When ExtraTorrent shut down last week, millions of people were left without their favorite spot to snatch torrents.

This meant that after the demise of KickassTorrents and Torrentz last summer, another major exodus commenced.

The search for alternative torrent sites is nicely illustrated by Google Trends. Immediately after ExtraTorrent shut down, worldwide searches for “torrent sites” shot through the roof, as seen below.

“Torrent sites” searches (30 days)

As is often the case, most users spread across sites that are already well-known to the file-sharing public.

TorrentFreak spoke to several people connected to top torrent sites who all confirmed that they had witnessed a significant visitor boost over the past week and a half. As the largest torrent site around, many see The Pirate Bay as the prime alternative.

And indeed, a TPB staffer confirms that they have seen a big wave of new visitors coming in, to the extent that it was causing “gateway errors,” making the site temporarily unreachable.

Thus far the new visitors remain rather passive though. The Pirate Bay hasn’t seen a large uptick in registrations and participation in the forum remains normal as well.

“Registrations haven’t suddenly increased or anything like that, and visitor numbers to the forum are about the same as usual,” TPB staff member Spud17 informs TorrentFreak.

Another popular torrent site, which prefers not to be named, reported a surge in traffic too. For a few days in a row, this site handled 100,000 extra unique visitors. A serious number, but the operator estimates that he only received about ten percent of ET’s total traffic.

More than 40% of these new visitors come from India, where ExtraTorrent was relatively popular. The site operator further notes that about two thirds have an adblocker, adding that this makes the new traffic pretty much useless, for those who are looking to make money.

That brings us to the last category of site owners, the opportunist copycats, who are actively trying to pull estranged ExtraTorrent visitors on board.

Earlier this week we wrote about the attempts of ExtraTorrent.cd, which falsely claims to have a copy of the ET database, to lure users. In reality, however, it’s nothing more than a Pirate Bay mirror with an ExtraTorrent skin.

And then there are the copycats over at ExtraTorrent.ag. These promoted by and linked to the same people who successfully hijacked EZTV and YIFY/YTS brands earlier. With ExtraTorrent.ag they now hope to expand their portfolio, it seems.

EZTV.ag promoting YTS and ET copies

xpected, but pretty bold, particularly considering the fact that ExtraTorrent operator SaM specifically warned people not to fall for these fakes and clones.

With millions of people moving to new sites, it’s safe to say that the torrent ‘community’ is in turmoil once again, trying to find a new status quo. But this probably won’t last for very long.

While some of the die-hard ExtraTorrent fans will continue to mourn the loss of their home, history has told is that in general, the torrent community is quick to adapt. Until the next site goes down…

Source: TF, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, torrent sites and ANONYMOUS VPN services.

While the authorities would like to paint a picture of Internet pirates as thoughtless thieves only interested in the theft of intellectual property, the truth is more nuanced.

Like every other online and indeed offline location, pirate sites are filled with people from all corners of society, from rich to poor, and from the basically educated to the borderline genius.

What is especially interesting is the extremely thin line between poacher and gamekeeper, between those who want to exploit intellectual property and those who want to protect it. Indeed, it is far from uncommon to find former pirates and renegade coders “going straight” by working for their former enemies.

While a repellent thought to some, it makes perfect sense. Anyone who knows the piracy scene back to front could be a valuable asset to the other side, under the right circumstances. But what does it really take to be an anti-piracy investigator?

As it happens, the UK’s Federation Against Copyright Theft is currently trying to fill exactly such a position. The job of “Internet Investigator” is based in the UK and the successful applicant will report to a manager. While that tends to suggest a lower pay grade, FACT are insistent that applicants meet stringent criteria.

“Working as a proactive member of the investigatory team to support the strategic objectives of FACT. Responsible for the detection, investigation, and protection of clients Intellectual Property whether physical or digital as directed by the Investigations Manager,” the listing reads.

More specifically, FACT is looking for someone with a “strong aptitude for investigation” who is capable of working under minimal supervision. The candidate is also required to have a proven record of liaising with “industry and enforcement organizations”, presumably including entertainment companies and the police.

At this point, things get pretty interesting. FACT says that the job involves assessing and investigating “individuals and entities” responsible for “illegal or infringing activity related to Intellectual Property.” Think torrent, streaming and IPTV site operators and staff, release group members, ‘Kodi Box’ sellers, infringing addon developers, even people flogging dodgy DVDs down the market.

