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Pirate Streaming Site Uses Associated Press For Promo CampaignErnesto Van der Sar, 04 Jul 10:36 PM Founded in 1846, news agency Associated Press (AP

Pirate Streaming Site Uses Associated Press For Promo Campaign Ernesto Van der Sar, 04 Jul 10:36 PM Founded in 1846, news agency Associated Press (AP) has been around for 174 years. The non-profit organization started by covering the Mexican–American War and has since transformed into one of the most reputable news sources in the world, winning dozens of Pulitzer prices. AP's Paid Press Releases Although AP doesn't have to make a profit, income is required to pay the bills. This much-needed revenue comes from newspapers and broadcasters, for example. In addition, AP also generates income from paid press releases that enable outsiders to share their content on the reputable AP site directly. Paid listings are used by a wide variety of companies. These are properly marked as paid content but nonetheless offer significant value. They help to spread a press release to other news sites and also bring in traffic through search engines. The latter is something we noticed recently when we saw a paid AP press release as the top result while searching on Google for the pirate site Fmovies. The real Fmovies was nowhere to be found in the top results, but an AP page that advertised another streaming pirate site was. We initially didn't make too much of this as we've seen pirate sites issuing press releases before. However, when looking closer this week, we noticed this wasn't an isolated incident but part of a broader PR campaign using AP as a promotional tool. Pirate Promotion This turns out to be extremely simple. Just write a few paragraphs filled with pirate-related keywords with a link to your own pirate site. Here are a few examples we just found on the AP site. These articles mention both legitimate platforms and pirate sites, always with a prominent link to Yolamovies.com. The press release copy is badly written and on occasion hard to comprehend. It's also misleading at times, by suggesting that Yolamovies is a torrent site, for example. "YolaMovies is among the most active torrent websites for TV series lovers," one reads. "It is packed with features to improve your torrenting encounter, by a built-in admin checker on the primary page into a calendar that outlines event launch dates for countless displays." Traffic Increases What's clear, however, is that Yolamovies – or someone promoting it – is using these press releases to get more visitors. That strategy appears to be working. In recent weeks the visitor numbers have gone up significantly. According to Alexa, half of the site's visitors come from the AP website, where many people end up after a Google search. AP clearly distances itself from the content in paid press releases. We have no idea whether the organization is even aware of them, but these examples show that the vetting process for paid content isn't very strict. Finally, it's worth stressing that wouldn't have been much of a problem if Google hadn't started pushing official pirate sites down in the results. While that decision was likely taken to prevent copyright infringement, the question is whether Google users are better off when they're directed towards unknown pirate sites instead. We have no idea who is running Yolamovies or what their plans are. The site appears to be using a basic script and the site's contact page is missing at the moment. From: TF, for the latest news on copyright battles, piracy and more. Illegal Streaming Business Models to be Investigated By Royal United Services Institute Andy Maxwell, 04 Jul 01:23 PM Founded way back in 1831, the Royal United Services Institute for Defence and Security Studies (RUSI) is a British defence and security think tank. With an original mission to study military science, RUSI's current president is the Duke of Kent and today focuses on defense and security matters. More recently it has expanded into the realms of terrorism and organized crime, illustrated in its report on the links between illicit tobacco and the funding of terror attacks. This week RUSI announced a new project that will examine the criminal activity linked to intellectual property infringement, with a focus on "financial business models of organized crime groups involved in illicit streaming, piracy and the counterfeiting of related merchandise." RUSI states that intellectual property offenses have often been viewed as victimless crimes, despite connections with fraud and similar activity. RUSI says that this had led law enforcement to classify it as low priority offending. "Despite intellectual property crime representing a growing national security threat to the UK, it does not, in my view get the attention it deserves," says Keith Ditcham, Director, Organised Crime and Policing at RUSI. "Through increasing our understanding of intellectual property crime we could not only make a positive impact on this crime but also help disrupt the criminal activities of those organized crime groups engaged in wider criminality that affects the national security of the UK." With funding being provided by the Intellectual Property Office (IPO), Alliance for Intellectual Property, the Premier League, Motion Picture Association (MPA EMEA), and the British Association for Screen Entertainment (BASE), RUSI appears set to reframe perceptions among policymakers with its upcoming report. The key questions set by the project are as follows: What types of criminal structures are involved in illicit streaming, piracy and related counterfeiting in the audio-visual sector and what business models do they exploit? What volume of criminal proceeds is derived from illicit streaming, piracy and related counterfeiting in the audio-visual sector and how are these proceeds moved? What is currently being done to track and disrupt the illicit financial flows derived from IP crime? How can intermediaries, such as financial institutions, play a role in the disruption of illicit streaming and piracy? How can the UK improve its response to IP crime from a follow-the-money perspective? While the project's findings will no doubt prove interesting, the fairly obvious aim is to elevate the status of intellectual property offenses by framing them as potential fuel for organized crime groups that have a tendency to commit what are currently perceived as more serious crimes. The Alliance for Intellectual Property, which counts entities such as the BPI, the Publishers Association, and many other groups as members, says the project will not only be a learning exercise but will also provide an opportunity to nudge law enforcement and policymakers in the right direction. "We know there is serious criminality involved in counterfeiting and piracy but we don't have a deep understanding of how these criminals operate and how it links to other forms of crime," says Director General Dan Guthrie. "The in-depth study by RUSI will provide an opportunity to shine a light on a form of criminality that brings cultural, economic and social damage across our communities. We will then look forward to sharing the research with law enforcement bodies and policymakers to find ways to reduce this harmful crime." From: TF, for the latest news on copyright battles, piracy and more. ©2020 TorrentFreak | Office 21338 PO Box 4336 Manchester, North West M61 0BW United Kingdom Web Version   Preferences   Forward   Unsubscribe     Powered by Mad Mimi®A GoDaddy® company