The Russian social network VKontakte (VK) has long been criticized for its passive approach to piracy. The site has millions of users, some of whom use it to share copyrighted content.

As a result the United States Trade Representative (USTR) has labeled the site a “notorious market” on several occasions, and last week the MPAA and RIAA advised the Government to maintain this listing in its upcoming report.

The movie studios and record labels claim that VK is still not doing enough to address the piracy issue. However, in a letter (pdf) to the USTR, VK director Dmitry Sergeev disagrees.

VK’s director admits that the social network has a history of being used for piracy, especially audio. However, in recent years the company has put a lot of effort into its anti-piracy measures, often in cooperation with rightsholders.

“Over the last years, especially in 2013 and 2014, VK took numerous steps to address copyright holders’ concerns. These steps were part of the VK long-term plan of improvement and cooperation with the rightsholders and copyright industry associations,” Sergeev notes.

Sergeev says that his company can’t control all information that’s uploaded to the site. Scanning all uploaded files for possible copyright infringement is therefore not a realistic option.

“VK does not have the technical capability to pre-moderate, filter, or otherwise prevent the uploading of works due to the enormous volume of information being uploaded by users on a daily basis and the fact that VK does not have reliable information confirming violation of copyright in advance,” he notes.

However, VK has clear terms of service that forbid sharing of unauthorized material. In addition, users have to agree that they are authorized to share a file every time they upload something.

The company also processes DMCA-style takedown notices. This means that copyright holders can make files inaccessible if they spot infringing content. This is similar to how other large Internet services work and more than 450,000 notices have been submitted so far.

While the MPAA and RIAA label VK as a piracy haven, VK emphasizes that plenty of content is shared legally. Many starting artists in Russia use it as the most important platform to promote their work, and many established musicians are happy to share their work as well.

“A very large amount of VK’s content is uploaded absolutely legitimately. For instance, lots of famous musicians, singers, authors and other IP owners enthusiastically use VK.com for their own purposes of promotion,” he says.

VK’s director lists several examples of popular artists that have official profiles, including Tiësto, Armin Van Buren, Shakira, Moby, Coldplay and Arctic Monkeys.

And there’s more. VK says it has reached agreements with various copyright holders to share revenue and it’s currently negotiating licensing deals with Sony/ ATV, Warner Chappell and Music Publishing Group and others.

In addition, the company also implemented a fingerprinting technology that automatically prevents uploads of infringing audio files for which it already received a takedown notice. This measure aims to prevent the takedown “groundhog day” the RIAA complained about.

Considering its long list of anti-piracy initiatives VK asks the United States Trade Representative not to include the site in the upcoming 2014 Out of Cycle Review of Notorious Markets. Whether this will be the case or not, will become clear in a few weeks.

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

After the final guilty verdicts were handed down in the historic Pirate Bay trial, Fredrik Neij decided that life in a Swedish prison wasn’t for him.

Instead, Neij flew to the Asian country of Laos where he has been enjoying family life with this wife and three children. He made no secret of his whereabouts, with Facebook updates appearing to show a relaxed man enjoying life in the capital Vientiane, a city situated on the Mekong near the border with Thailand.

Vientiane’s location appears to have played a big part in both Neij’s life and his eventual downfall. Laos is somewhat lacking in facilities so being right on the border with Thailand was convenient when Neij’s family required things such as healthcare.

However, according to Thai authorities he crossed that border 27 times in recent years and Monday was to be his unlucky day. Neij was already the subject of Swedish and Interpol warrants so when he was spotted wearing the same shirt as he was wearing in his ‘wanted’ photo, Thai border police arrested him.

After being held in custody during Monday and Tuesday, Neij is now on his way to Bangkok pending his almost certain return to Sweden. While it is being reported that Neij will be extradited, Sweden and Thailand have signed no extradition treaty. That being said, removing him is not expected to be an issue.

Local media is reporting that Thai authorities have revoked Neij’s visa, meaning that he can now be deported. Most people being removed from the country are taken to Bangkok and Neij is now confirmed as being en route to the Thai capital.

“Three Thai policemen will escort him on the flight to Bangkok and Swedish police will help us whisk him to the immigration bureau before he is handed over to Swedish authorities,” Police Colonel Panlop Suriyakul na Ayutthaya told AFP.

That Swedish authorities are in Thailand ready for Neij was confirmed by his lawyer Jonas Nilsson.

“As I understood it, staff from the Swedish embassy are on their way to where he is. [Fredrik has] also been informed that he will be transported to Sweden,” Neij’s lawyer, Jonas Nilsson told SR.

The deportation procedure is relatively straightforward and an initial investigation could be completed within 48 hours but extended for seven days and beyond if necessary. [Update: Thai authorities say Neij will be sent to Sweden "within the next month"]

If earlier plans for Neij’s incarceration in Sweden play out, on his return he will be processed and taken to Kirseberg prison in Malmö. The prison first came into operation during 1914 and has a capacity of 131 inmates and around 170 staff. According to the decision of the court, Neij is set to spend a total of 10 months inside.

In addition to his prison sentence, Neij is required to pay his share of roughly $6.78m in damages owed to copyright holders.

Previous investigations by Swedish authorities turned up no assets in his name but yesterday Thai authorities revealed that the Swede has a house on the island of Phuket and five million baht ($153,000) in a local bank account. Whether this is within reach of copyright holders remains to be seen.

Update: New video of Fredrik just in courtesy of Expressen.se.

