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Pirate Party Calls Protest As Movie Sharer Jailed For 30 Days Posted: 04 Mar 2011 12:48 AM PST In the overall scheme of things, arrests for file-sharing are a relatively rare occurrence, particularly given the millions of Internet users who engage in the activity every single day. However, when they do happen they are usually fairly high-profile, conducted by the authorities in a fashion designed to attract the most attention. A case in Serbia this week is certainly done just that. Last evening Aleksandar Blagojevic, a board member of Pirate Party International, informed TorrentFreak of a situation developing there. In recent times an increasing number of people have been targeted for sharing materials online, but this week the government stepped things up a gear. Under instruction from the Ministry of Internal Affairs, Serbia’s Counter-Organized Crime Service (SBPOK), the only police unit to report directly at the political level, carried out a raid in the capital Belgrade. On 1st March, SBPOK broke down the door of 51-year-old Goran Cujak on suspicion that he had made links to the movie ‘Montevideo, bog te video’ (Montevideo, God Bless You) available on the Internet. Montevideo, God Bless You (PressOnline.rs) There, a large amount of computer and sundry other equipment was seized and Cujak was placed in handcuffs and arrested for copyright infringement offenses. “The suspect was a member of one the most popular internet forums [for sharing copyright works],” the Ministry of Internal Affairs said in a statement. “The suspect [posted links to copyright works] to allow others to download movies, music and software material, from domestic and foreign authors, without their knowledge or approval, causing them so enormous material damage.” At a swift hearing the following day, a judge at the High Court in Belgrade authorized the prison detention of Cujak for up to 30 days, the statement from the Ministry added. This announcement has infuriated the Pirate Party who don’t intend to let the matter pass quietly. “The Pirate Party of Serbia is unwilling to let this slide just like that, and are organising a formal public protest in Belgrade today,” Aleksandar Blagojevic told TorrentFreak. “Wish us the best of luck! We're going to need it…” The protest against Cujak’s imprisonment will begin at 2pm local time in front of the Philosophical Faculty in Belgrade, but if reports are to be believed, further arrests are on the cards. The police say that they will track down the individuals who downloaded the movie from the forum in question and bring them to justice too, although raids on several street vendors have yet to prove productive. According to Serbia’s PressOnline, Since January 2007, the High Court in Belgrade has convicted 181 individuals for media piracy. Most of them received probationary sentences. TorrentFreak

BitTorrent Inc. Releases Dummy Proof Download Client Posted: 03 Mar 2011 11:12 AM PST Over the years BitTorrent Inc. has acquired a dominant position with their two BitTorrent applications, uTorrent and the Mainline client. The two clients have over 100 million active users a month and this number continues to increase. There is no doubt that BitTorrent’s user base is impressive, but there is still a lot of untapped potential. Both uTorrent and BitTorrent’s mainline client have a relatively large bounce rate. That is, a large number of new users try the software a few times, but don’t become regular users. “During 2010 less than a third of new client downloads resulted in a new monthly active user,” BitTorrent’s Simon Morris told TorrentFreak. “Plenty of people download and install the client, but can't figure out how to use it, and then uninstall it very quickly,” he added. To change this, BitTorrent Inc. have been working on a new project with the aim of keeping those users on board. Today marks the release of the first Alpha version of this new client – codenamed project Chrysalis. “The best products out there don't have any significant educational hurdles – it is just obvious how they work. This is what we're ultimately aiming for with this new project, although it will take time to get there. The client we're releasing today is just a starting point,” Morris told us. Chrysalis interface Today’s release is a very early Alpha, but it should give a good indication of where BitTorrent Inc. is going with their new client. By default it is filled with several prominently placed ‘apps’, such as those from TED and VODO, which provide access to downloads. This means that users will see content right away when they start the client One of the main reasons why some users don’t come back to the client is a perceived lack of content. New users sometimes don’t know where to find content so the current version of Chrysalis should address this issue to some degree. In addition, the simplified user interface should be more welcoming to people who are new to BitTorrent. Overall the Chrysalis client behaves quite intuitively. Downloads are added by a single click and show only basic information. Once a download is finished media files can be launched in a media player directly from the app. Starting, stopping and removing files can be done with a single click as well. The client is built on the uTorrent v3.0 codebase but in the future new and unique features will be added as well. “The first project Chrysalis beta is aiming at cleaning up the overall user experience and transforming a technical and data-rich experience into a cleaner more media-rich experience. This in itself will not be sufficient to solve the attrition problem, but we hope it will establish a new platform on which to build,” Morris said. Chrysalis download Another subtle change compared to the BitTorrent Mainline client is the more prominent placement of the search box. Users can type in search terms here and are, interestingly enough, redirected to a Google search for torrents. A surprising move, since Google just banned the words ‘uTorrent’ and ‘BitTorrent’ from some of its services. Chrysalis is not intended for the more experienced BitTorrent user, but BitTorrent hopes it will appeal to a wider audience than their other clients do now. If all goes well, the dummy-proof client will completely replace the current Mainline client, which currently is a clone of uTorrent. Time will tell whether this approach will be effective. Luckily, uTorrent users don’t have to panic as TorrentFreak is assured that their favorite client will always be available and developed separately. The Alpha release of Chrysalis is available for download starting today, currently limited to Windows operating systems. TorrentFreak

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