TorrentFreak Email Update |
- Arrested File-Sharing Admins Face Jail, $700,000 Fines
- Top 10 Most Pirated Movies on BitTorrent
- Fastpasstv Shuts Down After U.K. Arrest
| Arrested File-Sharing Admins Face Jail, $700,000 Fines Posted: 30 May 2011 03:51 AM PDT Due to the way copyright law is structured in Canada, it has become the preferred home for dozens of file-sharing sites. Indeed, because of this tolerance and favorable legal status, some hosts happily play home to dozens of BitTorrent sites, a situation mirrored in few other places on the planet. One site which utilized Canadian hosting was the French site Liberty Land (LL). Listed among France’s top 200 sites, Liberty Land carried estimated 30,000 links to albums and 100,000 links to movies and TV shows. This material was not hosted by the site, but made available from services such as MegaUpload and RapidShare. However, despite the perceived legality of mere links – even when coupled with friendly Canadian hosting – in May 2010 rightsholder groups SACEM and ALPA filed a complaint against Liberty Land with the French authorities.  Last week, police described the subsequent investigation as “difficult” due to a combination of Canadian hosting and measures put in place by the site’s operators to remain anonymous. Nevertheless, an operation against Liberty Land went ahead. According to a report, its alleged operators have now been arrested. It is being suggested that an investigation into one of the site’s major link uploaders led police to the men. Jean-Philippe Vidal, the chief police officer leading the operation, said three men aged between 25 and 30 were arrested in Marseille, near Le Havre and in the Paris suburb of Montreuil. Some reports are indicating the trio generated up to $285,300 in revenue from banner advertising on the site, an accusation which has led to them being charged with organised counterfeiting. The men have been released pending a trial, where they face a possible five years in jail and fines of up to $700,000. Liberty Land is currently down and there are no indications it is set to return. Source: Arrested File-Sharing Admins Face Jail, $700,000 Fines | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Top 10 Most Pirated Movies on BitTorrent Posted: 30 May 2011 02:31 AM PDT
Unknown is the most downloaded movie of the week. The data for our weekly download chart is collected by TorrentFreak, and is for informational and educational reference only. All the movies in the list are DVDrips unless stated otherwise. RSS feed for the weekly movie download chart.
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| Fastpasstv Shuts Down After U.K. Arrest Posted: 29 May 2011 01:41 PM PDT
This has resulted in the arrests of several site admins including those from TV-Links and BitTorrent site FileSoup. A few days ago a FACT investigation led to another arrest. A 26-year old man was arrested Wednesday with police reportedly seizing £83,000 and computer equipment following a raid in Derry, Northern Ireland. After being questioned the man was released on bail, a very similar situation to other FACT-assisted arrests we’ve seen over the years. Other than that, the police haven’t released any information on the site in question or the exact nature of any alleged offenses. However, after some digging TorrentFreak can with near certainty conclude that the man in question is connected to the video streaming website “Fast Pass TV”. The site’s Twitter account – which was recently deleted – an associated email address and various other trails all point to a man (P. M.) in Derry, Northern Ireland. Another source later confirmed that the man from Derry is indeed the operator of “Fast Pass TV.” Fastpass.euThe website in question did not store any video material but merely linked to third party sites. “Fast Pass TV does not host, store, or distribute any of the videos listed on the site and only link to user submitted content that is freely available on the Internet,” it stated on the website. Fastpasstv.eu went offline around the time of the arrest leaving 68,287 registered members and hundreds of thousands of daily visitors in the dark. Without official confirmation from the authorities we can’t conclude that Fastpasstv.eu was the primary site FACT was after, but all signs point in that direction. The arrest and the involvement of FACT are interesting, since the UK police have failed to convict any of the previously arrested operators of file-sharing or streaming sites. Most relevant to this case is the previous action against TV-Links.co.uk, a site which operated a service comparable to that offered by Fastpasstv.eu. Legal action was taken against TV-Links.co.uk but eventually its operators won their lengthy trial. This set a precedent at least in the UK/European Union that under certain conditions these website owners do not do anything illegal. According to Section 17 of the European Commerce Directive, TV-Links was seen as a conduit of information and was afforded a complete defense in criminal proceedings for linking to other websites. Whether the police are going to walk down the same path again, or whether the site operator was arrested for an unrelated crime is something the future will tell. However, it appears that Fastpasstv.eu has already made a comeback as fastpasstv.ms, where the recent seizures are also referenced. TorrentFreak could not verify the validity of the new site. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
This week there are three newcomers to our chart. 
For quite a few years the Hollywood-funded Federation Against Copyright Theft (FACT) has been tipping-off the UK police on the activities of file-sharing websites and their operators. 
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