UK ISPs Secretly Start Blocking Torrent Site Proxies Several UK Internet providers have quietly added a list of new sites to their secretive anti-piracy blocklists. Following in the footsteps of Sky, the first ISP to initiate a proxy blockade, Virgin, BT and several other providers now restrict access to several torrent site proxies. The surprise isn’t really that proxies have been added to the blocklist, but that the music industry and ISPs are failing to disclose which sites are being banned. Following High Court orders, six UK ISPs are required to block subscriber access to several of the world’s largest torrent sites. The blocking orders are intended to deter online piracy and were requested by the music industry group BPI on behalf of a variety of major labels. Thus far they’ve managed to block access to The Pirate Bay, Kat.ph, H33T and Fenopy, and preparations are being made to add many others. The effectiveness of these initial measures has been called into doubt, as they are relatively easy to bypass. For example, in response to the blockades hundreds of proxy sites popped up, allowing subscribers to reach the prohibited sites via a detour. However, as of this week these proxies are also covered by the same blocklist they aim to circumvent, without a new court ruling. The High Court orders give music industry group BPI the authority to add sites to the blocklist without oversight. Until now some small changes have been made, mostly in response to The Pirate Bay’s domain hopping endeavors, but with the latest blocklist update a whole new range of websites is being targeted. Last week we reported that Sky had started blocking access to several torrent site proxies, and yesterday it became apparent that this was not an isolated incident. TorrentFreak has received numerous emails form Virgin and BT subscribers who are now unable to access many popular proxies, an indication that these are now covered under the BPI’s list of prohibited sites. Proxies now blocked as well Although the results may not be the same for all providers, the following sites appear to be blocked (in part) now. All sites in this list provide access to at least one of the torrent sites previously blocked by court order. - Fp.kleisauke.nl - Fenopy.5gg.biz - H33tunblock.info - H33t.uk.to - H33tproxy.co - H33tmirror.co - Katunblock.com - Katproxy.com - Kat.dashitz.com - Kat.kleisauke.nl - Katmirror.com - Kat.5gg.biz - Kickassunblock.info - Kickassproxy.info - Pirateproxy.net - Proxybay.net - Malaysiabay.org - Piratereverse.info - Pirateproxy.net - Campeche.zapto.org - Tpb.rubenstadman.com - Piratebay.interflective.com - Dashitz.com - Tpb.evrl.com TorrentFreak talked to Drastik, the operator of the most visited Pirate Bay proxy Pirateproxy.net, who says he’s determined to find a good workaround to make his site accessible again in the UK. “I never thought the BPI would go this far. I have already started setting up new servers for the blocks. However, I think educating people about alternate methods will be better. I have compiled a list of some good methods on a dedicated page,” Drastik says. “I will continue to move the site to new servers to keep it accessible,” he adds. Since the High Court order clearly states that ISPs have to disable access to the torrent sites in question (and the proxies provide this), the recent addition of the proxy sites to the list is not necessarily the main concern. The problem lies with the fact that these changes are being made in secret without any form of oversight. There appears to be no valid reason to keep the list of prohibited sites away from the public eye, but yet the ISPs nor the BPI are prepared to be open about it. TorrentFreak reached out to the BPI and some of the ISPs for a comment but we have yet to receive a response. Update: BPI responded after publication and noted that proxies do indeed fall under the court order. The group does not intent to make the list of blocked website public. “The court orders obtained in relation to The Pirate Bay cover not only the site itself, but also sites which have the sole or predominant purpose of providing access to The Pirate Bay. It would not be right to allow proxy sites flagrantly to circumvent blocks ordered by the High Court. We do not publish the names of proxies and it would not be appropriate for us to do so,” a BPI spokesperson said.

Games of Thrones Season Finale Sets New Piracy Record The season finale of Game of Thrones has set a new BitTorrent record with more than 170,000 people sharing an episode simultaneously. In just one day more than a million people have downloaded a copy of the show, figures no other TV-show comes close to. Despite the invasion of pirates, HBO wants to keep the show as an exclusive and is not expected to put it on Netflix anytime soon. Yesterday evening the season finale of Game of Thrones aired on HBO and shortly thereafter the first unauthorized copies were uploaded online. In recent weeks the hit show has been shared millions of times online, but never before have we seen this many people sharing the same file. Within a few hours after it was released hundreds of thousands grabbed a copy of the show via The Pirate Bay and other torrent sites, breaking the old record Game of Thrones set just a few weeks ago during the premiere of the third season. At its height the Istole tracker reported that 171,572 people where active on a single torrent, 128,686 sharing a complete copy while 42,886 were still downloading. Data gathered by TorrentFreak shows that, within 24 hours, the season finale has been downloaded a million times. This could increase to more than five million during the weeks to come and means that unless a miracle happens, Game of Thrones will be crowned the most pirated TV-show of the year once again. A new record As previously revealed, Game of Thrones downloaders come from all over the world. Most downloaders come from Australia, followed by the United States, Canada, and the United Kingdom. Australia stands out in this list as it also has the smallest population, and this hasn’t gone unnoticed. The Ambassador of the United States of America to Australia recently complained about this “plain theft” by Australians. However, since the local cable provider has chosen to decrease instead of increase availability next year, things are not going to change anytime soon. In the U.S. the situation is not much better, and to a certain degree one could claim that HBO is to blame for Game of Thrones’ BitTorrent record. They want to keep access to the show “exclusive” and even Netflix wasn’t able to buy the rights no matter what they offered. It’s clear that HBO prefers more exclusiveness over less piracy, a stance that is reflected in recent comments from HBO programming president Michael Lombardo. He sees piracy as a compliment and doesn’t believe it negatively impacts DVD sales. The huge numbers of unauthorized downloads don’t bother the show’s makers all that much either, quite the contrary. David Petrarca, the show’s director, noted that these unauthorized downloads actually do more good than harm. According to the director, pirates are partly responsible for the “cultural buzz” the show needs to thrive and survive. Game of Thrones will be back next year, and if most torrent sites are still unblocked in in most parts of the world, we can expect another record to be set.

