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US Court Orders Avid Torrenter to Pay Over $108K in Piracy DamagesErnesto Van der Sar, 31 Jan 10:51 PM By now most BitTorrent users should be well a

US Court Orders Avid Torrenter to Pay Over $108K in Piracy Damages Ernesto Van der Sar, 31 Jan 10:51 PM By now most BitTorrent users should be well aware that their IP-addresses and downloads can be easily monitored. This has resulted in hundreds of thousands of lawsuits against video pirates, both in the US and abroad. In the US the vast majority of these cases are filed by Strike 3 Holdings. The company produces adult entertainment videos that are made available via the Blacked, Tushy, and Vixen websites. When these videos leak and are shared on pirate sites, Strike 3 takes action. Copyright Trolls This scheme, which is often referred to as copyright-trolling, can be both simple and lucrative. The company files complaints against John Does who are initially only known by an IP-address. It then requests a subpoena to obtain the subscriber details to demand a settlement from the account holder. In many cases, the accused pirate will settle out of court. Those who refuse to do so will be named in the lawsuit, where they are allowed to file a defense. At that point, the stakes have become significantly higher. Retaining a lawyer can be more costly than a settlement, which isn't a luxury everyone can afford. The alternative is to simply ignore the lawsuit by not responding at all. That initially doesn't cost anything but, at the end of the road, it may only make matters worse. Strike 3 Sues Prolific 'Pirate' This is what happened to 'Paul H' who was sued by Strike 3 Holdings in 2018. The company accused him of sharing 145 of their videos via BitTorrent without permission. In addition, the company also monitored other piracy activity that was linked to 'interests' from his public social media profile. For example, the complaint mentions that Paul works in the engineering industry, has an interest in science, and likes the TV-show Myth Busters. This matches with the download history, which includes Myth Busters downloads as well as engineering, astronomy, and chemistry e-books. Despite these direct accusations, the accused pirate didn't file a response to the complaint. He didn't respond at all, which prompted Strike 3 to file for a default judgment. While the company only requested the minimum statutory damages of $750 per title, that adds up to a massive amount. $108,750 Default Judgment Earlier this month the court handed a relatively easy win to Strike 3, concluding that the adult entertainment company has a legitimate claim and that the damages are reasonable. As a result, Paul H. now owes Strike 3 $108,750 in damages. If anything, the above shows that completely ignoring these cases can be disastrous. Although defendants may rightfully feel that all options are bad when it comes to these matters, it can't get much worse than this. While we don't know if the defendant was indeed guilty or not, people who are sued despite being innocent should definitely consider fighting back. There have been numerous examples of Strike 3 and similar companies dropping claims when they are contested. In fact, in some cases, defendants come out as the clear winners. That's also what happened in a Malibu Media lawsuit recently. Defendants Can Win Like Strike 3, Malibu Media is known as a prolific filer of 'copyright-trolling' lawsuits. While the company appears to have stopped filing federal lawsuits months ago, there are still unresolved cases in various court dockets. This includes one where it accused William Mullins of downloading 11 pirated videos. Mullins fought back and contested the evidence up to the point where Malibu Media agreed to dismiss its claims. However, that wasn't the end of it. Mullins continued to fight the case, demanding compensation for the legal fees he paid over the years. The defendant argued that Malibu Media didn't properly back up its claim and repeatedly refused to hand over evidence of the alleged infringement. After weighing all factors, the Illinois federal court agreed with the defendant, ordering Malibu to pay his attorney's fees. A Limited Victory The above shows that fighting back can help, but even with a success like this, the end result is far from perfect. Even though the accused downloader came out as the winner, the court only awarded the costs that were made before November 14, 2019, the date when Malibu dropped its claims. This means that in the end nobody is really happy with the outcome. From: TF, for the latest news on copyright battles, piracy and more. Rights Alliance Warns That Persistent BitTorrent Pirates Face Prosecution Andy Maxwell, 31 Jan 01:05 PM In the closing months of 2020, enforcement measures against private torrent sites in Denmark became evident when the alleged 69-year-old operator of NordicBits was arrested by