Opponents of website blocking often argue that it’s ineffective, as people have many options to circumvent censorship.

We have seen examples of this in the past when courts ordered popular torrent sites such as The Pirate Bay and KickassTorrents to be blocked.

Last week, the Internet witnessed one of the broadest website blockades in history. With a single order the Indian Government blocked millions of people from accessing popular porn sites.

The authorities argued that the sites threaten the morality and decency of Indians but following a public revolt the Government lifted the ban after just a few days.

Since the measures affected millions of Internet users we decided to take a look at the effects the blockade had on interest in circumvention tools such as VPNs and proxies. With help from Google trends, we can show that it was quite significant.

As soon as the blocks became active searches for “VPN” spiked in India, as shown in the graph below.

VPN search trends in India (90 days)

Similarly, Indian searches for “proxy,” referring to proxy sites that allow users to bypass ISPs blockades, went up as well.

Based on these two search trends it is safe to say that even if the Indian Government had decided to keep the porn ban intact, it’s effectiveness would be rather limited.

Proxy search trends in India (90 days)

The response to India’s censorship efforts are another shining example of how Internet users find ways to bypass access restrictions in the Internet. Whether it’s porn or torrents, people usually find a way.

To quote John Gilmore once again: “The Net interprets censorship as damage and routes around it.”

Proof of the ineffectiveness of Pirate Bay blockades was previously highlighted by several Dutch and UK Internet providers. Similarly, an Italian study found that local blocking efforts moved traffic to other pirate sites.

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

In little more than a year Popcorn Time has become a household name on the Internet.

The software amassed millions of users by offering BitTorrent-powered streaming in an easy-to-use Netflix-style interface.

A relatively small percentage of these users are aware of the bumpy start it had in 2014. A few weeks after its launch the original app was shut down by the original developers, facing pressure from Hollywood.

However, due to its open source nature the project was quickly picked up by others. This resulted in several popular forks that have each developed their own features, with most releasing their source code in public.

Over the past several months there has been some competition between the various forks. Several spin–offs have claimed the name “Popcorn Time” but thus far none have been endorsed in any way by the original team.

That changed today when some members of the original project began backing the popular PopcornTime.io client. Starting a few hours ago the original getpopcornti.me domain name was redirected to popcorntime.io.

The developers of the fork, who are still in contact with some of the founding members, are happy with this recognition.

“We recently went from the ‘unofficial official’ to just simply the ‘official’ Popcorn Time,” KsaRedFx announces.

“This doesn’t mean that the old developers have come back; They definitely have not… But it does mean that we have the backing and support from some of the original members,” he adds.

Aside from a seal of approval, nothing will change. The “official” fork will continue to operate from the .io domain and the original domain name remains in control of Popcorn Time’s founder.

“We won’t change from our current domain. In fact we don’t own the old Popcorn Time one, it’s just a redirect to our .io,” KsaRedFx tells TF.

It’s unclear whether all the founding members are backing the endorsement, but the redirect shows that some prefer the .io variant, perhaps because some of the fork’s developers also worked with the original crew.

Endorsement or not, it’s still up to the public to decide which variant they want to use. At the moment popcorntime.io and popcorn-time.se appear to be the preferred options and both have millions of users.

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

For almost two years City of London Police have been working with the music and movie industries to cut down on the consumption of pirated content online.

“Operation Creative” employs a multi-pronged approach, seeking to educate consumers while disrupting individuals and groups that operate unlicensed services. Sometimes engagement with site owners is enough for them to reconsider their ways but when that fails, police employ several other strategies.

One approach is to disrupt advertising revenue to sites that have been placed on the Infringing Website List (IWL), a database of sites that police and copyright holders have deemed to breach copyright law. In one such action, last year the Police Intellectual Property Unit placed warning ads on IWL sites to deter would-be downloaders.

After encouraging UK-based companies to avoid placing ads on listed ‘pirate’ sites, City of London Police have today reported progress in their efforts to cut off sites from their sources of revenue.

“Since the Police Intellectual Property Crime Unit (PIPCU) launched Operation Creative and the Infringing Website List (IWL) in 2013, there has been a 73% decrease in advertising from the UK’s top ad spending companies on copyright infringing websites,” the unit announced this morning.

While an almost three quarters reduction makes good headlines, the announcement is somewhat lacking in detail. For example, PIPCU doesn’t specify whether 73% fewer impressions are appearing on ‘pirate’ sites, or whether the top spending ad companies have reduced their spend with ‘infringing’ sites by the same amount.

Furthermore, the sample appears pretty small. According to the BBC, PIPCU used the services of WhiteBullet, which surveyed the ads placed on just 17 sites over a 12-week period between June and September 2013 and again between March and June 2015.

Stopping short of praising other industries, City of London Police says that advertising from the automotive, food and drink, and real estate sectors, has “almost entirely stopped appearing” on pirate sites.

The progress was welcomed by the head of PIPCU, Detective Chief Inspector Peter Ratcliffe.