Disabled Accounts Some of you may have noticed accounts being disabled on a daily basis here at DTN. It is explicitly stated in both the Welcome PM and the WIKI that if you do not use your account it will be disabled. We will show zero tolerence when your account is disabled because you did not 'know' about the rules here. We did NOT write them so they are not read - they are there to let you know what is expected of you. Those users who do not use their account serve no purpose here at all and do not benefit DTN or it's members. We do not want to disable accounts but we will not tolerate the rules being consistently broken by members logging in here and never actually using the account, period!

Dragon Boat Festival Event Announcement! Dear Member: Dragon Boat Festival, also known as Dragon Boat Festival, heavy afternoon festival, festival days, Bath Festival, the solution dumplings festival, Doll Festival, side manners, Iris Festival, is a continuation of civilization in China two thousand years of the festival. People in different parts of the celebration of this festival of different ways: Sachet thorn Wudu, blue soup bath, point realgar, the race ... in such a day, HD.gg also prepared some special Thanksgiving has long supported activities to accompany our friends, willing HD.gg able to bring you more happiness! 1, Dragon Boat Festival and placed free registration two days At 0:00 on June 11 to 24 points 2, the station Free free two weeks At 0:00 on June 11 to June 25 24:00

Asiatorrents Review Tracker Name :AsiaTorrents Tracker URL: http://www.asiatorrents.me Signup URL : Invite Only Tracker Type : Movies - Asian Tracker's Birthday : 3rd June 2005 IRC Details : server : irc.rizon.net channel : #AvistaZ Tracker Speed :9/10 Tracker PreTime :7/10 Tacker Content :9/10 Tracker Statistics: Tracker Categories: Tracker Torrents List: Subtitles: Tracker Forum: Tracker Rules: Tracker FAQ: Donation Page : Is The Tracker Worth To Join : Hell Yes !!!! Review End Hope That I Have Mentioned Every Thing !!!

Aspiring Musicians Get a Sweet Treat: Berklee’s BitTorrent Bundle Of Music Lesson Videos And Ebooks BitTorrent’s advantages as a platform for distribution and exposure are attracting more and more companies and businesses. Berklee College of Music’s online division surprised many when they recently announced the release of a free BitTorrent Bundle containing music lesson videos and ebooks. The Berklee Online Musician’s Guide might be the first educational material released by such an institution via the highly-controversial file-sharing protocol. This bundle will surely make music enthusiasts and composers quite happy as it offers 23 music lesson videos dedicated to lots of various topics including guitar and drum performance, music production, songwriting and business practices. The Ebooks content also cover an impressing variation of topics – guitar, piano, music theory, songwriting, orchestration, production and business (check the full list here). While there’s an instand download sample containing 4 videos, to have access to the rest of the content you have to your email address. BitTorrent’s blog reads: We’re partnering with Berklee Online to build the world’s largest open music classroom.[...] In collaboration with Berklee Online, we’re making a collection of some of this material available to all the Internet’s music students. The Berklee Online Musician’s Guide is a 27GB compilation of 23 in-depth music lesson videos and 7 ebooks, covering everything from songwriting and production to performance and business best practices. It’s pretty awesome. For over a decade, we’ve seen the power of BitTorrent in moving information. Our goal is to apply this to education; empowering the next generation of creators. If you’re an aspiring or established musician, the Internet is now your classroom. Get the Bundle. Find out more about Berklee Online. Commenting on the company’s recent partnership, Berklee’s Vice President for Online Learning, Debbie Cavalier said: “Part of our goal at Berklee Online is to expand the reach of the college. We’ve been teaching music online for over ten years, and we’ve always included a free component to what we do. This includes our lesson-rich YouTube channel and Berkleeshares.com free lesson site, as well as our more recent development of MOOCs.” “The technology behind BitTorrent is impressive. It’s one of the best tools out there to move data to a large community of engaged people. We’re looking at this partnership with BitTorrent as an extension of our free approach, and it is one that I am very excited about.”

