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Pirate IPTV Ops See Damages Reduced By $7m, Admin Panel Evidence Fell ShortAndy Maxwell, 31 Jul 10:18 AM After receiving an anonymous tip in 2019, a

Pirate IPTV Ops See Damages Reduced By $7m, Admin Panel Evidence Fell Short Andy Maxwell, 31 Jul 10:18 AM After receiving an anonymous tip in 2019, anti-piracy group Nordic Content Protection (NCP), and members including pay-TV company C More (previously Canal+), Warner Bros. Discovery and streaming service Viaplay, launched a pirate IPTV investigation. NCP received a similar tip in 2020, this time from police in the city of Gävle. They were passing on the details of another anonymous tip detailing the activities of a suspected pirate IPTV network. After a period of surveillance, which included wiretapping an unknown number of suspects, police executed warrants at two addresses, one in Gävle and the other in Sandviken. Two suspected operators were detained along with evidence that included 47 gold bars, an expensive whiskey collection, around $25,000 in cash, and roughly $41,000 in bitcoin. At the Stockholm District Court's Patent and Market Court in October 2023, the men were found guilty of criminal copyright infringement and sentenced to prison. They were also held jointly and severa...Read More Nhentai 'Pirate' Site Wants Court to Quash 'Improper' Cloudflare DMCA Subpoena Ernesto Van der Sar, 30 Jul 10:44 PM Internet infrastructure service Cloudflare serves millions of customers around the globe, providing various connectivity and security features. When it comes to DMCA takedown requests, the company has always drawn a clear line; when it doesn't store any content for a customer, it will simply forward DMCA takedown requests to the customer's hosting company. Ideally, rightsholders would like Cloudflare to take a more active stance. Since popular pirate sites, including The Pirate Bay, use the CDN service, they argue it would be helpful if Cloudflare disabled access to infringing content though its platform. Cloudflare, however, sees itself as a 'mere conduit' service that merely passes on bits. This means that it is not required to take action against third-party infringements directly, unless content is permanently stored on its servers, which is rare. DMCA Subpoena Rightsholders are well aware of Cloudflare's stance. While there have been plenty of complaints in the past, the stat...Read More Are you looking for a VPN service? TorrentFreak sponsor NordVPN has some excellent offers. ©2024 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

TorrentFreak's Latest News

High-Tech Karaoke Piracy Crackdown, 18 Arrested and Streaming Servers SeizedAndy Maxwell, 30 Jul 08:55 AM Depending on personalities and intake of a

High-Tech Karaoke Piracy Crackdown, 18 Arrested and Streaming Servers Seized Andy Maxwell, 30 Jul 08:55 AM Depending on personalities and intake of alcohol, a karaoke night can see people demanding to be next on the mic or scurrying away before they're forced to do something they'll later regret. According to reports, karaoke in the West may be set for a resurgence but in Asia, karaoke ('empty orchestra') never went away. In Japan, it still receives an 80%+ approval rating among high school students with around half of 20 to 24-year-olds regularly taking part. With a global market reported to be worth around $5 billion, karaoke may make people smile but for investors it's a serious business. Hong Kong Customs: Operation Magpie Cases reported by Hong Kong Customs over the past month include raids on drugs labs, convictions for laundering huge sums of money, two investigations into large-scale tobacco smuggling, and an operation to combat the provision of infringing karaoke songs. While some may feel the latter is in strange company, the karaoke operation appears to have been allocated pl...Read More 'Indian Police Pinpoint Seat of Movie "Camming" Pirate by Analyzing the Film Angle' Ernesto Van der Sar, 29 Jul 10:32 PM As the home of Bollywood, India has a thriving movie industry that's known all around the world. At the same time, the country also has one of the highest piracy rates, which is seen as a major threat by industry insiders. Following pressure from U.S. movie companies, India's government recently agreed to update its Cinematograph Act to outlaw 'cam' piracy. Anyone recording or transmitting movies in a movie theater without permission now faces a three-year prison sentence. The new anti-camming bill was implemented last year, which understandably makes the activity a higher priority for law enforcement. Criminal prosecutions are rare, however, and earlier this year international copyright groups complained that the law had yet to results in "meaningful steps" to deter piracy. Movie Camming Arrest Preventing movie piracy in a country with 1.4 billion people is a challenge indeed, but rightsholders must be pleased with an investigation that resulted in the arrest of a 33-year-old mov...Read More Are you looking for a VPN service? TorrentFreak sponsor NordVPN has some excellent offers. ©2024 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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Ad Blocking Infringes Copyright? Ancient Sony Cheat Lawsuit May Prove PivotalAndy Maxwell, 29 Jul 09:29 AM The promise that pretty much everything i

