The UK government says it will consider the possibility of introducing extrajudicial 'pirate' site blocking so that rightsholders will not have to go to the High Court every time they want a resource rendered inaccessible. Further work will also take place in the Android and Kodi app arena, to identify ways the supply of infringing content can be disrupted.
The top 10 most downloaded movies on BitTorrent are in again. 'The Spy Who Dumped Me' tops the chart this week, followed by ‘Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again'. 'Ant-Man and the Wasp' completes the top three.
OpenVPN is one of the biggest names in the VPN industry. Many providers use the trusted protocol and open source software which have been around for nearly two decades. Despite the good reputation, OpenVPN Inc's CEO came out with a rather surprising statement this week, stressing that it's "essential to choose a VPN that doesn’t allow the use of BitTorrent."
Companies including Sony have been doing their best to shut down developers who create Kodi add-ons that facilitate access to infringing content. Given this background, it's perhaps a little surprising that Sony Australia is recommending users of its Android TVs to download Kodi to access addons "that provide access to popular internet streaming media services."
Every year the major Hollywood studios report a list of the most notorious pirate sites to the US Government. While the listed targets usually don't respond, there is some serious pushback recently. After CDA.pl dismissed the piracy claims against it earlier this week, RapidVideo follows suit today, stressing that it has already taken several voluntary measures, including an upload filter to prevent pirated content from being reuploaded.
Steam users who want to keep up with the latest news in the file-sharing, copyright, and game cheating lawsuit arenas are not currently free to do so via Steam. For reasons best known to the gaming platform, all links to TorrentFreak.com news articles posted by users are banned by the platform and wrongfully labeled as "potentially malicious".
Several major labels including Universal, Warner Bros, and Sony, are squaring off with the Russian operator of YouTube-ripping sites FLVTO.biz and 2conv.com. The latter has filed a motion to dismiss the case, claiming he lacks sufficient ties to the US, but the RIAA labels clearly disagree.
In 2017, Pirate Bay founder Peter Sunde announced the launch of a new privacy-oriented startup. The Njalla domain name service offers site owners enhanced levels of privacy but not everyone is happy with the product. In a submission to the Japanese government, a powerful anti-piracy group complains that the service helps to shield pirate site operators from action.
Russian search giant Yandex is under fire again, this time for linking to previously blocked sites including RuTracker. A law passed last year forbids search engines from linking to sites previously blocked on the orders of the Moscow City Court, so a group of book publishers is now demanding fines and even a potential ISP blockade of Yandex in a first-of-its-kind action.