Antigua’s Legal “Pirate Site” Authorized by the World Trade Organization

During a meeting in Geneva today the World Trade organization (WTO) authorized Antigua's request to suspend U.S. copyrights. The decision confirmed the preliminary authorization the Caribbean island received in 2007, and means that the local authorities can move forward with their plan to start a download portal which offers movies,…

Music Biz Wants To Swap ISP Disconnections For Cash Fines

For years entertainment companies have put huge efforts into campaigns to inflict so-called "three strikes" campaigns on errant Internet users who download music and movies for free. The ultimate sanction of disconnection has always been touted as necessary in order for people to take things seriously but over in France,…

Mega Resellers Take Down PayPal Payment Option

After trumpeting the start of a campaign this week to cut off payment processing to Mega, an anti-piracy outfit has just announced some developments. According to Robert King of StopFileLockers, out of a total of ten current Mega resellers, four have now withdrawn customer payment processing via PayPal.

KickassTorrents Goes Down After Kat.ph Domain Expires

KickassTorrents is down, possibly because the domain name expired. People all around the world are unable to access the second most visited torrent site since an hour or so. TorrentFreak contacted the admins to ask for an explanation, but we have yet to hear back from them. Interestingly, KickassTorrents either…

Will the Upcoming Six Strikes Scheme Stop Piracy?

The much-discussed U.S. six strikes anti-piracy scheme is expected to go live within a month. A reputable source told TorrentFreak that February 18 has been selected as the provisional launch date, but CCI denies this. In the meantime we'll take a look at the expected effectiveness of the copyright alerts…

Norwegian Pirate Party Gets Official Recognition

Earlier this week the Australian Pirate Party was approved by its government as a political party. Despite claims by the ignorant that it’s just a ‘one trick pony’, the political movement based on transparency & accountability of government officials; increased personal privacy; and reform of copyright, trademark and patent laws…

Anti-Piracy Company ‘Tests’ Mega’s Copyright Takedown Skills

During this week with millions of users signed up and several hundred million files uploaded, Mega has been receiving its first batches of DMCA complaints. According to information received by TorrentFreak, a French anti-piracy company tested Mega and revealed that the company took down allegedly infringing content within 48 hours.