People who operate or even get involved with pirate release groups take major risks. Those who release screeners of unreleased movies up the ante further still.

The movie screeners that are sent out to film insiders to be considered for various awards come with all sorts of protection mechanisms. These include visible and invisible watermarks as well as other tracers that can lead directly to the source.

These extensive protections are supposed to deter people from leaking screeners. This is important, as some of the films have yet to air in theaters. For example, ‘Color Out of Space’ is widely available on pirate sites at the moment, but will officially premiere in the US this Friday.

Apart from the deterrence factor, the watermarks also help to track down people involved in the leaks. They allow Hollywood to pinpoint the source and call in the feds who have helped to bring several people to justice.

Over the past decade, Hive-CM8 has been a constant factor. Rival group EVO has also shared several screeners in the last three years but most others stay away from the practice.

However, a few days ago another group joined in. Out of nowhere, TOPKEK released six screeners in the span of a few hours, including ‘1917,’ and the aforementioned ‘Color Out of Space.’

While the pirate audience was happy with this new material, it appears that Hive-CM8 didn’t appreciate the form in which it was offered. In the release notes of its most recent screener leak of the film “Just Mercy,” the group accuses TOPKEK of putting people at risk by leaving watermarks and tracers in its releases.

“Bet you all seen the topkek scr flood 2 days ago, we have nothing to do with them btw. We are not happy that they got out like this, with watermarks and tracers still in it. careless and unprofessional it was, its a shame for the community [sic],” Hive-CM8 writes.

“Whoever owned that bunch will regret sharing this for the rest of his life. Dont you think this will not get back to you, wish you luck. Dont trust the wrong people,” the group adds in its notes.

Verifying Hive-CM8’s claims independently would require a specific form of technical expertise mostly unavailable to the public. If they’re true, however, we can expect some legal action to follow soon.

After all, Hollywood sees screener leaks as one as the worst threats to their business. Not only because of the potential revenue losses but also because the screener leaks originate from within the industry.

If Hollywood, with help from law enforcement, can pinpoint a source and perhaps even a release group, they certainly won’t hesitate.

Hive-CM8, meanwhile, is attempting to play nice with Hollywood. The group has been criticized for holding back releases for too long, as they want to give films time to recoup their investments on the silver screen.

Not everyone appreciates that but the release group stands by the decision taken after it received heavy criticism for its early leaks in 2015.

“Some might say us delaying some titles is good, some will think this is stupid. Either way, but we think its more fair like this for everyone under the circumstances.

“We watch the gross in relation to budget so that the movie has a fair chance in cinemas and at the same time make some people happy at home who are not able to visit the cinema [sic],” Hive-CM8 adds.

Although the group appears to be sincere in its motivations, the major movie studios won’t hesitate to bring them down if they get the chance.

That said, it seems that the group is good at covering its tracks, as it’s been releasing screeners for a decade without getting busted. That would have been impossible if the group didn’t have its security in order.

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Half a decade ago, Popcorn Time was the first application to bridge the gap between torrenting and streaming.

The software amassed millions of users by offering an easy-to-use Netflix-style interface, providing access to the latest pirated movies and TV-shows.

In recent years many other pirate streaming alternatives have outgrown Popcorn Time in terms of popularity. However, the various forks of the app still have a significant user base.

One of the most popular ones is Popcorntime.sh. Like all other forks, it’s not linked to the original developers, who have long moved on. However, that doesn’t mean it’s spared from legal issues.

Several movie companies previously targeted the app by obtaining a subpoena which directed Cloudflare to reveal the identity of the operator. The same companies also targeted alleged Popcorn Time users in court.

A few hours ago another problem emerged. Without prior warning, the Popcorntime.sh domain name was suspended by its registrar. A quick Whois search shows the associated “clienthold” status.

This clienthold status is set by the domain registrar, 101domain in this case, and informs the registry not to activate the DNS. As a result, the website had been rendered inaccessible to the public at large.

A spokesperson from Popcorntime.sh confirmed the problems and informs TorrentFreak that they were not warned in advance about the issue. Nor was it made clear by the registrar what the precise reason for this suspension is.

“They have sent zero notice before the suspension, neither did they explain why it’s suspended,” Popcorn Time’s spokesperson says.

The 101domain support team did inform Popcorn Time that a complaint had been received, the spokesperson says. However, who this complaint is from and what it’s about remains a guess.

This isn’t the first time that the registrar has taken action. Last November a similar problem occurred. However, according to Popcorn Time, this was the result of a payment issue. This time it appears to be an external complaint.

Given the nature of the Popcorn Time application and repeated complaints from rightsholders in the past about this type of software, it’s likely that a movie or TV outfit sent a complaint.

We reached out to 101domains with a request for further information but, at the time of writing, we have yet to hear back.

The Popcorn Time spokesperson says that they have switched to Popcorntime.app for the time being.
If they are unable to resolve the domain issue this change could become permanent.

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According to a recent survey, nearly a third of all Indonesians have accessed streaming piracy websites or torrent sites.

In recent months, Indonesia’s Information and Communications Ministry has worked hard to address the country’s piracy problem. Among other things, the Government has ordered ISPs to block more than 1,000 domain names.

