http://www.p2pconsortium.com/index.html/_/file-sharing-news/ Thu, 23 Feb 2012 02:36:30 +0000 7200 Latest and greatest file sharing news http://www.p2pconsortium.com/index.html/_/file-sharing-news/further-charges-in-megaupload-case-r28 Prosecutors add Wire Fraud and further copyright infringement counts to their case against Megaupload.

New details have emerged as officials file a 90 page document agains MegaUpload and it's founder Kim DotCom.

The cyberlocker is accused of costing copyright holders over $500m in lost revenue, but has said it was diligent in responding to removal requests for pirated material..

In the document the Department of Justice alleges that Megaupload built it's computer system's architecture around the "rapid and repeated distribution" of copyrighted works. It also alleges that the company reproduced materials from other websites, including YouTube, and made them available on Megaupload.

The latest brings wire fraud charges to the case and is based on emails between MegaUpload and Copyright holders. Department Officials say the defendants falsely represented that infringing content had been removed from the site when, in fact it had not.

A user named as "VV" was subject to numerous requests for removal, but records suggest that none of VV's files were deleted. Furthermore Megaupload paid user VV $3,400 through its rewards programme over the course of two years.

The document also claims that the site did not have the amount of registered users it advertised. Of the 66 million registered accounts, only 5.4 million had ever uploaded a file.

The Department of Justice has also added various properties, jet skis and jewellery to the list of assets subject to forfeiture.

Earlier Kim Dotcom was denied bail in New Zealand. He has denied the charges and said he would fight an extradition application by the US.]]> Mon, 20 Feb 2012 14:16:29 +0000 76dc611d6ebaafc66cc0879c71b5db5c http://www.p2pconsortium.com/index.html/_/file-sharing-news/the-pirate-bay-dancing-r26
When Homeland Security’s ICE unit started seizing domain names last year, a group called “MAFIAAFire” decided to code a browser add-on to redirect the affected websites to their new domains.
The release went viral and by now more than 200,000 people have installed the add-on. ICE wasn’t happy with this and asked Mozilla to pull the add-on from their site. However, Mozilla denied the request, arguing that this type of censorship may threaten the open Internet.
Today MAFIAAFire delivers a new release that aims to thwart the increasing censorship efforts in countries worldwide. Named “The Pirate Bay Dancing,” the Firefox add-on undoes local DNS and IP blocks by routing users through a series of randomly picked proxies.

Read More @ TorrentFreak]]> Thu, 01 Dec 2011 13:46:31 +0000 069059b7ef840f0c74a814ec9237b6ec http://www.p2pconsortium.com/index.html/_/file-sharing-news/cod-modern-warfare-3-leaked-to-bittorrent-ahead-of-release-r25 The next installment of the highly anticipated Call of Duty series, Modern Warfare 3 has been leaked to Bittorrent websites around the globe today.

A pre patched, region free version of the game for Xbox 360 is spreading like wildfire around bittorrent and usenet websites 7 full days ahead of it's official release. According to TorrentFreak, the file weighs in at around 8GB in file size

The Call of Duty series is one of the most popular games on the planet with last years "Black Ops" generating more than $360m (£223m) on the first day it was on sale. Modern Warfare 3 is expected to thrash that record again this year.

One thing is for sure... Activision are not going to be happy about this...]]> Wed, 02 Nov 2011 19:12:56 +0000 3def184ad8f4755ff269862ea77393dd http://www.p2pconsortium.com/index.html/_/file-sharing-news/mpa-shuts-down-nzbsrus-r24 Although the ink is barely dry on the order forcing ISP BT to block the Newzbin2 Usenet indexing site, the MPA isn’t wasting its momentum. Through its UK proxy the Federation Against Copyright Theft, Hollywood has taken another Usenet indexing site offline, and for its owner the situation doesn’t look good.


Although widely condemned by anti-censorship proponents, there can be little doubt that the MPA win over UK ISP BT, which last week culminated in the latter being ordered to blockNewzbin2 within 14 days, is a historic one.

No other site has ever been blocked in the UK on copyright grounds before, and based on the reasoning behind the decision, Newzbin2 won’t be the last either.

The MPA is now working away in the background to come to agreements with other UK ISPs so that they too will block Newzbin2, but the ruling is a powerful tool – do other sites really want to get beaten over the head with it?

