If the world’s leading record labels are to be believed, YouTube is the world’s largest repository of infringing content, content which makes YouTube lots of money.

YouTube counters with arguments that it always abides by the law (it does) by taking down infringing content as the DMCA required, when advised by rightsholders. It licenses content from the labels too, paying them billions in the process. However, the labels say that YouTube doesn’t pay them a fair rate.

To solve this problem, the labels are desperate to remove the safe harbor protections that YouTube currently enjoys. They want YouTube to become liable for infringing content on its platform while paying them rates similar to those paid by Spotify, for example. This position has proven impossible to achieve through negotiations so rightsholders headed to EU lawmakers instead.

Article 13, which needs little introduction, is currently winding its way through the EU’s corridors of power, hoping to solve all of these problems in one fell swoop. However, with giant companies pulling in opposite directions, negotiations have been drawn out, to say the least.

The latest proposals dated November 9 have now been published online and they give a pretty good indication of where things are going.

“Member States shall provide that an online content sharing service provider performs an act of communication to the public or an act of making available to the public when it gives the public access to copyright protected works or other protected subject matter uploaded by its users,” the proposal begins.

“An online content sharing service provider shall obtain an authorization [from rightsholders] in order to communicate or make available to the public works or other subject matter.”

Now, here’s the bit that’s scaring YouTube.

“When an online content sharing service provider performs an act of communication to the public or an act of making available to the public, it shall not be eligible for the exemption of liability provided for in Article 14 of Directive 2000/31/EC for unauthorized acts of communication to the public and making available to the public..[..].”

YouTube can currently avoid liability for infringing content being made available to the public as long as it removes that content once it’s made aware of its existence. Under the statements above, YouTube would have no protection. This massive liability was referenced recently by YouTube’s CEO, who warned of dire consequences.

The latest proposals detail two options – Option 1 and Option 2 – that set out requirements for cooperation between rightsholders and the consequences of not doing so.

Option 1

In the absence of the authorization [from rightsholders, referenced above], Member States shall provide that online content sharing service providers and rightsholders have to cooperate with each other according to professional diligence to ensure that there are no unauthorized acts of communication to the public or making available to the public within the meaning of this Article of specific works or other subject matter identified by rightsholders for which the rightsholders have provided the service with relevant and necessary information….

In other words, “here’s a list of all our content and do not make it make it available to the public without obtaining an appropriate license first – or else.”

The “or else” is laid out in the subsequent paragraph of ‘Option 1’, along with potential exceptions.

Member States shall provide that an online sharing service provider is liable for unauthorized acts of communication to the public or making available to the public within the meaning of this Article of specific works or other subject matter identified by the rightsholders and for which the rightsholders have provided the service with relevant and necessary information unless it shows it has taken effective and proportionate steps to ensure that those works or other subject matter are not available on its service…..

Option 2

In the absence of the authorization [from rightsholders, referenced above], Member States shall provide that an online content sharing service provider is liable for unauthorized acts of communication to the public or making available to the public within the meaning of this Article unless it cooperates with rightsholders according to professional diligence by taking effective and proportionate steps to avoid the availability on its service of specific unauthorized works or other subject matter identified by rightsholders and for which the rightsholders have provided the service with relevant and necessary information…

Both Option 1 and Option 2 add potential exemptions for small platforms, consideration for the amount and type of work uploaded by users, the availability of “suitable and effective technologies” (filtering such as YouTube’s Content ID), the financial burden on a platform, and the number of copyright infringement notices received.

In any event, both options require online sharing providers to “act expeditiously to remove or disable to access to works or other subject matter” when unauthorized content is made available and both require that providers. They must then make “best efforts to prevent their future uploads in cooperation with rightsholders.” Phrased differently, it’s a take down and stay down regime.

Given the above, it’s easier to understand YouTube’s current stance in favor of upload filtering via its own established Content ID system. With this technology, the company seems in a position to deal with the key issues Article 13 presents. Whether this will force it to pay the labels a “fair price” for their content (in order to close the so-called ‘Value Gap’) will remain to be seen.

