Month: December 2021

TorrentFreak’s 12 Most Read Articles of 2021

With 2021 nearing its end, we take a look at the most-read news articles posted on TorrentFreak this year. There was a lot of interest in IPTV-related enforcement actions, Yout’s legal struggles, and The Pirate Bay’s resilience. At the same time, the world’s oldest active torrent found itself in the spotlight once again.

From: TF, for the latest news on copyright battles, piracy and more.

2021Every year we write hundreds of articles here at TorrentFreak, and some are more popular than others.

On the brink of the new year, we look back at 2021 by going over the twelve most read news items of the last 12 months.

All in all, it was quite a controversial year once again. Pirate IPTV services were targeted around the globe, Yout.com managed to temporarily get itself unblocked in Brazil, and Netflix intensified its VPN ban. Of course, no list is complete with at least a few Pirate Bay mentions.

But what will 2022 bring?

1. ISPs Must Unblock Stream-Ripping Sites After Yout.com Intervenes in Brazil (May)

Popular stream-ripping site Yout.com is fighting legal disputes around the world, including a lawsuit against the RIAA in the US. In Brazil Yout’s operator, Johnathan Nader, scored a victory earlier this year after he successfully appealed a website blockade. However, this blockade was later reinstated after the Brazilian authorities launched a criminal prosecution.

2. Netflix Intensifies ‘VPN Ban’ and Targets Residential IP-addresses Too (August)

Netflix stepped up its efforts to ban VPN and proxy users from bypassing geographical roadblocks. The streaming service started blocking residential IP addresses since some unblocking tools use these to bypass restrictions. This decision was not without collateral damage as many regular Internet users without a VPN reported “missing content” on Netflix.

3. UK Police Shut Down Pirate IPTV Network With “Hundreds of Thousands” of Customers (September)

In September, the Federation Against Copyright Theft and West Midlands Police announced that they shut down a major illegal streaming operation in the UK. Two men and a woman were arrested on suspicion of copyright infringement and fraud-related charges. The service reportedly had hundreds of thousands of customers who were greeted by a police message instead of the expected TV content.

4. Operation ‘IPTV Special’: 49 Pirate IPTV Resellers Fined €10,000 Each (December)

In Italy, the authorities reported a follow-up to a 2020 raid that shut down a pirate IPTV provider. More than 70 people face complaints, and 49 resellers of the service are required to pay more than 500,000 euros in fines. Police may go after IPTV customers next as they reportedly have a database of 65,000 users.

5. Denuvo Cracker EMPRESS “Arrested”, Blames Repacker FitGirl & Reddit For Witch-Hunt (February)

In February of last year, the high-profile Denuvo cracker EMPRESS was reportedly targeted by the police. In an interview, the cracker pointed a finger at the popular repacker Fitgirl, while blaming Reddit users for reporting her to the authorities.

6. uTorrent Continues to be Flagged as ‘Severe Threat’ and It’s Not alone (March)

Popular BitTorrent client uTorrent was once again flagged as problematic by anti-virus vendors. Microsoft’s Windows Defender took drastic action by simply removing the application from the operating system. The software was categorized as ‘riskware,’ ‘malware,’ and ‘potentially unwanted software.’ In addition to uTorrent, rival client qBitTorrent faced similar problems.

7. Bond’s “No Time to Die” Leaks on Pirate Sites Before U.S. Premiere (October)

There were dozens of movie leaks in 2021 but James Bond’s “No Time to Die” garnered the most interest among readers. Despite the broad attention, the download numbers were relatively low for this low-quality leak that took place before the US theatrical premiere. The download numbers picked up later in the year when a high-quality copy appeared online.

8. The Pirate Bay is Pretty Broken Right Now But Can Be Coaxed Back to Life (January)

The Pirate Bay suffered a few stints of downtime last year. One quite unique issue appeared in January when the site became nearly impossible to use. These confusing technical problems had many users scratching their heads but, with a bit of creativity, it was still possible to make it work.

9. GTA Modders to Court: Our Game Fixes & Enhancements Are Fair Use, Not Piracy (November)

After a GitHub takedown battle, Take-Two Interactive sued several programmers linked to the popular re3 and reVC Grand Theft Auto fan projects. Responding in court, the programmers said that their game fixes and enhancements are fair use.

10. “The Pirate Bay Can’t Be Stopped ,” Co-Founder Says (November)

The Pirate Bay quietly turned 18 this year. The site survived several shutdown attempts and remains online. According to Pirate Bay co-founder Peter Sunde, the torrent site simply can’t be stopped by rightsholders. “The only way for it to die is if people running it grow tired and try to kill it off. There’s no power from the movie or tech companies that can affect that,” Sunde told us.

11. Hollywood, Netflix, Amazon & Apple Sue Two Pirate IPTV Providers in the US (December)

A coalition of Hollywood studios plus Amazon, Netflix and Apple sued two IPTV providers in the US. The companies targeted AllAccessTV and Quality Restreams, which are allegedly operated by the same person. The complaint claims that sales take place through a fake VPN website and a large network of resellers who funnel customers and revenue to the platforms.

12. The World’s Oldest Active Torrent Turns 18 Soon (September)

In September, the world’s oldest active torrent file turned 18 years old. “The Fanimatrix” torrent was published in 2003 when BitTorrent was still a relatively new protocol. At the time, the torrent’s creator saw it as the only affordable option to share the Matrix fan film with the world. Fast forward to the start of 2022 and the torrent is still going strong.

