According to court documents, the group's members operated by "fraudulently" obtaining DVDs and Blu-Ray discs storing unreleased movie and television shows, breaking copyright protections through a process called "ripping," and releasing the shows online, where they were taken and disseminated via illegal video streaming portals or torrent sites.

https://www.zdnet.com/article/two-members-of-movie-piracy-group-sparks-arrested-in-cyprus-and-the-us/

#Europe #Cyprus #US #movie #piracy

One of the biggest online piracy groups in the world taken down

On 25 August, an alleged criminal network of copyright infringing hackers, mainly responsible for pirating movies and hosting illegal digital content worldwide was dismantled in a coordinated action between US authorities and their counterparts in 18 countries around the world, with Europol and Eurojust support. Sixty servers were taken down in North America, Europe and Asia and several of the main suspects were arrested.

Streamed prior to release

The Sparks Group obtained DVDs and Blu-ray discs of unreleased content and compromised the copyright protections on the discs to reproduce and upload the content publically to online servers. It is believed that the piracy group, under investigation since September 2016, had successfully reproduced and disseminated hundreds of movies and TV programmes prior to their retail release date, including nearly every movie released by major production studios in the US. The Sparks Group has caused tens of millions of US dollars in losses to film production studios, mainly to the US movie, television, and supporting industries, from the copyright infringement.

👀 👉🏼 https://www.europol.europa.eu/newsroom/news/one-of-biggest-online-piracy-groups-in-world-taken-down

👀 👉🏼 https://www.justice.gov/usao-sdny/pr/acting-us-attorney-announces-federal-charges-and-international-operation-dismantle-0

👀 👉🏼 🇩🇪 https://www.golem.de/news/sparks-eine-der-wichtigsten-release-groups-zerschlagen-2008-150546.html

#sparks #online #piracy #raid #takedown #europol
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More Torrent Sites Ban YTS Releases and Become a Target

Last week, 1337x.to decided to ban YTS releases when it became apparent that information from the site's database was being used in lawsuits against file-sharers. Over the past few days, more torrent sites followed this example which, strangely enough, has made them a target as well.

Over the past week and a half, we have documented a series of events that the torrent community has never witnessed before.

It started when we were able to confirm that the supposed operator of YTS shared information from the site’s user base with Hawaiian anti-piracy lawyer Kerry Culpepper.

Culpepper had previously settled two lawsuits with YTS and the data was shared as part of, or related to, that legal action. We have since learned that this was a one-time arrangement that only involved data from users who downloaded torrents that are linked to the lawyer’s clients.

https://torrentfreak.com/more-torrent-sites-are-targeted-after-banning-yts-releases-200829/

#piracy #YTS #ban

Anti-Piracy Groups Keep Sending Takedown Notices for Dead Sites After Many Years

Anti-piracy groups have a long memory, it appears. They don't easily forget about their former adversaries, even those that shut down many years ago. A variety of rightsholders and reporters still flag sites such as Openload, KickassTorrents, isoHunt, Hotfile, and even Rapidshare. Perhaps they're being sentimental but it's high time to move along.

Many ‘pirate’ sites – we use that term very loosely here – have come and gone over the years.

Older readers may recall that Suprnova was once the leading torrent site, a brief reign that came to an end in 2004. The same can be said for other torrent juggernauts, such as Mininova, isoHunt and KickassTorrents.

In the file-hosting arena, the same process unfolded. Rapidshare was once the site to beat, a spot that was later taken over by Megaupload. Today, both sites and many others no longer exist.

https://torrentfreak.com/anti-piracy-groups-keep-sending-takedown-notices-for-dead-sites-after-many-years-200830/

#Anti #piracy #takedown #notices

The Scene: A Stress Headache That Most Pirates Can Do Without

Many up-and-coming pirates dream of one day being elite enough to become a member of The Scene, hoping to bathe in the collective mystery, kudos and notoriety it exudes. But for most, however, the headaches and stress would probably outweigh the benefits of this exclusive 'club'.

Over the past two weeks ‘The Scene’, the individuals, groups, and entities that are often described as sitting at the top of the so-called ‘Piracy Pyramid’, has been thrust into the mainstream media.

A US Government-led operation, carried out on several continents against the ‘Sparks Conspiracy‘, listed three individuals from the UK, US and Norway as the main targets of a massive investigation. What took place on the ground, however, ended up being something much, much bigger.

