TorrentFreak's Latest News

Court Hears Arguments in Canadian Pirate Site Blocking AppealErnesto Van der Sar, 25 Mar 09:53 PM Two years ago, Canadian broadcasting giants Groupe

Court Hears Arguments in Canadian Pirate Site Blocking Appeal Ernesto Van der Sar, 25 Mar 09:53 PM Two years ago, Canadian broadcasting giants Groupe TVA, Bell, and Rogers took the relatively small pirate IPTV service GoldTV to court. What started as a straightforward copyright lawsuit soon transformed into something much more than that. With the pirate site not responding, the rightsholders requested an injunction requiring local ISPs to block the service. Canada's Site Blocking Order Fast forward a few months and Canada became the first North American country to implement a court-ordered Internet provider blockade of a pirate site. This was a big win for the three companies whose plan for a Government-sanctioned pirate site blocking scheme was previously denied. And, given the interest in site-blocking orders around the world, it was likely just the start. TekSavvy Appeals While most ISPs accepted the order without protest, TekSavvy appealed. This appeal gained the interest of other rightsholders and third parties such as Canada's domain registry and CIPPIC, who all decided to intervene. This week the Federal Court of Appeals heard the arguments from both camps over the span of two days. Due to the Covid pandemic, the hearing was virtual, with the attorneys from various parties making their appearances through a Zoom call. Blocking Opponents First up was attorney Justin Baxtor, who represents TekSavvy in this matter. He went over the various legal angles and where site-blocking is running into issues with the law and net neutrality. As is often the case in site blocking discussions, the US SOPA debacle was mentioned as well. When SOPA was discussed in the US there were calls for site-blocking in Canada as well, Baxtor notes. Interestingly, however, companies including Bell rejected these proposals at the time. Today they sit on the other side of the table. TekSavvy is not the only opposing party. During the hearing, it received support from Canada's domain registry CIRA and the University of Ottowa's legal clinic CIPPIC. Both argued against court-imposed pirate site blockades. Blocking Supporters On the other side, Bell, Rogers, and other rightsholders such as the Music Industry Coalition, defended the decision to block pirate sites and services. They view blocking as a limited measure that is narrowly targeted at services that are clearly copyright infringing. They agree that site blocking isn't explicitly mentioned in the Copyright Act, but note that courts are allowed to issue any type of injunction if a party's copyrights are at stake. Net neutrality isn't an issue either, as long as the court approves the blockade and it targets unlawful content, they argue. The rightsholders see site blocking as one of the few viable options they have to stop pirate sites and services. Therefore, it should stay in place. The Federal Court of Appeal hearings on Wednesday and Thursday highlighted these and many other issues. It is now up to the judges to decide whether the blocking measure stays in place, or if it should be scrapped. TekSavvy and CIRA Comments TorrentFreak reached out to Bell, which didn't reply to our request for comment. The Canadian domain registry CIRA did respond. While it couldn't comment on any specifics, the organization stresses the importance of this case. "This week's hearing reminds us that we stand at a fork in the road for Canada's internet. Blocking different parts of the web has become a burning issue amongst Canadian courts, policymakers, and regulators. Gone are the days of the 'anything goes' web," says CIRA president and CEO Byron Holland. "CIRA believes there are more appropriate control points in the internet's architecture for addressing alleged copyright infringement than DNS blocking. Blocking should never be used when a more proportionate response is available." TekSavvy's vice-president of regulatory affairs, Andy Kaplan-Myrth, wasn't able to respond in detail. However, he pointed us to a statement he released earlier this week. Some argue that TekSavvy is digging its heels into the sand to defend pirates, but Kaplan wholeheartedly disagrees. The ISP is defending its role as a neutral carrier. If there's a need for Internet providers to police the Internet, the Government should make this decision, not the court. "We're defending our role as common carriers. It's the same position that all telecom companies argue until they get to the point where they become more interested in enforcing their copyright than net neutrality," Kaplan said. From: TF, for the latest news on copyright battles, piracy and more. Courts Sentence Men for Pirating Thousands of Movies & TV