MPAA Still Hunting for Cash as Pirate Bay Financier Set to go Bankrupt When the original crew of The Pirate Bay were found guilty of copyright infringement following their 2009 trial, the trio plus former financier Carl Lundström were left with a hefty bills for damages. Interest on the amount has been accruing by the day ever since and all told the amount owed now exceeds $12m. But with Lundström about to go bankrupt, will Hollywood ever see a penny? Maybe not, but the studios aren’t giving up yet. Following their earlier convictions for copyright infringement, Pirate Bay co-founders Gottfrid Svartholm and Fredrik Neij, former site spokesman Peter Sunde, and financier Carl Lundström owed considerable amounts in damages. After an appeal which further increased the amount of damages to be paid, together the quartet owed 46 million kronor ($6.99m) to their movie and record company plaintiffs. Interest has been accruing since the raid against The Pirate Bay on May 31, 2006 and by February 2012 the total owed had reached 73 million kronor ($11.09m). By September 2012 another 3 million kronor had been added and now, 8 months later, the position has worsened by a similar amount. The founders of the site have always insisted that their adversaries won’t see a penny but the situation for former financier Carl Lundström has always been a little more complex. At one point Lundström was rich. He made a small fortune in the 1980s when the Wasabröd family crispbread business was sold for around 77 million kronor ($11.7m). He later added another $5.32m when he sold his telecoms company Port80 but other less profitable business deals over the next 15 years saw the entrepreneur lose around $7.5m. In 2008, Lundström went to live in Switzerland, briefly returning to Sweden last year to sit out a four month sentence. While his debt to the state is now served, to date Swedish authorities have found just 233,000 kronor ($35,400) belonging to Lundström to put towards his damages bill. According to Sonntags Zeitung, Lundström currently lives in a three story house on Lake Zurich with a Cadillac sitting outside. The publication claims that the businessman previously transferred all of his possessions to his wife Bettina. Apparently flat broke, last year Lundström filed for bankruptcy in Switzerland. That process is nearly complete. “It is expected to close in the coming weeks,” says Heiner Scheuble from the Rapperswil Prosecution Office. The 53-year-old’s financial plight has also attracted the attention of Hollywood who are listed as creditors in his bankruptcy and keen to recover money. “We are well aware of the various stages of Lundström’s process,” says Sabine Henssler, spokeswoman for the Motion Picture Association. However, the bankruptcy process is still not complete. Investigations into the former Pirate Bay financier’s business dealings continue in the light of earlier revelations that he had money hidden away in the Liechtenstein Global Trust Bank. The money was found after German authorities bought confidential customer data from an ex-employee at the bank, which in turn generated a response from Swedish tax authorities. “We have asked Mr. Lundström for 700,000 kronor ($106,250) in additional taxes for the years 2004 to 2007,” a spokesperson said.

Former U.S. Prosecutor Sues Obama and NSA over PRISM Scandal Former US prosecutor Larry Klayman and the parents of the killed Navy Seal Team VI member Michael Strange have filed a lawsuit against President Obama, the NSA and several other players connected to the PRISM scandal. Through the class action lawsuit they demand compensation for severe privacy abuses as well as violations of several other constitutional rights. Over the past days the PRISM scandal has dominated the news. The Guardian’s Glenn Greenwald pushed out leak after leak, revealing how millions of people around the world are being monitored by U.S. intelligence agencies. The revelations turned online privacy into a worldwide mainstream discussion. Privacy activists shouted “we told you so,” Orwell quotes were rife, and Kim Dotcom warmed up the public for his PRISM-proof email service. Following the leaks the NSA and the US Government have been heavily criticized for their disregard of people’s privacy, and perhaps not totally unexpectedly this weekend the first legal action was filed. TorrentFreak just obtained a copy of a complaint submitted at a federal court in Columbia, targeting President Obama, the NSA, Eric Holder and Verizon who all played a role in the mass surveillance scheme. The class action lawsuit was filed by Larry Klayman, a former US prosecutor under the Reagan administration, together with the parents of the killed Navy SEAL Team VI member Michael Strange. The plaintiffs accuse the PRISM participants of violating their constitutional rights, reasonable expectation of privacy, free speech and association, right to be free of unreasonable searches and seizures, among other illegal and criminal acts. Both Klayman and the Navy Seal parents demand compensation for the damage they suffered. “This case challenges the legality of Defendants’ participation and conduct in a secret and illegal government scheme to intercept and analyze vast quantities of domestic telephonic communications,” the complaint reads. While there are plenty of angles to pick, the class action centers around the classified order from the secretive Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court ordering Verizon to hand over all call details and metadata between the United States and abroad, without any oversight. “This would give the NSA over one hundred millions phone records on a daily basis. The information would also include a list of all the people that Verizon customers call and who called them; how long they spoke; and perhaps, where they were on a given day.” “Further, there is nothing in the order requiring the government to destroy the records after a certain amount of time nor is there any provisions limiting who can see and hear the data,” the complaint states. The complaint goes on to state that those responsible for the PRISM scandal have done very little to explain what it entails. Instead, there are now calls to go after the whistleblower, Edward Snowden, to stop further leaks. “To date, Defendants have not issued substantive and meaningful explanations to the American people describing what has occurred. To the contrary, criminal charges are reportedly being pursued by Defendants Obama, Holder, the DOJ, and the NSA against the leakers of this plot against American citizens in a further effort suppress, obstruct justice, and to keep Defendants’ illegal actions as secret as possible.” Former US prosecutor Larry Klayman is a known critic of the Obama administration and believes that his private communications were tapped under the PRISM program. Charles and Mary Ann Strange, the parents of the killed Navy Seal Team VI member Michael Strange, allege the same as they have also challenged the Obama administration. “[...] particularly since these Plaintiffs have been vocal about their criticism of President Obama as commander-in-chief, his administration, and the U.S. military regarding the circumstances surrounding the shoot down of their son’s helicopter in Afghanistan, which resulted in the death of their son and other Navy Seal Team VI members and special operation forces.” The complaint demands relief for violations of the defendants’ rights under the First, Fourth, and Fifth Amendments to the U.S. Constitution. In addition it lists violations of privacy, including intrusion upon seclusion, freedom of expression and association, due process, and other illegal acts. Thus far, authorities and the technology companies involved in the surveillance scandal have refuted most accusations, claiming that they are operating within the boundaries of the law. Time will tell whether the present lawsuit will arrive at another conclusion.