“Working closely with rights holders and the advertising industry, PIPCU has been able to lead the way with tackling copyright infringing sites by successfully disrupting advertising revenue,” Ratcliffe said.

“Operation Creative and our Infringing Website List (IWL) is just one of the many ways we are working together with the private sector to safeguard the public, protect the creative industries and ensure the reputation of advertisers and brands are not discredited through association with illegal websites.”

Minister for Intellectual Property Baroness Lucy Neville-Rolfe noted the achievements while underlining the importance of collaboration.

“The results of Operation Creative show what can be achieved when enforcement agencies, industry and government work together,” Neville-Rolfe said.

“I am delighted PIPCU are clamping down on advertising of things like pop music and gambling on copyright infringing sites – protecting our industries and consumers from online crime.”

PIPCU “clamping down” on the advertising of pop music on pirate sites is a curious one, not least since the recording industry are fully signed up members of Operation Creative. That said, gambling advertising is an entirely different matter, with some of the UK’s best known gambling organizations still regularly placing huge ads on many of the world’s leading torrent sites, despite PIPCU’s efforts.

While PIPCU and the government appear to be encouraged by their progress thus far, the big question is whether ‘pirate’ sites are now struggling not only to find advertisers, but also those prepared to pay a decent rate. That will presumably become more evident in the months to come but if Operation Creative is really as effective as PIPCU would have us believe, cash-strapped sites should eventually throw in the towel.

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

Working on behalf of several prominent copyright holders, piracy monetization firm Rightscorp sends tends of thousands of DMCA notices to U.S. ISPs every month.

Unlike notices sent by most other copyright holders, Rightscorp’s also include a settlement proposal, offering alleged downloaders an option to pay off their “debt.”

Most larger ISPs don’t forward the settlement requests. For example, Comcast strips the payment information and simply notifies the subscriber of the infringement, like a regular DMCA takedown notice would.

However, this doesn’t mean that these users are off the hook. Rightscorp just announced that it has partnered with the Massachusetts lawfirm Flynn Wirkus Young, who want to take repeated infringers to court.

According to Rightscorp CEO Christopher Sabec the lawsuits will focus on those users who ignore Rightscorp’s notices and settlement requests.

“Under this agreement, we will be forwarding data on internet subscribers who have been sent Rightscorp notices and who have not accepted rights holders’ offers of settlement.”

“Flynn Wirkus Young has already filed several cases based on our data and this partnership will greatly expand the number of cases filed,” he adds.

Earlier this year the lawfirm launched the first cases based on Rightscorp data. These lawsuit were filed on behalf of Rotten Records and targeted Comcast users, among others.

Flynn Wirkus Young attorney Jordan Rushie informs TF that piracy is a huge problem for the entertainment industry. Even though there are plenty of legal options many people continue to pirate.

“It’s baffling to us that people still steal copyrighted content off the internet, given how easily available it is from places like iTunes, Netflix, and Amazon.com,” Rushie tells us.

According to Rushie, Rightscorp’s notices have some effect. However, some of the most egregious copyright infringers need an extra push.

“Unfortunately, there are repeat infringers who do not get the message, even after Rightscorp sends them notices. They receive hundreds, and in some cases even thousands, of notices from Rightscorp.”

“We have found that the only way to deter some of the most notorious infringers is through litigation,” Rushie adds.

For Rightscorp the deal has several advantages. The company adds another revenue stream, which is much-needed to pull it out of the red. In addition, the lawsuits may be instrumental as a deterrent, boosting the number of direct settlements.

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

For the past several years Russia has been making increased efforts to protect content creators. This includes a legal process through which copyright holders can obtain a blocking injunction against sites that are unresponsive to takedown demands.

On August 6, 2015, Warner Bros. filed such a lawsuit at the Moscow City Court in an effort to stop (or at least limit) the unlawful distribution of the movie Entourage. The action targeted 16 separate torrent sites including one of Russia’s most popular, Rutor.org.

The sites had previously been approached to delete the infringing content as Russian law requires but according to a source close to Warner cited by Vedomosti, all failed to respond.

A day later on August 8, the Court upheld Warner’s claims and initiated provisional interim measures against the pages of the sites from where Entourage was being distributed.

This represents the first time that a U.S. based movie company has used Russia’s anti-piracy blocking system directly without enlisting the assistance of a local rightsholder. Nevertheless, Warner did get some help in court from local anti-piracy outfit WebKontrol.

“Warner wants viewers who want to see the movie, to see it in theaters in the best quality, not via a poor-quality illegal copy,” WebKontrol lawyer Lina Gevorgyan told Vedomosti.

“Ultimately, we hope that these sites will comply with Russian law and remove the illegal content.”

The full list of sites affected by the Warner injunction is Bobfilm.net, Kinozadrot.net, Kinokrad.net, Kinomassa.net, BigCinema.tv, My-hit.org, NNM-Club.me, Tushkan.net, Kino-Serial.net, Kinozal.tv, Kinoprosmotr.net, Kinogo.co, Wood-Film.ru, Zerkalo-Rutor.org, 8films.net and Rutor.org.

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