Shows, Including Via Plex Andy Maxwell, 25 Mar 11:11 AM After many years of relative calm, the last quarter of 2020 turned the private torrent site scene in Denmark upside down. Sites like DanishBits and Nordicbits were considered relative safe havens for thousands of individuals looking to share copyrighted content in a more closely controlled environment. But under the surface, dangerous undercurrents were beginning to swell. Investigations into both sites were well underway and in October DanishBits shut down, closely followed by Nordicbits. Operators of both sites were arrested, one in Morocco (who has now been extradited to Denmark) and one in Spain, but the question remained whether users of these and similar sites would find themselves in the firing line. User of DanishBits Convicted in Odense This week, a 35-year-old man was convicted of copyright offenses at a court in Odense, the third-largest city in Denmark. The individual was a user of DanishBits and according to the prosecution, his activities were considerable. The man was accused of downloading (and in some cases sharing) hundreds of movies and thousands of TV shows via the site. Movies played a relatively minor part in the case, with 579 titles said to be infringed, but TV shows played a much bigger role. In total, the DanishBits user was said to infringed copyrights in 2,453 episodes spanning 69 TV series. Additionally, the man was accused of sharing 1,670 audiobooks. Given the scale of the infringing, the court went relatively lightly when it came to sentencing, handing down probation rather than an immediate custodial sentence. Local anti-piracy group Rights Alliance, which was involved in the investigation and reported the user to the State Prosecutor for Serious Economic Crime, welcomed the sentence. "Rights Alliance reported the user in question to SØIK on the basis of an investigation into the file-sharing network DanishBits. In addition to 60 days' conditional imprisonment, the convicted person can look forward to having to pay compensation to the Danish rights holders," the group said in a statement. Another Piracy Conviction in Copenhagen Earlier this month the conclusion of another file-sharing case was reported by SØIK. Following a process at the Copenhagen City Court, a 35-year-old man was convicted of downloading and sharing 9,440 movies. According to SØIK, the movies were made available "to at least 21 users via a server" and for this offense, he was sentenced to 30 days probation. TorrentFreak requested additional information from anti-piracy group Rights Alliance which has now revealed a completely different type of case. In December 2019, Rights Alliance filed a criminal complaint against a Denmark resident after discovering he was running a Plex server containing copyrighted content. "It was a Plex server running on a NAS-server and operated from a Mac Mini. The owner and operator of the Plex server shared the content with friends and family. They were sent a password by mail," the group explains. While the Plex software is entirely legal, like other media software it can be put to illegal uses. Prosecutions are extremely rare, especially when people only share their libraries with close friends and family, but in this case Rights Alliance felt a criminal case was warranted. TF asked Rights Alliance if those who accessed the server face any action but the group would only confirm that they were users of the server. Meanwhile, the convicted operator must pay for the legal proceedings and abide by a settlement agreement with rightsholders, the terms of which remain confidential. Rights Alliance Had Promised to Focus on Persistent Pirates Last December, following the closure of DanishBits and Nordicbits, Deputy Police Inspector Michael Lichtenstein said that while it was important to shut down sites, data seized as part of those operations could lead to users being tracked down too. In January 2021, Rights Alliance added that persistent pirates would indeed face prosecution. It's certainly possible that this week's conviction represents the start of that work but it's unclear how many more cases might be in the pipeline. Nevertheless, Rights Alliance is now doubling down on its warnings. Commenting on the sentencing this week in Odense, the anti-piracy group says that the prosecution illustrates that SØIK is focusing on users who repeatedly share copyrighted content online. "When you repeatedly see this group of users stubbornly stick to their illegal sharing of movies, series, literature and articles, despite the police interference on several occasions, we are pleased that SØIK has sharpened their focus on these persistent criminals," says Rights Alliance director Maria Fredenslund. "It must never pay to be a criminal," she adds. 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