One of the greatest developments in gaming over the past couple of decades has been the quality of multiplayer options. There’s nothing like teaming up, making friends, and tackling the enemy together.

Sadly, however, multiplayer gaming is blighted by people who like to use these wonderful platforms to insult and abuse other players. If done sparingly and in the right context, this can be somewhat amusing for everyone but all too often people overstep the line, forcing developers to do what they can to stop the rot.

With some massive multiplayer games already under their belts, developer Rockstar is no stranger to these scenarios. With the release of Red Dead Redemption 2 recently, Rockstar is doing its bit to censor abuse and make us all shake our heads in disbelief.

As revealed by a user on Reddit, the company has implemented a banned words list, which attempts to deter people from using some of the worst sexual, racial, and religious insults, which is fair enough.

However, the developer has also seen fit to prevent players from talking about sites like The Pirate Bay, with the word ‘PirateBay’ banned from the game. Since the galaxy’s most resilient torrent site is hardly a friend of the gaming industry, the decision is not that much of a surprise. However, the developer goes much further with a whole range of bizarre censoring decisions that start of weirdly and get worse.

Taking them in alphabetical order, first up we have the term ‘BTJunkie’, which refers to a once-prominent torrent indexing site. What’s so special about this platform is that it’s been shut for well over six years. In fact, the site closed down for good in 2012 following the massive raid on Kim Dotcom. Safe to say, it’s not coming back.

Demonoid, on the other hand, has only been dead for a few weeks. The site, which has been up and down more times than a violinist’s elbow in recent years, disappeared into a mysterious cloud of smoke several weeks ago. We still don’t know what happened there, if anyone is still wondering.

Another curious addition to Rockstar’s banned list is ‘Fenopy’, a torrent site that shut itself down in 2014. Like many of the other sites on the Rockstar list, it was no stranger to censorship, having found its way onto ISP blocks around the world.

In October 2013, the legendary ‘isoHunt’ torrent index was closed down following a $110m settlement with the MPAA. For some reason, Rockstar thinks that RDR2 players shouldn’t discuss the platform, so the term is banned. It’s the same situation with Meganova, a site that also disappeared several years ago.

Becoming even more generic, Rockstar has also seen fit to ban the word ‘torrent’ and, for those who may not know the correct spelling, the word ‘torent’ too. ‘ZShare’ also makes an appearance, which is another head-scratcher for a site that was deleted from history way back in 2012.

The initialism ‘VCDQ’ has also made it onto Rockstar’s Great Firewall, which is nothing short of ridiculous. VCDQ – otherwise known as VCDQuality – was a site that reported on freshly-leaked pirate copies of movies and commented on the quality of the release. The site never offered copyrighted content and was a really useful platform. It too has been dead for a number of years.

Finally, the term ‘buttpirate’ is disqualified from RDR2 gaming utterances. Whether Rockstar simply got carried away with the pirate-themed bannings isn’t clear but from what we’ve seen so far, anything is possible.

The full list of banned words, ranging from distasteful to ridiculous, is available here.

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

Following an update of Canada’s copyright law in 2015, ISPs are required to forward copyright infringement notices to their customers.

As a result of this “notice and notice scheme,” millions of Internet subscribers have received warnings in their mailboxes, with some asking for cash settlements.

The so-called notice-and-notice system is aimed at reducing local piracy rates. While that may have been well-intentioned, some copyright holders took advantage of the system to send subscribers settlement offers, or threaten them with legal penalties.

This scheme is facilitated by companies such as Rightscorp, which are also active in the United States. In Canada, however, there was some serious backlash.

Just last week we reported how several large Internet providers, including Bell and Rogers, want the settlement language removed. The Government clearly agrees with this, as a new Bill, published yesterday, will make that possible.

The applicable language is part of the budget implementation Bill C-86 and reads as follows.

A notice of claimed infringement shall not contain
(a) an offer to settle the claimed infringement;
(b) a request or demand, made in relation to the claimed infringement, for payment or for personal information;
(c) a reference, including by way of hyperlink, to such an offer, request or demand; and
(d) any other information that may be prescribed by regulation.

