While that argument continues, researchers at Manchester University in the UK have been looking at links between those who regularly attend places of worship and various low-level offenses including the downloading of copyrighted music.

As part of the project, last July 1,214 18 to 34-year-olds were asked about their faiths and how often, if ever, they attend a place of worship. They were also asked how often they engage in minor offenses such as music piracy, littering, drug use, shoplifting, fare dodging and non-attendance at work or school.

Project leader and PhD student Mark Littler informs TorrentFreak that in terms of music piracy respondents were asked whether they had previously downloaded music (excluding freely-given or promotional items) without paying for it. They were also asked how often they attend a religious establishment (every day, every week, every month or never), excluding weddings, funerals and other similar events.

“This research implies that the act of visiting a place of worship may trigger a significant reduction in the likelihood of involvement in certain types of criminal and delinquent behavior,” Littler explains.

Littler says the project’s findings suggest that regular attendance at a place of worship is linked to a “significant” reduction in the likelihood of involvement in low-level offenses, including the downloading of copyrighted material without permission. Furthermore, instances of offending progressively decreased in those who attended religious establishments more often.

While Littler says this suggests that religious groups have a norm against piracy, that does not necessarily amount to a blow against atheism.

“Religious practice is just one way of gaining exposure to the pro-social behavioral norms that are at the heart of this relationship; other, more secular, activities may equally serve a similar role,” he concludes.

The study was funded by the Bill Hill Charitable Trust and is due to be published later in 2014.

Source: TorrentFreak, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing and anonymous VPN services.

Most religions have sets of rules which provide a moral framework for their followers – Christianity’s Ten Commandments is probably the most well known example.

In the West these religious ‘laws’ are often in harmony with the rules of land, in addition to providing extra moral guidance of course. Many religions have rules which cover property matters, specifically not taking that which doesn’t belong to them, the closest general notion (whether accurate or not) to the act of copyright infringement.

While there are always variations to the rule, Christianity, the world’s largest religion, declares that followers may not steal. Islam, the second largest religion, says that stealing is ‘haraam’ – forbidden by God.

But of course, many would argue that piracy isn’t stealing and indeed, when the rules for these religions were put in place, copyright infringement wasn’t even “a thing”. Fair enough, but for some piracy is still a moral issue for which their religion can provide guidance.

Instances of Christians asking whether piracy is morally acceptable proved difficult to find, but the same cannot be said about followers of Islam. And, amazingly, not only are there questions raised online by those hoping to lead a better life, but also specific responses from some of Islam’s most respected leaders.

“What is the ruling on copying computer software, movies, audio CDs and other such things, which bear the wording ‘All Rights Reserved’ or ‘Copyright’?” questioned one follower. “Does this rule apply equally to Muslim made products and those made by individuals and or companies which are not Muslim?”

The answer, provided by none other than Ayatollah Sistani, is clear.

“Copyrights must be respected,” he said. “It is not permissible to copy a product, if it is against law.”

Perhaps unsurprisingly there are other interpretations within the same religion, as can be seen here on a page listing Islamic financial issues.

“Abiding by [publication rights] is not obligatory, but it is preferable to seek permission, especially from the author,” the note reads.

But of course, copyright throws up plenty of other dilemmas, as a question to the Ayatollah from another follower illustrates.

“Can I use cracked CD software?” he asked. Apparently, no question is too obscure for this religious leader.

“If someone else has cracked the software, you can use it,” says Ayatollah Sistani, “but you are not allowed to copy or burn it into another compact disc.”

Some other fascinating interpretations of what is and isn’t allowed can be found in a question and answer session (YouTube) with Zakir Abdul Karim Naik, an Indian public speaker on the subject of Islam and comparative religion.

Dr. Naik begins by saying that generally piracy is forbidden, but not always. It all depends on whether the company selling the official product is acting in a fair manner.

“There are some items of software which many of the companies themselves [encourage] piracy of so that [the software] becomes famous,” Naik explains.

Small companies buy pirated copies for small amounts of money, Naik says, but this “buzz” means that large companies who can afford it go on to spend large sums of money on legitimate versions of the same software.

