Month: February 2020

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Over the past decade, online piracy has presented itself as a massive problem for the U.S. and its entertainment industries.

It has become a global issue that’s hard to contain, but Hollywood and the major record labels are doing what they can.

One of the key strategies they’ve employed in recent years is website blocking. US companies have taken ISPs to court around the world and also lobbied lawmakers to pave the way for website blocking.

While these companies have a tight grip on international developments, there’s one element that often remains unmentioned. The country that sends the most traffic to pirate sites is the U.S. itself.

This has been the case for years and the latest data, shared by piracy tracking company MUSO, shows that this is still the case.

With 1.2 billion pirate site visits in December 2019, the U.S. is firmly in the lead, followed by Russia (737 million), India (627 million), China (608 million) and Brazil (559 million). The U.S also happens to be the only country that doesn’t block any pirate sites.

Relatively speaking the U.S. also trumps all these countries with 4.17 visits per internet user in a month, except for Russia which has an even higher average (7.21).

Looking at the types of pirate sites we see that streaming is particularly popular in the U.S. Two-thirds of all pirate site traffic goes to streaming sites, followed by direct download portals (19%), torrent sites (8%) and stream rippers (5%).

Compared to two years ago, streaming sites have grown in relative popularity in the US, mostly at the expense of torrent sites.

U.S. pirate site marketshare December 2019

Piracy habits can be quite different around the world, as we highlighted in an earlier article. However, it’s clear that streaming continues to dominate in many countries.

In China, for example, streaming site visits rose from 22% to more than 40% in the space of two years. In Brazil, there was also a rise, with streaming visits going from 47% to 53%.

In Russia, there was a small dip, but streaming is still on top there as well with nearly 60%.

India appears to be somewhat of an outlier among the countries with the most traffic. Direct download sites are most popular there, accounting for 50% of all pirate site visits, which is up from 43% two years ago.

Worldwide, roughly 60% of all pirate site traffic goes to streaming sites, which is about the same as two years ago. The percentage of visits to direct download sites is up a bit, with a quarter of all visits, while torrent sites witnessed a small drop.

While scanning through the data we couldn’t help looking at South Africa, a country that is currently under fire from major US copyright groups. These rightsholders repeatedly pointed out that piracy is rampant, urging the government to do something about it.

Interestingly, the average number of pirate site visits per Internet user is lower in South Africa than it is in the U.S. This means that even when taking the population size into account, South Africa’s piracy problems are actually less in comparison.

This is something to keep in mind when U.S. rightsholders demand tough anti-piracy actions abroad in the future.

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

What happens if you take Google’s smallest smart speaker, and stuff it inside an old-fashioned rotary-dial smartphone? That… is a question that honestly never occurred to me. But now we have an answer anyway, and it’s actually kind of cool. Redditor Movieman_75 took a Google Home Mini, put it inside a rotary phone, and even […]

The post Hang up on Google Assistant (by putting Google Home Mini in a rotary phone) appeared first on Liliputing.

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Neue Technik gibt es nicht ohne Rückschläge: Bei der Entwicklung des neuen Raumschiffs von SpaceX ist ein weiterer Prototyp zerstört worden. Videos zeigen aber, dass der Tank diesmal im unteren Bereich platzte und nicht wie zuletzt am Deckel. (SpaceX, Raumfahrt)

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Bei der Entwicklung des Starlinerns hat Boeing "offensichtlich in einigen Bereichen noch Lücken zu füllen". Das Unternehmen habe die Software des Raumschiffes nicht gründlich genug getestet, hieß es in einem Pressebriefing. Die Kosten des Projektes seien nicht das Problem gewesen, die Zeit zum Testen dagegen schon. (Boeing, Technologie)

When large ‘pirate’ services are taken down, the tendency is for copyright holders and/or the authorities to make a lot of noise. Taking out big players is seen as an achievement and is often held up as an example to others not to follow the same path.

Last November, when the founder of Gears Reloaded ‘pirate’ IPTV service Omar Carrasquillo was reportedly targeted in a massive FBI raid, not a single person in authority would confirm the existence of an investigation. Independent eyewitnesses appeared on TV to reveal what they saw but now, several months on, information from official sources remains non-existent.