One site that didn’t, but now has been, is UK-based NZBsRus. According to the site’s owner, on Friday his site received a cease and desist notice from FACT, the Federation Against Copyright Theft.

While FACT, the MPAA’s UK proxy, are veterans of cases against sites such as TV-Links and FileSoup, in recent times they have usually got the police in to provide the muscle. According to unconfirmed information from an anonymous source, this time pressure was applied to NZBsRus’ host, but when they failed to take the site down quickly enough FACT targeted the owner of the site instead.

NZBsRus, which provided similar services to Newzbin2, was a much-loved site and naturally its users have been asking why it can’t simply be transferred to a more friendly host to avoid FACT. The site operators, however, aren’t giving off signals which suggest that’s going to happen any time soon. And that’s hardly surprising.

Read More]]> Wed, 02 Nov 2011 18:50:25 +0000 c8ffe9a587b126f152ed3d89a146b445 http://www.p2pconsortium.com/index.html/_/file-sharing-news/uk-broadband-provider-talktalk-blocks-file-sharing-sites-r18 TalkTalk launches new service dubbed "HomeSafe" to allow users to block malicious websites.

UK Internet Service Provider (ISP) TalkTalk has launched a new website blocking service in which users can choose which sites and content to block. The company claims they are the first major ISP to offer centralised blocking at server level.

So how will this work? Well, TalkTalk say HomeSafe will censor....Err block... websites at server level. Users that want to avail of the service can log in to a web based interface and apply certain filters that will block "adult" themed websites.

In order for this to work, the sites you are surfing have to be sent to TalkTalk servers. There they are scanned for malware or mature content and based on the result of the scan, the user will be blocked access to the site or allowed to continue as normal.

What constitutes normal? Well, pornography is obviously classed as adult themed and access is blocked. What about file sharing and Bittorrent sites? Well, they are also blocked by HomeSafe. Torrentfreak has discovered that ISOhunt and ThePirateBay are amongst a so far undisclosed blacklist of file sharing sites.

The use of the service is optional, however The move comes as a surprise to many. It was only a few weeks ago TalkTalk stood alongside BT as they were granted a judicial review of the Digital Economy Act.

HomeSafe only blocks websites, so downloading torrents or other files are unaffected by the block, which kinda defeats its own purpose?

The new service is by no means an all in one solution and can be easily circumvented by the use of proxies such a NinjaCloak.

The problem here is that TalkTalk are actually pleased that they have launched (a shoddy) service that promotes internet censorship. Clearly they are an ISP not as with the times as we thought.

Until next time..]]> Wed, 24 Aug 2011 21:39:29 +0000 5ef059938ba799aaa845e1c2e8a762bd http://www.p2pconsortium.com/index.html/_/file-sharing-news/sony-wins-access-to-the-ips-of-visitors-to-ps3-jailbreaking-site-r17 A federal magistrate is granting Sony the right to acquire the internet IP addresses of anybody who has visited PlayStation 3 hacker George Hotz’s website from January of 2009 to the present.


Thursday’s decision by Magistrate Joseph Spero to allow Sony to subpoena Hotz’s web provider (.pdf) raises a host of web-privacy concerns.

Respected for his iPhone hacks and now the PlayStation 3 jailbreak, Hotz is accused of breaching the Digital Millennium Copyright Act and other laws after he published an encryption key and software tools on his website that allow Playstation owners to gain complete control of their consoles from the firmware on up.

Sony also won subpoenas (.pdf) for data from YouTube and Google, as part of its lawsuit against the 21-year-old New Jersey hacker, as well as Twitter account data linked to Hotz, who goes by the handle GeoHot.

More...]]> Sun, 20 Mar 2011 19:28:14 +0000 eb160de1de89d9058fcb0b968dbbbd68 http://www.p2pconsortium.com/index.html/_/file-sharing-news/how-pirates-can-save-the-home-movie-industry-a-r16 How Pirates Can Save the Home Movie Industry (And Why Netflix is its Future)
Source: Techi
by Navneet Alang
Feb 16 2011

Unlike other ‘old media’ establishments like newspapers or the music industry, the movie business has been hit less dramatically by the rise of the web – despite the fact that piracy is rampant.

Even though revenues from DVD sales have continued to decline, box office receipts have, at the very least, kept up with inflation. Unlike the catastrophic losses at places like Universal Music, people who make films are still doing relatively okay.

