Following a hearing today at the High Court in New Zealand, Kim Dotcom was again denied bail. The Megaupload founder, who authorities insist will likely flee should he be released, told the court that he’d been kicked and punched by police during his arrest. Dotcom added that during his time in prison he had been approached not only by women wanting to be his friend, but by an expert document forger.
A 28-year old man from Comstock Park, Michigan, has been arrested and charged with criminal copyright infringement. Yonjo Quiroa is the alleged operator of nine of the sixteen streaming related domain names that were seized a few hours ago as part of ‘Operation Fake Sweep’.
In the wake of the Megaupload shutdown, authorities in Hong Kong say they will set up a center to investigate electronic crime and copyright infringement later this year. Although there has been no suggestion of wrong-doing, the news will almost certainly unsettle other cyberlocker services such as Filesonic, Uploading, Uploaded.to, Zshare and Filepost, all of which have a presence in the region.
In a new round of seizures the US authorities have taken control of domain names belonging to several popular sports streaming sites including Firstrowsports.tv, Firstrowsports.com and Soccertvlive.net. All affected sites now redirect to a notice from DOJ/ICE. In common with last year’s campaign, the new round of seizures appears to be part of another “Super Bowl Crackdown” targeting sites that link to unauthorized sports streams.
Today’s Supreme Court rejection against The Pirate Bay signals the start of a new campaign targeting 150 file-sharing sites, say anti-piracy figures. A lawyer for the Hollywood movie studios says she expects Swedish sites and those providing them with infrastructure will stop their activities today. Antipiratbyran say they will take legal action against those that don’t.
After the court case against the founders of The Pirate Bay was concluded today, the operators of the site quickly moved to change their domain name from .ORG to the Swedish .SE. A Pirate Bay insider informed TorrentFreak that this move was made to prevent the US authorities from seizing the domain, which is a serious risk now the court case has completed.
A few moments ago Sweden’s Supreme Court announced its decision not to grant leave to appeal in the long-running Pirate Bay criminal trial. This means that the previously determined jail sentences and fines handed out to Peter Sunde, Fredrik Neij, Gottfrid Svartholm and Carl Lundström will stand.
Below are TorrentFreak's most discussed articles of the past month. Join the discussion if you like.
Left Quote“The Pirate Bay has been one of the most important movements in Sweden for freedom of speech, working against corruption and censorship.
Peter Sunde Left Quote
A selection of some TorrentFreak's classics dug up from our archives.
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