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The Pirate Bay Receives Under $5 in Bitcoin Donations Per DayErnesto Van der Sar, 01 Aug 09:56 PM The Pirate Bay has been both an early adopter and

The Pirate Bay Receives Under $5 in Bitcoin Donations Per Day Ernesto Van der Sar, 01 Aug 09:56 PM The Pirate Bay has been both an early adopter and a pioneer when it comes to cryptocurrencies. More than seven years ago the torrent site added support for Bitcoin donations, with Litecoin and Monero following later. The Pirate Bay was also the first large website to start mining cryptocurrency by using the computing resources of is visitors. This was a controversial move, but one that was followed by many other sites. Bitcoin Scared Copyright Holders The fact that cryptocurrency transactions don't involve any banks or other authorities was a scary thought for rightsholders. Early on, the music industry's anti-piracy group RIAA alerted the US Government to this emerging threat. "In April 2013, the site started accepting donations from the public by Bitcoin, a digital currency, which operates using peer-to-peer technology," the RIAA informed the US Government. "There are no central authority or banks involved which makes it very difficult to seize or trace Bitcoin funds. In May 2013, the site also started accepting Litecoin, another peer-to-peer based internet currency." The RIAA was right to state that Bitcoin does indeed make it harder to seize funds. That said, tracing Pirate Bay donations isn't all that hard. In fact, all transactions are transparent and visible to the public at large, allowing anyone to see how much 'money' users are tipping the site. Bitcoin Donations as Lunch Money, and More Late April, when The Pirate Bay came back after over a month of downtime, it started using a new Bitcoin address so we decided to take another look at this revenue stream. As we've signaled in the past, cryptocurrency donations alone certainly can't keep the site afloat. The first transaction to the new Bitcoin address, a sizeable 0.007 BTC, came in late April. Since then, 23 donations followed, totaling 0.042 BTC. That equates to roughly $450 the current exchange rate. This is less than $5 per day. Even if we added the Litecoin and Bitcoin Cash donations, which are much lower, the $5 barrier would not be reached. In other words, Bitcoin donations are not the threat copyright holders envisioned early on. As we have shown earlier, it's still nothing more than lunch money. Apparently, millions of Pirate Bay users are not that generous. Still, TPB does outperform the competition when it comes to donations. For example, 1337x, which also prominently lists a Bitcoin address on its site, earned roughly $0.50 per day over the past several months. That said, Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies may still be instrumental in keeping pirate sites afloat. Donations aside, they allow site owners to pay for servers and hardware relatively anonymously. This makes it possible to counter the follow-the-money approach many anti-piracy groups use. — Fetured image: Steve Garfield (cc 2.0) From: TF, for the latest news on copyright battles, piracy and more. Japanese Government Appoints Hello Kitty as Copyright Ambassador Andy Maxwell, 01 Aug 12:35 PM From relatively humble beginnings way back in 1974, Hello Kitty is now one of the most popular media franchises of all time. Indeed, a report last year revealed that the cartoon character has generated an eye-watering $80 billion in sales. Over the years, Kitty White – to cite her real name – has had her own clothing and toy lines, appeared in manga and anime, and featured in games and music. But despite being obviously busy, this week it was revealed yet more is on the horizon, this time working for the government in Japan. According to local anti-piracy group CODA, Japan's Agency for Cultural Affairs appointed Hello Kitty to the role of Copyright PR Ambassador. This week there was an inauguration ceremony during which Koichi Hagiuda, Minister of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology, welcomed Hello Kitty to her new role. Masaharu Ina, CODA's Director of Overseas Copyright Protection, informs TorrentFreak that he obtained a license from Hello Kitty owner Sanrio last year, paving the way for the new career move. We asked if anyone else was considered for the position. Apparently not. "Are you serious? No way. We could think nobody but Kitty," he said. "She is one of the most well-known celebrities and is loved by everybody worldwide. And she respects and takes copyright seriously. We admire her for her motto 'Everyone in the world is my friend.' Isn't she lovely and perfect for telling the importance of copyright protection to the world sweetly?" Masaharu Ina says that Hello Kitty's role is to "be the beacon for copyright protection." She will be looking out for those not respecting the law and if people misbehave online, they will really disappoint her. "She would not fancy people who patronize pirate sites. We believe that the benevolent Hello Kitty should persuade people with love to buy genuine products," Ina predicts. At the moment Hello Kitty will be working in Japan but she could end up anywhere in future. "I will try my best to let everybody know the importance of copyright," Hello Kitty says, commenting on her new job for which she won't get paid. "We heard that she volunteered for this honorary job because she really respects copyright," Ina says. "Although she may not mind having some apple pie and tea in a peaceful afternoon." 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