But that’s not to say there isn’t trouble ahead. In fact, as Paidcontent reports a recent study put out by PriceWaterhouseCooper suggests the movie biz might be in some serious trouble. Pirates, it tells us, are willing to pay no more than $3 for a downloadable movie and no more than a buck for a TV show.

So much for those plans to charge $20-25 a pop to watch a movie on VOD a month or so it comes out in the cinema.

But despite the doom and gloom of the Paidcontent article, there’s a silver lining here: the movie industry can learn from how pirates think. And in doing so, they just might be able to save – if not entirely preserve – their massive, lucrative business.


Why the Biz Went 'Wrong' (And How Pirates Got it Right)

Movies – particularly their pricing – have always been based on the perceived value of an experience. A movie was worth 5 bucks to see at the cinema – then 10 bucks, now (in some places like New York) even as high as fifteen. People were happy to spend that money not just because it was the only way to do it, but because the experience of a big screen, a communal atmosphere and fancy surround sound made it worth it. It was a night out with friends.

One cannot make the argument that watching movies at home changed this, because box office revenues went up with the advent of the DVD.

Read More]]> Sun, 20 Mar 2011 13:44:54 +0000 c45147dee729311ef5b5c3003946c48f http://www.p2pconsortium.com/index.html/_/file-sharing-news/debate-on-domain-seizures-gets-under-way-r15 Plans to seize and shut down domains alleged to be relating to "illegal" content are to be openly debated in the coming months.

In November last year, we wrote of how UK police wanted the power to seize a websites domain and shut it down without notice. Nominet is the internet registry for .uk domain names and is currently under no obiligation to shut down domains alleged to be used by criminals.

Domain seizures have been rife in recent months with well over 100 seized to date. Most of the domains seized were file sharing related, although some were selling rip off goods. It is one of the reasons some file sharing related sites have chosen to dump their .com domains opting instead for one where the chances of it being seized are significantly less. Bittorrent site Demonoid is one such case after it switched to a .me address.

The open debate will begin in March this year. Those that want to be involved will need to sign up before February 23 with a decision being made on March 2 as to who exactly will be included in the discussion. Nominet said the decision to form the policy discussion group was taken as the original proposal from the Serious and Organised Crime Agency (SOCA) generated so many responses. They also stated that they wanted a "balanced group of stakeholders" to discuss the implications of the policy.

"UK Domain Tasting" is also expected to be discussed. Domain tasting allows a domain name to be registered and trialled before paying for it. However, it is common that the holding pages filled are with ads and tracking scripts, and if you make more cash than the cost of the domain, you kept it. If you don't make any cash, then you can simply delete the domain before you are charged for it.

The group will also debate whether domain registrars should be able to make money and analyse traffic to sites that are now defunct.]]> Sat, 12 Feb 2011 14:50:20 +0000 2b44928ae11fb9384c4cf38708677c48 http://www.p2pconsortium.com/index.html/_/file-sharing-news/mpaa-accuses-google-of-piracy-warns-of-interne-r13 Says its Internet account was “identified as having been used recently to copy and/or distribute illegally” the movie “The Green Hornet” and warns the search engine giant that copyright infringement violates its ISP’s terms of service and could lead to “limitation or suspension” of its Internet service.

Somebody over at Google HQ is likely in hot water with news that the MPAA has notified the search engine giant that somebody has been using its network to illegally download and/or distribute copies of the movie “The Green Hornet.”

“You are receiving this notice because your Internet account was identified as having been used recently to copy and/or distribute illegally the copyrighted motion pictures and/or television shows listed at the bottom of this notice,” reads MediaSentry’s DMCA complaint.

It says that Google Inc. needs to perform the following in order to “prevent serious legal and other consequences.”

The steps include:

1. Stop downloading or uploading without authorization any motion pictures or TV shows owned or distributed by Columbia Pictures; and

2. Permanently delete from your computer(s) all unauthorized copies you may have already made of these movies and TV shows.

Source: Zeropaid]]> Sat, 12 Feb 2011 14:45:49 +0000 73278a4a86960eeb576a8fd4c9ec6997 http://www.p2pconsortium.com/index.html/_/file-sharing-news/torrentreactornet-wins-trademark-infringing-c-r12 TorrentReactor.net, listed among the ten most popular torrent sites on the Internet, has won a WIPO domain dispute against the owner of TorrentReactor.com. The latter domain was owned by Craig Pratka, a New York resident who used the domain to drive up revenues at a ‘dubious’ affiliate program. The decision ends a long domain name battle that started back in 2008.