This text will effectively ban all settlement attempts. That’s good news for members of the public who are no longer at risk. However, the Rightscorps of this world will be less pleased, as it destroys their business model in Canada.

Regular lawsuits, which require copyright holders to go through the courts to identify account holders, are entirely separate and still remain an option of course.

Canadian law professor Michael Geist, who highlighted the new bill earlier today, is happy with the proposal, even though it took longer than hoped.

“It has taken several years, but the government has at long last taken steps to stop the abuse by establishing requirements that effectively ban the inclusion of settlement demands within the notice-and-notice system,” Geist says.

The bill is still in the early stages and has yet to be voted on and implemented. Given the public responses we’ve seen so far, however, it seems unlikely that many lawmakers will argue against the settlement ban.

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

Over the past several years, dozens of YouTube channels have sprung up to cover developments in the rocketing Kodi-related space.

These channels, which can vary in quality tremendously, provide an easy-to-digest fix of information, some of it accurate, some of it not so. Many, however, are littered with advertising and promotional content for illegal IPTV services, ‘pirate’ Android APKs, and third-party Kodi add-ons that provide access to otherwise premium content.

At the same time as these channels promote questionable tools and services, developers of these tools are being targeted by anti-piracy companies. They regularly receive cease-and-desist notices from organizations such as the MPAA-led Alliance for Creativity and Entertainment, while some device sellers (Tickbox TV, for example) have found themselves on the end of actual lawsuits.

As a result, some YouTube channel operators are feeling the pressure too. Worried about demonetization following direct and indirect pressure from anti-piracy groups and YouTube itself, many are self-censoring and diversifying so as not to promote piracy.

One of these channels is run by ‘Doc Squiffy‘, a UK-based YouTube channel and associated website operator who has finally been granted a YouTube silver ‘play’ button award for gaining 100,000 subscribers. However, for some of the reasons detailed above, YouTube has delayed his award for months, to the point he now has more than 238,000 subscribers.

While Doc Squiffy says he’s grateful he’s now been approved, this week a rather ironic situation raised its head on his own website at DocSquiffy.com.

In order to generate revenue on the original content he posts (plus third-party content such as linked TorrentFreak articles), Squiffy runs AdSense ads provided by Google. However, while Google-owned YouTube took an age to verify his suitability for a silver button (Squiffy says his content type contributed to the delay), Google itself is now stepping over the mark.

In a Tweet to his followers, the YouTuber revealed this morning that Google has been embedding ads for illegal services in his site, something he’s fearful of doing himself due to pressure from the MPAA and UK-based anti-piracy outfit FACT.

My website and YouTube never advertises or pushed IPTV, with the pressure from Fact & MPAA this is something I will not do. But apparently it's ok for #google to advertsise it on my site 🤦 pic.twitter.com/yTyhOfewLE

— Doc Squiffy 📲 📺 (@DocSquiffy) October 30, 2018

<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8">

As the image above shows, the advertising shows the StreamKings IPTV service (offered via apparent reseller Smarteriptv.club), which offers thousands of channels of unlicensed content, including premium sports channels, as the image above shows.

It’s worth pointing out that Google wouldn’t have knowingly accepted an advert from a pirate service and it wouldn’t have placed it on Doc Squiffy’s site in any human-powered calculated action. However, with the YouTuber under real pressure to water down his content on YouTube in order to avoid his videos being demonetized or even denied a place on the site, this situation is pretty ironic, to say the least.

Indeed, Squiffy has had to fight for his play button after being initially denied more than six months ago.

“We’ve had trouble from demonetization, trouble with [YouTube] not approving videos, upload issues, takedown issues, and lots of people are having issues over these types of things. Me especially, i’ve been hit a lot,” Squiffy says.

Finally, however, YouTube found it in their hearts to approve Doc Squiffy for a Creator Award.