“So, for using pirated copies of this software, Islamically there is no problem,” says Dr. Naik.

But for me this is the most interesting question. One individual asks Dr. Naik whether the same rules apply for software spreading the Islamic message. He says that if that software is for sale in a country or city and people are only pirating it in order to save money, then that is forbidden. However, there are exceptions.

“If that software is not available, if it is software created abroad and no one locally has it [for sale] and the intention is not to save money but the intention is to use it for knowledge, then [piracy] is fine,” Naik says.

“But then, if you take that software and sell it, that is forbidden. If you make a copy and then give it free to your friend, then that is a gray area, but OK.”

In short, Dr. Naik says that if the product you need is not available in your area legally, then piracy is allowed as long as it is in the pursuit of knowledge. Doing the same for business purposes is not allowed.

But despite the wealth of information and rulings online, followers of the Muslim faith appear happy to pirate even during their most religious experiences. Currently the holy month of Ramadan is underway, but apparently that’s only making the piracy situation worse.

According to a report in the JordanTimes, sales of pirated movies and games increase by about 30% during Ramadan compared to the rest of the year.

Exactly why isn’t clear, and the law certainly doesn’t encourage it. Jordanian Copyright Law bans illegal downloading and copying along with prison sentences of between three months and three years.

When those kinds of punishments fail, along with the inevitable fires of hell for sinners also not making an impact, it’s clear that not even God himself can bring an end to piracy.

Finally, try not to kill each other in the comments section. Enough people have died in the name of religion, we don’t need any more casualties.

Source: TorrentFreak, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing and anonymous VPN services.

For the last five or six years a local priest has been calling in to rent movies. Paul describes the priest as “a lovely man who loves his old films” but there’s more to this man of the cloth than first meets the eye.

“Back in January, he mentioned he had watched Lincoln the night before,” Paul explained. “So I asked had they shown it early in the cinema or something and he said: ‘No, we have a film club once a week and we watched it up at the monastery’.”

Of course, back in January the movie wasn’t out on DVD, so either the priest is an Oscar voter or there’s another more likely explanation. And it gets worse.

“We watched Django Unchained last week, which I found very violent,” the priest told Paul. “We watched Les Miserables the week before and Zero Dark Thirty the week before that.”

What we appear to have here is a secret pirate movie club located in a monastery, run and frequented by priests. If that wasn’t enough, Paul says the priests just don’t see anything wrong in it either.

This rather unusual tale piqued our interest. Is the pirating priest phenomenon isolated only in the beautiful city of Limerick or is it more widespread? Helped by Scaneye, TorrentFreak decided to take a look at the recent downloading habits of people living in the most religious city-state in the world – the Vatican.

The Vatican is a small place so downloading levels are very low. However, we did notice that one particular IP address came up a number of times, on each occasion linked to TV shows such as Chicago Fire, Lightfields, The Neighbours and Touch. Another IP address showed an interest in The Americans.

While TV shows seem quite popular, when compared to their Irish counterparts people in the Vatican are a real disappointment when it comes to the downloading of pre-release movies – there were no downloads of DVD screeners whatsoever. In fact, only three Hollywood movies appear in the entire list – Love Actually from a decade ago, a cam copy of Snitch, and The Last Stand in x264.

Music is also less popular than we expected. In addition to a compilation album there’s just one recent download of Ed Sheeran’s Lego House. Also from the same IP address was the only game download in the list – Aerosoft’s Mega Airport Madrid X.

But just when the whole exercise was beginning to fall a bit flat, we spotted some downloads to get pulses racing. It seems that while Vatican dwellers aren’t all that interested in Hollywood movies, they do enjoy adult related celluloid.

In the interests of science we researched each of the titles (including the curiously named RS77_Episode 01) and discovered that downloaders in the Vatican have one or two unusual ‘niche’ interests. We won’t link to our discoveries here, but feel free to do your own ‘research’ using the titles shown above. There isn’t a commandment that covers these films directly, but some might argue there should be.

TorrentFreak couldn’t find a priest prepared to make a comment and apparently the Pope is “busy” today. On a Sunday?