In recent months most domain name issues related to torrent sites or other file-sharing portals usually involved the US Government. Where many sites lost their domains left and right in three waves of seizures, a major torrent site has now managed to add one to its collection through a WIPO complaint.

Alexey, the owner of TorrentReactor.net, informed TorrentFreak that his company has won its domain dispute against TorrentReactor.com. The complaint was filed at the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) on October 26 of last year, with Alex stating that the .com domain is abusing the brand TorrentReactor has built over the years.

New York resident Craig Pratka, the (former) owner of TorrentReactor.com, was not operating a website under the name TorrentReactor but had simply forwarded the domain to the affiliate site allcontentaccess.com. In his complaint, Alex argued that the sole intent of the .com domain was to mislead users of the .net domain.

According to WIPO, Alex stated that Pratka was “intentionally attempting to attract Internet users to his web site for commercial gain, since the web site associated with the disputed domain name is redirected and urges visitors to pay money in order to access its database.”

Source: TorrentFreak]]> Sat, 12 Feb 2011 14:42:55 +0000 7f6ffaa6bb0b408017b62254211691b5 http://www.p2pconsortium.com/index.html/_/file-sharing-news/100-uploaders-responsible-for-23-of-all-torren-r11 extremely limited number of apparently highly dedicated on-line file sharers is behind the overwhelming majority of content uploaded via the bit torrent file transfer system, and kudos to them I say.

How is it that around 100 users manage to pull off this amazing feat? The paper doesn't exactly say (believe me, I've tried it and it isn't easy), but the theory is that "economic benefits" motivate the kids, although I'm thinking magic and voodoo play large parts too.

Still it's hard to argue with the professors since they used sciency stuff, like a special "tool that facilitates the gathering of relevant information related to thousands of files." More than 55,000 as a matter of fact. So there.

The lab coats go on to propose that with just a little legal jujitsu, the world police league could bust these basement dwelling masterminds, since there are so few of them see, and kill off this pesky file sharing fad once and for all. "If these users are eliminated from the system," the profs insist, "BitTorrent’s traffic will be drastically reduced." This would make the globe safe for big content again, just like god intended. That could be the voodoo part actually.

The brain trust over at Carlos III University of Spain (and the University of Oregon) based their numbers on Mininova and TPB, and as any contentnapper worth his or her harddrive knows, Mini got out of the ah, unauthorized content bidness quite a while ago.

Nevertheless, I'm not here to question their results, just to pass on the news, and let you ponder how millions of files are upped by less people than those found in an typical movie theater on a Wednesday night.

It may even be true.

If so, somebody deserves a medal.

- Jack]]> Sat, 12 Feb 2011 14:38:13 +0000 698d51a19d8a121ce581499d7b701668 http://www.p2pconsortium.com/index.html/_/file-sharing-news/obama-nominates-riaa-lawyer-for-solicitor-general-r10 Wired.com
By David Kravets Email Author
January 24, 2011

President Barack Obama nominated former Recording Industry Association of America lawyer Donald Verrilli Jr. on Monday to serve as the nation’s solicitor general.

If confirmed by the Senate, Verilli, now the White House deputy counsel, would assume the powerful position left vacant by Elena Kagan, who was elevated to the Supreme Court. Obama said he was “confident” Verrilli, one of five former RIAA attorneys appointed to the administration, would “serve ably.”

The solicitor general is charged with defending the government before the Supreme Court, and files friend-of-the court briefs in cases in which the government believes there is a significant legal issue. The office also determines which cases it will bring to the Supreme Court for review.

Verrilli is best known for leading the recording industry’s legal charge against music- and movie-sharing site Grokster. That 2003 case ultimately led to Grokster’s demise, when the U.S. Supreme Court sided with a lower court’s pro-RIAA verdict.

Until recently, Verrilli also was leading Viacom’s ongoing and flailing $1 billion copyright-infringement fight against YouTube.

A court dismissed the case last year, a decison Viacom is appealing. Viacom claims YouTube committed copyright infringement because it did not police the video-sharing site for copyright works uploaded by its users.

Story Continues


Been a while since I did something nice for phil............ ]]> Sat, 12 Feb 2011 14:33:27 +0000 5f93f983524def3dca464469d2cf9f3e