When these investigations are being carried out, FACT expects evidence and intelligence to be gathered “ethically and in accordance with criminal procedure rules”, presumably so that cases don’t collapse when they end up in court. Which they often do.

Also of interest is how closely FACT appears to align its practices with those of the police. While the candidate is expected to liaise with law enforcement, they will also be expected to take part in briefings, seizure of evidence and prosecution support, all while “managing risks” and acting in accordance with UK legislation.

Another aspect of the job is a little cryptic, in that it requires the candidate to “locate offenders” and then undertake action “with an alternative approach to a proportionate solution.” That’s open to interpretation but it sounds very much like the home visits FACT has been known to make to site operators, who are asked to cease and desist while handing over their domains.

Unsurprisingly, FACT are looking for someone with a computer science degree or similar, and good organizational skills. Above that, it’s fairly obvious they’re seeking someone with a legal background, perhaps a law graduate or even a former police officer.

In addition to familiarity with the rules laid down in the Management of Police Information (MOPI) 2010, the candidate will be required to attend court hearings to give evidence. They’ll also need to conduct “intrusive surveillance” in accordance with the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act 2000 (RIPA) and have knowledge of:

– European Convention on Human Rights Act 2000
– Police and Criminal Evidence Act 1984
– Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act 2000
– Data Protection Act 1998
– Proceeds of Crime Act 2002
– Fraud Act 2006
– Serious Crime Act 2007
– Copyright Designs & Patents Act 1988 and Trade Marks Act 1994
– Computer Misuse Act 1990
– Other applicable legislation

The window to apply has almost run out but given the laundry list of qualities above, it seems unlikely that FACT will be swamped with perfectly suitable candidates right off the bat.

Finally, it’s probably worth mentioning that former torrent site operators and release group members keen to branch out are not specifically mentioned as primary candidates, so the poacher-turned-gamekeeper applicant might want to keep that part under their hat, at least until later.

Otherwise, FACT might just slap the cuffs on there and then, in line with UK legislation and procedure, of course.

Source: TF, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, torrent sites and ANONYMOUS VPN services.

^{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!}

In this episode, we meet Rand Miller, creator of the seminal Myst and Riven adventure games.

We talk about the plans Facebook has to colonise VR; the roots of adventure games in D&D, MUDs and early hypertext technologies like hypercard; problems with middlemen and changing distribution models for content creators, such as Patreon and Kevin Kelly’s ‘1,000 Fans’ idea – and how the truly important thing about creation for Rand seeding something for the next generation of creators.

Rand Miller’s latest game, Obduction, is out now on Steam.

—

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

The guests for our news discussions will vary, and we’ll aim to introduce voices from different backgrounds and persuasions. In addition to news, STS will also produce features interviewing some of the great innovators and minds.

Host: Jamie King

Guest: Rand Miller

Produced by Jamie King
Edited & Mixed by Riley Byrne
Original Music by David Triana
Web Production by Siraje Amarniss

Source: TF, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, torrent sites and ANONYMOUS VPN services.

Pirate streaming sites and services are booming.

Whether through traditional websites, apps or dedicated pirate boxes, streaming TV-shows and movies in high quality has never been so easy.

Unwittingly, Google plays a significant role in the shady part of online media distribution. As we highlighted earlier this year and long before, many pirate sites and servers exploit Google’s servers.

By using simple tricks, pirate site operators have found a way to stream videos directly from Google Drive and various other sources, often complete with subtitles and Chromecast support.

The Boss Baby streaming from Googlevideo.com

The videos in question are streamed from the Googlevideo.com domain, as pictured above, which is increasingly being noticed by rightsholders as well.

If we look at Google’s Transparency Report, which only applies to search, we see that roughly 13,000 of these URLs were reported until the end of last year. In 2017 this number exploded, with over a quarter million reported URLs so far, 265,000 at the time of writing.

Reported Googlevideo.com URLs

Why these URLs are being reported to Google search isn’t clear, because they don’t appear in the search engine. Also, many of the URLs have special parameters and only work if they are played from the pirate streaming sites.

That said, the massive surge in reports shows that the issue is a serious problem for rightsholders. For their part, pirate sites are happy to keep things the way they are as Google offers a reliable hosting platform that’s superior to many alternatives.

The question remains why Google has a hard time addressing the situation. It is no secret that the company uses hash matching to detect and block pirated content on Google Drive, but apparently, this doesn’t prevent a constant stream of pirated videos from entering its servers.

TorrentFreak reached out to Google for a comment on the situation. A company spokesperson informed us that they would look into the matter, but a few days have passed and we have yet to hear back.

