The EU Commission is currently working on proposals for the modernization of copyright with the aim of providing a framework more suited to the digital age.

The EU’s plan was set to go public exactly a month from today but just before the weekend IPKat said it had obtained a leaked copy of the draft communication from a ‘Brussels insider’.

“EU copyright rules need to be adapted so that all market players and citizens can seize the opportunities of this new environment. A more European framework is needed to overcome fragmentation and frictions within a functioning single market,” the leaked draft reads.

The document, which could be subject to change before its release next month, advises that the Commission will issue legislative proposals for content portability during the Spring of 2016.

“As a first step, the Commission is presenting together with this Communication a proposal for a regulation on the ‘portability’ of online content services, to ensure that users who have subscribed to or acquired content in their home country can access it when they are temporarily in another Member State,” the report reads.

But in addition to making life easier for citizens, the Commission also wants to make life more difficult for pirates. Noting that creative rights have little value if they cannot be enforced, the Commission calls for a “balanced civil enforcement system” to enable copyright holders to fight infringement more cheaply and across borders.

“A ‘follow-the-money’ approach, which sees the involvement of different types of intermediary service providers, seems to be a particularly promising method that the Commission and Member States have started to apply in certain areas,” the draft reads.

“It can deprive those engaging in commercial infringements of the revenue streams (for example from consumer payments and advertising) emanating from their illegal activities, and therefore act as a deterrent.”

On this front the Commission says it intends to take immediate action to set up a “self-regulatory mechanism” with a view to reaching agreement next spring. While voluntary, the EU says the mechanism can be backed up by force if necessary.

“Codes of conduct at EU level could be backed by legislation, as required to ensure their full effectiveness,” the draft notes.

By the fall of next year the Commission says it will have assessed its options in respect of an amended legal framework covering a number of enforcement issues. No additional details are provided but one of the key items in the draft concerns the rules for the identification of infringers.

The document also highlights a need to address “the (cross-border) application of provisional and precautionary measures and injunctions”. Clarification is needed, but this appears to be a reference to EU-wide site blocking.

Furthermore, the EU indicates it will examine the rules for copyright takedowns and the potential for illicit content to be taken down and remain down.

“The Commission is also carrying out a comprehensive assessment and a public consultation on online platforms, which also covers ‘notice and action’ mechanisms and the issue of action remaining effective over time (the ‘take down and stay down’ principle),” the draft reads.

Finally, Julia Reda MEP is raising alarms over the Commission’s intent to clarify the legal definition of ‘communication to the public’ and of ‘making available’.

“The Commission is considering putting the simple act of linking to content under copyright protection,” Reda writes.

“This idea flies in the face of both existing interpretation and spirit of the law as well as common sense. Each weblink would become a legal landmine and would allow press publishers to hold every single actor on the Internet liable.”

The full document can be downloaded here.

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

As previously reported, huge Russian torrent site RuTracker has been having some serious legal issues with copyright holders, not least the music industry.

Labels including Sony, Universal, Warner and EMI want the tracker to stop infringing their copyrights. This, or face being blocked by Russian ISPs – for eternity.

After the filing of a lawsuit at the Moscow City Court last month, RuTracker was faced with a dilemma. On the one hand the site could delete around 320,000 torrents to comply with the labels’ wishes. On the other they could leave the content intact and face a ban.

Late last month the site polled its members and the response was clear. While 33% were prepared to delete the torrents, 67% said no way, voting in favor of accepting a blockade and then circumventing it.

At the time of writing 983,400 people have voted, all of them members for at least one month to avoid rigging. RuTracker’s operators believe this could be one of the biggest online votes in the entire history of the Russian Internet.

But RuTracker’s problems aren’t only with the music industry. Earlier, local publishing giant ‘Eksmo‘ also filed a legal complaint after content wasn’t quickly removed from the site.

