Following the recent board election we started the important work of defining project bylaws. We also started to review project policies, some of which are long-running and documented but need revising, while others are more informal and need to be written down. One of those policies is our definition of a LibreELEC Community Build and the responsibilities of Community Build creators.
Recognising what is/is-not a LibreELEC Community Build and defining common-sense rules allows the project team to focus on supporting community developers and the users they serve. We often provide dedicated sub-forums and webspace to help builders distribute and support their releases without incurring personal costs. In some cases we also hook their releases into core project assets such as the update mechanism and our add-on repository.
In the next week we will reach out to a small number of community developers identified as non-compliant. If they are willing to work with the LibreELEC project team and address discrepancies we will be happy to allow continued use of our infrastructure. If they are not, we will be encouraging them to provide their own.
Later this year, The Pirate Bay will celebrate its 15th anniversary.
That’s quite an achievement for any website, but for a pirate site in particular, considering the mounting legal pressures.
The Pirate Bay is not an ordinary torrent site though. It has a long and rich history that, unfortunately, appears to be fading.
Up until a few years ago TPB frequently replaced its iconic pirate ship logo to send a message. These ‘doodles’ were pieces of art in their own right and have long been documented on a dedicated page.
However, when we checked this page a few days ago we noticed that the doodles only go back to 2014. This means that dozens of earlier pieces are missing, which is a crying shame. So, for the sake of history, we tracked down whatever we could and have published our findings here.
Below is our overview of TPB’s doodles in chronological order. Many of the titles are the ones TPB used. The list doesn’t include ‘ads’ or artist promos, which sometimes were just videos, but otherwise, it should be relatively complete.
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The Grand Theft Bay – 24 October, 2004
The first doodle we’re aware of, celebrating the pirated release of Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas.
The Pear Bay – 20 August, 2005
The Pirate Bay renamed itself to The Pear Bay when Apple x86 OS leaked. The logo linked to a search which led visitors directly to it.
Merry Christmas! – 24 December, 2005
The Pirate Bay wished all its visitors a Merry Christmas. As far as we know, this doodle hasn’t been reused in recent years.
Nice game got released – 24 October, 2005
Another pirate game release, Quake 4 this time. It’s clear what some of the TPB people were up to in their spare time.
The Pirat eBay – 21 January, 2006
The Pirate Bay crew auctioned a night of partying to the highest bidder on eBay. “Since we have a lot of bandwidth usage and low salaries for working on our site, we’ve decided to go prostitutes on you and sell ourselves for money,” they wrote.
The Police Bay – 3 June, 2006
Three days after The Pirate Bay was raided for the first time, the site returned with their cannons aimed at Hollywood.
The Phoenix Bay – 18 June, 2006
With The Pirate Bay raid still dominating the news and political agenda, the site’s operator added another message. “Like the phoenix bird, The Pirate Bay will always rise again.”
Ladonia Invasion – 25 July, 2006
The Piratebay openly supported the ‘war’ against Ladonia, a micronation located in the south of Sweden. Yet another political statement.
Steal This Film – 21 August, 2006
Pirate Bay promoting the release of the documentary Steal This Film featuring its co-founders Brokep and Anakata, directed by Jamie King.
Party Aftermath – 8 October, 2006
The Pirate Bay crew had a party but didn’t bother to clean up. Instead, they put a photo of the aftermath on the frontpage.
Pirate Bay + WESC = <3 – 11 October, 2006
A pirate site teaming up with the street fashion company “WeSC”? While brands shun these links nowadays, it was all possible ten years ago.
Talk Like a Pirate Day – 19 September, 2006
Good pirates talk like pirates. The Pirate Bay honored the yearly Talk Like a Pirate Day.
Pirates of Sealand – 12 January, 2007
Perhaps one of the most ambitious plans. The Pirate Bay raised money to buy Sealand and form their own state. That never happened, the money was reportedly spent on trees instead.
OscarTorrents – 12 February, 2007
TPB promoting the OscarTorrents.com website where archivists were collecting pirated links to the latest Oscar-nominated movies.
North Korea – 01 April, 2007
Pirate Bay moves to North Korea on April 1st, causing a lot of confusion as well as some outrage.
Eurovisiontorrents.com – 08 May, 2007
Following the success of Oscartorrents, the Swedes from The Pirate Bay now promote a similar initiative for the Eurovision song contest.
Kopimi Klothing – 25 May, 2007
Every self-respecting website has its own merchandise store. The Pirate Bay had Kopimi clothing..
Pirates of the internets – 27 May, 2007
When the Hollywood blockbuster Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End leaked online, TPB made a fitting doodle linking to pirated copies.
The Torrent of Fire – 19 July, 2007
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows leaked online, and Pirate Bay’s logo leaked as well.
The Evergreen Terrace Bay – 27 July, 2007
The Pirate Bay celebrates the release of the first illegal CAM version of “The Simpsons Movie” with a new logo and t-shirt design.
Walk the plank – 21 September, 2007
The internal emails of anti-piracy outfit MediaDefender went public, revealing that they were indeed behind the video site MiiVi, and more…
The Global Icon Bay – 20 November, 2007
TPB praising its own achievement of becoming a global icon. “We won the ‘global icon’ award from the copy lobby!”
