To The Bitter End: AFACT Takes BitTorrent Piracy Case To The High Court

After a pair of unsuccessful attempts at making Aussie ISP iiNet responsible for the copyright infringing activities of their users, the Australian Federation Against Copyright Theft is refusing to give in. The Hollywood-backed group is now taking its case to the High Court, claiming that two of the three judges…

Breaking: The Entertainment Industry Is Fabricating Anti-Piracy Research

Breaking news just arrived at the TorrentFreak office. It appears that a group of deceitful people in the anti-piracy branch have been misleading the public and politician with bogus data and false claims. Their purpose? To justify their own existence as anti-piracy experts, and to change the laws in their…

Unreleased Bowie on BitTorrent: Pirate Sabotage Turned Cultural Blessing

After a decade in the dark the unreleased David Bowie album 'Toy' has just hit BitTorrent. Bowie is reportedly "livid" at the leak but his fans, who have expressed themselves in hundreds of postings, appear to be universally delighted. TorrentFreak tracked down the leaker to discover his motivations and learned…

Russia Refuses to Recognize Pirate Party, Because of Its Name

The recognition of the Pirate Party in a US state might have been considered the last obstacle to overcome before widespread acceptance of the movement as a viable political force. Yet there might be another country more obstinate than the US when it comes to registering political parties, and that's…

New Law Will Shut Down TorrentFreak, Music Industry Expert Says

TorrentFreak will soon cease to exist because of new legislation being considered by the Obama administration, a prominent music industry expert has announced. But we're in good company. Music streaming service Grooveshark and the RIAA-approved iMesh will have to go too, and news sites like Wired, Techdirt and Slashdot will…

100 Domains On Movie and Music Industry Website Blocking Wishlist

As UK communications watchdog Ofcom considers if website blocking is actually feasible, an insider at government meetings has said that the mechanism is the favored approach to dealing with illicit file-sharing. In the hope that the plans get the go ahead, the entertainment industries have already prepared a list of…

Anime Distributor Dubs Using ‘Pirated’ Subs

In an attempt to crack down on pirating anime fans, American anime distributor Funimation announced lawsuits against 1337 alleged BitTorrent downloaders two months ago. An unusual move, and perhaps even a tad bit hypocritical, as behind the scenes footage from the Funimation dubbing room has now revealed that they themselves…

South Park’s Matt Stone On MPAA’s Power Abuse and Censorship

Aside from their anti-piracy efforts, the MPAA is famous for their film ratings system in the United States. Through their ratings the MPAA can hurt the potential profitability of a film, and the ratings process itself is often a frustrating endeavor for filmmakers. In the video below, South Park’s Matt…