In recent months, entertainment industry bodies have been working hard to ensure that companies become more aware of where their ads are being placed, with the aim of strangling site finances and eliminating any idea that brands are in partnership with pirates.

Just recently the tactic branched out into describing most leading pirate sites as malware havens, a claim that some described as exaggerated. However, during the past few hours a pretty big and related drama hit semi-private torrent site Demonoid.

After being off-air for 20 months after hosting trouble in Ukraine, the site relaunched this March. Former members of the site were pleased to find that their old logins worked and ever since the site has been trying to get back to its former glory. Yesterday, however, problems with third party adds provoked a harsh response from Google, one that continues today.

Those searching for Demonoid are currently warned in search listings that “This site may harm your computer” and even those who choose to ignore the warnings aren’t allowed to access the site via Google. Instead they are diverted to the following page:

Google’s advisory reports that after checking 59 pages on the site during the past 90 days, 7 pages resulted in “malicious software being downloaded and installed without user consent”, something likely to worry most users.

Google goes on to report that the malicious software in question was hosted on another domain – adv-inv-net.com – and further investigation reveals that the site is the source of a huge number of problems.

According to malware analysis the Romanian-hosted domain carries 177 exploits and 2 trojans, which together have led to the infection of not only Demonoid, but more than 2,000 other sites.

Aware that Demonoid along with thousands of other sites had been blacklisted by most search engines and web browsers, Demonoid’s operators announced that all advertisements would be removed from the site until the problem could be identified.

“We run content from a lot of ad networks in our ad banners, and a lot of banners from each,” the management team said in an announcement.

“One of those banners started serving malware, so we disabled all ads until we are 100% sure of the culprit and get it removed. We are also taking the proper steps to get us out of all the blacklists.”

This latest advertising controversy comes just a week after the publication of a report which claimed that 90% of the Internet’s top 30 “pirate” sites contain malware, “potentially unwanted programs”, or items designed to deceive.

While seemingly not Demonoid’s fault in this instance, one has to question if these kinds of malware events will become more prevalent in the months to come. With entertainment industry companies scaring away advertisers, options for torrent and streaming site operators to do business with ‘up-front’ ad networks are likely to narrow, forcing them further into the arms of those who carry the kind of junk experienced in the past 24 hours.

Photo: Michael Theis

Source: TorrentFreak, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing and anonymous VPN services.

As detailed in our article last week, the UFC has launched its biggest legal action to date against an individual said to have uploaded its events to the Internet without authorization.

Late last month UFC parent company Zuffa filed a lawsuit in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of New York targeting Steven A. Messina from New York, someone they believe to be the combat sports releaser ‘Secludedly’. The news was broken by the New York Post who reported that the 27-year-old lives in his parent’s basement, but on the day of the news they knew an awful lot more than Messina did.

Last to know

“I didn’t know any of this was even happening,” Messina told TorrentFreak in an interview conducted on restricted terms for legal reasons.

“A relative recognized my name in the New York Post and word got to me through phone, and people were wondering if it was me. Now, I’m rarely out of my house, ever. I’m sick. So I am like, ‘How the hell can I be in the Post?’ I decided to look it up, and hello, there I am. Then the Internet started going crazy about it, and everyone is getting all this information that I have no clue how they are getting, most of it totally wrong!”

It took two full days for the UFC to send the papers to Messina after he learned about them in the media but once he read them the seriousness of the situation began to sink in. The claims from the UFC are for just over $32 million but Messina’s estimations vary from $35m to as much as $40m.

“There were no police involved, no criminal actions taken. I’ll be honest, I don’t understand the laws and all that around this type of thing, so I’m a little lost here and overwhelmed. I don’t even know what is going on. I think people on the Internet know more than me.”

Five months ago, there were signs

As our discussions progressed it became clear that while last week’s legal sledgehammer from Zuffa came as a surprise, this was not the first time that the company had shown an interest in Messina. Several months ago Messina was informed by PayPal that his account had been frozen after he had accepted donations from people who were helping him buy UFC PPV events. Messina said any surplus was spent on medication.

“PayPal told me that the UFC filed a claim of some sort on my account and limited it, so I could never use it again. I am assuming UFC subpoenaed PayPal or something for my information and then just caved without even defending me or my rights. That was five months ago. Then last week is when I suddenly saw the news, got the letter, etc etc. I never even had an opportunity to tell them I didn’t do whatever it was they claimed I did.”

Poor health

Messina, who says he suffers from a range of psychiatric conditions including agoraphobia, panic, anxiety and bipolar disorders, claims to rarely go outside and spent an entire four-year unbroken stretch in his New York bedroom. Add to that an arthritic spine and a herniated stomach, he hasn’t been able to work for three years. When PayPal froze his account he was cut off from his medication.

“When PayPal closed my account, I was low on money and needed medication that week, and I still had $50 or so in my account, but I wasn’t allowed to use it, making my life that much more difficult.”

Making bank?

Zuffa claim that Messina was making a small fortune from donations, even adding “XYZ Corp” as a defendant (along with a John and Jane Doe) in their lawsuit against Messina.

“I do not know myself what this XYZ Corp or John and Jane Doe is. I think they are assuming ‘Secludedly’ was a group, rather than just a person, but at the same time, ‘Secludedly’ is mentioned as a single person as well. None of it makes sense.”

But was Messina making anything from people donating to his event-viewing fund?

“Most of the time I barely had enough to cover an event’s cost after donations and would use my own money saved for medication and doctors. In total, I’ve probably made no more in a year than $450-$550 in donations. But just that helped me pay for a few months of medical expenses, as well as maybe four or five fight cards. I always ended up paying out of my own pocket though, as I’ve had money from my previous job saved in my checking account.”