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

Last week news broke that police in Germany had carried out raids looking for the operators of Kinox.to, a manhunt that’s still ongoing.

The police actions are part of a large investigation into the local piracy scene in Germany which are today followed by one of the largest anti-piracy raids in history, involving the link forum Boerse.bz.

Police headquartered in Cologne have just announced that they carried out raids on 121 homes across the country. The police are gathering evidence on the operators of the popular linking forum and many of the raided homes are connected to active contributers to the site.

The police raids involved around 400 police officers who seized numerous computers, hard drives and other storage media. No arrests have been made thus far but some suspects have reportedly been willing to cooperate.

According to the authorities the suspects have shared a considerable number of movies, music albums, software and e-books via various cyberlockers and Boerse.bz over a long period of time.

These files were shared among an estimated 2.7 million Boerse.bz users and the uploaders reportedly earned referral commissions of up to several thousand euros per month through various cyberlockers.

The raids are the result of a criminal complaint filed by German anti-piracy outfit GVU. According to GVU, Boerse.bz is offering more than 100,000 files without permission from rightsholders, including 61,776 movies and 13,560 TV-shows.

Most of the evidence the police acted on was provided to the police by GVU, who say that Boerse.bz is a highly structured operation with a clear division of labor.

Despite the massive police force that was used in today’s raids and those of last week, both Kinox.to and Boerse.bz remain online. The alleged operators of the sites are still on the run.

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

In common with many other countries around the world, downloading music and movies is hugely popular in the Netherlands. Up to a third of the population is estimated to download copyrighted content without paying for it.

Until a few months ago the Netherlands was a relative safe haven for these “pirates” as downloading and copying movies and music for personal use was not punishable by law.

In exchange for this “legalization” rightsholders were compensated through a “piracy levy” on writable media and hard drives. However, this changed after a recent verdict of the European Court of Justice.

Since then, not much has changed. Copyright holders haven’t indicated that they want to target individual downloaders, and the authorities haven’t either.

However, a new proposal put forward in the Dutch Parliament could change this inaction, with the suggestion that potential pirates should be warned via popup browser notifications. The idea comes from the VVD and PvdA, which holds a majority in the current Parliament.

While the exact details still have to be worked out, the parties want visitors of torrent sites and other download portals to receive a popup warning telling them that they are breaking the law.

Jeroen van Wijngaarden, Member of Parliament for the VVD, told NOS that the warnings should also refer people to legal content. “It should also state that there’s a legal alternative, to which the user should then be referred,” he says.

Van Wijngaarden explains that these popups, which will presumably have to be implemented by local Internet providers, will increase the chance that people choose legal alternatives over pirate sites.

The plan will be discussed in the Dutch Parliament tomorrow where there is bound to be strong opposition. Kees Verhoeven, Member of Parliament for D66, characterizes the popup proposal as “stupid” as it would require ISPs to become the Internet police.

Instead of popups, the entertainment industries should fight piracy by increasing the availability of legal content, he believes.

“It’s a stupid plan and shows a lack of knowledge of how people use the Internet and how they download. You don’t reduce illegal downloads with pop-ups, but with more legal supply,” Verhoeven says.

Local Internet providers have yet to respond to the proposal, but considering the fierce opposition against the Pirate Bay blockade, it’s expected that they won’t be too keen on monitoring users’ “pirate site” visits.

Photo: Michael Theis

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

Assisted by police in the Netherlands and France, in the summer of 2012 the FBI took down three unauthorized Android app stores. Appbucket, Applanet and SnappzMarket all had their domains seized. The event was the first of its kind in the Android piracy scene.

During the two years that followed the United States Department of Justice has slowly released more information on the operation, subsequent arrests, charges and pleas.

Yesterday, Scott Walton of Cleveland, Ohio, became the latest to plead. The 28-year-old pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit criminal copyright infringement before U.S. District Judge Timothy C. Batten Sr. of the Northern District of Georgia.

Walton was arrested in July alongside Joshua Ryan Taylor, 24, of Kentwood, Michigan. Both stand accused of being members of the SnappzMarket release group.

Another member of the group, Kody Jon Peterson of Clermont, Florida, pleaded guilty in April to one count of conspiracy to commit criminal copyright infringement. Peterson gave up his right to be tried by a jury and any right to an appeal. He also agreed to cooperate with the authorities in the investigation.

In common with Peterson, Walton admitted being involved in the illegal copying and distribution of more than a million pirated Android apps with a retail value of $1.7 million. He will be sentenced at a later date.

Members of Appbucket have also been facing the legal system.

During March and April 2014, Thomas Allen Dye, 21, of Jacksonville, Florida; Nicholas Anthony Narbone, 26, of Orlando, Florida, and Thomas Pace, 38, of Oregon City, Oregon all pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit criminal copyright infringement after distributing Android apps with a value of $700,000.

Another indictment returned June 17 in Georgia charged James Blocker, 36, of Rowlett, Texas, with one count of conspiracy to commit criminal copyright infringement.

A further indictment in the same month charged Aaron Blake Buckley, 20, of Moss Point, Mississippi; David Lee, 29, of Chino Hills, California; and Gary Edwin Sharp II (also of Appbucket) with one count of conspiracy to commit criminal copyright infringement for their part in Applanet.

Lee was also charged with one count of aiding and abetting criminal copyright infringement and Buckley with one count of criminal copyright infringement.

The USDOJ claims that along with other members of Applanet they are responsible for the illegal distribution of four million pirate Android apps with a value of $17m.

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