One of the claims of anti-filesharing groups is that the people behind file-sharing sites and services only run them to make money. Those who believe in sharing for sharing’s sake believe that the opposite to be true. But in actual fact, and in common with so many facets of the piracy debate, the truth lies hidden behind many shades of gray, somewhere in the middle.
The homepage of the popular torrent search engine “H33t” has been removed from Google after cable network HBO sent a DMCA takedown request for the series Band of Brothers. Google honored the request and has de-listed h33t.com from its search results. H33t’s owner is not pleased with this latest censorship attempt and informs TorrentFreak that he will submit a counterclaim to get the homepage reinstated.
For years, France’s adoption of the so-called graduated response for dealing with illicit file-sharing has been trumpeted by entertainment companies as a success story to be replicated around the globe. The only true barometer of success, however, is the sound of cash leaving customers’ pockets and into those of the entertainment industry. Just-released figures from the French music industry show that three strikes has done nothing to halt the decline – sales in 2013 are already down 6.7%.
Today, exactly seven years have passed since The Pirate Bay was raided by the Swedish police. While the entertainment industries hoped that this would be the end of their troubles, in hindsight they’ve created one of the most resilient websites on the Internet. The Pirate Bay has declared the raid anniversary “Independence Day,” alongside a determination to continue an ongoing battle worthy of a Hollywood blockbuster script.
Earlier this week the hugely popular Movie2K streaming movie portal disappeared off the face of the Internet without a trace. No official explanation has been given for the site’s demise but following the trail of digital breadcrumbs reveals quite a few interesting developments over the past two weeks. Is the site gone for good, or about to make a huge comeback?
The New Zealand High Court has ordered the police to inspect all digital information illegally seized last year from Kim Dotcom’s mansion, and return everything not directly related to the ongoing prosecution. The judge further ruled that the FBI must ship back cloned drives that were sent to them, and destroy all copies the U.S. Government has archived.
As part of a criminal investigation by Italian authorities, 27 file-sharing related sites had their domains blocked by local ISPs last month. Rapidgator, one of the largest cyberlockers on the Internet, was among the targeted sites and chose to appeal the verdict. This week Rome’s Court of Appeal ruled that the Rapidgator blockade should be lifted as the site’s operators are not responsible for alleged copyright infringements carried out by their users.
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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
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