Big UFC fan

While Zuffa are portraying Messina as their nemesis, the 27-year-old says he has spent years supporting the company as a dedicated fan.

“It’s always the one you love the most that can hurt you the most. I love the UFC. I love MMA. I want the world to know of it and acknowledge it as a legitimate sport and I want it to be famous. I don’t want myself to be famous. That’s an oxymoron for me, don’t you think? An agoraphobe seeking attention? I want to be left alone and continue living my horrible life with what little I have, and that’s my family and MMA.”

David v Goliath

So where now? Messina, who says he’s worth just about nothing, informs TorrentFreak he has a little under three weeks to respond to the $3.5 billion-valued Zuffa or suffer a default judgment. He’s found a lawyer prepared to take on the case pre-trial and pending settlement but needs $5,000 to get things going, an amount he doesn’t have. To that end Messina has set up a GoFundMe campaign in the hope that those sympathetic to his situation might donate a few dollars. Those who prefer anonymity can make the same gesture via Bitcoin.

“I did not, will not, never did, never will, ever make money off of another’s work, and that’s that,” Messina says. “Also, [to the New York Post] I do not live in a god damn basement. Leave my basement out of this! It’s done nothing to you!”

Source: TorrentFreak, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing and anonymous VPN services.

The Belgian Anti-Piracy Foundation (BAF) is demanding tens of thousands of euros from six men who shared copyrighted material on two local file-sharing sites.

The file-sharers all appeared in court this week. Among them is a 39-year old bus driver who pirated several Disney movies such as Bambi, Sleeping Beauty, 101 Dalmatians and The Lion King. The man reportedly shared the films to entertain his three kids, and wasn’t aware of any wrongdoing.

“I did not think I did anything wrong, because many of these children’s films are available in full on YouTube,” he said in a comment.

The man’s actions weren’t limited to Disney classics alone though. According to the anti-piracy watchdog he was one of the most prolific sharers on the “Belgium-scene” forum.

In total, the father is accused of sharing 253 films, 64 computer games and 22,000 music files, for which BAF demands 37,714 euros ($52,550) in damages. The amount is based on the number of files that were shared, with a music track costing 1 euro and a movie 15 euros.

Another member of the same file-sharing forum shared even more files than the dad and he risks damages totaling 60,000 euros ($83,600). “I did it because it was cheaper than buying a CD or DVD,” the man said in a comment.

In addition to the damages demanded by BAF, the prosecutor has also requested an additional 4,500 euro fine for each of the six members.

Belgium-scene was a private forum where users could share links to a wide variety of pirated content. The site was closed last year and nine homes of people connected to the site and another forum were raided at the time.

Several of the founders avoided prosecution by paying settlements of between 10,000 and 25,000 euros. The pirating dad, however, lacked the funds to pay a settlement. His case and those of the five others will be decided by the court later this year.

Source: TorrentFreak, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing and anonymous VPN services.

Game of Thrones has been the focus of many piracy discussions in recent years, and for good reason.

The HBO hit series has a following of millions of “pirates” who prefer to watch the show through unauthorized channels instead of paid subscriptions.

Some TV-industry insiders closely connected to the show see it as a compliment, or believe the show may even benefit from these rogue followers. On the other hand, however, HBO is cracking down on fans and sites who spread the show without permission.

The pirates themselves are also divided in the reasons why they pirate. Some have no other option, as Game of Thrones is not available where they live, while others simply find the legal options too expensive.

In the midst of all these different view points there is one stable factor. The demand among pirates is growing year after year. During the first season in 2011 the most popular episode was shared 3.4 million times during the entire year, a number that’s now reached in just a few days.

Game of Thrones is particularly popular on torrent sites and this week BitTorrent pirates broke the magical record of 200,000 simultaneous sharers.

A few hours after the first torrent of the show appeared on torrent sites, the Demonii tracker reported that 207,054 people were sharing one single torrent at the same time. 163,496 were sharing a complete copy of that particular torrent while 43,558 were still downloading.

These are mind-boggling numbers that we’ve never seen before. The latest record was set just a few weeks ago, also for a Game of Thrones episode.

Record-breaking 200,000+ simultaneous sharers

This Game of Thrones torrent isn’t the only one that is widely shared. There are several copies of the show available in varying qualities which also have thousands of people downloading.

Counting all the different releases it’s estimated that the latest Game of Thrones episode was downloaded more than 1.5 million times during the first day. This makes the show the likely candidate to be crowned the most-downloaded TV-show at the end of the year.

As previously revealed, Game of Thrones downloaders come from all over the world. Data gathered by TorrentFreak previously revealed that most downloaders came from Australia, the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada and the Netherlands.

It will be interesting to see if the current record will be broken again later this year. For now, however, there are no signs that the pirates’ interest is waning. This means that, unless a miracle happens, Game of Thrones will be crowned the most torrented show for the third consecutive year.

Source: TorrentFreak, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing and anonymous VPN services.

Following the huge raid on Kim Dotcom’s mansion in January 2012, questions started to be asked about the legality of the warrants used to launch the operation.

In mid 2012 a High Court judge found that the warrants were not only overbroad but also illegal, providing a big boost to Dotcom’s extradition battle prospects with the United States.

However, this February the Megaupload founder suffered a setback when the Court of Appeal overturned the earlier High Court ruling. While it was agreed the warrants contained flaws, the judges found that overall the warrants were legal.

But it’s not over yet.

The Supreme Court has now granted Dotcom leave to appeal the Court of Appeal ruling from February.

“The Supreme Court granted us permission to argue the validity of search warrants used in this raid,” Dotcom announced on Twitter.

The hearing is set for June 11 to June 12.

Source: TorrentFreak, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing and anonymous VPN services.