The main target of these efforts was streaming giant ‘IndoXXI.’ With millions of daily visitors, it was listed among the 25 most-visited sites in the country up until last month.

Initially, the notorious streaming site evaded the blocks by switching to new domains. However, after a new round of blockades just before the new year, it decided to throw in the towel.

“Happy New Year 2020. As of today our site is no longer accessible, as is the case with the IndoXXI lite application,” the operators wrote at the site.

This news was welcomed by the local movie industry as well as Hollywood, which had previously complained about IndoXXI as well. However, the site’s demise doesn’t mean that the piracy problem is over now.

According to the Asia Video Industry Association (AVIA), hundreds of other sites stepped up to fill the gap left by IndoXXI. Some of these mimic the look and feel of the closed site, hoping to draw in visitors.

“[S]ince this announced closure, many other piracy sites, including some obvious copycat clones of IndoXXI, have become available,” AVIA notes.

One of the many clones

In response, copyright holders have stepped up again demanding that more domain names be blocked. AVIA notes that more than 200 new sites have been reported to the government during the past week alone.

Although website blockades may have some short-term effects, the Video Coalition of Indonesia (VCI) believes that the government can do more. Ideally, the group would like the culprits behind these sites to be criminally prosecuted.

Neil Gane, General Manager of AVIA’s Coalition Against Piracy, believes that the people running pirate sites are often involved in other crimes as well, which may in part be financed by piracy revenue.

“Many syndicates and individuals associated with the piracy ecosystem are involved in other criminal endeavors including illicit online gambling, and there is a likelihood that part of the illegal proceeds are used to finance these other crimes,” Gane says.

The call for criminal prosecutions is supported by prominent Indonesian film director Mira Lesmana, who wants the site operators to be brought to justice.

“We need to be able to recoup our financial investments to fund new creative content. We encourage the government to track down and prosecute those Indonesian-based operators who are behind these networks of piracy sites,” Lesmana says.

The question remains whether criminal prosecutions will do much to stop the flood of pirate sites. In recent years there have been various criminal piracy cases around the world. Despite these efforts, there has been no shortage of pirate sites.

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This week we have four newcomers in our chart.

Terminator: Dark Fate is the most downloaded movie.

The data for our weekly download chart is estimated by TorrentFreak, and is for informational and educational reference only. All the movies in the list are Web-DL/Webrip/HDRip/BDrip/DVDrip unless stated otherwise.

RSS feed for the articles of the recent weekly movie download charts.

This week’s most downloaded movies are:

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In March 2019, author John Van Stry filed a copyright infringement lawsuit in the United States against former Pirate Party Canada leader Travis McCrea, the operator of eBook download platform eBook.bike.

The complaint alleged that McCrea infringed the copyrights of Van Stry by making “at least twelve” of his works available for download without his permission, along with other titles by Stephen King, J.K. Rowling, Joanne Harris, Tom Clancy, and thousands more.

It took months for McCrea to file an answer to the complaint and progress since then has been pedestrian, with Van Stry’s legal team claiming that McCrea frustrated and failed to comply with the requirements of the discovery process.

As previously reported, Judge Bryson gave McCrea a December 2019 deadline to respond, warning that the court would take action if no significant progress was made. According to Van Stry’s team, nothing positive has happened since and as a result, the court should subject him to the most serious of sanctions.

In summary, the plaintiff is asking for a number of facts to be taken as a given in the case moving forward and it’s clear he wants no prisoners taken.

Among other things, in a proposed order Van Stry wants the court to find that McCrea was the sole operator of eBook.bike, wrote the site’s software, and reproduced copyrighted content (eBooks and covers) by shifting it from server to server and converting from one format to another.

He also wants the court to find that McCrea knowingly distributed millions of copyright-infringing works in the United States, knew that Van Stry’s copyrights were being violated via the site, and was aware that users of eBook.bike did not have permission to upload or download Van Stry’s works.

The proposed order further asks the court to rule that McCrea knew about the copyright infringement notices sent by Van Stry, could have taken the relevant content down quickly and easily in response but failed to do so, all while generating advertising revenue from the pirated copies.

On top, Van Stry asks the court to declare that McCrea was the domain registrant and administrator of a second site called Books.cat where he allegedly coordinated with “hunters” to obtain eBooks, remove their DRM, and upload the resulting files to eBook.bike.

In the face of no discovery to the contrary, the order also wants the court to find that McCrea made “hundreds of thousands of dollars” through eBook.bike, used the revenue to buy an airplane, and destroyed evidence after receiving a document retention notice. Finally, it demands that McCrea be prohibited from supporting the defenses he previously presented to the court.

“Given the discovery at issue is all of Plaintiff’s written discovery, Plaintiff found this motion a difficult exercise,” the motion reads.

“[H]owever, Plaintiff endeavored to (1) accurately capture the truth as Plaintiff understands it when proposing its summary of facts to be taken as a given; and (2) strike a balance by putting forth high-level facts without overwhelming with minutia, on one hand, while maintaining that the proposals remain facts rather than the ultimate conclusions of law, on the other.”

Only time will tell whether Van Stry will get all his own way on these proposals.

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