Founded a decade ago in 2006, SwePiracy grew to become one of the most famous private torrent sites on the Swedish scene. As such, it became a target for anti-piracy outfits.

In February 2012 following an investigation by anti-piracy group Antipiratbyrån (now Rights Alliance), police in Sweden and the Netherlands took coordinated action to shut down the site.

Earlier this year its now 25-year-old operator appeared in court to answer charges relating to the unlawful distribution of a sample 27 movies between March 2011 and February 2012. The prosecution demanded several years in prison and nearly $3 million (25k kronor) in damages.

During the trial last month, SwePiracy defense lawyer Per E. Samuelsson, who also represents Julian Assange and previously took part in The Pirate Bay trial, said the claims against his client were the most unreasonable he’d seen in his 35 years as a lawyer.

After deliberating for three weeks, the Norrköping District Court handed down its decision today. SwePiracy’s former operator was found guilty of copyright infringement but it appears the prosecution’s demands for extremely harsh punishment were largely dismissed.

The torrent site operator avoided a lengthy jail sentence and was sentenced to probation and 100 hours community service instead. The prosecution’s claim for damages was dramatically reduced from millions to ‘just’ $148,000, payable to movie outfit Nordisk Film. On top, the state confiscated $45,600 said to have been generated by SwePiracy.

While the sentence certainly could’ve been worse, it appears that the 25-year-old will still mount an appeal.

“I have been in contact with my client and we will appeal both the conviction and the issue of damages. He thinks that the court went high with the damages,” Per E. Samuelsson told IDG.

And it appears the prosecution aren’t happy with the outcome either. Henrik Pontén from Rights Alliance says that Nordisk Film may also appeal since the District Court failed to apply principles previously applied in the trial of The Pirate Bay.

The parties have until November 1 to file an appeal.

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

In the present day and age piracy is perhaps more scattered than it’s ever been.

Torrent sites, streaming services, cyberlockers, mobile apps, linking sites and many more are all labeled as infringing sources.

But, the piracy problem is not restricted to ‘shady’ sites and services alone. On many ‘legal’ platforms there’s a wide availability of copyright infringing material as well, YouTube included.

Despite the availability of fingerprinting technology in YouTube’s controversial Content-ID system, it’s very easy to find full copies of popular films on the site, as we’ve illustrated in the past.

This is also what an observant Dutch copyright holder discovered a few days ago. However, instead of merely issuing a takedown notice, the rightsholder contacted local anti-piracy outfit BREIN.

BREIN, which has a track record of going after pirate uploaders of all shapes and sizes, took immediate action. The group managed to trace the person behind the ‘anonymous’ YouTube account, who had promised viewers that he’d upload a new movie every week.

“BREIN managed to identify the anonymous uploader and forced him to cease his infringing activities,” the group writes, adding that YouTube uploaders may have to pay for their infringing activities.

“On YouTube, illegal uploaders should also be aware that they could face a cease and desist order with a penalty clause for future infringements, and a settlement amount for those committed in the past.”

In this case the infringer, who is described as a “young man”, was let off without having to pay any damages but BREIN adds that repeat infringers may not be as lucky.

“In this particular case we have settled without payment of compensation from the uploader, that will be different in case of repeat infringement,” BREIN director Tim Kuik informs TorrentFreak.

Although the anti-piracy group didn’t need YouTube to hand over the personal details of the uploader, BREIN says it can take the necessary legal action to do so if needed. Previously, they did the same with an eBook pirate who used Google Play.

This is not the first time that BREIN has targeted an individual uploader. Earlier this year it also focused on Pirate Bay and KickassTorrents uploaders, a prolific Usenet uploader, and a Facebook music pirate. These were all ordered to pay thousands of euros in damages.

While we don’t know the exact circumstances it’s possible that the YouTube uploader was a minor, which may explain the lack of a monetary settlement. For BREIN, however, the larger goal is to let pirates know that they are vulnerable, also on YouTube.

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

Responding to a request from the Office of the US Trade Representative (USTR), the MPAA has sent in its annual list of notorious markets.

In its latest submission the Hollywood group targets a wide variety of “rogue” sites and services which they claim are promoting the illegal distribution of movies and TV-shows, with declining incomes and lost jobs in the movie industry as a result.

“The criminals who profit from the most notorious markets throughout the world threaten the very heart of our industry and in so doing they threaten the livelihoods of the people who give it life,” the MPAA writes.

What’s new this year is that the MPAA calls out several hosting providers. These companies refuse to take pirate sites offline following complaints, even when the MPAA views them as blatantly violating the law.

“Hosting companies provide the essential infrastructure required to operate a website,” MPAA writes. “Given the central role of hosting providers in the online ecosystem, it is very concerning that many refuse to take action upon being notified.”

The Hollywood group specifically mentions Private Layer, Altushost and Netbrella, which are linked to various countries including the Netherlands, Panama, Sweden and Switzerland.