Source: TorrentFreak, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing and anonymous VPN services.

The Church’s creator, philosophy student Isak Gerson, told TorrentFreak that he hoped the development would encourage people to be more open about the fact they are practicing Kopimists.

“There’s still a legal stigma around copying for many,” he told us. “A lot of people still worry about going to jail when copying and remixing. I hope in the name of Kopimi that this will change.”

One group that will hope the opposite is true are the long-time Kopimism rivals at the MPAA. But according to The Pirate Bay co-founder Peter Sunde, an employee of the movie industry group actually provided the inspiration for the original Kopimism movement to be transformed into a full-blown religion.

“In an interview in 2007 or 2008 (I believe, not sure about the date) the Swedish lawyer for the MPAA, Monique Wadsted, got a question about her views on the people advocating file sharing,” Sunde explains.

“It’s just a few people, very loud. They’re a cult. They call themselves Kopimists,” Wadsted responded.

Wadsted, who participated in the prosecution during The Pirate Bay trial, had previous experience with cults having represented the Church of Scientology in a copyright case. Little did she know that the seeds of inspiration had just been planted and were about to turn “a cult” into something more.

“It made me think that it might be of benefits to look at what we do as a religious movement,” says Sunde. “One of the fun things working with The Pirate Bay has always been that we’ve started lots of fun crazy projects. Some work, some (most) fail. I started researching what kind of angle it would give us if we registered a religion.”

Interestingly, Sunde says that in Sweden its possible for anyone to create a religion as long as they’re organized – the actual content of a religion is not examined. But it was the fact that religions enjoy more protection than political groups that piqued Sunde’s interest most.

Nevertheless, several years passed before the idea for a copying church were turned into reality by Isak Gerson, who at just 19-years-old has already gained more exposure for his new faith than many other religions achieve in a lifetime. Even the Catholic church have noticed but perhaps unsurprisingly, they’re not impressed.

“It’s crazy and seems like a send up of religion, a send up of copyright and a send up of the government to register such a body as religious,” says Bishop Peter Ingham, head of the Catholic Diocese of Wollongong in Australia.

“There should be some measuring stick against what you call religion,” he said. “In my mind, if religion has nothing to do with God — or what people perceive to be God — then it’s a sham. It looks like it’s just a way of getting around the law of piracy and copyright. How could a religion promote illegal activity?”

The Missionary Church of Kopimism has no requirements for its congregation to break the law, but Pirate Party founder Rick Falkvinge does raise an interesting issue – that of religious confession.

“Conversations with preachers of official religions acting on official duty are privileged conversations, meaning they can’t be eavesdropped on or forced as evidence; a priest can even go to jail for inadvertently disclosing something that was said under the privileged conversation of confession,” he explains.

“In the case of this religion, the preachers are defined as the ones facilitating holy copying (and remixing). Translated to nerdspeak, that means the communications between operators of trackers/hubs and the people who partake in the sacrament of copying now carries confessional status, by and large making it illegal and impossible to collect as evidence in a trial,” Falkvinge continues.

“That brings a whole boatload of interesting legal ramifications with regards to evidence collection and trying to persecute the worshipers of holy copying and remixing, doesn’t it?”

Source: TorrentFreak, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing and anonymous VPN services.

Philosophy student Isak Gerson is such a religious file-sharer, and in an attempt to protect his unique belief system he founded The Missionary Church of Kopimism in 2010. In the hope that they could help prevent persecution for their beliefs, the Church then filed a request to be officially accepted by the authorities.

After two failed attempts, where the Church was asked to formalize its way of praying or meditation, the authorities finally recognized the organization as an official religion. The Church’s founder is ecstatic about this news, and hopes that it will motivate more people to come forward as ‘Kopimists’.

“I think that more people will have the courage to step out as Kopimists. Maybe not in the public, but at least to their close ones,” Isak tells TorrentFreak. “There’s still a legal stigma around copying for many. A lot of people still worry about going to jail when copying and remixing. I hope in the name of Kopimi that this will change.”

