Retention of telecommunications metadata is increasingly viewed by governments as a valuable tool to fight serious crimes, including terrorism.

Communications systems, such as telephone networks and the Internet, can provide the ability to collect information revealing who contacted who and when.

However, when such sensitive data is collected on a broad scale, who can get access to that data becomes a serious concern. In Australia, a review of the Telecommunications (Interception and Access) Act 1979 (TIA Act) has generated warnings that data supposedly being collected to fight serious crime is falling into broader hands.

The Communications Alliance, for example, highlights (pdf) that while there’s a perception that data will only be available to a limited number of law enforcement and security agencies, large numbers of other organizations have sought access to the data. They include a sports anti-doping authority, at least two illegal dumping groups, plus veterinary and fisheries authorities.

The availability of this data seems to be a magnet for many groups seeking to solve their own problems and according to the Law Council of Australia, that has the potential to include copyright holders in the future. While noting that some of its concerns that data will not be used by civil litigants have been addressed, there remains a concern that data collected now could be used for other purposes later on.

“[T]here is still the potential for ‘function creep’ under the regime due to the lack of prescription as to what purpose telecommunications data retained under the regime may be used for, potentially allowing for information collected for one reason to be later used for other purposes,” the Council’s submission reads (pdf).

Specifically, The Law Council says that earlier amendments to sections 280 and 281 of the Telecommunications Act 1997 may still have limitations that would allow file-sharers (typically BitTorrent users) to be scooped up, if there is a change of heart over the seriousness of their offenses.

“[T]here remains the potential for telecommunications data retained under the scheme to be used in matters of online piracy as telecommunications data may provide an irrefutable download history,” the Council warns.

“Former Attorney-General Brandis and the former AFP Commissioner have stated that the regime will not be used to tackle digital piracy, but should digital piracy offenses of individual consumers become criminalized in the future (currently piracy is only a criminal offense when at a commercial scale) it is possible that this position would be reassessed by the Government of the day.”

While a change in the law could potentially increase access to metadata in respect of pirates, copyright trolls are already on record trying to convince courts that their behavior is much more serious than it first appears. In 2017 in the United States, LHF Productions characterized five file-sharers as being part of a worldwide criminal conspiracy.

“While the actions of each individual participant may seem innocuous, their collective action amounts to one of the largest criminal enterprises ever seen on earth,” the lawsuit claimed.

“The Defendants are participants in a global piracy ring composed of one hundred fifty million members – a ring that threatens to tear down fundamental structures of intellectual property.”

Whether such a claim would ever gain credibility in Australia remains to be seen but it’s clear that tracking every action carried out by Internet users – file-sharers included – and recording them in a database for potential action is an extremely attractive proposition for copyright trolls.

Source: TF, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, torrent sites and more. We also have VPN reviews, discounts, offers and coupons.

There are currently thousands of providers of unlicensed IPTV services around the world so stopping them all will prove a herculean task.

Nevertheless, entertainment industry groups and anti-piracy outfits seem to determined to take on the challenge, in the hope that strategic action here and there will deter others from getting involved in this growing business.

The latest action comes from Quebecor Inc.’s Groupe TVA Inc., BCE Inc. (Bell Canada Enterprises), and Rogers Communications Inc., who have teamed up to tackle a ‘pirate’ IPTV provider targeting the Canadian market.

The complaint, first reported by The Wire Report, sees the broadcasting giants taking on the operators of GoldTV.ca and GoldTV.biz in Federal Court, claiming that the service provides access to their TV content without licenses or authorization.

“The GoldTV.biz Service provides unauthorized access to hundreds (if not thousands) of live television channels and video-on-demand content,” the complaint filed in court July 18 reads.

A cursory review of the subscriptions offered by GoldTV.ca shows the kind of packages currently being offered by hundreds of other providers operating in the same niche.

Its fairly comprehensive channel list suggests that more than 7,600 are currently available from a huge range of broadcasting companies, although that number is likely to ebb and flow depending on the provider’s third-party sources.

That being said, it’s immediately apparent that from the prices being asked, the fact that’s there no contract, and customers being told they can play content on any device, anywhere, this doesn’t fit the parameters of any normal or sanctioned service.

Clicking through to the payment options reveals prices in Canadian dollars, something which adds weight to the claim that the service targets the local market. PayPal appears to be the default option, which probably means that personal details relating to the account will be sought by the plaintiffs at some point.

According to the complaint, GoldTV has been in business since at least 2017. A domain Whois query reveals GoldTV.ca as registered in March 2017 with the .biz variant registered in July of the same year. These records provide no useful information as to who is behind the domains and the plaintiffs state they have had no success in identifying the service’s operators.

Nevertheless, the complaint demands a trial in Montreal where the companies hope to win damages and an injunction to shutter the service.

Groupe TVA, Bell, and Rogers aren’t the only companies to have noticed the activities of GoldTV.ca in 2019.

Earlier this year Spanish soccer league La Liga sent a pair of DMCA notices (1,2) that removed close to 150 of the site’s URLs from Google’s search results. In both of these cases, none of the listed URLs pointed to any copyright-infringing content but instead targeted the service’s sales and support pages.

Source: TF, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, torrent sites and more. We also have VPN reviews, discounts, offers and coupons.

As one of the oldest torrent communities, Demonoid has gone through many ups and downs over the years.