While SPARKS and related groups GECKOS, DRONES, ROVERS and SPLINTERS were placed front and center, operations like this don’t and can’t operate in a vacuum. These groups were part of an organic network built up over years and, as such, their activities and members touched huge numbers of disparate yet interconnected individuals involved in the piracy world overall, not just ‘The Scene’ itself.

One of the interesting things about The Scene is that over almost two decades, it has gained almost mythical status as an almost impossible-to-penetrate ‘place’ where only the most elite of pirates hang out. As a result, many people aspire to become a ‘member’ one day, hoping to bathe in the collective mystery, kudos and notoriety.

What the unfolding events of the past two weeks have shown, however, is that The Scene is already much closer to regular pirates than most people might think, touching and even intermingling at some level with private and public torrent sites, streaming platforms, and similar services.

👀 👉🏼 https://torrentfreak.com/the-scene-a-stress-headache-that-most-pirates-can-do-without-200906/

#pirates #piracy #Sparks #GECKOS #DRONES #ROVERS #SPLINTERS #conspiracy‘ #usa #uk #norway
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Fishing in the Piracy Stream: How the Dark Web of Entertainment is Exposing Consumers to Harm

Digital Citizens Investigation Finds Malware on PiracyApps That Steal User Names and Passwords, Probe to Breach Networks, and Secretly Upload Data.

👀 👉🏼 (PDF)
https://www.digitalcitizensalliance.org/clientuploads/directory/Reports/DCA_Fishing_in_the_Piracy_Stream_v6.pdf

👀 👉🏼 Read as well:
Dark Web-Hosted Movies and Fake Apps Are Costing the US Movie and TV Industry Billions Every Year
http://tapeucwutvne7l5o.onion/dark-web-hosted-movies-and-fake-apps-are-costing-the-us-movie-and-tv-industry-billions-every-year

#darknet #darkweb #movies #piracy #report #pdf
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Libtorrent Adds Support for BitTorrent v2, a Potential Game-Changer

Libtorrent has just released version 2.0, which is a potential game-changer. The BitTorrent library, which is used by popular clients including uTorrent Web, Deluge, and qBittorrent, adds support for the new BitTorrent v2 protocol specification. This opens the door to various new features and introduces a new torrent format, which creates a separate swarm.

Millions of people use BitTorrent every day but only a few know all the ins-and-outs of how it works.

Meanwhile, an even smaller group is actively involved in shaping the future of the file-sharing protocol.

BitTorrent was first made public by inventor Bram Cohen nearly two decades ago. While it was swiftly embraced by the masses, the protocol itself was far from perfect. Over the years many new features were added, including DHT, UDP trackers, peer-exchange, and support for streaming.

As developer of one of the leading BitTorrent libraries, Libtorrent, Arvid Norberg has been closely involved in the protocol’s development. It’s his code that makes a wide variety of torrent clients function properly. This includes uTorrent Web, Deluge, and qBittorrent.

https://torrentfreak.com/libtorrent-adds-support-for-bittorrent-v2-a-potential-game-changer-200912/

#piracy #libtorrent #bitorrent

Rightsholders Ask Europe for Broad “Know Your Customer” Checks to Deter Piracy

In a letter sent to the European Commission, a large group of anti-piracy organizations and copyright holders calls for stricter online identity checks. As part of Europe's planned Digital Services Act, online services such as hosting companies, domain registrars, and advertisers, should be required to perform "know your customer" checks. This can help to combat all sorts of illegal activity including online piracy.

Anonymity is a great good on the Internet but increasingly there are calls for stricter identity checks.

Such requirements are not new. In daily life many people have encountered situations where they had to prove their identity. When opening a bank account, for example. But online it is rare.

If it’s up to a large group of organizations with ties to copyright industries, this should change. They call for stricter policies so that hosting companies, domain registrars, and advertisers must properly check who their customers are.

This message was sent in a letter to the European Commission this week. The signatories include anti-piracy outfits such as MPA, BREIN, BPI, IFPI, and RettighedsAlliancen, as well as the international brands Heineken, Nike, and Philips. Together, they call for thorough “know your customer” requirements.

https://torrentfreak.com/rightsholders-ask-europe-for-broad-know-your-customer-checks-to-deter-piracy-200923/

#Europe #KYC #piracy

Anti-Piracy Coalition Wants Operators of Pirate Bay, YTS, 1337x, EZTV Uncovered

Anti-piracy coalition ACE is continuing its crackdown on pirate sites, targeting several high profile actors. Represented by the MPA, the group requests a DMCA subpoena that requires Cloudflare to hand over personal information and account details relating to the operators of The Pirate Bay, YTS, 1337x, EZTV, Seasonvar, Tamilrockers, Lordfilms, and many others.