Although the formal status of the Church doesn’t mean that copyright infringement is now permitted, the Church’s founder hopes that their beliefs will be considered in future lawmaking.

During the last half year the Missionary Church of Kopimism tripled its members from 1,000 to 3,000 and it’s expected that the recent news will cause another surge in followers. Official member or not, Gerson encourages everyone with an Internet connection to keep on sharing.

“We confessional Kopimists have not only depended on each other in this struggle, but on everyone who is copying information. To everyone with an internet connection: Keep copying. Maintain hardline Kopimi,” Gerson concludes.

Prospective followers who embrace the same calling are of course welcome to join the movement, free of charge.

Source: TorrentFreak, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing and anonymous VPN services.

The church was founded in 1886 and since its 100th anniversary 25 years ago it has been using a trademarked cross logo to identify its products and services. In 2010 the logo’s copyright was officially registered in the hope of preventing third parties from abusing the church’s faith.

It now appears the registration came just in time. The Church of God logo is now the subject of a lawsuit filed by the church against several parties linked to the making and distribution of the movie Salvation Boulevard which premiered in U.S. theaters last Friday.

Salvation Boulevard covers the story of pastor Dan, played by Pierce Brosnan, who turns his church into a business empire using rather unconventional methods. Much to the displeasure of the Church of God, however, pastor Dan’s church uses a logo that is clearly inspired by theirs.

In the complaint obtained by TorrentFreak the Church of God accuses the defendants of copyright infringement, trademark infringement and unfair competition by using a mirrored version of the church’s logo in the film. Sony Pictures, Mandalay Pictures, IFC Films and Comcast (as distributor) are listed as defendants in the lawsuit that was filed at the U.S District Court of Eastern Tennessee last week.

“Defendants are using a certain ‘cross’ design to promote the Salvation Boulevard film. The design also appears within the film to identify a ‘religious group’ at the center of the film’s storyline,” the complaint reads.

“Exemplary frames from a promotional trailer of the Salvation Boulevard film are shown below, wherein Defendants’ Cross Design is shown on the upper left of the ‘church’ appearing in the frame on the left and on the vest apparel item in the frame to the right.”

Through the lawsuit the Church of God hopes to stop the distribution of Salvation Boulevard and the ‘burning’ of all copies, promotional material and merchandise relating to the film. In addition the Church of God demands compensation for the substantial and irreparable harm the misuse of the logo has caused them.

This is the second time this year that the makers of a prominent movie have been sued for copyright-related offenses. Previously Mike Tyson’s tattooist sued Warner Bros. because it used a copy of his artwork in The Hangover II. This case was settled last month for an undisclosed amount.

The Church of God, however, is hoping to stop the distribution of Salvation Boulevard as soon as possible and has faith that the District Court Judge will hear their prayers for relief.

Source: TorrentFreak, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing and anonymous VPN services.

Philosophy student Isak Gerson is such a religious file-sharer, and in an attempt to protect this unique belief system he founded The Missionary Church of Kopimism last year. In the hope that they could help prevent persecution for their beliefs, the church then filed a request to be officially accepted by the authorities.

In practice this was easier said than done.

“The application was rejected in early April this year,” Isak Gerson told TorrentFreak. “It was rejected because Swedish law requires a religious communion to have a formalized way of praying or meditation. Our formalized traditions were specified at the time.”

Despite this early setback, the Missionary Church of Kopimism wasn’t going to give up. For a church that holds CTRL+C and CTRL+V as sacred symbols, filing a new application wasn’t too hard. This time, however, they formalized their official rituals, including meditation over shared information and the act of copying.

In the months that followed the Church of Kopimism grew to nearly 1000 members, who all prayed that their religion would be accepted by the Swedish authorities. This week, however, more bad news arrived informing the group that once again they had been denied the right to start a church in Sweden.

“This time, we can’t really see any real reason for our denial. We adjusted our application just the way the Swedish authorities needed, and they still denied us the right to form a church,” founder Isak Gerson told us.