So with defiance on the table the Court had a simple decision to make. Given that it agrees that RuTracker isn’t removing copyrighted content as it should, Russian law now allows for strict measures to be taken against the site. Earlier this morning that’s exactly what happened.

After repeatedly infringing Eksmo’s rights, the Moscow City Court handed down an order which instructs local ISPs to block RuTracker, forever. The site is currently still accessible in Russia and will remain so for at least the next 30 days, a period in which the site will have an opportunity to consider its options.

On the one hand RuTracker could appeal the decision, although considering the polling of its users on the music matter and the desire of the majority not to delete torrents, that seems unlikely. On the other it has a month to train its Russian users on how to access the site after a blockade, whether that’s through Tor, VPNs, proxies, or other similar tools.

Not only does the latter seem more likely, RuTracker has just made a historic move which will allow new users of the site, wherever they may be, to access it much more easily.

Previously, users needed an account to use the site, which wasn’t really a problem for those who can speak Russian. However, RuTracker has now removed the need to sign up, meaning that anyone with a browser and Google translate can easily find content in the site’s forums and download it by clicking on a link.

For now unregistered users can only download via magnet links but with users of most torrent sites already prepared with a compatible client, that’s unlikely to provide much of an obstacle.

Even more simply, RuTracker’s forums are all indexed by Google and since the titles of English language content appear in English, a “site:rutracker.org” search is an extremely easy option.

Add this to the fact that Google receives relatively few takedown requests for the domain, RuTracker could quickly gain more popularity outside Russia. That is not what the book publishers or major record companies had in mind when they pressed for a national and permanent blockade against this enduring torrent site.

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

This week we have three newcomers in our chart.

Ant Man 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 BD/DVDrips unless stated otherwise.

RSS feed for the weekly movie download chart.

Ranking	(last week)	Movie	IMDb Rating / Trailer
torrentfreak.com
1	(…)	Ant-Man (Webrip)	7.7 / trailer
2	(1)	The Man from U.N.C.L.E.	7.5 / trailer
3	(2)	Inside Out	8.4 / trailer
4	(…)	Maze Runner: The Scorch Trials (Subbed HDrip)	6.8 / trailer
5	(4)	Everest (Subbed HDRip)	7.3 / trailer
6	(…)	The Assassin	6.8 / trailer
7	(5)	No Escape	6.9 / trailer
8	(3)	Hitman Agent 47 (HDRip)	5.9 / trailer
9	(7)	Minions	6.5 / trailer
10	(6)	Southpaw	7.6 / trailer

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

After reporting on thousands of file-sharing related stories around the globe for almost ten years, the folks here at TF have a ‘feel’ for how certain scenarios play out. With that in mind, something doesn’t feel right with the ongoing drama involving YTS / YIFY.

When sites as big as YTS get taken down by the MPAA, RIAA, or their partners around the world, these organizations usually order their PR departments to repeatedly bash the big button marked “CONGRATULATIONS TO US”. Yet for weeks following the YTS shut down there was complete silence.

Details of the multi-million dollar lawsuit supposedly filed in New Zealand are nowhere to be found either. And if one was expecting the usual “Shut down by ICE/FBI/DELTA FORCE” banner to appear on YTS.to instead of the usual YIFY movie rips, then there’s only disappointment there too.

Ok, the MPAA have this week admitted they’re behind the shutdown, but the way it’s being handled is extremely puzzling. The announcement from MPAA chief Chris Dodd was muted to say the least and the somewhat compulsory gloating at having taken down one of the world’s most important piracy sites is almost non-existent.

This is odd for a number of reasons, not least when one considers the nature and scale of the operation. YIFY / YTS released as many as five thousand copies of mainstream movies onto the Internet. Between them they were shared dozens of millions of times, at least. Over the past decade those kinds of numbers – and a lot less – have seen people jailed for up to five years in the United States and elsewhere.

