Month: November 2017

Der Elternverband fordert das Kultusministerium auf, die Regelungen zum Smartphone-Verbot an bayerischen Schulen zu lockern. Das Ministerium will an den bestehenden Regelungen festhalten. (Smartphone, Handy)

Late October 2016, we reported on an alarming situation in Poland, where police had visited hundreds of homes across the country, seizing computers alleged to have been involved in the sharing of a comedy movie titled “Screwed“.

In some cases, police reportedly advised suspects to settle with copyright holders rather than face legal action, something critics felt was particularly inappropriate in an unproven copyright case. Now it appears that history is repeating itself in the region, with people being targeted over downloads of a local thriller titled “Drogówka”.

While this is of concern in itself, the alleged offenses took place via BitTorrent way back in 2013, four whole years ago. Local journalist Marcin Maj at Bezprawnik, who’s also an IT security instructor at Niebezpiecznik, has been documenting the activities of copyright trolls in Poland for some time. He picked up the story this week after he learned that police had seized an alleged file-sharer’s computer.

After speaking with local police, he subsequently discovered that 200 to 300 other people had been given the same treatment.

Maj says that after presenting a long list of questions to authorities, he learned that these seizures have been going on continuously for about a year, following a criminal complaint filed by a law firm. It’s that this point that the uncomfortable nature of this whole operation becomes apparent.

“In 2013-2014, lawyer Artur Glass-Brudziński reported numerous copyright infringements (movie sharing) to the prosecutor’s office, and the prosecutor’s office started to identify people behind the indicated IP addresses,” Maj informs TF.

“It’s important to understand that in the Polish legal system, it’s impossible to sue someone who is unknown to a plaintiff [John Doe]. But you can always start a criminal proceeding.”

Such a criminal proceeding was filed in 2014 but it appears that Glass-Brudziński used the process to gain a secondary advantage.

“As a barrister of the [copyright holder], Artur Glass-Brudziński had access to the prosecutor’s documentation. So he used this to obtain identified names and addresses, without waiting for the end of the criminal proceeding. Those people were just witnesses, but Glass-Brudziński sent thousands of letters to them, suggesting they are suspects, which was not true,” Maj says.

So, in effect, a criminal action was used to gain access to personal details that were subsequently used in civil actions. That’s completely legal and quite common in Poland but many view the process as problematic.

“Polish lawyers see this as something not quite ethical,” Maj reports. “Now Glass-Brudziński faces a disciplinary court because his letters were quite misleading. Regardless of that, however, criminal proceedings are still underway.”

A hearing took place before the Disciplinary Court November 13 but a resolution will take some time to reach since there around 80 people involved in the case. In the meantime the current criminal case continues, with several problems.

For example, it’s quite likely that many people will have changed their computers since 2013, but the police are required to seize the ones people currently have. Also, Maj reports that after speaking to people who received demands for cash payment, many report having had nothing to do with the alleged offenses. But there is a broader problem around such cases in general.

As we reported last year, prosecutors admit that they do not verify the technical processes that the copyright holders use to identify the alleged infringers, meaning that hundreds of members of the public are subjected to property seizures based on untested evidence.

“Polish prosecutors often decide to seize computers just because they got an IP address list from a lawyer. Sometimes even prosecutors don’t want to do that, but copyright owners complain to the courts, and the courts issue an order to seize machines. That’s deeply absurd,” Maj says.

“Many times I have asked prosecutors if they check the method used to track pirates. Many times I have asked prosecutors if they have found evidence on every seized computer. The answers? No. They don’t check the method of tracking pirates, and evidence is found only ‘sometimes’.”

There are clearly mounting problems in Poland with both evidence and discovery-based loopholes providing copyright holders with a significant advantage. While questionable, it’s currently all legal, so it seems likely that as long as ‘victims’ can gain access to private information via criminal cases, the cash threats will continue. It’s a topic covered in a report compiled by Maj and the Modern Poland Foundation (Polish, pdf)

“Computer seizures and our report were discussed in the lower house of the Polish parliament in 2016, at the meeting of the Commision of Digitalization, Innovation and New Technologies. Many politicians are aware of the problem and they declare we should do something to stop bullying and seizures. Unfortunately, it all ended with was declarations,” Maj concludes.

Source: TF, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, torrent sites and more. We also have VPN discounts, offers and coupons

Die Landesregierung von Baden-Württemberg will mit einer neu eingerichteten "Cyberwehr" der Wirtschaft helfen. Die Opposition hat zu dem Projekt aber noch viele Fragen. Unklar ist vor allem, wie die Kooperation mit privaten Sicherheitsfirmen laufen soll. (Politik/Recht, Internet)

Eine verkehrsreiche Woche: BMW zeigt Pläne für die Straßen der Zukunft, wir besuchen die Tesla-Montage in Tilburg - und ein Zeppelin hat wenig Glück. Sieben Tage und viele Meldungen im Überblick. (Golem-Wochenrückblick, Glasfaser)

The FBI have revealed the identity of the hacker believed to be behind the HBO 'Game of Thrones' leak that occurred earlier in the year.