Gerson further told TorrentFreak that they are not sure whether they want to continue with their quest to be officially recognized by the authorities. Nevertheless, even without this official status the church and its members will continue to practice their sacred beliefs.

“One thing is certain though. We will continue meeting, believing in copying, deepen our faith and church, and fight politically for a world where copying is not only accepted by encouraged. We know that this is not only our dream and cause, but our calling,” Gerson concluded.

Prospective followers who embrace the same calling are of course still welcome to join the movement.

Source: TorrentFreak, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing and anonymous VPN services.

Make no mistake, if the entertainment industries were God passing their sacred rulings to Moses, there would have almost certainly been one more – Thou Shalt Not Copy. But for the followers of a brand new religion in Sweden, this commandment would be against everything they believe in.

The congregation at Missionary Kopimistsamfundet – The Missionary Church of Kopimism – believe that copying is to be embraced by religion and they hope that very shortly this way of life will be officially accepted by the authorities.

Founded by 19-year-old philosophy student, Isaac Gerson, this brand new church believes that copying and the sharing of information is the most beautiful thing in the world. To have your information copied is a token of appreciation, say the church, a sure sign that people think you have done something good.

For those thinking this is some kind of late April Fool’s joke, think again.

In late 2010 the church applied to the authorities to be accepted as an official religion. That application was denied at the end of March on the basis that although the church is indeed a community, its meetings did not constitute ‘worship’. Undeterred, the church founders have requested a meeting to find out what is required in order to gain official acceptance. They certainly aren’t giving in.

“Throughout history, various groups around the world have been persecuted by oppressors. They have since taken refuge in religion with a desire for a peaceful coexistence. Without threats and harassment,” the church explain.

“In our belief, communication is sacred. Communication needs to be respected. It is a direct sin to monitor and eavesdrop on people. Absolute secrecy is holy in the Church of Kopimism.”

The church has its own set of axioms, most of which revolve around free access to knowledge and the sharing of information. They include:

# Reproduction of information is ethically right.
# The flow of information is ethically right.
# Remix Spirit is a sacred kind of copying.
# Copying or remixing information conveyed by another person is an act of respect.

The church is also acutely against DRM and other methods of protecting or hiding code.

“To appropriate software (to keep source code hidden from others), is comparable to slavery, and should be banned,” they declare.

Perhaps predictably the church use the ‘Kopimi’ logo (a pyramid with the letter K inside) as their official symbol and hold CTRL+C and CTRL+V as sacred.

Joining the church seems fairly easy too. All you have to do is agree that everything should be copied and information should be free in line with the axioms above, then load the church’s website so that the ‘kopimi’ logo refreshes (or indeed draw it, or copy it in any way) and you’re in. Potential followers can request more information by using the online form here.

In common with many other religions around the world, expect the followers of the Missionary Church of Kopimism to be widely persecuted for their beliefs. Praying they don’t get caught while practising them will offer little protection. After all, even the Pope backs up his faith with bullet-proof glass.

Source: TorrentFreak, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing and anonymous VPN services.

But religion has so many good sides too and much to say on many issues, so what advice does it have to offer on file-sharing? Is it a sin? Or is sharing with one’s peers a supreme act of kindness and generosity?

As I was brought up by a fairly religious mother active in a branch of the Christian church, perhaps a good place to start is with Jesus, and God. Ok, technically they’re the same, but if we’re going to get bogged down in too many details we’ll be here forever. Bottom line – is file-sharing a sin?

The 8th of The Ten Commandments, Thou Shalt Not Steal, seems the closest direct answer to our question but also raises an age-old piracy dispute – is copying theft? In file-sharing circles the answer is generally ‘no’, one has to deprive the owner of the original in order for a theft to have taken place. But is it as simple as that? Isn’t it the purpose of most religions to offer guidance, to provide a moral compass by which one can lead life?

During the latter part of the previous decade organizations such as the RIAA and MPAA were very keen to press the moral stance of not sharing files, and have suggested that every copy affects the quality of life of someone, somewhere, in the entertainment business. But what happens when all elements collide – when file-sharing, music and Christians come together?