We need help! – 17 January, 2008
The Pirate Bay posted its version of a job application.
We wouldn’t steal – 19 January, 2008
When the European Parliament coalition Greens EFA launched a pro-filesharing campaign named “I Wouldn’t Steal,” Pirate Bay showed their support.
Jubilee – 31 January, 2008
“10 million peers. 1 million torrents. 2.5 million registered users. 100 blog entries. Jubilee!”
Valentines day – 14 February, 2008
The Pirate Bay shows off its romantic side.
Manifesta7 – 22 February, 2008
The Pirate Bay and the Bureau of Piracy start their journey throughout Europe, that will reach its climax at the art festival Manifesta.
Sinai – 01 April, 2008
The Pirate Bay keeps its arch-nemesis IFPI updated on the site’s whereabouts.
All your cops – 18 April, 2008
Hollywood buys police officers, according to The Pirate Bay, which is embroiled in a legal battle in Sweden.
Liberty Bay – 25 April, 2008
The Pirate Bay celebrates the release of Grand Theft Auto IV.
Tiamo Dirty Thirty – 27 April, 2008
Pirate Bay co-founder Fredrik Neij turned thirty. “All your NES are belong to him…”
Pirate Independence Day – 31 May, 2008
Two years after the Pirate Bay raid, the notorious torrent site declares May 31 “Pirate Independence Day.” “Today we celebrate that we’re united in our efforts. Keep on seeding!”
The Pirate Bat – 25 July, 2008
The Pirate Bay renamed the site into “The Pirate Bat“ and put up a new logo that links to a search for “The Dark Knight”.
The Beijing Bay – 17 August, 2008
The International Olympic Committee (IOC) asked the Swedish Minister of Justice for “assistance” to remove Olympic torrents from TPB. The site was not impressed.
The Beatrice Bay – 20 August, 2008
A few days later TPB asks its users to send their love to Beatrice Ask, the Swedish Minister of Justice at the time.
International Anti Piracy Day – 21 October, 2008
When Microsoft announced Global Anti-Piracy Day, The Pirate Bay blamed Bill Gates.
25 Million Peers – 15 November, 2008
Pirate Bay’s tracker served 25 million concurrent peers, which is more than the entire populations of Sweden, Norway, Finland, Iceland and Denmark combined.
Our fifth birthday! – 25 November, 2008
While the TPB-crew wasn’t certain that it was the right date (the tenth anniversary was in August), they celebrated anyway.
Happy new 1984! – 31 December, 2008
Ending 2008 with a call to action. “2009 turns out to be the year of surveillance. We need to fight that!”
Wasted can’t be wrong – 09 January, 2009
Leading up to the TPB-trial, the site reminds people that MPAA lawyer Monique Wadsted previously represented the Church of Scientology in a copyright case.
Warner Brothers buys The Pirate Bay – 01 April, 2009
Pirate Bay announced that they settled their differences with Warner Bros. The largest BitTorrent tracker sold out to Hollywood, on April 1st.
Embassy of Piracy – 07 May, 2009
An important art institution is born, according to TPB. The Embassy of Piracy.
We are all The Pirate Bay – 15 May, 2009
Swedish artist Montt Mardié thought that The Pirate Bay and its following could use an anthem, so he decided to write one.
EU Election – 27 May, 2009
TPB reminded its visitors to vote in the EU election.
The Persian Bay – 17 June, 2009
TPB transformed into The Persian Bay and asked users to help out Iran. “Get your tunnelz goin!”
Hack the system – 07 December, 2010
Inspired by the French football legend Cantona, TPB calls in its users to ban Paypal after it kicked out Wikileaks.
Pirate Bay’s sysop decided to put his Christmas wishlist on the frontpage. “Freedom for all information!”
Blackout 4 hungary – 05 January, 2011
At a time where several new laws were being drafted to restrict people’s freedoms, TPB joined the Blackout for Hungary.
Protest time – 13 January, 2011
More protest.
TPB wins auction site – 01 April, 2011
The Pirate Bay reuses an old doodle on April first. “TPB will use the tools from eBay to make a better rating system for torrents. Then TPB will divide eBay up into smaller companies and sell to the highest bidders. We see no use for an auction site since most stuff is available for free.”
The Research Bay – 18 April, 2011
The Pirate Bay launched a new survey in collaboration with the Cybernorms research group at Sweden’s Lund University. As part of a sociology study, they hoped to find out more about people’s motivations to share.
You do not recieve freedom, you take it. – 09 May, 2011
In a slightly edited version of Winston Churchill’s “this was their finest hour” speech, replacing Nazi-Germany with MAFIAA, The Pirate Bay team declares war on Internet censorship advocates.
Happy birthday! – 15 September, 2011
The Pirate Bay turns eight years old. This time it’s in September. “One world one love!””
Belgian Beer, Belgian Blue, Belgian Block Belgian Bay – 04 October, 2011
The Belgian Anti-Piracy Federation succeeds in their quest to force two ISPs to block the famous torrent site. The next day TPB adds a new domain to bypass the blockade.
A new tool to avoid censorship! – 05 December, 2011
The Pirate Bay promotes Mafiaafire, an unblocking too that helps users to access blocked sites.