“Thanks for waiting! I’ve got an update from our Rewards team and good news! Your channels has indeed qualified to receive a Creator Award. Congratulations on reaching such an incredible milestone!” the site told him via email earlier this month.

Speaking with TorrentFreak, Doc Squiffy says he had a “big issue with the MPAA about six months ago” but says his only pressures today come from YouTube itself.

While YouTube videos promoting piracy still exist on the platform, YouTubers are now more careful than they once were, particularly since many completely rely on the site for their income. This noose is likely to tighten in the months and years to come, which will probably drive more controversial content back underground – along with the ads for pirate services….probably.

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

In 2016, an article appeared in New Zealand media featuring a declaration from company boss Krish Reddy that his ‘My Box’ Kodi-powered Android devices were shaking up the content market.

His US$182 product enabled customers to access movies, TV shows and live channels for free, something that Reddy said was completely legal.

“Why pay NZ$80 minimum per month for Sky when for one payment you can have it free for good?” the company’s promotional material read.

Given this blatant taunt, SKY TV was prompted to respond. During 2017, the company took legal action against My Box and Reddy, claiming that his devices broke local law. The company sought a ruling from the Court under the Fair Trading Act that Reddy was making “misleading and deceptive” claims about his devices.

Early 2018, the Auckland High Court heard the case against My Box with Judge Warwick Smith reserving his judgment and Reddy still maintaining that his business was completely legal. The businessman claimed that sales were booming, with 20,000 devices sold to customers in 12 countries.

Now, however, Reddy’s claims have fallen apart. A ruling from the Auckland High Court states that his My Box devices cannot be represented as legal and that his device and others like it that receive unlicensed content are illegal.

“This decision, along with the recent ruling against Fibre TV boxes in Christchurch, sends a very clear message to New Zealanders that these services are not all they are cracked up to be,” says SKY General Counsel, Sophie Moloney.

“Essentially these boxes have been marketed and sold as legal options for accessing sports and entertainment for a one-off fee, when all they do is find and broadcast pirate streams.”

SKY says they were concerned that New Zealanders were being duped into buying the devices on the basis they were legally able to receive SKY content. Online forums were littered with complaints about the My Box devices, the broadcaster added.

“We took action against My Box and Mr Reddy under the Fair Trading Act, as we knew they were making claims to New Zealanders that were misleading and incorrect,” Moloney adds

According to SKY, around 5% of New Zealanders use piracy-configured devices like the My Box to stream pirated content for free. SKY says the decision of the High Court clears up any ambiguity and clarifies that receiving content in this manner is illegal.

“Fair-minded New Zealanders can now know the truth about these types of services and instead look to all of the legal services available online in New Zealand from the free apps of TVNZ On Demand and ThreeNow through to the subscription services of Netflix, NEON, LightBox and FAN PASS,” SKY notes.

While the ruling is welcome, this isn’t the end of the road for the case. A full trial is expected to take place early next year to determine damages but that process may not be entirely straightforward.

SKY says it doesn’t know precisely how many My Box devices Reddy sold, so it previously had to rely on public statements made by the businessman in the run-up to the case. The discovery process should yield more information that will allow SKY to formulate a more accurate claim, however.

While the case was brought under the Fair Trading Act, the High Court also determined that My Box and Reddy “communicated” copyrighted works to the public in breach of the Copyright Act, meaning that SKY is entitled to an injunction to restrain the defendants from making any further claims that My Box devices are legal.

That being said, SKY’s application for an injunction to prevent the promotion and supply of My Box devices failed, after the Court decided that such an application should have been sought under the Copyright Act. SKY said that its action under the Fair Trading Act was considered to be a quicker route to achieving its aims.

“In order to take action under the current Copyright Act, we (and other affected copyright holders) would first have to ‘establish copyright’ in each individual piece of content infringed by My Box. Doing so would have added layers of complication, cost and delay,” the company said in a statement.