CDN provider CloudFlare is also named. As a US-based company it can’t be included in the list. However, MPAA explains that it is often used as an anonymization tool by sites and services that are mentioned in the report.

“An example of a CDN frequently exploited by notorious markets to avoid detection and enforcement is Cloudflare. CloudFlare is a CDN that also provides reverse proxy functionality. Reverse proxy functionality hides the real IP address of a web server.”

Stressing the importance of third-party services, the MPAA notes that domain name registrars can also be seen as possible “notorious markets.” As an example, the report mentions the Indian Public Domain Registry (PDR) which has repeatedly refused to take action against pirate sites.

At the heart of the MPAA’s report are as always the pirate sites themselves. This year they list 23 sites in separate categories, each with a suspected location, as defined by the movie industry group.

Torrent Sites

According to the MPAA, BitTorrent remains the most popular source of P2P piracy, despite the shutdowns of large sites such as KAT, Torrentz and YTS.

The Pirate Bay has traditionally been one of the main targets. Based on data from Alexa and SimilarWeb, the MPAA says that TPB has about 47 million unique visitors per month.

The MPAA writes that the site was hit by various enforcement actions in recent years. They also mistakenly suggest that the site is no longer the number one pirate site, but add that it gained traction after KAT and Torrentz were taken down.

“While it has never returned to its number one position, it has had a significant comeback after kat.cr and torrentz.eu went offline in 2016,” the MPAA writes.

ExtraTorrent is another prime target. The site offers millions of torrents and is affiliated with the Trust.Zone VPN, which they advertise on their site.

“Extratorrent.cc claims astonishing piracy statistics: offering almost three million free files with sharing optimized through over 64 million seeders and more than 39 million leechers.

“The homepage currently displays a message warning users to use a VPN when downloading torrents. Extratorrent.cc is affiliated with Trust.Zone,” MPAA adds.

The full list of reported torrent sites is as follows:

-1337x.to (Switzerland)
-Extratorrent.cc (Latvia)
-Rarbg.to (Bosnia and Herzegovina)
-Rutracker.org (Russia)
-ThePirateBay.org (Unknown)

Direct Download and Streaming Cyberlockers

The second category of pirate sites reported by the MPAA are cyberlockers. The movie industry group points out that these sites generate millions of dollars in revenue, citing a report from Netnames.

The “Movshare Group,” which allegedly operates Nowvideo.sx, Movshare.net, Novamov.com, Videoweed.es, Nowdownload.ch, Divxstage.to and several other pirate sites is a particularly large threat, they say.

As in previous submissions VKontakte, Russia’s equivalent of Facebook, is also listed as a notorious market.

-Allmyvideos.net (Netherlands)
-Nowvideo.sx and the “Movshare Group” (several locations)
-Openload.co (Netherlands)
-Rapidgator.net (Russia)
-Uploaded.net (Netherlands/Switzerland)
-VK.com (Russia)

Linking Websites

Finally, there are various linking websites, many of which focus on a foreign audience. These sites don’t host the infringing material, but only link to it. The full list of linking sites is as follows.

123movies.to (Unknown)
-Filmesonlinegratis.net (Brazil/Portugal)
-Kinogo.club (Netherlands)
-Movie4k.to (Russia)
-Newmovie-hd.com (Thailand)
-Pelis24.com (Spain/Mexico/Argentina/Venezuela/Peru/Chile)
-Primewire.ag (Switzerland)
-Projectfreetv.at (Romania)
-Putlocker.is (Switzerland/Vietnam)
-Repelis.tv (Mexico/Argentina/Spain/Peru/Venezuela)
-Watchseries.ac (France)

In its closing comments the Hollywood industry group calls on USTR and the U.S. government at large to help combat these threats, either directly or by encouraging foreign nations to take action.

“We strongly support efforts by the U.S. government to work with trading partners to protect and enforce intellectual property rights and, in so doing, protect U.S. jobs,” the MPAA concludes.

MPAA’s full submission is available here.

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

Following a joint investigation with licensing outfit PRS for Music, last September officers from PIPCU and Merseyside police raided an address in Everton, Liverpool.

Their target was a then 38-year-old man believed to be involved in the unlawful distribution of music online. It was claimed that in addition to uploading packs of the UK’s Top 40 Singles to various torrent sites each week, the man also ran his own website offering a capella versions.

Last month, the man at the center of the case appeared at Liverpool Magistrates’ Court for a preliminary hearing. Now 39-year-old Wayne Evans spoke only to confirm his personal details.

On Friday, Evans appeared again, this time at Liverpool Crown Court. He pleaded guilty to two counts of distributing an article infringing copyright and one of possessing or controlling an article for use in fraud.

As revealed by TF last year, Evans ran DeeJayPortal, a site specializing in a capella tracks and other DJ resources.

DeeJayPortal

However, what is still not being mentioned, even by the Police Intellectual Property Crime Unit, is that Evans was better known under another name.