As one of the leading CDN and DDoS protection services, Cloudflare is used by millions of websites across the globe. This includes many pirate sites.

Copyright holders would ideally like the company to cease its ties with these platforms, but Cloudflare sees things differently. It positions itself as a neutral third-party intermediary that will only take action in response to valid court orders.

Cloudflare DMCA Subpoenas

Thus far, court orders that have required Cloudflare to block or terminate a pirate site have been very limited. More commonly, rightsholders obtain DMCA subpoenas from US courts requiring the CDN provider to hand over information it has on the operators of pirate sites.

https://torrentfreak.com/anti-piracy-coalition-wants-cloudflare-to-expose-operators-of-pirate-bay-yts-1337x-and-others-200923/

#piracy #DMCA

US Indicts Members of ‘Piracy’ Group Team-Xecuter, Two Arrested

The U.S. Government has indicted three members of the infamous group Team-Xecuter, the masterminds behind various Nintendo hacks. Two of the members have been arrested and are in custody., but the group's website remains online. According to the Department of Justice, Team-Xecuter is a criminal enterprise that profits from pirating video game technology.

Team-Xecuter is widely known for creating ‘hacks’ that bypass digital restrictions on Nintendo consoles.

The group has been chased by Nintendo for years, but today, their operation has become the center of a criminal case prosecuted by the US Government.

The US Department of Justice just announced that two members of Team-Xecuter were arrested recently. Max Louarn, a 48-year-old French national, and the 51-year-old Gary Bowser from Canada are in custody and charged in a criminal conspiracy. The indictments also name a third defendant, a Chinese man named Yuanning Chen (35), who remains at large.

The three indicted members are just a minority of the total group. According to the US authorities, there are more than a dozen Team-Xecuter members scattered around the world. These members help to code and create the Nintendo hacks, but they are also suspected of being involved in the production and sale of these devices.

The indictment portrays Team-Xecuter as a criminal enterprise and notes that its members did their best to evade law enforcement by using a variety of brands, websites, and distribution channels.

“These defendants were allegedly leaders of a notorious international criminal group that reaped illegal profits for years by pirating video game technology of U.S. companies,” said Assistant Attorney General Brian C. Rabbitt of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division.

👀 👉🏼 https://torrentfreak.com/us-indicts-several-members-of-piracy-group-team-xecuter-two-arrested-201002/

#usa #piracy #TeamXecuter #arrested
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📡@BlackBox_Archiv
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Anti-Piracy Alliance Wants .To Registry to Expose Streaming Piracy Giant S.to

Anti-piracy coalition ACE has obtained a subpoena to compel the Tonic domain registry to hand over all information it has on the owner of S.to. With hundreds of thousands of registered users, S.to is the largest German-language pirate TV streaming community. These requests are a core part of the anti-piracy toolbox, a source informs us.

With hundreds of thousands of registered users and millions of regular visitors, the pirate TV-streaming community S.to is a force to be reckoned with.

The site targets a German-language audience and currently lists more than 750,000 streaming links to well over 5,000 TV-series.

This public display of piracy is a thorn in the side of major copyright holders. This includes the anti-piracy coalition ACE, which counts Netflix, Amazon, and several Hollywood studios among its members.

ACE wants Domain Registry to Identify S.to operator

In recent weeks, ACE has obtained several subpoenas to compel Cloudflare to hand over all information it has on dozens of pirate sites. This effort continued recently, but this time it’s directed at Tonic, the official registry of the .to domain name, with S.to as the single target.

Through the subpoena, the anti-piracy coalition asks Tonic to disclose information including names, physical addresses, IP addresses, telephone numbers, email addresses, payment information, account updates, and account history associated with the domain registrant.

While .to is the top-level domain of the island kingdom of Tonga, the Tonic registry operates through Tonic Domains Corp., which clearly has a U.S. presence with a California address. As such, it will generally fall under the jurisdiction of US courts.