“The Associate Judge upheld SKY’s approach by finding that the sale of My Box units, and using them to view copyright content, amounted to a breach of the Copyright Act, regardless of who owned the copyright. Accordingly, he made orders that include a final injunction preventing My Box and Mr Reddy from continuing to market the units as legal. This fulfilled SKY’s primary objective in bringing the legal action.”

In order to streamline similar cases in the future, SKY says local legislation should be amended to reflect the protections available under the UK’s Copyright, Designs and Patents Act.

“A provision like this in New Zealand law would be helpful in cases (like My Box) where the infringing conduct affects a wide group of rights-holders and consumers. The Government is undertaking a review of the Copyright Act and we encourage them to include this matter in the scope of the review,” SKY concludes.

During April 2018, Reddy claimed he’d sold his company to a mystery Chinese buyer for an eye-watering US$8.8m. As a result, he said he’d close down his company and make his staff redundant.

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

The Czech Pirates have made quite a name for themselves in recent years.

The party previously took on a local anti-piracy outfit by launching their own movie download sites, making the point that linking is not a crime.

The bold move resulted in a criminal investigation, but the case was eventually dropped after it was deemed that the Pirates acted in accordance with EU law.

The Czech Pirate Party has chalked up several successes in the political arena too. In last year’s parliamentary elections the Pirates won 10.79% of the total vote, securing 22 seats in the national parliament.

That success was replicated earlier this month when the Pirates got 17.1% of the votes in Prague’s municipal elections, making it the second largest party locally.

This week the Czech Pirates reached another significant milestone, as the party delivers the new mayor of the country’s capital, Prague. Pirate Party member Zdeněk Hřib will fill the prominent position and several of his colleagues will take places in the city council.

Hřib is a relative newcomer who graduated in General Medicine at Prague’s Charles University and first registered as a Pirate Party supporter five years ago. During the most recent municipal elections, however, he was listed as the party’s top candidate.

While Hřib is not the first Pirate mayor, Prague’s status makes it a unique achievement. With the total population exceeding well over a million people, Prague is among the twenty largest cities in the European Union.

The new mayor is not a widely known figure to the general population of Prague, but that will likely change during the months to come. Speaking with TorrentFreak, the new mayor says he joined the Pirates half a decade ago when he was trying to find a party that fitted his own ideals.

“Originally I was just helping with the healthcare part of the political program because healthcare is my primary specialty,” Hřib tells us.

“I wanted to have a political party in Czech Republic, that I could vote for. Pirate Party appeared on my list, and their healthcare program was a good basis, but without details. So I had helped with the details.”

He later became the main healthcare expert of the Pirate party and following the successful elections in Prague, he is now leading the city. During the years to come, he hopes to bring positive change in several areas, including IT.

“The IT of City Hall is now not very helpful in fulfilling the needs of public services. The information is not shared well inside the office, nor outside. Besides this, Prague has a huge problem with investments in transport infrastructure and there is an imminent housing crisis. These problems need to be solved,” Hřib says.

The new mayor has less political experience than some members of the old guard, but he has appeared on the Pirate Party’s ballot in Prague before. Hřib believes that the new coalition is well supported, and the fact that he’s the new mayor proves that he and the party know how to get something done.

“I believe that becoming a mayor in the Czech political system actually proves, that I have just enough political skills for this,” Hřib says.

“We had managed to create a coalition with a group of conservative People parties and an activist group led by a conservative member of Czech parliament. The coalition is well perceived by the citizens, although the opinions on who should be a mayor could vary.”

For the Pirate Party, delivering the mayor of the largest city in the country solidifies the election win in Prague’s municipal elections earlier this month. However, it’s also just the start.

Like other Pirate parties, the Czech branch is by no means a single issue outfit. The party previously campaigned on a broad range of issues including the fighting of corruption, tax reform, and overhauling the country’s copyright legislation.

Whatever the future brings, the success of the various Pirate parties is certainly remarkable. Especially when keeping in mind that the movement might have never become what it is today, without the raid on The Pirate Bay’s server in 2006.

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