Spanish police. Then, following a complaint from local anti-piracy group Rights Alliance, the State Prosecutor for Serious Economic Crime (SØIK) had a 33-year-old Danish man arrested in Morocco on suspicion of running DanishBits. With both sites shut down, two other sites – Asgaard and ShareUniversity – opened their doors to new members but were quickly warned they too faced similar treatment. Asgaard quickly shut itself down as did ShareUniversity, but fresh arrests earlier this month showed that the authorities were ready to pursue their operators. Attention Switches To Persistent BitTorrent Pirates When torrent sites shut down, there is a tendency among users to find new homes, as illustrated by the exodus from NordicBits and DanishBits to would-be replacements. While this can happen seamlessly, the authorities in Denmark have already signaled the possibility of tracking down site users, using data obtained during earlier raids. "The most important thing is clearly to stop the illegal services, but it can certainly not be ruled out that seized data can lead to the identification of the users of the two illegal networks," Deputy Police Inspector Michael Lichtenstein said in December. It's not uncommon for pirates to dismiss these kinds of statements as scare tactics or lacking in substance but there are now signs that SØIK and Rights Alliance intend to make good on their warning. In a statement published Friday, Rights Alliance says that it intends to "sharpen its focus" on these entrenched users "who stubbornly stick to their illegal activities." Referencing the closure of Asgaard and the associated arrests, Rights Alliance notes that SØIK is maintaining a keen interest in persistent pirates, something that it believes is "enormously important" in its battle to prevent online copyright infringement. According to the anti-piracy group, its earlier actions against the sites listed above reduced the number of private tracker users by more than 75% but that leaves around 25% who, despite the enforcement actions, still aren't getting the message. As a result, further measures will be taken. "With the IP Task Force behind it, technical insight and access to the illegal services where the Danish incarnated users have moved from, it is now possible to take an active part in sanctioning them," Rights Alliance warns. Interestingly, the anti-piracy group makes a specific reference to users deploying anonymization techniques, noting that they have the tools to unmask them, whether they're using a VPN or not. TorrentFreak asked for more information on this claim but Rights Alliance declined to elaborate at the moment, instead offering to supply more information in the coming weeks. Warning To Operators and Users Of New Pirate Sites With Asgaard and ShareUniversity no longer open for DanishBits and NordicBits refugees to get their file-sharing fix, there are reports that other sites are already stepping in to bridge the gap. However, Rights Alliance warns that these services won't be the safe haven most users prefer. "In the coming period, the Rights Alliance's activities will be focused on the perpetrators and users of the newly established Danish services, including NorTor, which is trying to establish itself after the closures in December," the group says. NorTor is a reference to NordicTorrent (NorTor.org), a torrent site that's attempting to get off the ground at the moment. The site's operators bought the domain at the end of December and appear to be using hosting registered in Seychelles. Potential visitors should also be aware that while easily blocked, the platform already has not one but two cryptocurrency miners running on its main page. From: TF, for the latest news on copyright battles, piracy and more. ©2021 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

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DMCA Takedowns Remove Perfectly Legal Plex Pages From GoogleErnesto Van der Sar, 30 Jan 10:37 PM Plex is a multifunctional media software and servic

DMCA Takedowns Remove Perfectly Legal Plex Pages From Google Ernesto Van der Sar, 30 Jan 10:37 PM Plex is a multifunctional media software and service that allows users to easily access all their entertainment in one place. Whether it's movies, music, TV-shows, or photos, Plex can organize and index, making the content ready to stream on a wide variety of supported devices. Like many other technologies Plex can be used for good and bad. There have been reports of people sharing vast libraries of the pirated content via Plex-powered servers, for example. But at the same time Plex is a gateway to legal streaming content including movies and series on its own Mediaverse platform. The Mediaverse part of the Plex site appears to cause some confusion. While it offers content that can be legally streamed for free, it also lists many other titles, such as The Mandalorian, Game of Thrones, Wonder Woman 