A Dutch-based developer and Kodi addon repository administrator has shut down his operation following threats from anti-piracy outfit BREIN. Due to the XvBMC-NL repo offering addons including Covenant and IPTV Bonanza, BREIN accused its operator of facilitating access to infringing content. He is now required to sign an abstention agreement and pay a settlement of 2,500 euros.
Over the past week, Demonoid's users have been unable to download anything from the torrent tracker. Instead of the usual stream of torrents, they see a "no torrents found" notice. While this appears to be a relatively small technical issue there is reason for concern, as the site's founder is missing in action .
In a series of bizarre takedown requests, a DMCA takedown outfit is inadvertently going after a wide variety of legitimate sites. Some requests specifically target news about the EU upload filters, or censorship machines, as they are sometimes called. As a result, one article from EU MEP Julia Reda was wiped from Google's search results.
Founded in 2003 by a group of hackers and activists, The Pirate Bay aimed to bring file-sharing to the masses. In the fifteen years that followed, the site transformed from a small community to Hollywood's resilient arch-rival, serving millions of users. And that's not the only thing that changed.
A browser extension that acted as an anti-censorship tool for 185,000 people has been kicked out of the Chrome store by Google. The open source Ahoy! tool facilitated access to more than 1,700 blocked sites but is now under threat. Despite several requests, Google has provided no reason for its decision.
This week Australia's Department of Communications and the Arts published its latest consumer survey on copyright infringement. The data reveal that while there are less Aussie pirates, they're pirating more. The recent waves of site blockades deter some people, although not as much as it may first appear.
EmuParadise, a site dedicated to retro gaming for the past 18 years, has announced that it will no longer be offering classic game ROMs for download. Hinting at Nintendo's recent lawsuits against other ROM sites, EmuParadise's operator notes that the climate around retro games has changed and he's not prepared to gamble with the future of his team members.
A research report published by anti-piracy firm Irdeto counters the notion that P2P piracy is becoming less relevant. The company shows that P2P sites, mostly BitTorrent-related, remain more popular than streaming in several countries. P2P traffic is growing in several regions and these sites remain an important content source for illicit streaming portals.