Over the last two weeks, two interesting copyright-related stories have appeared in online news reports. Both involve big media companies and small users, but not in the way we usually expect. In both instances, the large media companies “pirated” content instead of the users, and they seem to get away…
BitTorrent is no longer the dominant player when it comes to file-sharing on the Internet. The five largest English language websites dedicated to swapping files are all related to centralized file-hosting services, also known as cyberlockers. The Pirate Bay and Torrentz are the only BitTorrent sites that managed to secure…
A common recurring theme in the comments here on TorrentFreak is that P2P file-sharing is 'stealing'. While such sentiments are often expressed by the industry lobby groups, it's completely at odds with the law. It could also be the very LAST thing those bodies want.
Earlier today we already wrote about the lawsuit that The Hurt Locker makers filed against 24,583 alleged BitTorrent users. As it turns out they sued a dead person, which could be an indication that the defendant didn’t download anything at all. But that’s just the tip of the iceberg really.…
When tens of thousands of people are sued for alleged copyright infringement all at once, there are bound to be some unfortunate targets and plenty of collateral damage. Earlier this year an adult movie studio sued a blind man and now the makers of The Hurt Locker have taken it…
Unfortunately many Internet providers are still limiting or blocking BitTorrent traffic today. For BitTorrent users this is a great annoyance, and although encryption helps in some cases, it often is very hard to get around the restrictions. But according to Jeremy Duncan, senior director for Salient Federal Systems, torrenting over…
According to an announcement by one of the leading lights in the iOS jailbreaking scene, he’s off to do some work for Apple. Via his Twitter account Nicholas Allegra, aka Comex, last night said: “So, the week after next I will be starting an internship with Apple.” Part of the…
The world's largest recording labels have joined forces in Japan to sue a site which enables users to download material from YouTube. Universal, EMI, Sony, Warner and more than 25 other labels are seeking almost $3 million in damages and the closure of TubeFire, a site which converts the streaming-only…