Ad Blocking Infringes Copyright? Ancient Sony Cheat Lawsuit May Prove Pivotal Andy Maxwell, 29 Jul 09:29 AM The promise that pretty much everything is available for free on the internet was one of the key driving forces behind surging uptake at the end of the century. The reality was more nuanced, of course. The marketing and framing of this utopian vision relied on the relative naivety of most internet users. None were strangers to adverts appearing on TV, radio or in print, so the concept needed no explaining. That advertising online wasn't so passive, and over the next two decades would in some cases become an abusive, privacy-destroying nightmare, certainly wasn't mentioned up front as part of the deal. The revelation that adverts could be blocked edged into the mainstream around 15 years ago and developed into an industry in its own right. Easy to install, the AdBlock browser extension grew in popularity along with its rivals, leading to publishers of all kinds questioning their business models and whether 'free' even had a future. Axel Springer Takes on Eyeo GmbH German publisher ...Read More Pirate IPTV Services Blocked For Pirating The Olympics Andy Maxwell, 28 Jul 04:23 PM When it comes to the protection of its intellectual property rights, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) is notoriously uncompromising. Hardly a surprise given the role the brand and other rights play in this global sporting event. Non-Profits Always Worry About Piracy With piracy always a concern to those at the top of the multi-billion dollar non-profit Olympic pyramid, those fears naturally filter down to other non-profit entities involved every four years. Joining the International Olympic Committee (IOC) and International Paralympic Committee (IPC) is the Paris Organizing Committee for the 2024 Olympic and Paralympic Games (COJOP2024). In keeping with tradition, these bodies have been closely monitoring the piracy situation, with French news outlet L'Informe suggesting that a list of problematic pirate sites and services was already being prepared in April. Action in Paris In mid-July, the IOC, IPC and COJOP2024, commenced legal action against the leading French ISPs. T...Read More Are you looking for a VPN service? TorrentFreak sponsor NordVPN has some excellent offers. ©2024 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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South Africa Rejects Copyright Lobby Critique, Defends Broad 'Fair Use' ExceptionsErnesto Van der Sar, 27 Jul 09:45 PM The American copyright indust

South Africa Rejects Copyright Lobby Critique, Defends Broad 'Fair Use' Exceptions Ernesto Van der Sar, 27 Jul 09:45 PM The American copyright industry is one of the country's primary exports, generating billions of dollars in annual revenue. Whether it's movies, music, software or other goods, U.S. companies are among the global market leaders. To protect the interests of these businesses around the world, copyright holder groups can count on help from the U.S. Government. The annual list of 'notorious markets,' for example, is a well-known diplomatic mechanism to encourage other countries to up their enforcement actions and improve laws. The same is true for trade deals and other policies, which often require trade partners to take action in favor of copyright holder interests. The International Intellectual Property Alliance (IIPA), which represents the ESA, MPA, and RIAA, among others, has been the voice of major entertainment industries on this front. The Alliance regularly encourages the U.S. to further the international interests of its members, including in Africa. The African Growth and Op...Read More Are you looking for a VPN service? TorrentFreak sponsor NordVPN has some excellent offers. ©2024 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