For years, Evans referred to himself across various projects as OldSkoolScouse. Indeed, DeeJayPortal was originally launched under that name. But it was Evans’ presence on The Pirate Bay and KickassTorrents that will be perhaps most remembered online.

Each week under his OldSkoolScouse accounts, Evans uploaded a pack of the UK’s current Top 40 Singles. The more than 200 torrents he uploaded to KickassTorrents alone were extremely popular with fans.

According to various online profiles created by Evans over the years, the 39-year-old has a keen and long-standing interest in music.

“I’ve Been Dj’ing for about 20 years, started out doing the mobile discos, partys [sic], weddings that kinda thing for the first couple of years, then moved on into the clubs, and basically found my calling, been doing it ever since,” he wrote on a dating site three years ago.

Both DeeJayPortal.co.uk and OldSkoolScouse.co.uk currently display the familiar banner of PIPCU, both having been seized by the specialist copyright enforcement unit.

“This significant result highlights the issue of digital piracy and its profound effect on the music industry and individual artists whose work is being infringed,” says Detective Constable Steven Kettle, who was in charge of the case.

“Evans distributed Top 40 chart music and ‘a cappella’ music on a large scale causing significant losses to the industry and he now awaits sentencing. This investigation demonstrates PIPCUs commitment in tackling the complex issue of online piracy and the importance of working with our industry partners which includes PRS in achieving the strongest and most successful outcomes.”

Evans was granted unconditional bail and will return to court for sentencing November 11, 2016.

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

Graham Burke can be accused of many things but moderating his words is certainly not one of them.

The outspoken co-chief of media company Village Roadshow has been front and center of many of Australia’s movie piracy battles and has authored some of their most controversial comments.

Speaking at the 71st Australian International Movie Convention today, Burke continued the trend. He launched a fresh attack on Internet piracy, accusing pirate site operators of terrible crimes and site users of undermining the livelihoods of creators.

“Nothing is more important or urgent, as every day that passes tens of thousands of our movies are stolen and it is a devastating contagious plague,” a copy of Burke’s speech obtained by The Australian (subscription) reads.

According to the Village Roadshow chief, the main problem is the sites that facilitate this “theft”, which are not only extremely dangerous places to visit but are run by equally dangerous people.

“We are sending our kids to very dangerous online neighborhoods — the pirates are not good guys,” Burke said.

“These aren’t roguish, basement-dwelling computer geeks — these are the same type of people that sell heroin.”

Describing pirate site operators as often having connections to “organised, international crime syndicates”, Burke warned that they only care about revenue, making “tens of millions blitzing our kids with [high-risk] advertising.”

Interestingly, Burke said that nearly three-quarters of people acknowledge that piracy is theft but noted that many downloaders are unaware that what they are doing is “wrong” because government inaction means that “dangerous” pirate sites are still open for business.

“In our research we repeatedly come across people who have not been told [piracy is wrong and is theft], and assume from continued practice, that it is socially and legally acceptable, and that it does no harm or that their individual activity won’t make any difference,” he said.

“People wouldn’t go into a 7-Eleven and swipe a Mars bar. People are fundamentally honest and fundamentally decent.”

But with site-blocking and making more content legally available only part of the solution, the Village Roadshow chief says his company has decided that taking action against the public is now required. Repeat infringers, Burke says, will now be subjected to legal action.

“We are planning to pursue our legal rights to protect our copyright by suing repeat infringers — not for a king’s ransom but akin to the penalty for parking a car in a loading zone,” ABC reports.

“If the price of an act of thievery is set at say AUS$300 (US$228), we believe most people will think twice.”

While it’s too early to estimate exactly how many Aussie pirates might be caught up in the dragnet, it’s fair to say the numbers could be considerable. Mad Max: Fury Road, a Village Roadshow produced movie, is said to have been illegally downloaded 3.5 million times. Australia has a population of around 23.5 million.

However, the age group of people said to be carrying out much of the pirating presents a problem. Burke says that piracy among adults has dropped in the past year due to the availability of services such as Netflix. However, the growing threat appears to come from a much younger age group.

“There has been some decline in piracy amongst Australian adults in the last year and part of this is due to new streaming services … which demonstrates that when product is legally available, this is a critical factor,” Burke said.

“However, before we get too comfortable by this decline in total piracy, the emphasis on movies is worse and illegal online activity of 12 to 17-year-old Australians has almost doubled since last year — with a whopping 31 per cent pirating movies.”

And there lies the dilemma. While Burke thinks that fines might be the answer to further reducing piracy among the adult population, he’s going to have a crisis on his hands if he starts targeting his big problem group – children. Kids can be sued in Australia but that sounds like a horrible proposition that will only undermine the campaign’s goals.

Whoever his company ‘fines’ or goes on to sue, Burke says the money accrued will go back into education campaigns to further reduce piracy. It’s a model previously employed by the RIAA, who eventually abandoned the strategy.

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