Top 10 Most Pirated Movies of The Week The top 10 most downloaded movies on BitTorrent are in again, ‘The Hangover Part 3′ tops the chart this week, followed by ‘Dead Man Down’. ‘Jack The Giant Slayer’ completes the top three. This week we have four newcomers in our chart. The Hangover Part 3 is the most downloaded movie. The data for our weekly download chart is collected by TorrentFreak, and is for informational and educational reference only. All the movies in the list are BD/DVDrips unless stated otherwise. RSS feed for the weekly movie download chart. Ranking (last week) Movie IMDb Rating / Trailer torrentfreak.com 1 (6) The Hangover Part 3 (R6/TS) 6.3 / 2 (…) Dead Man Down 6.6 / 3 (1) Jack The Giant Slayer 6.6 / 4 (2) Iron Man 3 (R6) 8.0 / 5 (…) 21 And Over 5.7 / 6 (…) The Incredible Burt Wonderstone 5.9 / trailer 7 (4) Fast and Furious 6 (Cam) 7.7 / trailer 8 (3) Hammer Of The Gods 5.9 / 9 (7) Epic (TS) 6.8 / 10 (…) Stoker 7.3 / trailer

87 Months in Prison for Copyright Infringement: Fair Sentence or Utter Madness? A man from Baltimore in the United States has just been sentenced to 87 months in prison for infringing copyrights on more than 1,000 software programs including Microsoft Office, Adobe Photoshop, Mac OSX and Windows XP. The man, a 32-year-old, could potentially lose his freedom until close to his 40th birthday. Is that fair for willful large scale pirating or have the authorities lost touch with how infringement compares to ‘real’ crimes? Following an investigation carried out by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) assisted by Microsoft and the BSA, a man from Baltimore is just beginning a very long stretch behind bars. Between February 2003 and June 2008, Naveed Sheikh was a serial pirate, copying more than 1,000 software packages and distributing them via the Internet. Authorities claim that through a network of websites and co-conspirators, Sheikh caused damages to rightsholders totaling $4 million. Slightly to Sheikh’s credit, the software – including Microsoft Office, Microsoft Money, Adobe Acrobat, Adobe Photoshop, Apple Mac OS X Panther and Microsoft Windows XP Professional – wasn’t passed off as the real deal to full-price-paying customers. Sheikh’s contacts knew they were buying illegal “cracked” copies and presumably saved a considerable amount of money over equivalent licensed alternatives. However, Sheikh wasn’t exactly cooperative with HSI investigators and he also failed to pay tax on his ill-gotten gains which probably aggravated the case against him. Nevertheless, the sentence he’s just been given is a tough one to say the least. Despite a guilty plea, U.S. District Judge Richard D. Bennett handed Sheikh an 87 month prison sentence and ordered him to pay back $4 million. For those breaking out the calculators, 87 months converts to more than 7 years locked away for what are essentially non-violent, white-collar crimes. Is that a reasonable response to copying data onto discs and cashing in on the profits or should sentences like these be reserved for the really nasty elements of our society? For comparison, we looked at a few recent cases in which defendants picked up identical 87 month sentences. The first involved Harold F. Babb, the former director of contracts at Eyak Technology LLC. In October 2012, Babb was sentenced for stealing more than $9 million from the United States by submitting invoices to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers for services that were not provided. Sentence: 87 months. Next we had a look at the sentencing of Guillermo Briseno, a former leader of the Imperial Gangsters, a gang which according to U.S. District Judge Philip Simon was “terrorizing the city of East Chicago.” Briseno admitted leading the gang’s drug dealing and shootings. Sentence: 87 months. In late 2012, Jonathan Torres was found guilty of distributing heroin following an investigation by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. The 22-year-old pleaded guilty to using children to distribute the drugs. Sentence: 87 months. Following an investigation by Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms (ATF), earlier this year Dennis Wayne Baldwin of Vermont was sentenced for receiving, possessing, and distributing child pornography and illegally possessing seven firearms and ammunition. The convicted felon was sentenced to 87 months in prison. During the course of our searches we found dozens of individuals being sentenced to 87 months in jail for what are undoubtedly serious crimes. The distribution of drugs appeared a lot, as did firearm offenses and those involving sex and violence. In most cases it was difficult to disagree with the length of the sentences. The question today is this: Does copyright infringement – even on a large scale as demonstrated in the case above – warrant a similar sentence to those handed to individuals selling drugs, running gangs, possessing illegal firearms or stealing from the military? Is it about time that copyright infringement is recognized as being “theft” and punished on equal terms, or is an 87 month jail sentence for copying and selling data an outrage? You decide.

Confederations Cup Contest! This Summer there's neither Euro nor World Cup, so for all the true football fans out there a Confederations Cup Contest will be held instead! Have a look at the Contest's topic over here, on how to join this fine contest and all the little details that you need to know. Great prizes await for you and can easily be gained. To top this up, if we succeed in having more than 30 participants, extra awards will be given to the top 3 winners of this contest, (from 1 month VIP status to invites and more) depending on the occasion. You don't want to miss it, join now! PS: Don't forget to check our Music's Club Contest here. Post your answers while you still can. Five more days left before closing this contest! Best of luck to all the participants!

