In October 2013, Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) agents received information from PayPal concerning two ‘pirate’ websites, Noobroom.com and Noobroom7.com.

For a fee, the sites allowed subscribers to stream movies and TV shows, which was of particular interest to the MPAA. Their investigation concluded that the platforms distributed works in breach of their members’ copyrights.

In July the following year, the MPAA sent a cease-and-desist notice to Noobroom but within days, the site shifted its users to a new site, SuperChillin.com. The MPAA determined that the platforms – plus another pair named as Movietv.co and SitPlay.com – were operated by Oregon resident Talon White.

With White under suspicion of copyright and money laundering offenses, last November a magistrate judge in Oregon approved a search and seizure warrant targeting millions in cash and cryptocurrency.

On Monday, the Department of Justice revealed that after netting more than $8 million from his piracy activities, Talon had pleaded guilty to one count each of criminal copyright infringement and tax evasion.

According to the Department of Justice, White underreported his income by more than $4.4 million from 2013 through 2017, resulting in a willful underpayment of $1.9 million in taxes.

The penalties faced by White are severe. On top of a potential five years in prison, a $250,000 fine, and three years’ supervised release on each of the two charges, the financial implications are already massive.

White has entered into a plea agreement which will see him forfeit $3.9 million seized from his bank accounts, $35,000 in cash, cryptocurrency worth around $424,000, plus his home in Oregon, currently valued at $415,000.

On top, he must pay $669,557 in restitution to the MPAA and $3,392,708 in restitution, which includes penalties and interest, to the IRS.

White will be sentenced on February 21, 2020, before U.S. District Court Judge Ann L. Aiken. In the meantime, however, the case raises additional interest in at least two other directions.

A case revealed at the weekend in New Zealand appears to have some similarities with White’s. Both involve a pirate movie site in the US, both received a PayPal referral for suspicious activity, and both resulted in the seizure of large volumes of cash and cryptocurrency.

Finally, the involvement of the IRS in a criminal copyright infringement case raises questions about what lies ahead for Gears Reloaded founder Omar Carrasquillo, aka YouTube OMI IN A HELLCAT.

Last week, he reported that he’d been raided by several FBI officers and a single IRS agent who seized “pretty much everything”, including millions of dollars, a huge car collection, and a large collection of jewelry. Ever since he’s been posting videos on the topic, one of which included a brief glimpse of a purported search a seizure warrant issued by a court in Pennsylvania.

Carrasquillo insists that what he did in respect of IPTV isn’t a crime in the United States but concedes that he didn’t pay his taxes in a timely manner and he’s learned his lesson. He hopes that the money seized will cover his back taxes but still expects to spend some time in prison.

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Two weeks ago Canada’s Federal Court approved the first pirate site blockade in the country.

Following a complaint from major media companies Rogers, Bell and TVA, the Court ordered several major ISPs to block access to domains and IP-addresses of the pirate IPTV service GoldTV.

While the service in question has a relatively modest number of users, the order paves the way for additional site blocking requests that may target traditional pirate sites as well.

This is exactly what major rightsholders have extensively lobbied for in the past. After a request for a national pirate site blocking scheme was denied last year, the media companies have now accomplished this goal through the courts.

Most Internet providers, which include Bell and Rogers as well, haven’t objected to the request. However, there’s one that’s pushing back. According to TekSavvy, site blocking will do more harm than good and the company filed an official appeal yesterday.

“We are very concerned about what the federal court’s new site-blocking regime means for the open Internet as a whole,” says Andy Kaplan-Myrth TekSavvy’s vice-president of regulatory affairs.

TekSavvy argues that the Federal Court reached the wrong conclusion and asked for the order to be set aside. One of the problems, according to the ISP, is that the Court heavily relied on a UK ruling, instead of merely following Canadian law.

The ISP further highlights that it runs counter to Canada’s Net Neutrality principles.

“[The order] is based on foreign law, and it clearly violates Network Neutrality, without giving any serious consideration to that fundamental principle of communications law in Canada,” Kaplan-Myrth tells TorrentFreak.

“If it is allowed to stand, this site-blocking order will be just the first of many, undermining the open Internet to protect the profits and business models of a handful of powerful media conglomerates,” he adds.

TekSavvy is the only ISP to file an appeal but, outside court, there has been strong opposition from others. Canadian law professor Michael Geist, for example, has criticized the ruling, arguing that the Government should weigh in on such a crucial matter.

“In reviewing the GoldTV ruling, it is obvious that site blocking raises so many issues that it requires a government policy decision, not a single judge making a myriad of policy calls,” Geist noted.