The Promo Bay! – 15 January, 2012
TPB launched The Promo Bay, an initiative to help artists expose their work to the world through the site’s frontpage. We won’t publish all promo’s here, just the first one below.
The Promo Bay proudly presents Paulo Coelho – 28 January, 2012
The first promo is none other than best selling author Paulo Coelho, who’s a file-sharing enthusiast and a supporter of The Pirate Bay.
Fight! – 01 February, 2012
Sweden’s Supreme Court announced that it would not grant an appeal in the Pirate Bay case. This means that the prison sentences and millions of dollars in fines previously handed out to the four defendants remained in place.
The Magnet Bay! – 28 February, 2012
TPB removed all popular torrent files and made the switch to magnet links. This was needed to make the site future proof, the team announced.
Suprbay! – 06 March, 2012
The Pirate Bay runs a promo for its own forum, Suprbay.
Greece sells airspace to TPB – 01 April, 2012
TPB memo on April 1st: “Political power in Athens, Greece, today signed an agreement with representatives for The Pirate Bay (TPB) about exclusive usage of the Greek airspace at 8000-9000ft.”
The Pirate Bay proudly promotes Dan Bull! – 23 April, 2012
With the track “Sharing is Caring”, Dan Bull tried to break into the UK and international singles charts with the help of a free Internet and BitTorrent. Not without success.
ACT NOW! – 03 May, 2012
The censorship button doodle was reused when The Pirate Bay was blocked in the UK.
The Hydra Bay! – 07 May, 2012
The Pirate Bay renamed itself The Hydra Bay today, linking it to PirateReverse.info, an information site that was dedicated to helping ‘blocked people’ to access TPB. The operator of this site was later arrested.
Act against Acta! – 07 June, 2012
TPB joins the widespread demonstrations against the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA).
ACTA IS DEAD – 04 July, 2012
In a 478 to 39 vote, the European Parliament decided to reject ACTA.
Sign for Peter! – 14 July, 2012
Pirate Bay co-founder Peter Sunde submitted an emotional pardon plea to the Swedish authorities, hoping to avoid his prison sentence.
The Olympic Bay – 27 July, 2012
The TPB crew created another doodle for their friends at the International Olympic Committee, promoting their bi-annual gathering.
9th birthday – 14 September, 2012
Time flies. But at least it’s September again.
The Pirate Bay Party! – 09 October, 2012
The Pirate Bay is already looking forward to its tenth anniversary, which they will celebrate in August…
The Pirate Bay moves to the cloud – 17 October, 2012
From this day, The Pirate Bay will serve its users from several cloud hosting providers scattered around the world.
Support Richard from being extradited to the US! – 25 October, 2012
TPB backs efforts to prevent UK student Richard O’Dwyer from being extradited to the United States. Whether it helped or not, the extradition was stopped.
Merry a’rr a’rr! – 24 December, 2012
TPB encouraged its users to sent cards, letters, and gifts to co-founder Gottfrid Svartholm, who was in prison at the time.
TPB AFK – 08 February, 2013
TPB-AFK, the documentary about The Pirate Bay and its founders, was released. The film follows the lives of the three Pirate Bay founders during their trials in Sweden.
The Hydra Bay – 25 February, 2013
New Provider For TPB – 04 March, 2013
The Pirate Bay moves the site to North Korea. For real. Or?
Fuck yeah! – 01 April, 2013
After its failed experiment in North Korea, The Pirate Bay has set course to the land of the free, the United States of America.
Take a look at what these guys are doing! – 08 July, 2013
Let him at least read some books for fucks sake! – 07 January, 2014
No books? More than 100,000 signatures on a petition to improve the prison circumstances of Pirate Bay founder Gottfrid Svartholm, appear to have had an effect.
Free the pirates! – 10 July, 2014
TPB encouraged its users to write to the site’s imprisoned co-founders. This doodle reappeared several times.
The Pirate Bay rises again – 29 January, 2015
The Pirate Bay reappears after more than a month of downtime, following a raid on the Nacka station, a nuclear-proof datacenter built into a mountain complex.
While piracy of movies, TV shows, and music grabs most of the headlines, software piracy is a huge issue, from both consumer and commercial perspectives.
For many years, software such as Photoshop has been pirated on a grand scale and around the world, millions of computers rely on cracked and unlicensed copies of Microsoft’s Windows software.
One of the key drivers of this kind of piracy is the relative expense of software. Open source variants are nearly always available but big brand names always seem more popular due to their market penetration and perceived ease of use.
While using pirated software very rarely gets individuals into trouble, the same cannot be said of unlicensed commercial operators. That appears to be the case in Russia where somewhat ironically the Court for Intellectual Property Rights stands accused of copyright infringement.
A complaint filed by the Paragon law firm at the Prosecutor General’s Office of the Court for Intellectual Property Rights (CIP) alleges that the Court is illegally using Microsoft software, something which has the potential to affect the outcome of court cases involving the US-based software giant.
Paragon is representing Alexander Shmuratov, who is a former Assistant Judge at the Court for Intellectual Property Rights. Shmuratov worked at the Court for several years and claims that the computers there were being operated with expired licenses.