A Gentle Reminder to Support Our Community Dear Friends, Hope you all are doing good. 4 months back, when I ask to support our community, you guys did a great thing. So I hope you know the story, and not repeating that. This is a small remainder. Please do support our awesome community in the best way possible for you. http://elbitz.net/donate.php Thank you With love and regards

Dev Updates As many of you already know, we're experiencing some problems with bonus points; some people are getting way too many and others are not getting any at all. We're definitely looking into these issues, and they seem to be related to the tracker upgrades. The issue regarding upload is also related to the tracker upgrades. We're almost finished with the tracker, but there is still work to be done, so we can't give an ETA at this time. In addition, I'm going to be revamping the internal BP calculation system in the coming week(s) so this doesn't happen anymore: Please use this post so all information is centralized and we can communicate with you guys while the issue is still here.

Donations Reminder! Hello, Just a friendly reminder to help out by donating towards server costs, this months donation bar had not been reset so you can see in over a months time we have barely reached 15% of out goal, with this situation it is very difficult for me to keep the site up and running smoothly. That's why we are once again offering 3 x the upload credit on all donations of 30eur and above, now is a good time to get your ratios high regards HKR

Global Freeleech: Sorry! I forgot to restart the tracker, it should be working fine now. With the SP system being down I have decided to make the tracker Global Freeleech, as Freeleech means no download is counted at all, then SP is null and void, If altinertia wants to test the SP system he may have to turn Freeleech off and on, but it may be just for 1 torrent not the whole site. As for when SP is going to be fixed, we have no idea I am afraid. When a new torrent is uploaded it is not made freeleech auto, a staff member has to do it, if it has not got [FL] on the torrent then it is not Freeleech yet. BG|UG|GGn closures: I merged 5 threads into 1 so it may look a bit confusing. but you can discuss this latest news https://www.blackcats-games.net/forum/index.php?showtopic=52397 Forums: Lots of people have been saying too many subforums for years now, I did resist but i have had to give in eventually, now the Games|Software|Homebrew|Hardware are all lumped into 1 forum for each platform (I hate it but if it gets it busy then I can live with it). and a welcome to all the new members, we are not open but members still have referrals to give out to GGn and UG refugees. Edit: Referrers upload bonus back on, you can read about it at the link below. https://www.blackcats-games.net/forum/index.php?showtopic=52941&st=0&#entry430721

Police Visit Pirate Bay Proxy Owner’s Home Demanding a Shutdown The UK’s aggressive stance towards online piracy was taken to new heights this week through a combination of police threats and backroom deals between industry groups. One of the main targets identified were Pirate Bay proxy sites and TorrentFreak has been informed that the police and FACT recently turned up on the doorstep of one called PirateSniper in the UK. According to a report from the site’s owner he was handed a letter and ordered to shutter the site or face criminal action. It’s been a turbulent week in the UK with regard to anti-piracy initiatives. It began with Internet provider Sky blocking access to Pirate Bay proxies, then the UK police sent out letters to torrent site owners threatening them with a 10 year prison sentence. This was followed by a backroom discussion between the Government, rightsholders and Google who explored options to de-list infringing sites. On a smaller scale police and rightsholders carried out actions as well. Cooperating with the anti-piracy group FACT, local police visited the home of a local Pirate Bay proxy operator. While we’ve reported on similar actions against torrent site owners in the past, to our knowledge this is the first time that a proxy has been targeted. After The Pirate Bay was blocked in the UK last year hundreds of proxies were launched, which are nothing more than a front for the regular Pirate Bay site. Running a proxy requires relatively few resources and one can be put online in a matter of minutes. But despite the easy setup they can also have serious consequences. TorrentFreak talked to Tom, the operator of the PirateSniper proxy, who says he was visited by the police and anti-piracy group FACT for the second time recently, strengthening a message they delivered earlier. “Two weeks ago I received a second knock on the door with the police standing on my doorstep. They had another letter and a further warning, ‘demanding’ that I shutdown PirateSniper.net before they take ‘criminal’ action against me,” Tom told TorrentFreak. Tom was baffled by the surprise visit, to say the least. His proxy site has been active for a few months but has never been advertised and receives virtually no traffic. In addition, the site is not listed in Google’s search results. “I cannot understand why I am a target. Yes, PirateSniper was recently removed from Google’s indexing list, but I can’t conceive the idea of police at my doorstep. Why?” Tom says. In a pattern that fits with previous door knockings, the police were mainly there to assist FACT, who did most of the talking. According to Tom, FACT handed over some paperwork along with a warning that he could end up in jail if he continued operating the proxy. “The police didn’t say much at all, they only asked me to confirm my identity then handed the conversation to a representative of the Federation Against Copyright Theft. It all happened quite suddenly and this time they were a little more aggressive than the first time they came.” “They threatened me by saying things like ‘You could be sentenced to jail for a minimum of 4 years for the distribution of copyrighted material’. This time they were on a very personal level, not bothering with minor manners and such and just shoving information down my throat without any explanation whatsoever.” Without receiving an ultimatum, Tom says he was asked to shut down the proxy, or else. The PirateSniper operator has contacted a solicitor and is prepared for the worst. However, the site will remain online for the time being. “No, this is my stand, we have to show companies that we will not get bullied into doing their bidding. Censorship is like a cancer, we must kill it before it spreads,” Tom says.