Further analysis from Julia Reda MEP here and the latest proposal document here (pdf) via Politico Europe.

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Many podcasts use music to spice up their recordings.

This is fine when a track is properly licensed, or if it is podsafe, but using substantial portions of tracks without permission can become problematic.

This is what iBus Media, the company behind PokerNews – the self-proclaimed “largest poker website in the world” – just discovered. Last Friday the company was sued for willful copyright infringement in a California federal court.

The complaint was filed by a group of record labels and music publishers including UMG Recordings, Capitol Records, Universal Music, and PolyGram. They accuse PokerNews of distributing podcasts through its site and app, using significant portions of their tracks.

“Among the content made available by iBus Media on PokerNews, and through other forums, are hundreds of podcasts that intentionally incorporate significant portions of Plaintiffs’ copyrighted musical works,” the complaint reads.

This shouldn’t really come as a surprise, according to the music companies, who explain that PokerNews’ parent company was already notified of the issue several years ago.

“iBus Media was notified that it was infringing Plaintiffs’ copyrighted works nearly three years ago. Nevertheless, iBus Media continues to infringe. iBus Media’s infringement is therefore willful and deliberate,” they write.

Some allegedly infringing podcasts

The complaint lists hundreds of podcasts where infringing tracks allegedly appear. This has resulted in “substantial” and “irreparable harm,” the labels say, adding that PokerNews profits from this unauthorized use.

“In each of the Infringing Podcasts, Plaintiffs’ copyrighted works are prominently featured and undoubtedly used with the intention of making the podcasts more appealing to listeners,” the complaint reads.

PokerNews said it has taken steps to remove certain infringing content, but according to the music companies, the problem persists. They, therefore, demand $150,000 in statutory damages per infringed work.

With 46 copyrighted songs listed in the complaint, the maximum statutory damages go well beyond $6 million, but it’s possible that even more titles could be added when the case proceeds.

In addition, the music companies also request a preliminary and permanent injunction preventing PokerNews and any other iBus Media properties from infringing its copyrights going forward.

—

A copy of the complaint, obtained by TorrentFreak, is available here (pdf).

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While HDS.to may not be known to most English-oriented pirates, it became one of the premier streaming sites in French-speaking countries this year.

It is ranked among the 30 most-visited sites in Belgium, for example, and gathered a significant user base in France, Canada, and Switzerland too.

A few days ago the position began to change. As the weekend began the site went offline, and it didn’t take long before users noticed that something wasn’t quite right.

Instead of a gateway to hundreds of free movies and TV-shows, a rather grim message appeared, stating that the site was closing for good.

“HDS-TO is permanently closed,” it read, translated from French. “Thank you for your understanding and goodbye.”

This notice got the rumor mill going and according to some, the site was still accessible with a VPN. However, a follow-up message posted on HDS.to made it clear that this was not the case.

“Warning! We do not have any accounts on social networks (Twitter, Facebook…). Announcements made by so-called official accounts are misleading,” the message read.

“Be careful also of sites that offer you to subscribe to a VPN to access the site, their goal is simply to earn money through an affiliate program when you subscribe to a VPN. Please understand that the site is permanently closed, there is no (VPN, account…) way to access it.”

Shutting down

At the time of writing this message has also disappeared. Instead, it’s been replaced with a standard “404 Not Found” error.

The shutdown is especially painful for those who paid to access the site. It appears that HDS.to, in some cases, charged 3.99 euros per month for unlimited access. Although this could be bypassed by switching IP-addresses, there are plenty of people who handed over money.

It remains unclear why the operators of the site decided to close shop. There is currently no indication that it’s the result of legal issues. If more information appears we will update this article accordingly.

While it appears that HDS.to is not coming back, there will not be any shortage of copycat sites trying to take its place. We’ve already observed HDSS.to jumping in, and there are bound to be more initiatives similar to that.

HDS.to in better days

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This week we have three newcomers in our chart.

Mission: Impossible – Fallout is the most downloaded movie.

