TorrentFreak

Politicians are always going the extra mile for their supporters, and nothing spells that out more clearly than this video, taken from the Canadian Parliaments discussion into C-11, the current attempt to give Hollywood what they want in Canada. In it, MP Dean Del Mastro tries to make a comparison for format shifting, and why it’s [...]

The United States Trade Representative has once again labeled Canada as a piracy haven. In its yearly report on countries that are not doing enough to protect the U.S. copyright industry, Canada is listed on the Priority Watch List with China, Russia, Ukraine and a handful of other countries. The Special 301 Report reads: “Canada [...]

While most of the major entertainment industry companies wage war against BitTorrent sites, the Songwriters Association of Canada prefers to embrace file-sharing. Speaking with TorrentFreak, vice president Jean-Robert Bisaillon says that the Internet has revived the music business. Sharing music is part of people’s nature and the songwriters want to legalize file-sharing, while compensating the artists whose works are shared.

Earlier this month we reported that The Hurt Locker lawsuits hit Canada as well. Three Canadian ISPs have been ordered by a court to hand over the personal details of their subscribers to Voltage Pictures. However, unlike in the United States where tenst of thousands of downloaders were targeted, the Canadian case only covers 30 [...]

After targeting tens of thousands of U.S. Internet users alleged to have downloaded and shared the Oscar-winning movie The Hurt Locker, the movie’s makers have expanded their settlement business into new territory. Three Canadian ISPs have now been ordered by a court to hand over the personal details of their subscribers to Voltage Pictures.

A few months ago 21-year old Travis McCrea participated in the Canadian federal elections as candidate for the Pirate Party in Vancouver Centre. Aside from his political ambitions, McCrea also described himself as an entrepreneur. As with his political views, his business ventures are also focused on file-sharing related ideas, and most recently he started a torrent site to promote the distribution of movies.

The long running case concerning 30 years of commercial piracy by Canadian record companies is now officially at an end. For infringing copyright on a massive scale for decades, the judgment approved yesterday by the Ontario Superior Court means they have to pay just $50M to the artists in question. Back in January, we covered [...]