Malwarebytes Detects Pirates, Asks Them Not to Steal Software Aside from detecting intrusive and harmful software on people’s computers, the anti-malware application Malwarebytes is also able to detect which users are running a pirated version. While some software vendors might respond aggressively to unauthorized users, the San Jose company takes a more gently approach in the belief that every user contributes to the success of the software, pirates included. Like most other software packages the popular Malwarebytes application is heavily pirated. Instead of paying for an upgrade some people choose to download a keygen or crack to activate the program. To confront unauthorized users the makers of Malwarebytes decided to add these circumvention tools to their standard malware scan. This means that pirates, in addition to any spy- or malware, will also see keygens and cracks listed in the scan results. The company lists the circumvention tools under the vendor name dont.steal.our.software, hoping to send a gentle but clear message to those who chose to pirate instead of pay. Curious about this anti-piracy approach, TorrentFreak reached out to the San Jose company to learn more. Malwarebytes’ Bruce Harrison told TorrentFreak that the detection works through heuristic and direct means. The program’s functionality is not affected in any way but in some cases Malwarebytes also displays a prompt reminding users that they are running a pirated version. This second notification can be cancelled by the user. The software vendor says it prefers this softer approach over the more aggressive option of locking Malwarebytes down completely. “Long ago we figured that being super aggressive against piracy is one of the quickest ways to alienate your fans as it so often backfires and makes legitimate usage a problem,” Harrison says. Don’t steal Malwarebytes is aware of the fact that there are a lot of pirates out there who don’t want to pay. However, rather than cracking down on them they chose to view these as people who can promote their product to others. “Piracy is not really a huge problem for us in my opinion. There are a lot of people who simply won’t pay for our software and being aggressive against them won’t change that,” Harrison told us. While Malwarebytes doesn’t have a huge problem with people pirating their software, the company does believe that there are security risks attached to online piracy. In particular Harrison warns people who use pirated operating systems as these often can’t be updated, leaving users more vulnerable to malware and viruses. As for the Malwarebytes pirates, they can expect more gentle reminders in the future. However, despite their deviant behavior the company recognizes that even the pirates have contributed to the rapid growth of the software. “Taken together we had one hell of a word of mouth push that really got our business going. Our fans have been an integral part of putting us on the map and yes, this does include the pirates.”

2013-06-09 - Tracker Down! Tracker is Down! Dear IPTorrents users, The tracker is currently offline for maintenance and will be repaired soon. We are aware of the issue and are working to rectify this as quickly as we can. Whilst the Tracker is offline, anything you are seeding will not be counted, and anything you are seeding that has not hit 1:1 in your client will be seen as a H&R by the site. Do not worry, no warnings are sent during this time, and you will not be penalized for this down time. Your patience and understanding is required during this time. Regards IPT Staff

Tracker's name : SceneHD Tracker's URL : http://scenehd.org/ Sign up : Invite only

Welcome to Acid-Lounge's Invite Competition 2013 You've probably received a few pm's about this already but here it is "The Official Post" Starting the competition NOW.!!!! How Does it Work? Simple - Invite as many people as you can. Standard Invite Rulles Apply but the rules in the invite thread DO NOT Apply so anyone can post for more invites. But selling / Trading accounts will still get you banned as will posting about or giving out invites on public trackers! How Do We Know Who's Winning? There will be a leader-board on the Homepage. When Does it Finish? 1 Month From now so on the 1st July this thread will be locked off and all invites removed - The Winner will be judged there and then by the person at the top of the leader-board. What If I Need More Invites? Post in here ==> Forum Topic > Need a Invite for a Friend ask here <== A Staff Member will give you some asap Or Join this IRC Channel #Acid-Invites for a quicker reply. Whats the Prizes? 1st - 300gb FL Credit - 1 Week VIP Status 2nd - 200gb FL Credit 3rd - 100gb FL Credit 4th - 10th = 30gig FL credit 11th - 20th 10gigs FL credit Everyone else that took part gets the usual gigs per invite taken. Have Fun and Get Inviting, any problems or other questions, feel free to post in this thread.