Through July and August, a then unidentified hacker stole and released data from HBO. The leaked data included episode spoilers for 'Game of Thrones', as well as actual unreleased episodes from other major HBO shows. At the time, the hacker demanded $6 million in Bitcoins, but HBO refused to negotiate and instead, referred the matter to law enforcement.

And after a lengthy investigation, the FBI unsealed the indictment against the alleged hacker, now identified as 29 year-old Iranian Behzad Mesri.

"Behzad Mesri, an Iranian national who had previously hacked computer systems for the Iranian military, allegedly infiltrated HBO’s systems, stole proprietary data, including scripts and plot summaries for unaired episodes of Game of Thrones, and then sought to extort HBO of $6 million in Bitcoins." said Joon H. Kim, Acting United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York.

In an interesting twist, the Department of Justice also revealed that Mesri had previous work with Iranian military as a cyber attack specialist. It is not believed that the Iranian military is in any way involved with this latest HBO hack.

Mesri has been charged with a range of offences which could lead to a prison sentence lasting 42 years, if he's found guilty on all charges and has to serve them consecutively. Mesri is charged with one count of wire fraud, one count of wire fraud, three counts of threatening to impair the confidentiality of information and one count of interstate transmission of an extortionate communication. No copyright infringement charges have been laid at this time.

But it's unlikely Mesri will face justice in the United States, as he currently resides in Iran. 

[via TorrentFreak]

Retailers in the U.K. are cutting prices for Blu-ray and DVD titles faster, and in greater amount according to new data from Ampere Analysis.

Heavy competition among retailers, as well as pressure from digital services such as Netflix and Amazon Instant Video, have forced prices to drop quicker than ever before.

According to the data from Ampere, 50% of price changes are directly attributed to competitors such as Amazon Instant Video.

Ampere also noted that prices drops are starting just four weeks after the initial release date for the title, citing a variety of reasons, from the popularity of streaming services to supermarkets engaged in loss leading practices, for the practice.

Another price drops occur about nine weeks after release , with the price cut coming from both retailers and studios. After 14 to 15 weeks, another price drop occurs when new releases are re-categorised as "recent releases".

And six months after release, titles are further re-categorised as "catalogue" titles, leading to the final price cut.

In Ampere's research, only the studios Sony and Disney were found to not engage in this kind of massive price cutting. Ampere says not participating in these price cuts puts these studios at a disadvantage, but the overall price cutting strategy is negatively impacting all studios in terms of product life cycle management as well as reducing the perceived value of the physical media products.

[via Home Media Magazine]

Movie studio Voltage Pictures is no stranger to suing BitTorrent users.

The company has filed numerous lawsuits against alleged pirates in the United States, Europe, Canada and Australia, and is estimated to have made a lot of money doing so.

Voltage and other copyright holders who initiate these cases generally rely on IP addresses as evidence. This information is collected from BitTorrent swarms and linked to an ISP using an IP-database.

With this information in hand, they then ask the courts to direct Internet providers to hand over the personal details of the associated account holders, in order to go after the alleged pirates.

In Canada, this so-called copyright trolling practice hasn’t been without controversy.

Last year Voltage Pictures launched a “reverse class action” to demand damages from an unspecified number of Internet users whom they accuse of sharing films, including The Cobbler, Pay the Ghost, Good Kill, Fathers and Daughters, and American Heist.

The application of a reverse class action in a copyright case was unprecedented in itself. In a single swoop, many of Internet subscribers were at risk of having their personal details exposed. However, Internet provider Rogers was not willing to hand over this information freely.

Instead, Rogers demanded compensation for every IP-address lookup, as is permitted by copyright law. The provider asked for $100 per hour of work, plus taxes, to link the addresses to subscriber accounts.

The Federal Court agreed that the charges were permitted under the Copyright Act. However, when Voltage Pictures appealed the decision, this was reversed. The Appeals Court noted that there’s currently no fixed maximum charge defined by law. As long as this is the case, ISPs can charge no fees at all, the argument was.

In addition, the court stressed that it’s important for copyright holders to be able to protect their rights in the digital era.

“The internet must not become a collection of safe houses from which pirates, with impunity, can pilfer the products of others’ dedication, creativity and industry,” the appeal court Justice David Stratas wrote.

Not happy with the decision, Rogers decided to take the matter to the Supreme Court, which just decided that it will hear the case.

The Supreme Court hasn’t given an explanation for its decision to take the case. For the accused BitTorrent pirates in Canada, it’s certainly one to watch though.

The case will in large part determine how profitable the copyright trolling scheme is in Canada. When ISPs can charge a substantial fee for the IP-address lookups the efforts might not bring in enough money through settlements, making them less likely to continue.

Source: TF, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, torrent sites and more. We also have VPN discounts, offers and coupons

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Die Straßen in Singapur sind oft verstopft. Autonome Nahverkehrsmittel sollen helfen, das Verkehrsproblem zu verringern. Ab 2022 sollen im ÖPNV des Stadtstaats fahrerlose Busse unterwegs sein. (Autonomes Fahren, Deutsche Bahn)