Shmuratov himself told Kommersant that he “saw the notice of an activation failure every day when using MS Office products” in intellectual property court.
A representative of the Prosecutor General’s Office confirmed that a complaint had been received but said it had been forwarded to the Ministry of Internal Affairs.
In respect of the counterfeit software claims, CIP categorically denies the allegations. CIP says that licenses for all Russian courts were purchased back in 2008 and remained in force until 2011. In 2013, Microsoft agreed to an extension.
Only adding more intrigue to the story, CIP Assistant chairman Catherine Ulyanova said that the initator of the complaint, former judge Alexander Shmuratov, was dismissed from the CIP because he provided false information about income. He later mounted a challenge against his dismissal but was unsuccessful.
Ulyanova said that Microsoft licensed all courts from 2006 for use of Windows and MS Office. The licenses were acquired through a third-party company and more licenses than necessary were purchased, with some licenses being redistributed for use by CIP in later years with the consent of Microsoft.
Kommersant was unable to confirm how licenses were paid for beyond December 2011 but apparently an “official confirmation letter from the Irish headquarters of Microsoft, which does not object to the transfer of CIP licenses” had been sent to the Court.
Responding to Shmuratov’s allegations that software he used hadn’t been activated, Ulyanova said that technical problems had no relationship with the existence of software licenses.
The question of whether the Court is properly licensed will be determined at a later date but observers are already raising questions concerning CIP’s historical dealings with Microsoft not only in terms of licensing, but in cases it handled.
In the period 2014-2017, the Court for Intellectual Property Rights handled around 80 cases involving Microsoft and claims of between 50 thousand ($800) and several million rubles.
https://dimitrology.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/court2-featured.jpg00Dimitrologyhttps://dimitrology.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/WEBSITE-LOGO-2020-SMALL.pngDimitrology2018-04-29 14:36:532018-04-29 14:36:53Former Judge Accuses IP Court of Using ‘Pirate’ Microsoft Software
In recent years the movie industry’s enforcement efforts have switched from torrent sites to streaming devices, which are now seen as the main culprit.
While not entirely intentional, this shift is also visible in a federal lawsuit filed in a federal court in Hawaii.
In the initial complaint, rightsholders of the films “Mechanic: Resurrection” (ME2) and “Once Upon a Time in Venice” (Venice) sued twenty unknown defendants who allegedly shared pirated copies via BitTorrent.
These cases are quite common in the US and are regularly referred to as “copyright trolling,” but in recent months this particular case took a drastic turn.
It all started when the sister of one of the defendants indicated that her brother used a streaming box to watch movies. This turned out to be a Dragon Box which was allegedly used to stream pirated films.
Typically these type of streaming boxes rely on external video hosting sites, but they can be configured to use torrents. It is not clear if that was the case here, but it was enough for the copyright holder to take a closer look at the device.
As the case progressed, all the original BitTorrent defendants were dismissed, and the filmmakers focused their efforts on Dragon Box and two local resellers instead. In fact, the latest version of the complaint doesn’t even mention BitTorrent anymore.
The case now targets Dragon Box and its owner Paul Christoforo, as well as the resellers Naino Bettencourt and Jason Barnhart, who run “The Dragon Box Hawaii” and “JB Dragon Box-Hawaii Kai” respectively. All are accused of contributory copyright infringement.
The complaint describes how the Dragon Box can be used to access copyrighted material, including the works of ME2 and Venice. The defendants were well aware of this, it’s argued, adding that the defendants promoted the box with terms hinting at infringing uses.
In addition, Dragon Box’s Paul Christoforo reportedly made statements such as “It is legal to stream content on the internet,” and “We can’t be held liable for the movies and TV channels online that people are watching, because all the software is doing is accessing content that is readily available online.”
“Particularly, the Dragon Box Defendants have brazenly marketed the Dragon Box as giving ‘you every movie, every tv show, every sports game and payperview all in HD with no monthly fee’, and falsely stating to the public that streaming copyright protected motion pictures such as Plaintiffs’ is legal,” the plaintiffs write.
With the lawsuit, the copyright holders hope to recoup some of the damages they claim to have suffered. To prevent any further harm, they have moved for a preliminary injunction this week, to halt Dragon Box sales as soon as possible.
“Simply put, Dragon Box is intentionally inducing infringement. Plaintiffs respectfully request that the Court enter a preliminary injunction that requires the Dragon Box Defendants to halt their flagrantly illegal conduct immediately,” ME2 and Venice write.
Interestingly, this isn’t the first lawsuit Dragon Box has been dragged into this year. The company was previously sued by the Alliance for Creativity and Entertainment (ACE), which represents several Hollywood studios, Netflix, and Amazon. This case is still ongoing.
Dragon Box has yet to respond to the allegations made by ME2 and Venice. The company initially opposed the latest complaint because the original BitTorrent claims were no longer part of it, but the court denied this request.
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A copy of the request for a preliminary injunction against Dragon Box is available here (pdf).
https://dimitrology.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/skullsfeat.jpg2501200Dimitrologyhttps://dimitrology.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/WEBSITE-LOGO-2020-SMALL.pngDimitrology2018-04-28 23:35:372018-04-28 23:35:37BitTorrent Piracy Lawuit Morphs into Attack on Dragon Box and Resellers
The pre-release leak of four Game of Thrones episodes, early 2015, is one of the most prominent piracy cases in TV history.