In 2004 the Gospel Music Association conducted a survey to find out how the Christian music industry had been affected by, presumably, Christian pirates.

“Like all other segments of the music industry, our album sales have been affected by the ongoing music piracy committed by consumers,” commented GMA president John W. Styll. “We went into this study wanting to learn more about our young consumers and how their faith intersects with this vital issue. We were somewhat surprised to find that it does not.”

Indeed, the survey found that Christian teens pirated at nearly the same rate as their non-religious peers during the previous 6 months, 77% and 81% respectively. It’s not clear if those questioned felt that their copying failed to constitute a sin or if they simply didn’t care. Nevertheless, copying hasn’t always been considered a sin.

According to all four Gospels, Jesus himself once took five small barley loaves and two small fishes and multiplied them using a kind of biblical BitTorrent swarm to enable the feeding of 5,000 people. They weren’t starving people, it just wasn’t convenient for them to get food where they were at that moment in time. While they all got to eat a very nice meal it could be argued that local fisherman and bakers wouldn’t have appreciated the slump in business, but there again they could have adapted more quickly and followed the demand……Sound familiar?

While the rule of God is all important to followers of a religion, there are other more earthly laws too, and luckily it appears they can work together.

According to Romans 13:1-7, Christians must obey the laws of the government they live under, which for American citizens means no recording a movie in a theater and definitely no up or downloading. British Christians seem to be obeying the rule of God when they cam a movie but file-sharing in either direction is still out. The Dutch, however, can stay on the good side of the Lord by downloading only for personal use.

All these variations means that making an internationally relevant religious decision is quite a task. But despite their differences, many religions have a similar moral base.

Rabbi Joshua Hammerman writing recently in The Jewish Week on whether or not file-sharing is kosher, says it all comes down to drawing the line between sharing and stealing.

“Before Al Gore invented the internet, I used to lend friends cassette tapes and no one arrested me,” he explains. “So why can’t I do the same thing via e-mail? I’m not selling the material. And as one bar mitzvah student put it to me a few years ago, after having downloaded 800 songs on the old Napster, ‘Being part of a sharing community makes me feel like I’m living out the commandment, ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.””

But shouldn’t the ‘spirit’ of Thou Shalt Not Steal rise above all other concerns? We’re back to that wavy line again, the one drawn between stealing and sharing. While the exact positioning of that line might be a throwaway issue for some, it will be of particular interest to file-sharers living in the 97% Muslim country of Saudi Arabia.

Governed under Islamic law with the Qur’an as its constitution, persistent thieves can lose a hand as punishment for their crimes. As it stands, Saudi Arabia does not consider copying to be stealing and instead chooses to fine infringers. Today, RapidShare, 4Shared and MediaFire are in the top 30 most-visited sites in the country. If sharing really did become stealing, expect all that to change.

TorrentFreak reader Pastor Burt Wilkins from God’s Church of Faith contacted us a couple of weeks ago with a nice email. While we can’t take credit for the work of the Vuze and uTorrent teams as he suggests, his message still stands.

“My life has been divided between the ministry and programming. Right now after 40 years of programming in 15 different languages I am now retired in the Philippines. I am writing you to tell you how impressed I am with uTorrent and Vuze and I am not one who is easily impressed,” he explains.

“It is written in the Book of Genesis, ‘In the beginning God created …..’ This is what you have done. You have created. Maybe the comparison is a bit of a stretch, but as a result of God’s creation billions of people have now dwelled upon the earth and hopefully benefited from the experience. You have joined that special category of special creatures that create and quite obviously millions of people have benefited from that creation.”

“I have now become a user of your program and find what you have created as awe inspiring. You have done something significant and something wonderful. I appreciate and I think understand what you have done and the journey that this has taken you on. I can see your dedication, determination and sense of vision,” he concludes.

Those familiar with the 4th commandment will recognize that by publishing this article today, I am in breach of it, but times have moved on so hopefully most people will forgive me for this particular sin. Time will tell if the various Gods in the universe will choose to forgive those who copy music and movies, or those who merely covet their neighbor’s files.

Source: TorrentFreak, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing and anonymous VPN services.