Unaware, Millions Flood To Hijacked, Cloned and ‘Fake’ Movie Streaming Sites Millions of Internet users every week are using websites that are hijacked, cloned or faked versions of one of the world’s most-visited streaming sites. In fact, the situation has gotten so bad for LetMeWatchThis that its owner is dumping the domain altogether in an effort to differentiate his site from more than a dozen imitators. For the past decade, Internet users on the lookout for video have turned to the many torrent sites out there. In a bandwidth-limited online world, they have served their purpose well. However, in recent years bandwidth has become more easily available at the right price and as a result streaming sites of all kinds have flourished. One only has to look at YouTube for the Internet’s best example. But in the backwaters of the Internet less official sites have been flourishing. Streaming portals offering all of the latest movies and TV shows have grown from a niche experience into one enjoyed by millions of people everyday. One of the biggest sites around is 1Channel.ch. The site is used by millions of people every week – probably every day – but most of its users have no idea of the site’s recent history. If they did, they may not feel so comfortable visiting the domain. Early May, 1Channel.ch (which at the time was also known under its former name of LetMeWatchThis.ch) disappeared from the Internet without warning. “We are having some issues with the 1channel.ch domain, please use letmewatchthis.ch domain in the mean time,” the site announced. Behind the scenes all was not well. “The [1Channel.ch] domain was hijacked from our registrar with a combination of falsified documents and a major security exploit in the registrar’s control panel, that allowed attackers to access any account in their system without a password,” the admin of the site told TorrentFreak. From this point, 1Channel.ch – which is still running today – became a cloned site using a hijacked domain. Browsing through the site’s forums it’s clear that sections of the site are missing or have been removed while other errors persist. Obviously things are still not working properly for the domain’s new ‘owners’. With no chance of getting the domain back, the real site was forced to revert to LetMeWatchThis.ch exclusively. As can be seen from the Alexa stats below, the hijackers are doing very well indeed. On the other hand, the real site – LetMeWatchThis – has taken quite a hit. The site’s global rank with Alexa is now 5,527 while the fake is enjoying its status as the world’s 347th most popular site. The woes don’t stop there. Anyone attempting to do a Google search for LetMeWatchThis draws a complete blank. Not only is the site completely absent from at least the first 10 pages of results, an even worse problem soon becomes apparent. The first result for the domain is a link to 1Channel.ch, the hijacked site. What follows are results for perhaps a dozen or so other sites trying to pass themselves off as LetMeWatchThis with varying degrees of success. Some are very convincing indeed and most would easily fool a casual user. So, faced with hijackers, clones, fakes and damn, damn pirates, LetMeWatchThis has decided to make a clean break to end all the confusion with a complete renaming of the site to PrimeWire.ag. “We have switched to the new domain name to differentiate ourselves from all the clone sites out there,” the admin told TorrentFreak. “We would like to ask our fans not to use 1channel.ch as it is potentially spreading malware and collecting users personal log in information.” Whether 1Channel is doing either of those things is a matter for debate, but it seems clear that so far its users either don’t know or don’t care about the hijacking situation. The site is doing very well and appears to have momentum that won’t be held back anytime soon. After all, going to the police for help is hardly an option.

Hi guys, Just a quick update from the staff regarding the changes to the site. The bedding issues from the hit and run tool being implemented have been resolved, and I hope you can all appreciate that it's a necessary evil in terms of preventing torrents going dead, especially for a site this small. We are on a major recruiting drive at the moment, so please invite anyone who you think would be interested and would be a good user. We will be closing invites when we hit 5k users, so now is the time to invite your friends in. We have a lot of big stuff planned on the content end of things, and lots more exciting community projects en route, so please spread the beathau5 gospel to anyone who will listen. The more observant amongst you will no doubt have noticed the donations counter has gone down to 13.33%. This is because we have moved servers and added some new IRC shells etc, and the new target is $300. All donations are hugely appreciated, and the response we have got so far to the donations for a new site have been staggering. The more you donate, the more we can offer as a site, and we already have an incredibly loyal fanbase. Our aim is to become a complete electronic music base providing a better service for the end user than any alternative, including Beatport, and you can help us in this struggle. Anyway, Viva La Beathau5, and keep the uploads and forum posts coming. Much love from your beautiful sysops, //Diabolik, N0M4D and trouto Discuss here

CouchPotato Support A lot of you have been asking about CouchPotato support. We had originally looked at having CouchPotato login to the site and search through the generated html for the required releases as you can guess thats a lot of hassle to do, so we had a small brainwave. As some of you may have known we have been working on an api for AHD5 (major thanks to nul7 for this) the decision was made to backport the parts of it that would allow for searching for torrents. With this in mind we set to work and now have a fully functional AHD provider for CouchPotato. We have a pull request in to the developer so hopefully it will end up in the official branch of CouchPotato but in the mean time if you want the fork is available here It will require you to enter your passkey (this is used to access the api onsite) you can find your passkey in the sidebar on your profile. As is normal do not let anyone get your passkey as they can use it for downloading via your account. We have options in the provider for only snatching internals, prefer internals (grab an internal if it exists, if not, grab a non internal), prefer encodes and prefer remuxes. If you have ticked both the prefer remux and the prefer encode button, encodes will take preference. The Staff