The first copies, leaked from a review screener, quickly spread across public torrent sites and were downloaded millions of times.
HBO was understandably upset and feared that the leaks would hurt their bottom line. While that was not immediately apparent after the official premiere, new research suggests that they had a significant impact. And not just on Game of Thrones.
A new working paper published by economy researcher Wojciech Hardy of the Institute for Structural Research and the University of Warsaw carefully dissected the aftermath.
The findings show that the pre-release leaks triggered more people to pirate, and not just the four leaked episodes. This led to a decrease in expected viewers for Game of Thrones, but also for comparable TV-shows.
“The general conclusion is that the leak provided a strong incentive for some of the viewers to look for unauthorized sources for TV shows and that, in consequence, some of them started watching TV shows through unauthorised channels in general,” Hardy tells TorrentFreak.
The reasoning behind this effect is that the leaks introduced some people to these unauthorized sources for the first time. They then kept using these for subsequent episodes.
Ratings, viewership and predicted viewership.
For his research, Hardy used an extensive dataset of US TV-viewership of a variety of shows over time, as well as related Google search data. This revealed that other series, similar to Game of Thrones, were negatively impacted too, compared to a control group.
“Importantly, a negative shift in viewership was found, evidenced both by a drop in the viewership of GoT and by a decline in the viewership of TV shows that share an audience with GoT,” Hardy writes in the paper.
This makes sense, as newcomers to pirate sites are likely to use them for other content as well. That this appears to be a direct effect of the leaks is evidenced by the fact that the decrease in expected viewership wasn’t visible for unrelated TV-shows.
The findings are backed up by Google search data too. Following the pre-release leaks, Google search phrases linked to unauthorized viewing (such as ‘show_name watch online’) gradually increased for GoT-related shows, relative to a control group.
The key message of the current research, according to Hardy, is that even temporary piracy incentives such as pre-release leaks can have long-term effects. They only affect a small percentage of the total audience, but every lost viewer costs money.
This is bad news for HBO and others who have been in a similar situation. However, the data also shows that there may be a promotional effect, possibly because people discover new shows.
As searches for unauthorized sources increased, the viewership of GoT-like shows slowly recovered. This suggests that there may be a promotional piracy effect, where people start to watch shows legally after discovering them on pirate sites.
“On the one hand, this means that the content providers should pay much attention not to incentivize their audience to switch to unauthorized sources to avoid losses,” Hardy says.
“On the other hand, it’s possible that adequate promotional incentives might convince some of the ‘pirates’ to switch to the authorized distribution channels instead, he adds.”
Follow-up studies may provide more clarity on this and other effects.
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A copy of the full working paper, titled Pre-release leaks as one-time incentives for switching to unauthorised sources of cultural content, is available here (pdf).
https://dimitrology.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/09/gotthronessword.png2501201Dimitrologyhttps://dimitrology.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/WEBSITE-LOGO-2020-SMALL.pngDimitrology2018-04-28 08:34:552018-04-28 08:34:55Pre-Release Game of Thrones Leaks Bred Pirates, Research Shows
After successful applying for ISP blocks against dozens of traditional torrent and streaming portals, Village Roadshow and a coalition of movie studios switched tack last year.
With the threat of pirate subscription IPTV services looming large, Roadshow, Disney, Universal, Warner Bros, Twentieth Century Fox, and Paramount targeted HDSubs+ (also known as PressPlayPlus), a fairly well-known service that provides hundreds of otherwise premium live channels, movies, and sports for a relatively small monthly fee.
The injunction, which was filed last October, targets Australia’s largest ISPs including Telstra, Optus, TPG, and Vocus, plus subsidiaries.
Unlike blocking injunctions targeting regular sites, the studios sought to have several elements of HD Subs+ infrastructure rendered inaccessible, so that its sales platform, EPG (electronic program guide), software (such as an Android and set-top box app), updates, and sundry other services would fail to operate in Australia.
After a six month wait, the Federal Court granted the application earlier today, compelling Australia’s ISPs to block “16 online locations” associated with the HD Subs+ service, rendering its TV services inaccessible Down Under.
“Each respondent must, within 15 business days of service of these orders, take reasonable steps to disable access to the target online locations,” said Justice Nicholas, as quoted by ZDNet.
A small selection of channels in the HDSubs+ package
The ISPs were given flexibility in how to implement the ban, with the Judge noting that DNS blocking, IP address blocking or rerouting, URL blocking, or “any alternative technical means for disabling access”, would be acceptable.
The rightsholders are required to pay a fee of AU$50 fee for each domain they want to block but Village Roadshow says it doesn’t mind doing so, since blocking is in “public interest”. Continuing a pattern established last year, none of the ISPs showed up to the judgment.
A similar IPTV blocking application was filed by Hong Kong-based broadcaster Television Broadcasts Limited (TVB) last year.
TVB wants ISPs including Telstra, Optus, Vocus, and TPG plus their subsidiaries to block access to seven Android-based services named as A1, BlueTV, EVPAD, FunTV, MoonBox, Unblock, and hTV5.
