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Private Torrent Tracker FileList to Shut Down After 16 YearsErnesto Van der Sar, 16 Oct 12:32 PM Private torrent sites, or private trackers as they

Private Torrent Tracker FileList to Shut Down After 16 Years Ernesto Van der Sar, 16 Oct 12:32 PM Private torrent sites, or private trackers as they are commonly known, have a special place in the piracy ecosystem. These sites tend to be more community-oriented than public torrent and streaming sites, which most people simply visit with a hit-and-run mentality. Troubles Many private trackers have come and gone over the years. The Romanian-based tracker FileList.io is one of the bigger ones to survive, although it came close to shutting down a few years ago when Romanian authorities seized its domain name. The enforcement action was a wake-up call for both staff and users of the members-only tracker, but it didn't mark the end of the road. FileList simply switched from the seized .ro domain to an .io version and with the database unscathed, it kept on going. According to recent traffic stats from SimilarWeb, the tracker hasn't lost its appeal. With an estimated average of roughly six million monthly visits, the site continues to draw a massive audience. That, however, is about to change. Pending Shutdown A few hours ago, FileList sysop "EboLLa" informed the site's members that the doors will permanently close in a few weeks. This isn't the result of legal pressure; it's a conscious and well-evaluated life choice. "Unfortunately, I no longer have the time to run the site. A site like this requires quite a lot of commitment and my priorities in everyday life have changed in recent years. Time is the most precious resource for all of us and I have invested enough time here," the operator writes. The decision was a difficult one. FileList's operator long considered handing the reigns to a successor, but that is easier said than done, especially after the dream candidate was no longer an option. "I don't have anyone to leave it to. ToXiC, the one who was going to take my place is no longer with us," EboLLa writes. Responsibilities Of course, dozens of people will be eager to step up and run the site, but leaving the tracker to a relative stranger doesn't feel right for the operator. Running a private tracker that stores sensitive personal data of numerous people is a massive responsibility. There are various angles for potential abuse and handing this type of power and control to someone, even if they're well-intentioned, simply doesn't feel right. Instead, EboLLa prefers to close the tracker's doors indefinitely. "It is quite difficult to find a person who is integrated here and shares the same values and has the same dedication that you have enjoyed for the last 16 years. I decided that the best thing to do is to close the site rather than risk something like this." Goodbyes The operator says that the decision was made with the community at heart, and he thanks all members for contributing to the site over the years. That includes all the files that were shared, the lively discussions, and financial contributions to pay the server bills. FileList no longer accepts any donations at the time of writing and the current funds are sufficient to keep the lights on for a few more weeks. After that, the site's users will have to go elsewhere. "During this time you can still enjoy the site, download what you need from here and post your goodbye message in the thread. After ~3 months, sometime around January 2024, the site will be closed permanently," EboLLa concludes. From: TF, for the latest news on copyright battles, piracy and more. Top 10 Most Pirated Movies of The Week – 10/16/2023 Ernesto Van der Sar, 16 Oct 01:09 AM The data for our weekly download chart is estimated by TorrentFreak, and is for informational and educational reference only. Downloading content without permission is copyright infringement. These torrent download statistics are only meant to provide further insight into piracy trends. All data are gathered from public resources. This week we have four newcomers on the list. "Expend4bles" is the most downloaded title. The most torrented movies for the week ending on October 16 are: Movie Rank Rank last week Movie name IMDb Rating / Trailer Most downloaded movies via torrent sites 1 (…) Expend4bles 5.0 / trailer 2 (1) The Equalizer 3 7.0 / trailer 3 (4) Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One 7.9 / trailer 4 (2) The Nun II 5.7 / trailer 5 (…) The Burial 7.1 / trailer 6 (5) Gran Turismo 7.3 / trailer 7 (3) Haunted Mansion 6.1 / trailer 8 (6) Barbie 7.3 / trailer 9 (8) Blue Beetle 6.3 / trailer 10 (9) Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny 6.7 / trailer Note: We also publish an updating archive of all the list of weekly most torrented movies lists. From: TF, for the latest news on copyright battles, piracy and more. The Major Pirate IPTV & Free Sports Streaming Sites Labeled "Notorious" Andy Maxwell, 15 Oct 09:51 PM Following a request by the Office of the United States Trade Representative for stakeholders to identify so-called 'notorious markets' involved in large-scale infringement, submissions are now publicly available. After reporting on submissions by the Motion Picture Association (MPA) (1) and Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) (2) this week, today we present a roundup of three key submissions, all of which target the pirate IPTV / live sports streaming ecosystem. Anti-Piracy Coalitions, Members, Overlaps Submissions by the Audiovisual Anti-Piracy Alliance (AAPA), Football Association Premier League, plus a