Just twenty-four hours ago Kim Dotcom was staring disaster in the face, his freedom hanging in the balance on the words of a New Zealand judge.

U.S. authorities claimed that Dotcom had breached his bail conditions on several occasions in the hope they could place the businessman back behind bars.

With his legal team mostly resigned, Dotcom faced the court with a single lawyer and pulled it off. Allegations against him dismissed, the German left the court a free man, ready to fight another day.

Not content with cruising speed, this morning Dotcom stomped his foot on the gas once more, announcing what could be his biggest challenge yet.

“The Internet Party is coming to the United States in 2015,” he announced on Twitter.

The political arena is no stranger to Dotcom. The Megaupload founder pumped millions of dollars into the original New Zealand-based Internet Party in the lead up to the 2014 elections there, although that foray into politics ended mostly in disappointment.

One of the administrative issues faced by Dotcom in his New Zealand campaign was his nationality. As a German he could not stand himself, so instead the Internet Party forged a partnership with the Mana Party whose leader ultimately ended up losing his seat.

In the United States Dotcom will face similar hurdles, but it appears plans are already in place to not only shake up politics, but to do so using players from some of the very industries currently hounding him.

“Stay tuned for our celebrity founders from the music, film and Internet industry,” Dotcom teased this morning.

Cracking the United States will be no easy task and will require more funding than the estimated $3m Dotcom pumped into his New Zealand campaign. However, Dotcom possesses considerable skills in grabbing the attention of the media so will be a great asset on the PR front, a role he has confirmed.

“The Internet Party US will be well funded and run by American citizens. I will help with Public Relations ;-),” he wrote.

The funding issue could also prove to be an interesting one since only last week Dotcom announced that he’s “officially broke”. Despite having earned $40 million since his assets were seized back in 2012, Dotcom says his luxury lifestyle and hefty legal bills have swallowed it all up.

In a parting shot this morning, Dotcom again protested his innocence and denied U.S. government claims that he’s a fugitive and likely to flee. The icing on the cake was a reference to a certain Clinton and her anticipated presidential run.

“I’m not a pirate. I’m not a fugitive. I’m not a flight risk,” Dotcom declared. “I’m your Internet Freedom fighter AND Hillary’s worst nightmare in 2016!”

In the wake of the Internet Party’s election defeat in New Zealand, Dotcom declared his brand “poisoned” and briefly retreated out of the spotlight. However, recent headlines have shown there is still a broad appetite for Dotcom’s unique blend of drama, but whether US citizens will want that injected into their politics remains to be seen.

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

Founded in 2007, Polish-operated FilesTube is the largest meta-search engine for content hosted on cyberlockers such as Uploaded, 4Shared and Mediafire.

At one point in time the site had several million visitors a day, but this popularity decayed in recent years in part through Google’s anti-piracy measures.

The site does still have plenty of visitors though, and last month it was highlighted by the RIAA as one of the top pirate sites on the Internet.

Hoping to shake off this pirate image, FilesTube shut down its search engine today. Instead, it transformed itself into a video portal through which users can watch licensed content, for free.

“FilesTube is now a film aggregation platform, using third-party video players. The business model change means that the site is now an aggregator of only licensed content,” a spokesperson tells TF.

“Users now have the option to stream films and series directly on FilesTube. These are free, legal, and can’t be downloaded,” FilesTube adds.

The change from a search engine of virtually all popular online media to a licensed platform is a big one. The site now lists relatively unknown content and not the Hollywood blockbusters many users were used to. Music, books, games and other media categories are entirely gone.

With the move to a licensed platform FilesTube no longer has to rely on shady ads and pop-unders. This increases revenue potential as the site can run higher value advertisements.

To build traffic FilesTube is offering partners hard cash in exchange for traffic. The site has been hit hard by Google’s algorithm changes in the past so it can’t rely on search engine traffic anymore.

“As one of our marketing channels FilesTube has started an affiliate program. Now Filestube users can earn up to $10 per 1000 visits by promoting legal content on websites and social media,” FilesTube tells TF.

During the coming months FilesTube will continue to expand its content library and hopefully add more mainstream content. At the site time, it hopes that the remnants of its pirate image will fade away.

Google has received more than 10 million DMCA notices for the site, and currently downranks the site in its search engine. Similarly, a UK High Court order still requires the country’s major ISPs to block access to the site.

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

After three days of hearings in Auckland, Kim Dotcom left court smiling today.

The recent appearances were triggered by new claims from United States authorities who want to extradite Dotcom to face charges of copyright infringement, money laundering and racketeering.

They alleged that the Megaupload founder had breached his bail conditions on numerous occasions since his arrest in early 2012 and should put back behind bars as a result.

Relying on what appeared to be wiretap evidence from FBI Special Agent Rodney Hays, who did not appear in court, the Crown said that Dotcom had indirectly associated with Julius Bencko, a former Megaupload developer also named in the U.S. indictment.

During the hearing it was also put to Dotcom that with his knowledge, estranged wife, Mona, had attempted to sell a 2010 Rolls Royce Phantom, a $500,000 forfeitable asset.

Also of concern to the United States is Dotcom’s alleged wealth. Last week Dotcom admitted that since his arrest in 2012 he’d made $40m, but that had all been spent on a luxurious lifestyle and funding a $10m legal battle. The Crown argued that it could not be ruled out that Dotcom had money hidden away, a factor which elevated him as a flight risk.