The application was previously heard alongside the HD Subs+ case but will now be handled separately following complications. In April it was revealed that TVB not only wants to block Internet locations related to the technical operation of the service, but also hosting sites that fulfill a role similar to that of Google Play or Apple’s App Store.
TVB wants to have these app marketplaces blocked by Australian ISPs, which would not only render the illicit apps inaccessible to the public but all of the non-infringing ones too.
Justice Nicholas will now have to decide whether the “primary purpose” of these marketplaces is to infringe or facilitate the infringement of TVB’s copyrights. However, there is also a question of whether China-focused live programming has copyright status in Australia. An additional hearing is scheduled for May 2 for these matters to be addressed.
Also on Friday, Foxtel filed yet another blocking application targeting “15 online locations” involving 27 domain names connected to traditional BitTorrent and streaming services.
According to ComputerWorld the injunction targets the same set of ISPs but this time around, Foxtel is trying to save on costs.
The company doesn’t want to have expert witnesses present in court, doesn’t want to stage live demos of websites, and would like to rely on videos and screenshots instead. Foxtel also says that if the ISPs agree, it won’t serve its evidence on them as it has done previously.
The company asked Justice Nicholas to deal with the injunction application “on paper” but he declined, setting a hearing for June 18 but accepting screenshots and videos as evidence.
https://dimitrology.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/11/iptv-movies-film-feat.jpg2501179Dimitrologyhttps://dimitrology.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/WEBSITE-LOGO-2020-SMALL.pngDimitrology2018-04-27 17:33:522018-04-27 17:33:52Aussie Federal Court Orders ISPs to Block Pirate IPTV Service
Virtually every piece of software is cracked and made available on the Internet, through a myriad of pirate sources.
These are generally visited by regular people out to save a few bucks, but according to Quest Software, pirated license keys found their way to Nike’s office as well.
The company, known for developing a variety of database software, filed a lawsuit in an Oregon federal court this week, accusing Nike of copyright infringement. Both parties have had a software license agreement in place since 2001, but during an audit last year, Qwest noticed that not all products were properly licensed.
“That audit revealed that Nike had deployed Quest Software Products far in excess of the scope allowed by the parties’ SLA,” Quest writes in their complaint, filed at a federal court in Oregon.
Quest keeps a database of all valid keys and found that Nike used “cracked” versions, which are generally circulated on pirate sites. This is something Nike must have been aware of, it adds.
“The audit also revealed that Nike had used pirated keys to bypass the Quest License Key System and made unauthorized copies of certain Quest Software Products by breaking the technological security measures Quest had in place,” Quest writes.
“Upon information and belief, to obtain a pirated key for Quest Software Products, customers must affirmatively seek out and obtain pirated keys on download sites known to traffic in counterfeit or illegally downloaded intellectual property, such as BitTorrent.”
Pirated keys?
When the software company found out, it confronted Nike with the findings. However, according to the complaint, Nike refused to purchase the additional licenses that were required for its setup. This prompted Quest to go to court instead.
At this point, it’s not entirely clear to Quest how many pirated keys were used on Nike computers. That’s something the company would like to find out during the discovery process.
Quest is certain, however, that its customer crossed a line. It accuses Nike of copyright infringement, breach of contract, and violating the DMCA’s circumvention provisions.
The company requests an injunction restraining Nike from any infringing activity and demands compensation for the damages it suffered as a result. The exact height of these damages will have to be determined at trial.
Back in 2016, an article appeared in Kiwi media discussing the rise of a new company pledging to beat media giant Sky TV at its own game.
My Box NZ owner Krish Reddy told the publication he was selling Android boxes loaded with Kodi software and augmented with third-party addons.
Without any hint of fear, he stated that these devices enabled customers to access movies, TV shows and live channels for free, after shelling out a substantial US$182 for the box first, that is.
“Why pay $80 minimum per month for Sky when for one payment you can have it free for good?” a claim on the company’s website asked.
Noting that he’d been importing the boxes from China, Reddy suggested that his lawyers hadn’t found any problem with the business plan.
“I don’t see why [Sky] would contact me but if they do contact me and … if there’s something of theirs that they feel I’ve unlawfully taken then yeah … but as it stands I don’t [have any concerns],” he said.
At this point, Reddy said he’d been selling the boxes for just six weeks and had shifted around 80 units. To get coverage from a national newspaper at this stage of the game must’ve been very much appreciated but Reddy didn’t stop there.
In a bulk advertising email sent out to 50,000 people, Reddy described his boxes as “better than Sky”. However, by design or misfortune, the email managed to land in the inboxes of 50 Sky TV staff and directors, something that didn’t go unnoticed by the TV giant.
With Reddy claiming sales of 8,000 units, Sky ran out of patience last April. In a letter from its lawyers, the pay-TV company said Reddy’s devices breached copyright law and the Fair Trading Act. Reddy responded by calling the TV giant “a playground bully”, again denying that he was breaking the law.
“From a legal perspective, what we do is completely within the law. We advertise Sky television channels being available through our website and social media platforms as these are available via streams which you can find through My Box,” he said.