Prenda Law Caught Red-Handed In A Massive Copyright Lawsuit Over one thousand Does were sued by AF Holdings for downloading some of their adult-oriented movies. It was suspected that, in fact, AF Holdings is a front for Prenda Law, and that the massive lawsuit is just another case of copyright trolling. As it so happens, those suspicions are becoming facts. After filing suit, the studio had asked the court of law to force down Verizon, AT&T, Bright House, and Cox to give up the names and addresses of their subscribers; although the request was initially granted, the ISPs took a stand and appealed the decision (you can read more about it here). After managing to earn millions out of legal settlements throughout the years, the law firm stumbled upon the same legal system it was trying to abuse. Four of the lawyers associated with the case received penalties that summed up to $80.000, as the federal judge said that Prenda Law “outmaneuvered the legal system.” Furthermore, the judge ordered an investigation on the firm’s principals, referring them to state/federal bar disciplinary panels, and to federal prosecutors and the IRS. The best of this case, however, is yet to be revealed. Graham Syfert, a lawyer representing defendants in lawsuits filed by the rogue law firm, had a thought – who uploaded those movies in the first place? Well, he noticed that nearly all of those who shared the files in question came from the same place – sharkmp4 – an unknown user that’s been linked to a handful of videos, all serving as a base for Prenda’s copyright lawsuits. So, who is this mysterious user? To find out, Graham asked the help of Delvan Neville – the tech-head who developed a BitTorrent monitoring device. By inspecting the hash values associated with the files, Neville found that they all point to one person. It’s suspected that this sharkmp4 has strings, strings that belong to 6681 Forensics. The puppeteer is none other than Peter Hansmeier, brother of Paul Hansmeier, and the one who had monitored the BitTorrent traffic and pin-pointed the infringement. How convenient, isn’t it? Oh, and just so you know, Hansmeier and John Steele are the founders of Prenda Law. Neville is suspecting that 6681 Forensics and sharkmp4 could be one and the same person. Proofs that the law firm was uploading the movies pile up – sharkmp4 shared the movies via The Pirate Bay, and the file-sharing portal stores its users’ IP addresses. As such, Neville discovered that some of the IP addresses belonging to Steele’s Go-Daddy website are identical to those used by sharkmp4. “It appears from all the evidence that John Steele (or someone under his control or with access to his GoDaddy account records with authorization to make changes to domain names) is the most probable candidate for the identity of Pirate Bay user Sharkmp4,” Neville said. “It’s the equivalent of jumping in front of a car to collect a settlement,” Syfert said. “I have a friend who just released a music record. If he’s lucky he’ll make $3,000 off it, but if this [is legal], he can put it up online, hire someone to monitor the downloads, and then suddenly his album is worth $1 million,” he continued. Contacted by telephone, Steele denied the accusations. “I’ve categorically denied uploading a single torrent in my life,” he said. “Nor do I know anybody who’s ever used the shark thing.” “If someone were to be found uploading the torrent that they owned, I don’t know what the legality of it would be,” he concluded. The whole fiasco is clearly an eye-opener, and we can only hope that Prenda Law will get what it deserves! Stay tuned!

Warner Bros: We’re Fining File-Sharers Who Use Non Six-Strike ISPs Customers of ISPs not involved in the so-called ‘Six Strikes’ anti-piracy scheme in the United States might be under the impression that warning notices are something they can avoid. However, TorrentFreak has learned that Warner Bros. are specifically targeting users of non-participating ISPs not only with warnings, but also with fines to settle the alleged copyright infringements. After much preparation the MPAA and RIAA teamed up with U.S. Internet providers this February to launch their so-called “six strikes” anti-piracy notification system. AT&T, Cablevision, Comcast, Time Warner Cable and Verizon are all on board but countless other ISPs either weren’t asked to join or decided not to participate in the project. Needless to say, customers of ISPs such as Charter, CenturyLink and Cox have been comfortable that the entertainment companies won’t be sending warnings to them. Today they will have to think again. It is not unusual for customers of any ISP to receive copyright infringement notices via email, in fact they are legally obliged to forward them at rightsholders’ request. However, in recent weeks there have been reports of customers of non-participating ISPs receiving DMCA notices with a special twist. “Your ISP has forwarded you this notice. This is not spam. Your ISP account has been used to download, upload or offer for upload copyrighted content in a manner that infringes on the rights of the copyright owner. Your ISP service could be suspended if this matter is not resolved. You could be liable for up to $150,000 per infringement in civil penalties,” the notices begin. What follows next is not a “strike”, but an offer of cash settlement to make any nasty legal proceedings go away. “If you click on the link below and login to the Rightscorp, Inc. automated settlement system, for $20 per infringement, you will receive a legal release from the copyright owner,” the notice adds. TorrentFreak has reported on Rightscorp’s activities before 1, 2. The company is not operating a scam, even if some people do find their activities unsavory. However, what really piqued our interest are claims that Warner Bros., a company involved in the six-strikes campaign, are also working with Rightscorp on these cash settlement schemes. So we asked the studio if the reports are true. “Yes. Warner Bros. is working with Digital Rights Corp on a test ISP/subscriber notification program to many ISPs that are not participating in the Copyright Alert System,” a Warner spokesman told TorrentFreak. Although not mentioned specifically, the company said that the warnings being sent by Digital Rights Corp are for content that is already available through various authorized channels. “The notices inform consumers that our content is readily available legitimately through multiple channels, including electronic sell through and video-on-demand services,” Warner add. “The notices give consumers an opportunity to settle the identified infringement for a very nominal sum of $20 per title infringed–not as a measure of damage, but as a concrete reminder that our content has value and as a discouragement of future unauthorized activity.” The warnings and demands for settlement are being tagged onto the end of regular DMCA notices and forwarded by ISPs. What this means is that although Warner and Rights Corp are managing to get a message to an account holder, they have absolutely no idea who that alleged infringer is. This means that if the account holder refuses to pay, it’s almost certain that no further action will be taken. Some people, however, do pay. This post on Reddit details a case where an account holder paid Rights Corp $20.00 for an infringement of Warner copyrights but discovered that the matter was far from over. After the initial payment, Rights Corp matched the notified (and settled) infringement with two others already on file. Since the guy had filled in his phone number, the company then called him up and asked for another $40.00 to clear his file. TorrentFreak has discovered a few instances of these cash settlement demands, including the one above, which were sent by Charter Communications. It’s worth noting that while Warner stood by their actions and gave a statement, Charter failed to respond to multiple emails requesting comment. Have you received a Rights Corp notice? If so, please forward them to the usual address in complete confidence.