Meanwhile, the Federal Court’s order has already resulted in the first blocks. Several people are reporting that their ISPs have started to roll out the restrictions already. This includes Rogers, Fido, Bell Aliant, and SaskTel.

It’s clear that rightsholders are pleased with the blocking ruling, so they are expected to fiercely defend it at the Federal Court of Appeal. Given the controversy around the site-blocking topic, it would be no surprise if other interested parties will have their say in court as well.

 —

A copy of TekSavvy’s Notice of Appeal, filed at the Canadian Federal Court of Appeal, is available here (pdf).

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Earlier this year, several major music companies sued Charter Communications, one of the largest Internet providers in the US with 22 million subscribers.

Helped by the RIAA, Capitol Records, Warner Bros, Sony Music, and others accused Charter of deliberately turning a blind eye to its pirating subscribers.

Due to the wider implications the case may have, it’s followed closely by industry groups and legal experts. Two weeks ago, a group of 23 copyright law professors decided to step in, asking the court to hear their opinions which are outlined in a so-called amicus curiae brief.

The professors specifically object to a recent recommendation by a Colorado magistrate judge, which advised not to dismiss the vicarious liability claims for copyright infringement.

According to the judge, Charter’s failure to take other action in response to copyright infringement notices acted as a ‘draw’ to current and prospective subscribers, who would want to use the service in order to pirate.

This argument puts all ISPs at “unprecedented” risk, the professors warned in response. The same is true for Internet subscribers, who may face more privacy-invasive monitoring policies or lose their Internet access based on one-sided warnings.

While Charter is certainly pleased with the support, the music companies aren’t. A few days ago they asked the court not to accept the brief from the professors, suggesting that they may not be neutral and don’t bring anything new to the table.

The music companies first point out that the professors are not “disinterested” parties. Some of them may, directly or indirectly, have a vested interest in the outcome of the case.

“For example, one of the Proposed Amici is the Chairperson of the Board of the Electronic Frontier Foundation (‘EFF’), a nonprofit digital rights group that often advocates against the interests of copyright owners,” the music companies write.

“At a minimum, the Proposed Amici should be required to disclose any employment, consultancy, or other relationships with defendants and other parties that may have interests in the outcome of this action,” they add.

According to the rightsholders, Charter is capable enough to make the same arguments itself. In fact, many of the arguments made by the professors are similar to those the ISP already brought up, they say.

Finally, the music companies point out that several of the arguments raised by the copyright professors are not directly related to copyright law. Instead, they relate to the appropriate federal pleading standards, which isn’t their expertise.

“Copyright professors are not professors of civil procedure, they do not
study the intricacies of federal pleading standards, and they offer no specialized insight into the implications of Twombly, Iqbal, and the like.

“Accordingly, the Proposed Amici offer only a weak and redundant opinion on a subject about which the Court and the parties are well-versed,” the music companies add.

All in all, it’s clear that the music companies don’t want the copyright professors to have their say. It’s now up to the Colorado Federal Court to decide whether they can or not. After that, it must decide if the magistrate judge’s recommendations will be adopted.

—

A copy of the music companies’ submission is available here (pdf).

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Despite a clear decrease in momentum in the UK in recent times, site-blocking remains a favored anti-piracy tool in many countries around the world.

Companies exploiting the Australian market seem convinced that the practice is good for business, as a brand new blocking application filed at the Federal Court shows. First reported by ComputerWorld, it features a broad coalition of movie, TV show, and anime companies, all of whom have previous blocking experience in Australia.

To keep the ‘feel’ of the application as local as possible, it’s no surprise that Roadshow Films is the lead applicant, despite having just one movie (The Lego Movie) listed in court documents. The remaining 11 include Disney, Paramount, Columbia, Universal, Warner and Netflix, plus Hong Kong-based broadcaster Television Broadcasts Limited and anime distributor Madman Anime.

With the companies involved having trod the blocking injunction path many times before, the application itself now takes a very familiar form. It demands that 50 local ISPs including Telstra, Optus, TPG and Vodafone block a wide range of ‘pirate’ sites. In terms of content, however, this is one of the broadest applications yet.

In Australia legal-speak, pirate sites of all kinds are referred to as “Target Online Locations” (TOL), of which there are 87 (identified by their domains) in the current application.

There are several categories of ‘TOL’ – streaming platforms, download platforms, linking sites (including torrent sites), sites that offer software that allows streaming or downloads, those that provide subtitles for copyright works, plus sites that offer proxy access to pirate sites.