“The content is already available, I’m not going out there and bringing the content so how am I infringing the copyright… the content is already there, if someone uses the box to search for the content, that’s what it is.”
The initial compensation demand from Sky against Reddy’s company My Box ran to NZD$1.4m, around US$1m. It was an amount that had the potential rise by millions if matters got drawn out and/or escalated. But despite picking a terrible opponent in a battle he was unlikely to win, Reddy refused to give up.
“[Sky’s] point of view is they own copyright and I’m destroying the market by giving people content for free. To me it is business; I have got something that is new … that’s competition,” he said.
The Auckland High Court heard the case against My Box last month with Judge Warwick Smith reserving his judgment and Reddy still maintaining that his business is entirely legal. Sales were fantastic, he said, with 20,000 devices sold to customers in 12 countries.
Then something truly amazing happened.
A company up to its eyeballs in litigation, selling a commodity product that an amateur can buy and configure at home for US$40, reportedly got a chance of a lifetime. Reddy revealed to Stuff that a Chinese investor had offered to buy his company for an eye-watering NZ$10 million (US$7.06m).
“We have to thank Sky,” he said. “If they had left us alone we would just have been selling a few boxes, but the controversy made us world famous.”
Reddy noted he’d been given 21 days to respond to the offer, but refused to name the company. Interestingly, he also acknowledged that if My Box lost its case, the company would be liable for damages. However, that wouldn’t bother the potential investor.
“It makes no difference to them whether we win or lose, because their operations won’t be in New Zealand,” Reddy said.
According to the entrepreneur, that’s how things are playing out.
The Chinese firm – which Reddy is still refusing to name – has apparently accepted a counter offer from Reddy of US$8.8m for My Box. As a result, Reddy will wrap up his New Zealand operations within the next 90 days and his six employees will be rendered unemployed.
Given that anyone with the ability to install Kodi and a few addons before putting a box in the mail could replicate Reddy’s business model, the multi-million dollar offer for My Box was never anything less than a bewildering business proposition. That someone carried through with it an even higher price is so fantastic as to be almost unbelievable.
In a sea of unhappy endings for piracy-enabled Kodi box sellers globally, this is the only big win to ever grace the headlines. Assuming this really is the end of the story (and that might not be the case) it will almost certainly be the last.
https://dimitrology.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/money-feat.jpg2501200Dimitrologyhttps://dimitrology.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/WEBSITE-LOGO-2020-SMALL.pngDimitrology2018-04-26 11:31:272018-04-26 11:31:27Under-Fire “Kodi Box” Company “Sold to Chinese Investor” For US$8.82m
For several years vKontakte, or VK, has been marked as a notorious piracy facilitator by copyright holders and even the US Government.
Like many other user-generated content sites, Russia’s largest social media network allows its millions of users to upload anything, from movies and TV shows to their entire music collections.
However, copyright holders have often claimed that, unlike its competitors, the site lacks proper anti-piracy measures.
“vKontakte’s ongoing facilitation of piracy causes very substantial damage,” the RIAA complained two years ago, and more recently the IIPA labeled the site as a “major infringement hub for illegal film materials.”
As a result of the ongoing critique, particularly from the movie industry, the US Trade Representative included VK in its most recent list of notorious pirate sites. While this isn’t the first time that VK has ended up there, it’s an intriguing position considering the praise the social network received from the music business this week.
After several major labels reached licensing agreements with VK in 2016, it has transformed from one of the music industry’s largest foes to a rather helpful friend. This milestone was clearly marked in IFPI’s most recent Global Music Report, which was just released.
“[Russia has] become an interesting market. The local services are meaningful now, and VKontakte has gone from being the number one most notorious copyright infringer to being a positive contributor,” says Dennis Kooker, Sony Music’s President Global Digital Business.
Moving from a site that does substantial damage to being a positive contributor is quite a feat, something that’s also highlighted by Warner Music’s Head of Digital Strategy, John Rees.
“We’re starting to see encouraging growth in a number of markets which historically have been completely overwhelmed by piracy,” Rees says.
“We work with VKontakte, which last year launched a licensed music service that’s helping unlock the Russian market alongside our other paid streaming partners such as Apple Music, Yandex and Zvooq. There’s huge potential in Russia, and, considering the population size, we’ve only recently begun to scratch the surface,” he adds.
This means that the same platform that helps the music industry to grow in Russia is seen as a notorious pirate site by Hollywood and the US Government, which mention it in the same breath as The Pirate Bay.
The music industry’s positive signals haven’t gone completely unnoticed by the US Trade Representative. However, it believes that the social media platform should help to protect all copyright holders.
“VK continues to be listed pending the institutionalization of appropriate measures to promote respect on its platform for IPR of all right holders, not just those with whom it has contracts, which are comparable to those measures used by other social media sites,” USTR wrote a few weeks ago.
In recent years VK has implemented a wide variety of anti-piracy measures including fingerprinting techniques but, apparently, more is needed to appease the movie industry.
While the music industry can scrap VK from the piracy agenda, it still has plenty of other worries. IFPI’s Global Music Report highlights the “value gap” as a major issue and stresses that stream-ripping is the fastest growing form of music copyright infringement.