Carrasquillo, better known by his social media handle OMI IN A HELLCAT, has been talking a lot, however. He’s appeared in TV interviews with his lawyer, decrying the seizure of dozens of luxury cars, huge volumes of jewelry, and “at least” $5.2m in cash. He says the entire operation against him grew out of his position as the founder of Gears, an unpaid tax bill, plus allegations of money laundering.

Nevertheless, he keeps maintaining his innocence. Time and again he’s said that capturing live TV broadcasters from cable providers and streaming channels to end-users over the Internet at an affordable price is completely legal. He found a loophole, he says, and companies didn’t like it.

Until now, Carrasquillo has never directly pointed a finger at who might have prompted the case against him. In a live stream this week, however, he claimed that the second-largest telecoms company in the United States is at the root of his troubles. (Note: most expletives removed)

“There’s nothing worse than coming home and grabbing your bills – electric company you gotta pay, water is an essential, gas you need to cook, $300 cable bill – what the fuck?” he said.

“Everybody hates the cable companies, they’re a monopoly. So when you come out with a service that’s affordable to the world and it’s not illegal, oh my God, I’m in somebody’s pocket.”

And then the bombshell.

“Comcast is paying for this investigation [unintelligible]. There’s an unfiled Comcast claim but why didn’t Comcast sue me? ‘Cos they knew it was an uphill battle so what did they do? They got the FBI involved, tried to take me down,” he claimed.

Coincidentally or not, Carrasquillo’s main home is in Philadelphia. Comcast has its headquarters in the same city.

According to several videos posted by Carrasquillo in recent weeks, he has been working hard behind the scenes through official channels to try and reclaim his property. However, he claims there has been significant pushback after the FBI began using his videos and social media postings as evidence against him.

Insisting again and again that streaming captured TV broadcasts to the public is not illegal, Carrasquillo says he filed a motion to get his property back. In response, the FBI had to send in evidence to support why the goods should continue to be held while the investigation continues.

According to him, they “took his [social media] posts and sent them to the judge”. Since the raid, most of Carrasquillo’s posts have centered on him getting back on his feet, allegedly making significant amounts of money, some of it used to replenish his car collection. He believes those videos are now undermining him.

“Look judge, he’s saying that he’s still a millionaire, he doesn’t need the money. We can still hold it throughout the whole investigation,” he said in a mocking summary of what was allegedly reported to the court.

At this point, Carrasquillo seems to imply that not everything portrayed in those videos and postings should necessarily be taken at face value and that, in some cases, those in the entertainment business may face pressures to impress.

“Entertainers, we have a certain image to uphold and this is why I don’t show anything anymore because frankly, it ain’t nobody’s business. Whether I got it or I don’t got it, I ain’t gonna say it no more. Because obviously you’re using what I say as an exhibit and send it to the judge,” he added.

Carrasquillo says he’s hoping to settle his case with the IRS via a payment plan but he insists that any claims of money laundering are nonsense. He says he’s not upset with anyone working on the case and says that he’s “pretty sure” that the two investigators and district attorneys “are pretty nice guys.” That said, he is unhappy with what he describes as an “unethical process and the events that took place.”

Just before he was raided, Carrasquillo went to the Dominican Republic and he believes this prompted the authorities to act earlier than they would’ve preferred.

“Be honest you guys came to [sic] early I broke no laws apology accepted,” he wrote in a separate post. “While Gears is down 20 more shitty services came up and I don’t see you guys doing shit about it. Want to know why? Steaming isn’t illegal. It’s victimless and not against the law. I did not host shit on servers this was a matter for copyright holders to sue. Not for the FBI to get involved.”

Only time will tell when the other side of this pretty one-sided story will see the light of day. As indicated previously, no one in authority is prepared to comment at this stage.

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

Das Unternehmen PC-Cooling GmbH stellt den Handel mit Komponenten ein. Neben anderen Marken war der Distributor etwa für Marken wie Scythe und Thermalright verantwortlich - beides bekannte Hersteller von Kühlern. Es ist nicht klar, wer den Verkauf nun übernimmt. (Onlineshop, Internet)