Some notable inclusions are the community-resurrected KickassTorrents site operating from Katcr.co, plus some less than authentic Kickass clones operating from around half a dozen additional URLs.

The same goes for a range of domains trading on the SolarMovie, YIFY and YTS brands, without being connected to the original sites. In fact, many domains listed in the application follow this copycat theme, including those featuring 123movies, Primewire, CouchTuner, Putlocker, WatchFree, ProjectFreeTV, and YesMovies-style wording.

An interesting addition is that of getpopcorntime.is. This isn’t the original Popcorn Time app download site but does offer a variant of the software that can be used to gain access to movies and TV shows. However, the domain itself doesn’t offer any infringing content, or any links to the same.

Subtitle download sites, including TVSubtitles.net and MSubs.net, are included in the application. These types of platforms were previously the topic of debate in a previous application but the court eventually conceded they can indeed be blocked.

In a sign of how far the net is now being cast (most of the major pirate sites are already blocked in Australia), this application also features Russian torrent giant Rutor.info and China-focused btbtdy.me. Both of these sites have plenty of alternative domains so blocking just these two is unlikely to achieve much.

Finally, no blocking application would be complete without an effort to block all the ‘proxy’ sites that have the sole purpose of facilitating access to sites blocked as a result of previous injunctions. The problem in respect of these proxies seems to be considerable, with at least 13 of the 87 domains in this application falling into that category.

—

The full list of domains requested for blocking is as follows:

Proxyportal.org, proxyportal.ws, mrunlock.space, nocensor.casa, nocensor.fun, unblockproject.icu, unblockproject.info, 123unblock.fun, 123unblock.icu, prox4you.pro, prox4you.info, unblocked.to, prostylex.org, torrents.io, katcr.co, katcr.to, kikass.to, kat.sx, kickass.sx, kickass1.to, kat.ag, ibit.to, onionplay.eu, onionplaynetwork.xyz, onionplay.co, p30download.com, torrentquest.com, rutor.info, btbtdy.me, lookmovie.ag, 037hdd.com, cuevana3.co, exsite24.pl, downduck.com, downloadha.com, emotionvideo-tv.com, movieon21.xyz, modufree.net, j20.hitjjal.com, phim33.com, tfp.is, tvsubtitles.net, msubs.net, dytt8.net, ttdytt.net, fast-torrent.ru, heroturko.net, imovies.cc, imovies.ge, getpopcorntime.is, toxicwap.com, english-films.com, topeuropix.net, topeuropix.com, poseidonhd.co, anakbnet.com, moviesjoy.net, filmlicious.net, proxybit.pro, 123movies.love, 1primewire.com, movies.cab, putlocker.digital, solarmoviefree.net, solarmovie.net, yifyddl.movie, yify.yt, yify-films.net, yifytorrentz.net, yifymovietorrent.com, ytsdownload.com, movie4k.ag, fmovies.org, 5movies.cloud, couchtuner2.com, couchtuner123.com, couchtuner.watch, couchtuner0.com, 1watchfree.me, putlockerstoworld2.com, putlocker.actor, zmz2019.com, m4ufree.tv, them4ufree.info, projectfreetv.xyz, yesmovies.gg, yesmovies.ai, yesmovies.cloud, 99kubo.tv, cayphim.net, dramacool.video, gimy.tv, kenh88.com, yeuphimmoi.com, Anime-sharing.com, Tokyotosho.info, animetosho.org, animebam.net, animebam.se, animelon.com, animejolt.com, project-gxs.com, eyeonanime.tv, animehd47.com, animereborn.io

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This week we have four newcomers in our chart.

Gemini 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 Web-DL/Webrip/HDRip/BDrip/DVDrip unless stated otherwise.

RSS feed for the articles of the recent weekly movie download charts.

This week’s most downloaded movies are:

Movie Rank	Rank last week	Movie name	IMDb Rating / Trailer
Most downloaded movies via torrents
1	(3)	Gemini Man	5.7 / trailer
2	(1)	Angel Has Fallen	6.5 / trailer
3	(…)	Rambo: Last Blood	6.6 / trailer
4	(…)	Once Upon a Time … in Hollywood	7.9 / trailer
5	(2)	Joker (Subbed HDRip)	8.8 / trailer
6	(…)	It Chapter Two	6.8 / trailer
7	(4)	Dora and the Lost City of Gold	6.0 / trailer
8	(…)	Ready or Not	7.0 / trailer
9	(5)	The Lion King	7.1 / trailer
10	(9)	Lady and the Tramp	6.5 / trailer

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