The shutdown of YouTube-MP3.org in 2016 is highlighted as a major success, but there’s still a long way to go before piracy is a problem of the past, if it ever will be.
“The actions taken by the industry are having a positive impact and reducing stream ripping across major music markets. However, the problem is far from solved and we will continue to take on these illegal sites wherever they are operating around the world,” IFPI’s Frances Moore says.
https://dimitrology.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/01/concert-crowd.jpg2501200Dimitrologyhttps://dimitrology.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/WEBSITE-LOGO-2020-SMALL.pngDimitrology2018-04-25 20:30:502018-04-25 20:30:50VK: A ‘Notorious Pirate Site’ Praised by The Music Industry
After several high-profile years at the helm of the movie industry’s most powerful lobbying group, last year saw the departure of Chris Dodd from the role of Chairman and CEO at the MPAA.
The former Senator, who earned more than $3.5m a year championing the causes of the major Hollywood studios since 2011, was immediately replaced by another political heavyweight.
Charles Rivkin, who took up his new role September 5, 2017, previously served as Assistant Secretary of State for Economic and Business Affairs in the Obama administration. With an underperforming domestic box office year behind him fortunately overshadowed by massive successes globally, this week he spoke before US movie exhibitors for the first time at CinemaCon in Las Vegas.
“Globally, we hit a record high of $40.6 billion at the box office. Domestically, our $11.1 billion box office was slightly down from the 2016 record. But it exactly matched the previous high from 2015. And it was the second highest total in the past decade,” Rivkin said.
“But it exactly matched the previous high from 2015. And it was the second highest total in the past decade.”
Rivkin, who spent time as President and CEO of The Jim Henson Company, told those in attendance that he shares a deep passion for the movie industry and looks forward optimistically to the future, a future in which content is secured from those who intend on sharing it for free.
“Making sure our creative works are valued and protected is one of the most important things we can do to keep that industry heartbeat strong. At the Henson Company, and WildBrain, I learned just how much intellectual property affects everyone. Our entire business model depended on our ability to license Kermit the Frog, Miss Piggy, and the Muppets and distribute them across the globe,” Rivkin said.
“I understand, on a visceral level, how important copyright is to any creative business and in particular our country’s small and medium enterprises – which are the backbone of the American economy. As Chairman and CEO of the MPAA, I guarantee you that fighting piracy in all forms remains our top priority.”
That tackling piracy is high on the MPAA’s agenda won’t comes as a surprise but at least in terms of the numbers of headlines plastered over the media, high-profile anti-piracy action has been somewhat lacking in recent years.
With lawsuits against torrent sites seemingly a thing of the past and a faltering Megaupload case that will conclude who-knows-when, the MPAA has taken a broader view, seeking partnerships with sometimes rival content creators and distributors, each with a shared desire to curtail illicit media.
“One of the ways that we’re already doing that is through the Alliance for Creativity and Entertainment – or ACE as we call it,” Rivkin said.
“This is a coalition of 30 leading global content creators, including the MPAA’s six member studios as well as Netflix, and Amazon. We work together as a powerful team to ensure our stories are seen as they were intended to be, and that their creators are rewarded for their hard work.”
Announced in June 2017, ACE has become a united anti-piracy powerhouse for a huge range of entertainment industry groups, encompassing the likes of CBS, HBO, BBC, Sky, Bell Canada, CBS, Hulu, Lionsgate, Foxtel and Village Roadshow, to name a few.
The coalition was announced by former MPAA Chief Chris Dodd and now, with serious financial input from all companies involved, appears to be picking its fights carefully, focusing on the growing problem of streaming piracy centered around misuse of Kodi and similar platforms.
From threatening relatively small-time producers and distributors of third-party addons and builds (1,2,3), ACE is also attempting to make its mark among the profiteers.
The group now has several lawsuits underway in the United States against people selling piracy-enabled IPTV boxes including Tickbox, Dragon Box, and during the last week, Set TV.
With these important cases pending, Rivkin offered assurances that his organization remains committed to anti-piracy enforcement and he thanked exhibitors for their efforts to prevent people quickly running away with copies of the latest releases.
“I am grateful to all of you for recognizing what is at stake, and for working with us to protect creativity, such as fighting the use of illegal camcorders in theaters,” he said.
“Protecting our creativity isn’t only a fundamental right. It’s an economic necessity, for us and all creative economies. Film and television are among the most valuable – and most impactful – exports we have.
Thus far at least, Rivkin has a noticeably less aggressive tone on piracy than his predecessor Chris Dodd but it’s unlikely that will be mistaken for weakness among pirates, nor should it. The MPAA isn’t known for going soft on pirates and it certainly won’t be changing course anytime soon.
Later this year, The Pirate Bay will celebrate its 15th anniversary. 
In recent years the movie industry’s enforcement efforts have switched from torrent sites to streaming devices, which are now seen as the main culprit. 
The pre-release leak of four Game of Thrones episodes, early 2015, is one of the most prominent piracy cases in TV history.
After successful applying for ISP blocks against dozens of traditional torrent and streaming portals, Village Roadshow and a coalition of movie studios switched tack last year.
Virtually every piece of software is cracked and made available on the Internet, through a myriad of pirate sources. 
For several years 