👀 👉🏼 https://torrentfreak.com/anti-piracy-alliance-wants-to-registry-to-expose-streaming-piracy-giant-s-to-201018/

#antipiracy #ace #cloudflare #streaming #piracy
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📡@cRyPtHoN_INFOSEC_EN
📡@BlackBox_Archiv
📡@NoGoolag

Popular Pirate Sites ‘Disappear’ From DuckDuckGo’s Top Search Results

https://torrentfreak.com/popular-pirate-sites-disappear-from-duckduckgos-top-search-results-201112


#torrent #ddg #duckduckgo #piracy

EU Adds Telegram to ‘Piracy Watch List’ and Removes Cloudflare

The European Commission has released its 2020 piracy watch list which provides an overview of notorious markets located outside of the EU. The report is largely based on input from copyright holders and has a strong focus on malware threats. For the first time, it also lists 'social media' platforms including the popular messenger app Telegram.

Following the example of the United States, the EU started publishing its very own piracy watchlist two years ago.

This ‘Counterfeit and Piracy Watch List’ is put together by the European Commission. As in the US, it is based on reports from copyright holder groups that report several problematic sites and services for inclusion.

For example, those platforms included ‘non-EU’ targets such as The Pirate Bay, Torrentz2, Rapidgator, Uploaded, Sci-Hub, and H2converter. In addition, some third-party intermediaries such as Cloudflare were called out as well.

This week the European Commission released the second edition of the piracy watch list. The overview highlights examples of non-EU based apps, services, websites, and physical marketplaces that facilitate or benefit from counterfeiting and piracy.

https://torrentfreak.com/eu-adds-telegram-to-piracy-watch-list-and-removes-cloudflare-201215/

#eu #telegram #piracy #watchlist
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📡@cRyPtHoN_INFOSEC_EN
📡@NoGoolag
📡@BlackBox

Court Orders Telegram To Block Pirated Movies, TV Shows and Music

A court has ordered Telegram to block access to pirated movies, TV shows and music following a lawsuit filed in Israel. Local anti-piracy group ZIRA complained that the messaging platform does not properly respond to takedown notices, contrary to Telegram's claims that it does. Telegram is now working with rightsholders to implement the injunction.

Last November, the RIAA and MPAA nominated popular messenger app Telegram for inclusion on the USTR’s ‘notorious markets’ list, claiming that the platform doesn’t do enough to combat piracy.

A month later, the EU added the service to its own ‘Counterfeit and Piracy Watch List’, noting that along with other social media platforms, Telegram “lags behind” in respect of efforts to combat piracy.

This opinion is shared by Israel-based anti-piracy group ZIRA. Last year, ZIRA – which represents local media companies – took its complaints to court, hoping to force Telegram to take a more serious approach to infringement mitigation.

https://torrentfreak.com/court-orders-telegram-to-block-pirated-movies-tv-shows-and-music-210210/

#tg #telegram #court #order #block #pirated #movies #music #riaa #mpaa #piracy #watchlist
📡@cRyPtHoN_INFOSEC_FR
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Spotify voices fears over price rises encouraging music piracy

Spotify fears raising its monthly subscription above £9.99 ($9.99) could “push users into piracy”, it told MPs at a parliamentary select committee inquiry on Tuesday, despite suggestions from record labels that an increase could help struggling musicians.

The chief legal officer for the popular music streaming service, Horacio Gutierrez, claimed that any rise in the current fee, which hasn't changed in a decade, would make music "unaffordable to consumers", the BBC reports.

Gutierrez was giving evidence to the 'Digital, Culture, Media and Sport' committee inquiry into the economic impact music streaming is having on artists, record labels and the wider music industry's sustainability.

The inquiry was established at the tail end of 2020, a year in which artists all but lost any direct income from live shows due to the pandemic but, according to the BPI, also saw UK music streams grow by 20 per cent. MPs are investigating the business models of platforms such as Spotify, Apple Music, Amazon Music and Google Play and have heard compelling testimonies from record executives and artists, including Radiohead, Elbow and Chic's Nile Rodgers.

Music streaming provides the UK economy with more than £1 billion in revenue, however artists can be paid as little as 13 per cent of the income generated.

https://www.whathifi.com/news/spotify-claims-price-rise-could-encourage-music-piracy

💡 https://thetrichordist.com/2020/03/05/2019-2020-streaming-price-bible-youtube-is-still-the-1-problem-to-solve/

#spotify #music #piracy #youtube #thinkabout