The site regularly disappeared, only to resurface later, which gave it the reputation of a comeback-kid.

However, last summer things changed when Deimos, the site’s founder, went missing. After months of uncertainty and downtime, it became clear that the site wasn’t coming back this time. Deimos is believed to have passed away in a tragic accident, marking the end of an era.

Many staffers were devastated when they heard the news but they were also motivated to keep the Demonoid spirit alive. To honor Deimos, first and foremost, and to create a place where former users of the site could continue to interact.

Initially, they started a forum at Demonoid.info and, as time went by, more and more Demonoid users found their way back. However, there was something missing. The new home didn’t allow people to do what they do best – sharing files.

This motivated a group of staffers to create a new “Demonoid” torrent site. Not to replace the old one, but to have a familiar torrent site again that looks and feels like their old home. With help from old crew members who offered servers, coding skills, and graphic design, Dnoid.to was born.

“Demonoid has a really massive user base, many of them are fans just like me, and just seeing the look of Demonoid feels like a ‘home’ to thousands,” Demonoid staffer ‘phaze1G’ tells TorrentFreak, commenting on the new site. 

While Dnoid.to looks identical to the old Demonoid, it’s completely different under the hood. It’s built on a new database which means that users have to sign up for a new account. In addition, the new site doesn’t operate a tracker either.

Dnoid.to doesn’t aim to be a replacement of the original site. It’s basically just a magnet index with a Demonoid skin that allows users to add new links. There are no torrents hosted on the site itself.

For the time being anyone can join the site, as registrations are open. However, these may close in the future, to keep spammers and other types of abuse at bay.

The purpose of the new site isn’t to become the next big torrent site. It’s to honor Demonoid’s legacy and also in part to keep scammy sites from taking over the brand.

“The point is not to compete with the original Demonoid or to be above other public torrents sites. It’s just to keep a memory of Demonoid and its founder Deimos, who is well-known around old folks and who set really high standards for torrent communities ever since 2003,” phaze1G says.

“Demonoid always had a special spot in people’s hearts. Keeping a memento of it without letting others ruin it by making copycats and phishing sites from it is our way of saying ‘thank you’ to him and keeping his legacy alive.”

Source: TF, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, torrent sites and more. We also have VPN reviews, discounts, offers and coupons.

With millions of visitors per day, Onlinevideoconverter.com is the most-visited stream-ripping site on the Internet.

The service gained popularity by allowing users to convert and download videos from a wide variety of platforms, YouTube included.

The site has operated without any issues for years, but earlier this month something changed. YouTube decided to actively block servers of so-called stream-rippers, hoping to prevent these sites from facilitating “violative downloads.”

While this worked initially, many stream-ripping sites quickly found ways to circumvent the blockade. In many cases, switching to new IP-addresses did the trick, at least temporarily. This was also true for Onlinevideoconverter.com (OVC), which was fully operational again after a few days.

However, the team behind the site isn’t planning to keep up this fight. People who access the stream-ripper today will notice that YouTube downloads have stopped working again. A site representative informs TorrentFreak that this is intentional.

“In view of YouTube’s latest stance, we’ve decided to disable the conversion of all YouTube videos on our service,” OVC says.

For the time being the various YouTube references on the site remain intact. The site said that some of these will remain online for SEO purposes. It’s clear, however, that ripping and downloading YouTube videos no longer works.

The stream-ripping site notes that the decision was taken voluntarily and not after it was contacted directly by rightsholders or YouTube. OVC simply believes that it’s the best direction to take and it stresses that other downloading and conversion tools remain available.

“No one has reached out to us recently, we think it’s best for such a decision after YouTube’s latest effort,” OVC adds.

The music industry groups that have complained bitterly about the stream-ripping phenomenon will be happy with the decision, especially since OVC is the most popular stream-ripper out there. However, not all sites are ready to throw in the towel.

Mp3-youtube.download, for example, is vowing to do anything it can to keep the service available.

“I think the YouTube update is stupid because we will always find a solution,” the operator of Mp3-youtube.download told us, commenting on the issue.

This was to be expected, of course, as no blocking solution is perfectly effective. That said, the music industry hopes that enough services will become temporarily unavailable, to frustrate some people enough to give up.

Source: TF, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, torrent sites and more. We also have VPN reviews, discounts, offers and coupons.

In this episode we meet Sean Tilley (aka @deadsuperhero) of We Distribute (and formerly the Diaspora project) to discuss: the early days at Diaspora, the first Facebook alternative to really reach critical mass; the steady rise of Mastodon and why the Fediverse its gaining traction; some surprising factors pushing people to move from Big Social to federated social media networks; and whether technologists could (or should) move beyond de-platforming to begin refusing use of their technologies to those whose political ideas they disagree with.

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Steal This Show aims to release bi-weekly episodes featuring insiders discussing crypto, privacy, copyright and file-sharing developments. It complements our regular reporting by adding more room for opinion, commentary, and analysis.

Host: Jamie King

Guest: Sean Tilley

^{If you enjoy this episode, consider becoming a patron and getting involved with the show. Check out Steal This Show’s Patreon campaign: support us and get all kinds of fantastic benefits!}

Produced by Jamie King
Edited & Mixed by Lucas Marston
Original Music by David Triana
Web Production by Eric Barch

Source: TF, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, torrent sites and more. We also have VPN reviews, discounts, offers and coupons.