Interestingly, while we were writing this article, reports started coming in that Google had begun to terminate hundreds, if not thousands of “unlimited” Drive accounts, which were sold through business plan resellers.

These accounts are actively traded on eBay, even though reselling business Drive accounts is strictly forbidden. Many of these accounts are also linked to streaming hosts, so it could be that this is Google’s first step to getting a tighter grip on the situation.

To be continued…

Source: TF, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, torrent sites and ANONYMOUS VPN services.

On Monday 15 May, during a town hall meeting in New York, Disney CEO Bob Iger informed a group of ABC employees that hackers had stolen one of the company’s movies.

The hackers allegedly informed the company that if a ransom was paid, then the copy would never see the light of day. Predictably, Disney refused to pay, the most sensible decision under the circumstances.

Although Disney didn’t name the ‘hacked’ film, it was named by Deadline as ‘Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales’. A week later, a video was published by the LA Times claiming that the movie was indeed the latest movie in the successful ‘Pirates’ franchise.

From the beginning, however, something seemed off. Having made an announcement about the ‘hack’ to ABC employees, Disney suddenly didn’t want to talk anymore, declining all requests for comment. That didn’t make much sense – why make something this huge public if you don’t want to talk about it?

With this and other anomalies nagging, TF conducted its own investigation and this Wednesday – a week and a half after Disney’s announcement and a full three weeks after the company was contacted with a demand for cash – we published our findings.

Our conclusion was that the ‘hack’ almost certainly never happened and, from the beginning, no one had ever spoken about the new Pirates film being the ‘hostage’. Everything pointed to a ransom being demanded for a non-existent copy of The Last Jedi and that the whole thing was a grand hoax.

Multiple publications tried to get a comment from Disney before Wednesday, yet none managed to do so. Without compromising our sources, TF also sent an outline of our investigation to the company to get to the bottom of this saga. We were ignored.

Then, out of the blue, one day after we published our findings, Disney chief Bob Iger suddenly got all talkative again. Speaking with Yahoo Finance, Iger confirmed what we suspected all along – it was a hoax.

“To our knowledge we were not hacked,” Iger said. “We had a threat of a hack of a movie being stolen. We decided to take it seriously but not react in the manner in which the person who was threatening us had required.”

Let’s be clear here, if there were to be a victim in all of this, that would quite clearly be Disney. The company didn’t ask to be hacked, extorted, or lied to. But why would a company quietly sit on a dubious threat for two weeks, then confidently make it public as fact but refuse to talk, only to later declare it a hoax under pressure?

That may never be known, but Disney and its colleagues sure managed to get some publicity and sympathy in the meantime.

Publications such as the LA Times placed the threat alongside the ‘North Korea’ Sony hack, the more recent Orange is the New Black leak, and the WannaCry ransomware attacks that plagued the web earlier this month.

“Hackers are seizing the content and instead of just uploading it, they’re contacting the studios and asking for a ransom. That is a pretty recent phenomenon,” said MPAA content protection chief Dean Marks in the same piece.

“It’s scary,” an anonymous studio executive added. “It could happen to any one of us.”

While that is indeed the case and there is a definite need to take things seriously, this particular case was never credible. Not a single person interviewed by TF believed that a movie was available. Furthermore, there were many signs that the person claiming to have the movie was definitely not another TheDarkOverlord.

In fact, when TF was investigating the leak we had a young member of a release group more or less laugh at us for wasting our time trying to find out of it was real or not. Considering its massive power (and the claim that the FBI had been involved) it’s difficult to conclude that Disney hadn’t determined the same at a much earlier stage.

All that being said, trying to hoax Disney over a fake leak of The Last Jedi is an extremely dangerous game in its own right. Not only is extortion a serious crime, but dancing around pre-release leaks of Star Wars movies is just about as risky as it gets.

In June 2005, after releasing a workprint copy of Star Wars: Episode 3, the FBI took down private tracker EliteTorrents in a blaze of publicity. People connected to the leak received lengthy jail sentences. The same would happen again today, no doubt.

It might seem like fun and games now, but people screwing with Disney – for real, for money, or both – rarely come out on top. If a workprint of The Last Jedi does eventually become available (and of course that’s always a possibility), potential leakers should consider their options very carefully.

A genuine workprint leak could prompt the company to go to war, but in the meantime, fake-based extortion attempts only add fuel to the anti-piracy fire – in Hollywood’s favor.

Source: TF, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, torrent sites and ANONYMOUS VPN services.