1984, and Tenet. These other titles are not freely available for streaming, of course. Plex merely added an informational page to its library so people can put these titles on their watchlist. However, not all copyright holders appear to get this distinction. Over the past month alone more than a handful of DMCA takedown requests were sent to Google, asking the search engine to remove these "copyright-infringing" pages. The takedowns suggest that Plex offers access to the full videos and list its URLs together with those of notorious pirate sites. For example, 'CTW Anti-Piracy' sent a DMCA takedown request to Google on behalf of Vertigo Releasing Limited, asking the search engine to remove the Plex information page for the film "Becky". The Plex page is highlighted below among more traditional pirate sites. Similarly, 'Shoot-Down' sent a takedown notice on behalf of DDI Double Dutch Inc for Plex's "Elliot the Littlest Reindeer" page, while Groupe V Media hired 'Police Du Net' to remove the page of "Cardinal" season four. None of these pages link to pirated videos, obviously. We assume that these requests, and many others, were all sent by mistake but that doesn't mean that they are harmless. While Google is generally quite good at spotting errors, it missed these ones. That means that the Plex pages have actually been wiped from Google's search results. Instead of getting the Plex page, people will now see the following notice at the bottom of their search results. After browsing through several Plex takedown notices in Google's transparency report we also spotted one for which the search giant took "no action". However, that isn't because it is deemed to be an erroneous takedown, but because the URL wasn't indexed to begin with. We reached out to Plex to inform the company about the takedowns and requested a comment. The company informed us that they are aware of these notices and will try to work things out with the copyright holders individually. That's probably wise because too many notices put sites at risk of being demoted, which can seriously hurt search traffic. From: TF, for the latest news on copyright battles, piracy and more. Don't Be Hostile Towards Pirates, Game Developer Warns Andy Maxwell, 30 Jan 01:34 PM Dealing with pirates raises all sorts of issues for content providers and entertainment companies. On the one hand these are people trying to get something for nothing but on the other, many pirates are potential and even current customers. Converting pirates into paying customers is a puzzle that many companies have tried to crack. Many do so with free trials, hoping that after tasting the real thing people will like it enough to come back for more, wallets in hand. Some innovate, offering a product or service that cannot easily be emulated. Others prefer to intimidate. Screaming At Pirates As reported last week, UFC President Dana White enjoys tackling pirates with threats and profanity, treating them as a danger to be eradicated by any means. The jury is still out on whether consumers ever respond to this type of approach but if we think of consumers as regular people, few – if any – appreciate being shouted out and called names. Judging by the number of insults leveled at White late weekend, it's pretty safe to say that his actions rubbed many people up the wrong way. To be clear, White will not give a damn if this is the case but according to games developer Adam Coster of Butterscotch Shenanigans, being hostile to pirates isn't an approach he recommends. No Open Hostility Towards Pirates Writing in GamesIndustry.biz this week, Coster explains that the problem of piracy is emotionally charged but the overall goal should be to limit the harm, not only on the business itself, but also on the people creating the content. "We don't want to spend our time and resources fighting piracy — it's exhausting, expensive and, frankly, doomed from the start. We want our time going into making games and building an amazing community," Coster says. "We certainly don't condone or accept piracy, and we explicitly tell our players that when the topic arises. We also don't allow players in our communities to advocate for or help others pirate games. But when we discover pirates in our midst we stay friendly." While big companies tend to be outwardly hostile to pirates, stating that "theft-is-theft" and there are no excuses for getting something for free, Coster doesn't mind acknowledging that there can be reasons why people go down that route. People without financial resources, for example, or people seeking access to his games where they aren't legitimately available. Keeping Things Nice Has Benefits For The Developer Despite his understanding, Coster doesn't condone freeloading behavior but still prefers to keep things civil. There are benefits to that, he says, including keeping the environment around games consumption (and indeed, games creation) a nice