From: TF, for the latest news on copyright battles, piracy and more.

Überwachen und Impfen: Corona, Kolonialismus und Biopolitik

Die Erfindung des Impfens wird gern als Meilenstein medizinischen Fortschritts und zugleich als Beweis der Überlegenheit westlicher Rationalität betrachtet. Eitler Eurozentrismus spielt auch mit

Die Erfindung des Impfens wird gern als Meilenstein medizinischen Fortschritts und zugleich als Beweis der Überlegenheit westlicher Rationalität betrachtet. Eitler Eurozentrismus spielt auch mit

Atomkraft: Hartnäckige Falschmeldungen

Nicht nur in Deutschland ist das Ende der Atomkraft-Ära längst eingeläutet – und in der Mehrzahl der Länder hat sie nie begonnen

Nicht nur in Deutschland ist das Ende der Atomkraft-Ära längst eingeläutet – und in der Mehrzahl der Länder hat sie nie begonnen

Researchers built a gecko-bot to study how geckos glide and crash land

The findings could help improve robotic locomotion, making robots more robust

A gecko perches on a leaf. A September study found that geckos are very good gliders, and their tails help stabilize them when they crash-land into tree trunks.

Enlarge / A gecko perches on a leaf. A September study found that geckos are very good gliders, and their tails help stabilize them when they crash-land into tree trunks. (credit: MPI for Intelligent Systems)

There's rarely time to write about every cool science-y story that comes our way. So this year, we're once again running a special Twelve Days of Christmas series of posts, highlighting one science story that fell through the cracks in 2020, each day from December 25 through January 5. Today: Asian flat-tails geckos gliding in the wild use their tails to stabilize the landing after colliding head-first into tree trunks.

There are plenty of examples of gliding animals: flying squirrels, for instance, as well as certain snakes, lizards, and frogs. Now we can add geckos to that list. Researchers caught Asian flat-tailed geckos gliding in the wild on high-speed video, and found they used their tails to stabilize the landing after colliding head-first into tree trunks, according to a paper published in September in the journal Nature Communications Biology. They verified the biomechanics by building a mini gecko-bot and simulating the gliding behavior in the lab.

As we've reported previously, the diminutive gecko is capable of some extraordinary feats of locomotion, zipping along vertical walls with ease and even running short distances across water. Precisely how they accomplish these feats has long interested scientists. For instance, geckos are known for being expert climbers, able to stick to any surface thanks to the tiny hair-like structures on the bottoms of their feet. The little lizards can also zip along the surface of water at high speeds to elude predators. They can't do it for very long; the energy expenditure required is too great.

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New data on using J&J vaccine to boost itself

Two draft manuscripts look at long term protections offered by this vaccine.

Image of injection syringes.

Enlarge (credit: RAJESH JANTILAL / GETTY IMAGES)

Based on various measures, the Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 vaccine has appeared to be less effective than those based on mRNA technology. It has also been associated with some rare blood clotting complications that recently caused the CDC to revise its endorsement of the vaccine. Still, the vaccine is easy to produce, transport, and store, and there have been some indications that it provides longer-lasting protection than some alternatives. And there have also been indications that at least some of the efficacy differences came from its use as a single-dose vaccine.

With all vaccines now expected to include a booster significantly after the initial vaccine dose, we're starting to get a sense of how the J&J vaccine performs in more than one dose. Early results indicated that a J&J vaccine boosted by an mRNA dose provides a big increase in protective antibodies. But a J&J/J&J combination didn't look to be as effective.

Recent research preprints, however, may indicate that the protection continues to increase over time, engages non-antibody-producing immune cells, and provides some protection against the omicron variant.

Read 8 remaining paragraphs | Comments

New data on using J&J vaccine to boost itself

Two draft manuscripts look at long term protections offered by this vaccine.

Image of injection syringes.

Enlarge (credit: RAJESH JANTILAL / GETTY IMAGES)

Based on various measures, the Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 vaccine has appeared to be less effective than those based on mRNA technology. It has also been associated with some rare blood clotting complications that recently caused the CDC to revise its endorsement of the vaccine. Still, the vaccine is easy to produce, transport, and store, and there have been some indications that it provides longer-lasting protection than some alternatives. And there have also been indications that at least some of the efficacy differences came from its use as a single-dose vaccine.

With all vaccines now expected to include a booster significantly after the initial vaccine dose, we're starting to get a sense of how the J&J vaccine performs in more than one dose. Early results indicated that a J&J vaccine boosted by an mRNA dose provides a big increase in protective antibodies. But a J&J/J&J combination didn't look to be as effective.

Recent research preprints, however, may indicate that the protection continues to increase over time, engages non-antibody-producing immune cells, and provides some protection against the omicron variant.

Read 8 remaining paragraphs | Comments

Deutschland in der Pandemie-Krise: Wie können wir alternativen Fakten begegnen?

Bildung und Vertrauensbildung sind nur zwei Konzepte, um in fakten- und logikresistente Filterblasen vorzustoßen. Der Spaltung der Gesellschaft kann auch anderweitig begegnet werden (Teil 2 und Schluss)

Bildung und Vertrauensbildung sind nur zwei Konzepte, um in fakten- und logikresistente Filterblasen vorzustoßen. Der Spaltung der Gesellschaft kann auch anderweitig begegnet werden (Teil 2 und Schluss)