The data for our weekly download chart is estimated by TorrentFreak, and is for informational and educational reference only. All the movies in the list are Web-DL/Webrip/HDRip/BDrip/DVDrip unless stated otherwise.

RSS feed for the articles of the recent weekly movie download charts.

This week’s most downloaded movies are:

Movie Rank	Rank last week	Movie name	IMDb Rating / Trailer
Most downloaded movies via torrents
1	(1)	Mission: Impossible – Fallout	8.0 / trailer
2	(3)	The Meg	5.9 / trailer
3	(2)	The Equalizer 2	6.9 / trailer
4	(4)	Incredibles 2	8.0 / trailer
5	(…)	A Star is Born	8.2 / trailer
6	(5)	Mile 22	6.1 / trailer
7	(6)	Outlaw king	7.1 / trailer
8	(…)	The Ballad of Buster Scruggs	7.4 / trailer
9	(7)	Alpha	6.9 / trailer
10	(…)	Crazy Rich Indians	7.2 / trailer

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People browsing the Internet on a Windows-based computer should always presume that their machines are vulnerable to attack.

From using a decent firewall to anti-virus and similar tools, prevention is always better than cure when it comes to the various threats lurking in the online space.

For people who frequent torrent and streaming sites, the rules are no different. Anti-virus, anti-malware, and sometimes aggressive ad-blocking tools are considered a must, to ensure that rogue adverts or booby-trapped downloads don’t gain traction on a user’s machine.

One of the most popular tools in this space is MalwareBytes. In addition to dealing with malware already present on a user’s machine, its premium product also offers real-time protection, ensuring that users aren’t even allowed to visit dangerous or untrustworthy websites by blocking them automatically.

In normal and sensible use, MalwareBytes is generally hard to trigger but during the past few days, the software has been preventing access to a pair of popular ‘pirate’ sites.

The first brought to our attention was PCgames-download.com, a portal that specializes in downloads of the latest PC games. During the middle of last week, MalwareBytes declared the site dangerous, preventing all users from visiting the platform.

Worryingly, MalwareBytes flagged the site as “fraud”, declaring it is a “scam” that tries to “steal your information or credit card details.” Given that the site isn’t known for such activity and tests via Google’s malware checker gave it a clean bill of health, TorrentFreak contacted MalwareBytes asking for more information. We received no response.

We did, however, have an email exchange with the operator of PCgames-download.com who told us that he wasn’t surprised at the block, given that MalwareBytes has done this to similar sites in the past. He pointed out that none of the main anti-virus vendors has a problem with his site, going on to detail the measures taken to ensure that rogue advertising networks aren’t allowed.

While a single blocking issue isn’t particularly surprising, we’ve now learned that one of the world’s most popular torrent sites is also being blocked for the same reason. As the screenshot below shows, 1337x.to is also being flagged for “fraud”, with MalwareBytes users blocked from visiting the site.

Blocked for alleged ‘fraud’

Again, 1337x.to – which at the start of the year was placed 3rd in our annual overview of the world’s most-visited torrent sites – doesn’t have a reputation for engaging in malicious or abusive behavior.

However, according to MalwareBytes, the site is being blocked due to the reason shown in the screenshot below.

1337x.to blocked for alleged ‘fraud’

Since MalwareBytes has been unresponsive to our requests for clarification, we have no idea why the 1337x.to is being blocked or whether the claims have substance or are the result of a false positive. However, when cross-checking the domain with Google’s sophisticated malware checker tool, we can see that 1337x (just like PCgames-download.com) is given a clean bill of health.

Google has no issue with 1337x.to

If MalwareBytes do get round to answering our questions we’ll update this article with their comments. In the meantime, however, it might be worth the company providing more information when it decides to block an entire website.

Anti-virus companies display the names of the viruses they find to inform users, so doing the same for visitors to allegedly fraudulent websites would certainly clear up some of the confusion. Fraud is a big allegation and should be backed up with some evidence, whenever possible.

Update: In the case of 1337x, MalwareBytes is blocking the IP address 104.31.16.3, which is registered to Cloudflare. It is shared by more than 150 other sites, which could also be subject to blocking and the same message about fraud.

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