Also under discussion was the exit of Dotcom’s legal team, which reportedly ditched him after learning that the money had run out. This would be a significant problem for Dotcom during next year’s extradition battle and could indicate that the Megaupload founder would flee rather than face extradition, the Crown argued.

But in the end, none of the arguments convinced the Auckland District Court to jail Dotcom today.

Judge Nevin Dawson said there was “no proof” that Dotcom had contacted former Megaupload staff, nor was there evidence to back up claims that he’d hidden money away to facilitate a pre-extradition escape from New Zealand.

However, Judge Dawson did recognize that the risk of Dotcom fleeing would increase as next year’s hearing nears so with that in mind he banned the entrepreneur from traveling by helicopter or sea, unless that transport is via a public service. Dotcom was also ordered to double up on his current once weekly visits to a police station.

Leaving the Court, a clearly relieved Dotcom told waiting reporters that he had been exonerated.

“The Court has found that i’ve not breached any of my bail conditions,” Dotcom said.

“I have been probably the most compliant and exemplary candidate and I am surprised, even though I’m going home right now, that my bail conditions have been tightened.”

Dotom said that the attempt to revoke his bail was timed by local and U.S. authorities to exploit his during a moment of weakness.

“I think this is another example of harassment and bullying by the United States government in concert with the New Zealand government,” he said.

“I think this whole application was only made because my lawyers decided to resign because of lack of funds on my part because Hollywood has seized the new family assets that have been earned after the raid. So the Crown and the U.S. government have used this opportunity in a weak moment to make up the bogus case for me having breached my bail conditions.”

Dotcom went further still, accusing the FBI’s Special Agent Rodney Hays of flat-out lying to the Court.

“I invite every member of the media to have a look at the Court file and see how an FBI agent lied in his declarations that I have attempted to sell a car, that I have attempted to get a refund for forfeitable assets, and that I have breached my bail conditions by being directly or indirectly in contact with one of my co-defendants,” Dotcom said.

“All these things have been proven to be wrong, and lies, and I invite everyone to have a look at this to understand the tactics of the U.S. government and to understand that the U.S. government can not be treated with candor and good faith in this case.

“The same thing that I’ve experienced in this bail hearing I’ve also experienced with the indictment, which is just as flawed and wrong and misleading and malicious as this bail proceeding was.”

Handing questions over to his lawyer Ron Mansfield, who Dotcom praised for doing an excellent job, the German smiled.

“I am now going home to play with my kids.”

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

This week we have four newcomers in our chart.

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 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	(…)	Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles	6.1 / trailer
2	(…)	The Maze Runner	7.2 / trailer
3	(1)	Guardians of the Galaxy	8.5 / trailer
4	(4)	Predestination	7.6 / trailer
5	(…)	Fury (DVDscr)	8.0 / trailer
6	(2)	Lucy	6.5 / trailer
7	(3)	Dawn of the Planet of the Apes	8.0 / trailer
8	(…)	Left Behind	3.1 / trailer
9	(7)	If I Stay	7.0 / trailer
10	(8)	Interstellar (TS)	9.0 / trailer

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

With over a quarter million users Trakt is one of the most popular communities for movie and TV fans.

The service allows users to keep track of the videos they watch throughout the week, either manually or automatically via media players such as VLC, XBMC and Popcorn Time.

Trakt processes and stores downloading habits so its users can keep track of what they’re watching. By default it also allows others to see this information as well, and that’s where things start to become problematic.

Trakt appears to be relatively popular among pirates. A quick glance at the most popular movies shows that most are still playing in theater. These could technically all be manual entries, but the “currently watching” lists shows that this isn’t the case.

For example, at the time of writing there were several Trakt users watching the latest box-office hit “Interstellar” via XBMC and Infuse. Also, the overview of the movie “Lucy” shown below lists several Popcorn Time users checking in a pirated copy of the film.

Of course people have to decide for themselves if they want to display their piracy habits to the rest of the world, but they shouldn’t complain if a movie studio comes knocking on their door.

We’ve just spent a few minutes looking through the profiles of several Popcorn Time users, who all display their browsing habits in public. Needless to say, this offers unique opportunities for copyright trolls.

Copyright holders only have to write down a few usernames and ask the court for a subpoena to expose their personal info.

Trakt is very clear about the fact that it helps private parties to enforce and comply with the law, and will have no other option than to hand over the requested information if they’re faced with a subpoena.

“We will disclose any information about you to government or law enforcement officials or private parties as we, in our sole discretion, believe necessary or appropriate to respond to claims and legal process (including but not limited to subpoenas)…” Trakt’s privacy policy reads.

So without too much hassle rightsholders can get their hands on pirates’ IP-addresses, email addresses, payment information, a database of files watched and at what times, etcetera.

And then there’s the added risk of running into scammers.

Many “pirating” Trakt users have profile images and usernames that can easily lead to a person’s identity. It took us less than a minute to dig up an email address of a Popcorn Time user, info that scammers could exploit to falsely threaten legal action while posing as a copyright holder.

That’s trouble waiting to happen.

Most pirating Trakt users are probably not aware of the risks above, but in any case it might be wise for the privacy minded to avoid the service.

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