Yet according to credible sources the operator of YTS – a 21-year-old who for unknown reasons isn’t even being named – has already settled his beef with the MPAA. This, despite running a site that has been repeatedly listed as a worldwide notorious market in the USTR’s Special 301 Report.

Of course, the operator of YTS isn’t in the United States, he’s in New Zealand, but geographical boundaries are rarely an issue for Hollywood. Take the drama surrounding Kim Dotcom and his former site Megaupload, for example.

Like the operator of YTS, Dotcom also lives in New Zealand. Importantly, it’s never been claimed that Dotcom uploaded anything illegal to the Internet (let alone thousands of movies) yet he was subjected to a commando-like raid on his home by dozens of armed police. He’s also facing extradition to the United States where he faces decades in jail.

Now, think of the flamboyant Dotcom what you will. Then feel relieved for the admin of YTS, who by many accounts is a thoroughly nice guy and has somehow managed to save his own skin, despite providing much of the content for global phenomenon Popcorn Time.

But then try to get a handle on how differently these two people are being treated after allegedly committing roughly the same offenses in exactly the same country. One case is still dragging on after almost four years, with tens of millions spent on lawyers and no end in sight. The other was a done deal inside four weeks.

Earlier this week TorrentFreak spoke with Kim Dotcom who told us he’d been following the YTS story in the media. Intrigued, we wanted to know – how does it feel to be raked over the coals for close to four years, have all your property seized, face extradition and decades in jail, while someone just up the road can walk away relatively unscathed from what would’ve been a slam-dunk case for the MPAA?

“It’s a double standard isn’t it?” Dotcom told TF.

“I think our case has chilled law enforcement and Hollywood against pursuing the criminal route in cases such as this. Quick civil settlements seem to be the new way to go.”

Dotcom may well be right and the fact that New Zealand already has a massive headache because of his case may well have been a factor in the decision not to make a huge example of the YTS operator. At the moment no one is talking though, and it’s entirely possible that no one ever will.

That makes a case like this all the more unsettling. Are we witnessing Hollywood’s ability to switch on a massive overseas law enforcement response in one case and then reel in the United States government in another? It’s worth saying again – YTS was a ‘notorious market’ in the eyes of the USTR yet apparently that be dealt with privately these days.

But with all that being said, it is quite possible that the U.S. government has learned lessons from its heavy-handed actions in 2012 and doesn’t want to repeat them again, least of all in New Zealand, a country whose judges must be growing tired of the Dotcom debacle.

“As the DOJ admitted the Megaupload case is a test case. The test isn’t going well for them,” Dotcom concludes.

And for that the guy behind YTS must be thanking his lucky stars.

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

The Internet is littered with torrent indexes and search engines, all offering a wide range of content to their visitors.

For this content to travel from A to B the BitTorrent ecosystem needs reliable trackers. Sadly, good public torrent trackers are a rarity these days.

Earlier this year OpenBitTorrent and PublicBitTorrent disappeared for good, and the same is about to happen to Demonii. This means that all trackers with more than 30 million active peers are gone.

So who will fill this gap? Running a large standalone tracker doesn’t come cheap, but this week we spotted a worthy contender.

To our surprise, the largest telecoms company in Kazakhstan is running a fully functioning tracker powered the well-known Opentracker software.

Kazakhtelecom, which has the local Government as a majority shareholder, can certainly afford to run it. The company has a yearly revenue of half a billion U.S. dollars.

At the time of writing the ISP already tracks 461,274 torrents, coordinating the transfers of more than 2.5 million people worldwide. The tracker can be used by anyone and supports both http and udp connections.

The retracker.telecom.kz:80/announce URL appears in torrents of all shapes and sizes and had been in use for at least a few months.

It’s not clear whether the ISP’s higher level management is aware of the tracker, or if it was configured by a torrent-friendly employee, but for now it works just fine.

The connection to the Kazakh Government may become a problem though, since peer-to-peer services and torrent trackers are not allowed under current law. Whether the Government will enforce that policy against itself has yet to be seen.

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