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BREIN's Upcoming Anti-Piracy Campaign Is Unusually Honest and FocusedAndy Maxwell, 30 Dec 07:41 PM While plenty of people monitor the world of onlin

BREIN's Upcoming Anti-Piracy Campaign Is Unusually Honest and Focused Andy Maxwell, 30 Dec 07:41 PM While plenty of people monitor the world of online copyright infringement, here at TorrentFreak we've continuously dived deeper than most into almost every anti-piracy campaign proposed or launched in the last 15 years. It's safe to say that pirates generally hate all attempts to deny them access to free content but whether people like it or not, rightsholders will always seek to protect their content. The big question is how and one doesn't have to be a proponent or opponent of piracy to recognize that there are levels to anti-piracy campaigns that can make some immediately repugnant. Anti-Piracy Campaigns Come in Different Flavors For example, organized copyright-trolling campaigns, ones that cynically attempt to exert maximum financial pressure on ordinary families with zero compassion, represent the worst examples. Equally, if we acknowledge the rights of artists of all kinds to limit the illegal spread of their work, there are campaigns that attempt to do so more intelligently, which renders them worthy of pragmatic analysis. One such initiative is being undertaken by Dutch anti-piracy outfit BREIN. We reported the full details earlier this month and at first view, one could be forgiven for thinking this is simply another project to send notices to BitTorrent users in the hope they stop sharing content. But it's sharper and more targeted than that and as a result, could achieve its aims without resorting to the bottom-feeding tactics of its trolling counterparts. 'Openness' is Rarely a Word Associated With Anti-Piracy Firstly, BREIN is being completely open about what it intends to do, even setting out the "rules of the game" in advance. That is a rarity in today's environment, if not unique. For example, BREIN says it isn't interested in so-called "hit and run" downloaders, i.e BitTorrent users who download a movie and don't sit around seeding for hours. This means that the vast majority of pirates will be of no interest to BREIN. Instead, the anti-piracy group will focus on those who seed content for long or frequent periods. It's important to recognize, of course, that these prolific seeders are important to the ecosystem because, without them, torrent swarms will be much less healthy. However, what BREIN appears to be doing here is drawing a line in the sand. To make a speeding analogy, those who break the limits by a few miles per hour every now and again will fly under the radar but persistent, heavy speeders who keep getting noticed could become targets because they pose the most risk. Legal Action But Not Copyright-Trolling Even then, those who become of interest won't find lawyers at their door. Providing ISPs cooperate, they'll receive a notice asking them to stop and it won't demand any form of payment either. Compare this to the copyright trolls who spot an IP address in a swarm for a few seconds and then file a lawsuit demanding thousands in compensation. There's a huge difference. Of course, BREIN's plan does have a potential sting in the tail. For persistent, longer-term seeders it could mean an approach for a cash settlement or at the least a formal agreement to cease-and-desist. But BREIN could do this anyway under current law, immediately and without any notice. Instead, it is choosing not to do so within a framework that appears to acknowledge that targeting petty sharers (the majority) won't be as effective in preventing sharing as targeting their sources will. Leaving Casual Pirates Alone Again, there will be people out there who feel any type of enforcement is unacceptable and should be rejected. However, that's not the way things work and BREIN has a job to do, whether people like it or not. Instead, the anti-piracy group is effectively laying down its own weaker 'legislation' on top of existing laws and being completely transparent about who it is interested in and why they need to exercise caution. If the scheme works (and that's still a big if, even if it does get off the ground), BREIN won't need to bother the little guy at all so whichever way you cut it, that is rarely considered a bad thing. And even when more significant sharers are caught, they will have plenty of opportunities to walk away without getting 'fined' or dragged through court. So, as anti-piracy enforcement goes, this is quite a targeted and resource-friendly scheme. Not only is it focused, but the rules are also there for all to see, upfront with plenty of notice. People may not like them but when viewed through the prism of some of the other projects around today, it's much more considered, limited (1,000 IP addresses targeted per month), and might even achieve some of its goals, without alienating the public. From: TF, for the latest news on copyright battles, piracy and more. We have some good VPN deals here for the holidays. 