place to be. "Our non-hostile approach has helped foster a positive community, including a handful of converted pirates. But more importantly, it has been essential for our team's mental health. Adversarial relationships take a terrible toll," he concedes. Keeping the pirating masses happy – or at least emotionally compliant – has some interesting benefits for Coster's company. He believes that almost all of his potential players are pirates so it makes little sense to have an adversarial relationship with them – especially when a "jillion angry people" descend on community management and customer support teams to air their displeasure. A Better Approach Given that this is one of the likely outcomes of being hostile towards pirates (or if one prefers, potential customers, who may walk away after being threatened) Coster says that anti-piracy measures should not be about the pirates. The starting point, whether he likes it or not, should be an empathetic approach along with gentle encouragement to buy his games when they can. "People will try to steal your game. Huge numbers of them. This is just the reality. Treat it as a design constraint," he says. "This is a business problem. Do your best to ignore how you feel about it. Yes, this is far easier said than done. Now get out there and make something worth stealing." The full piece, which is a must-read for developers, can be found here From: TF, for the latest news on copyright battles, piracy and more. ©2021 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

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More YTS Users Settle Piracy Claims After More Legal PressureErnesto Van der Sar, 29 Jan 11:37 PM YTS is one of the most popular torrent sites, serv

More YTS Users Settle Piracy Claims After More Legal Pressure Ernesto Van der Sar, 29 Jan 11:37 PM YTS is one of the most popular torrent sites, serving millions of users per day. All this attention got the site in legal trouble. Various movie companies including the makers of 'Hitman's Bodyguard,' 'Hunter Killer' and 'Mechanic Resurrection,' took YTS 'operator' Senthil Vijay Segaran and the company Techmodo to court. While lawsuits tend to end badly for pirate sites, these lawsuits turned out differently. All parties agreed to settle the lawsuits, three in total, in change for over a million dollars in piracy damages. The site, however, was allowed to continue and is still online today. YTS Database Initially, this was received as great news by the site's users. However, for some, it turned out to be a disaster. As part of an undisclosed agreement, YTS also shared information from its user database. This was a limited one-time arrangement, we learned from an insider, but one with broad consequences. After settling the case with YTS, the same movie companies moved on to several users. These film companies had sued BitTorrent users in the past but now they have extra ammunition, including emails, IP-addresses and download logs obtained directly from YTS. This information was put to use right away. Over the past months, we have reported on several lawsuits where YTS users were targeted, and movie companies also approached alleged pirates out of court by contacting them directly via email. The latter also happened to Colorado residents W. Nelson and R. Flattery. Settle Or Else Both were approached with a settlement demand out of court, which they chose to ignore. Perhaps they had hoped the filmmakers would move on to other targets instead, but that was not the case. A few months ago, they were taken to court. Flattery and Nelson were sued in federal court, where the filmmakers demanded damages. In theory, that could reach $150,000 per copyright infringement, which is many times the offer they first received over email. In many federal lawsuits against torrent users, the evidence isn't exactly rock solid. However, with emails and IP-addresses from the YTS database, the movie companies had a much stronger case here. And faced with potentially live-changing damages claims, both defendants have agreed to settle. Defendants Settle After All Earlier this week the movie companies asked the court to dismiss the claims against both defendants. Most of the time the settlement agreements remain private but, in this case, they were entered into the court's records. Flattery agreed to pay $2,320 in damages to Morgan Creek Productions and admitted to sharing copies of the movie "All Eyez On Me." He was also accused of sharing several other movies, such as "Lost Child" and "Hunter Killer," but maintains that this is incorrect. The settlement amount can be paid off in six months and the movie company offers to waive the final $120 if the defendant pays on time. Nelson settled with several movie companies, including the makers of "Rambo: Last Blood" and "Hellboy" but no movie titles are mentioned in the agreement. He must pay $10,500.00 in minimum monthly installments of $50. "Generous" Deal According to the attorney of the movie companies, both defendants were offered such "generous" deals because COVID already impacted the defendants substantially, suggesting that they lost work. "These generous arrangements were made in view of the impact the novel coronavirus has had on the employment situation of Defendants and further hardships currently endured by Defendant Nelson," the attorney writes. Needless to say, this is a grim ending for the defendants. And the same is true for fellow Coloradoan S. Moody, who settled his case in early November. While they are probably happy to get this burden off their back, it must be strange for them to see YTS continue business as usual. — A copy of the letter informing the court about the settlement agreements is available here (pdf) From: TF, for the latest news on copyright battles, piracy and more. Former Pirate Scanlation Site Fakku Wants Cloudflare To Unmask Hentai.cafe Operator Andy Maxwell, 29 Jan 11:38 AM Due to their very nature, pirate sites become successful by offering pirated content and after staying online as long as they can, tend to die in the same way. The demise of unlicensed sites often comes about due to legal pressure but for some, it can be possible to move onwards and upwards with a change of business model. That was the case with former 'pirate' site Fakku, a platform that built its popularity on unlicensed scans and translations (scanlations) of adult manga comics, also known as 'hentai'. The site launched in 2006 and built a decent audience but by 2015, Fakku had gone completely straight after transforming itself into a site offering only licensed content. As a poacher turned gamekeeper, Fakku now has to contend with sites doing roughly what it did for nine years, i.e posting other people's content without permission. Fakku Steps-Up Its Targeting of Pirated Content The company behind Fakku, Fakku LLC, began sending takedown DMCA notices to Google several years ago, demanding that sites publishing its content have their URLs delisted from search results. While this resulted in many thousands of takedowns, it wasn't until the start of 2020 that Fakku really stepped on the gas. Fairly quickly, Fakku was asking for up to 340,000 URLs to be delisted in a week, a number that jumped to 1.1 million in the summer. At the start of this year, Fakku went into overdrive and in the week starting January 4, 2021, the company asked for around 4 million URLs to be delisted, a figure repeated just a couple of weeks later. This put sites including hentaishark.com, nyahentai.com, and nhentai.net under considerable pressure, with the former being subjected to more than 8 million DMCA notices, something that could cause it to be downranked by Google. However, it's the 10th most-targeted domain on the list – hentai.cafe – that now finds itself in Fakku's legal crosshairs. Fakku Takedown Notice Ignored By Hentai.cafe On Wednesday, Fakku's legal representative filed a request for a DMCA subpoena at a court in the Eastern District of Michigan. The application reveals that on December 1, 2020, Eric Green of anti-piracy company Remove Your Media wrote to hentai.cafe demanding that the site take down a copy of Comic X-Eros #66, 'Bullied Revenge Hypnosis #5'. "Please act expeditiously to remove or disable access to the infringing material or items," the letter reads, adding the URL where the content can be found. Checking out the URL in question reveals that the content remains up, suggesting that hentai.cafe failed to take action in response to the notice. Fakku Wants To Identify The Operator of Hentai.cafe This inaction appears to have prompted Fakku take to more aggressive action against hentai.cafe. Fakku's application for a DMCA subpoena demands that Cloudflare, which hentai.cafe uses to help keep its site online, hands over the personal details of the operator and/or owner of the pirate site. The information requested is broad and includes (but is not limited to) the "billing or administrative records that show the name(s), address(es), telephone number(s), email address(es), IP address(es), account number(s), credit card numbers and any other electronic or physical documents identifying the name(s) and address(es) or contact information of the operator and/or owner of the Infringing Website." At the time of writing the DMCA subpoena doesn't appear to have been signed off by the court but in the majority of cases, this is usually a formality. Quite what Fakku intends to do with the information isn't clear. It could be a straightforward matter of taking some kind of legal action, if possible, but Fakku has also been known to offer somewhat controversial assistance to pirate sites to get themselves out of legal trouble. The DMCA subpoena can be found here (pdf) From: TF, for the latest news on copyright battles, piracy and more. ©2021 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