joint submission by beIN Media and Miramax, contain considerable detail on the problems faced by sports leagues and their broadcasting partners. In some cases the nominated pirate services appear in more than one report. That's not unexpected among companies in the same market but since some rightsholders are represented in more than one submission, for the sake of clarity those are shown in bold below. AAPA members: Altice France, beIN Media Group, Canal+, Cosmote TV, CryptoGuard, Cyta, DAZN, DFL, Friend MTS, Irdeto, LeakID, LFP, Liberty Global, Nagra Kudelski, NOS, OPSEC, Premier League, Sky, Synamedia, United Media, Verimatrix, Viaccess Orca, Viaplay Group, Vodafone Ziggo, Wiley (S1) Individual submission: Sole rightsholder Premier League (S2) Joint submission: Miramax and beIN Media (S3) Illicit IPTV Services BestBuyIPTV heads the list of illicit IPTV services in the Premier League's individual submission (S2). "BestBuyIPTV is a very popular global IPTV service that carries channels from broadcasters located all around the world, including many that carry Premier League content. Investigations conducted by the Premier League have located the operator of the service in Vietnam." (Premier League) Forever TV (affiliates Chaloos and Mediastar) takes the top spot in both the AAPA's submission (S1) and the joint beIN/Miramax submission (S3). The IPTV service appears second in the Premier League's report and is considered a major threat. "The service operates from a website at https://foreveriptv.net/ where it offers subscriptions to its service as well as a re-streamer and re-seller program, which rewards third parties for further distribution of its pirated content." (AAPA) "These services between them are responsible for the unauthorized provision of thousands of premium TV channels and on-demand movies and TV content. Chaloos was named by the United States Trade Representative ('USTR') on its 2022 Notorious Markets List." (Premier League) Other IPTV services listed by the Premier League include the following (comments summarized): EVPad: One of the most popular illicit streaming services across South East Asia. The business is extremely sophisticated. A product purchased on behalf of the Premier League was found to provide access to over 1,700 channels, including 75 offering live sports broadcasts. The operators have been very careful to hide their location and identities, Premier League links them to Hong Kong and China. Family Box: Nominated in both Premier League and beIN/Miramax submissions. "Family Box is both a terrestrial pirate organization covering Kurdistan, and an IPTV pirate organization with global coverage. Its offices are in Erbil, Iraq," beIN reports. Almost identical text appears in the Premier League's individual submission, most likely since they're both members of AAPA. Globe IPTV: One of the most prominent wholesalers of content to pirate services around the world. Has supplied multiple pirate services that have been the subject of historical and ongoing legal action. Rightsholders have identified Globe's operator in Lebanon. (TF note: Globe was a supplier to Flawless TV. The roles were later reversed) SVI Cloud: An illicit streaming device very popular in South East Asia. Operates both online and through an extensive list of resellers with over 70 physical locations listed as selling the device on their official website. (TF note: 17 people were arrested in Singapore early October and 2,500 devices seized. Follows a similar crackdown in Taiwan.) Pirate Streaming Sites/Cyberlockers/Others Both AAPA and Premier League have nominated web-based streaming sites to the USTR and in some cases the same platforms appear on both lists. Livetv.sx, a popular sports stream indexing site, receives nominations from both, with the Premier League noting its availability in 12 different languages and an estimated 129 million global online visits since October 2022. The site is subject to Premier League blocking injunctions in multiple jurisdictions. AAPA believes the site is operated from Cyprus, Kazakhstan and/or Russia. Freestreams-live1 receives a nomination from the Premier League. Previously the site operated from the domain freestreams-live1.com, but after that was seized by Homeland Security Investigations, freestreams-live1.tv became the site's new domain. Totalsportek (Poland), VIPBox (Germany), and Xoilac (Vietnam) were also reported by the Premier League. LSHunter.net, Streamonsport, Rojadirecta, Soccerstreams.football, Totalsportek.pro, Filmmoviplex.com, RLSBB, Soap2day (variants), 1movieshd.com, Papadustream, Score808, futemax.to, Pobretv.net, and YTS, were reported by AAPA. We conclude with the AAPA's cyberlocker and eBook nominations which include both Sci-Hub and Libgen due to publisher Wiley becoming an AAPA member. The AAPA's submission to the USTR is available here (pdf) The Premier League's submission is available here (pdf) The beIN / Miramax submission is available here (pdf) ———- Other AAPA IPTV nominations not detailed above: GoGo IPTV, Apollo 5, Yacine TV, Cobra TV, IPTV Smarty, IPTV Main, Bobres IPTV, SyberTV, Apollo Group TV, Xtreme HD, King IPTV, Orca IPTV, Dezor, META IPTV, 4KEVO IPTV, and XCTV IPTV. (TF note1: AAPA reports that Cobra IPTV is "one of the most significant pirate IPTV services with worldwide popularity. TF note2: Sky obtained permission from the UK High Court in July to block IPTVMain's servers. Others subject to blocking include BunnyStreams, GenIPTV, and GoTVMix) From: TF, for the latest news on copyright battles, piracy and more. Are you looking for a VPN service? 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