'Wonder Woman 1984' is a Massive Hit on Pirate Sites After Early HBO Premiere Ernesto Van der Sar, 30 Dec 10:57 AM The news that Warner Bros. has decided to premiere all upcoming movie titles both on HBO Max and in cinema, was a shock to many movie insiders. Some star actors feared a loss in revenue and filmmakers, including Christopher Nolan, argued that their work should be seen on the big screen first. Strong Opening Weekend The critique didn't change Warner Bros. plans and a few days ago "Wonder Woman 1984" was the first film to premiere on HBO Max and in cinemas simultaneously. Thus far the results don't disappoint – the film set a 'pandemic record' of $16.7 million in box office revenue in North America. The film "broke records" on HBO Max as well, according to the streaming company, which said that half of all subscribers viewed it on the first day. This means that more people saw the Wonder Woman sequel during the first weekend than the original. The Warner Bros. streaming experiment is clearly shaking up the movie industry where cinema premieres were the norm for decades. It's a landmark decision that is also having a major impact on piracy consumption. Piracy Premiere Typically, when a movie debuts in theaters there aren't any good pirated copies available online. A low-quality camcorded version may eventually appear, but most pirates ignore these, preferring to wait for higher quality copies that follow a few weeks or months later. The streaming premiere of "Wonder Woman 1984" is a game-changer in that regard. A few minutes after the film was made available on HBO Max, dozens of high-quality piracy copies appeared on torrent, streaming, and pirate download sites, where they were eagerly consumed. To see just how well the film did on pirate sites and services we've collected various samples of download figures from public torrent trackers. With help from I Know, it soon became clear that "Wonder Woman 1984" was massively popular. Millions of Pirate Viewers We don't like to publish hard numbers, as it's impossible to capture all downloads perfectly, but it's safe to say that millions of people downloaded a pirated copy of the film via torrent sites. And since torrent sites are only a small fraction of the pirate ecosystem, including streaming and download sites would add millions more 'viewers'. This means that the pirate audience could very well rival the number of people who watched the film legally. Nearly 10% of All Downloads Just how unique this release was is best illustrated by comparing the relative interest to some competing titles. On the first full day, nearly 10% of all movie and TV downloads (9.18%) in our sample were for "Wonder Woman 1984". A day later the film still dominated, with 6.26% of all downloads. This translates to millions of downloads on the first two days. For comparison, the second most popular film of the weekend, "Soul", only managed to secure 2.37% on the first day and 1.98% a day later. Similarly, Avengers: Endgame, the top-grossing film of last year, took 5.63% of all downloads on the first day a high-quality pirate copy was out, and 4.38% a day later. Looking at the download locations, we see India in the lead with 17% of all "Wonder Woman 1984" downloads on the first full day. The film reportedly premiered a day early to prevent piracy and was not available for streaming there. With roughly 10% of all Wonder Woman downloads, the United States is in second place, followed by the Philippines (7%) and Great Britain (5%). It is safe to say that the numbers we see for "Wonder Woman 1984" are massive and the HBO Max premiere has certainly boosted the piracy figures. But does that also mean that Warner Bros. made the wrong decision? Unchartered Territory Streaming premieres are unchartered territory, also for pirates. With a lot of press and PR attention for the film, pirates knew that the release was coming and jumped on it right away. This may explain part of the massive interest. The question is whether this initial boost will result in more piracy in the long run, or if it's simply more concentrated in the first days. We can't answer this yet. The availability of high-quality pirate copies will undoubtedly deter some people from going to the movie theater or streaming the movie legally. But will there be substantially more pirates than before? And how does that affect the streaming and box-office revenues? Warner Bros. will likely use the coming months to answer these and various related questions. Piracy Remains Relevant The company should be applauded for having the guts to experiment. The audience is definitely the winner here, as they have more choice. And while it's too early to draw conclusions, it's probably safe to say that piracy remains very relevant. Every year we see more and more exclusive movie releases on different subscription services. And since many people can't afford to access all these services legally, pirate sites and services are seen as an attractive alternative. From: TF, for the latest news on copyright battles, piracy and more. We have some good VPN deals here for the holidays. ©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