A large file-sharing link site dedicated to rap and hiphop music and news has been raided by the Department of Homeland Security and Immigration and Customs Enforcement. The servers of RapGodFathers, a site with close to 150,000 members, were seized and moves put in place to take over its domain name.
According to Bulgaria’s Interior Ministry, the country’s organized crime unit has dramatically raided a piracy site. Following a music industry tip-off, an “American movie” style raid ensued with unwitting employees at the site location ordered to lie on the floor while the anti-mafia unit – who didn’t even have a search warrant – conducted what appears to a Keystone Kops inspired operation.
Thousands of alleged BitTorrent users who were suspected of downloading the movie Far Cry have booked a significant victory in court. District Court Judge Rosemary Collyer ordered the copyright holder of the film, represented by the US Copyright Group, to limit their case only to those defendants there the Court had jurisdiction over.
Operation Payback has been without a doubt the longest and most widespread attack on anti-piracy groups, lawyers and lobbyists. Despite the massive media coverage, little is known about the key players who coordinate the operation and DDoS attacks. A relatively small group of people, they are seemingly fuelled by anger, frustration and a strong desire to have their voices heard.
Following on the heels of the MPAA’s submission to the Office of the US Trade Representative, the RIAA has now submitted its own list of “notorious markets” that promote and facilitate copyright infringement. The RIAA stretches the definition of “rogue websites” by including the meta-search engine Torrentz, China’s leading search engine Baidu and Russia’s Facebook alternative, VKontakte. The popular release blog RLSLOG and cyberlocker Rapidshare also got a mention.
A non-commercial blog which specializes in reporting on Amazon Kindle related news was taken down by WordPress after it linked to site hosting an unauthorized copy of a book. Although this is a legal act under Spanish law, WordPress blocked the site following a complaint from an anti-piracy group who said the blog owner had ignored them, but when one learns how they made that complaint, it’s no surprise he did.
In a response to a request from the Office of the US Trade Representative, the MPAA has submitted a list of “notorious markets” for pirated goods located outside the United States. Among them are some of the world’s leading torrent sites including BTjunkie, Demonoid, isoHunt, KickAssTorrents and The Pirate Bay. Usenet service UseNext makes an appearance alongside file-hosters MegaUpload and RapidShare.
The Hollywood-backed anti-piracy outfit VAP has announced that it will apply for a court injunction to force a major Internet service provider to block a popular movie streaming portal. UPC, the ISP that has refused to cave into 3 strikes demands from the music industry in Ireland, says it will not block the site Kino.to on behalf of the movie industry. VAP says it hopes the test case will pave the way for further site blockades.
Jammie Thomas-Rasset has lost her re-retrial against the RIAA and is now ordered to pay $1.5 million for 24 songs she shared via Kazaa. The jury found her guilty of infringing the rights of Capitol Records and found a $62,500 fine per shared song to be an appropriate punishment. If recouped, the money will be invested in new anti-piracy campaigns.
The owner of a Romanian BitTorrent tracker has been the first person in the country to receive a jail sentence for his actions. Following complaints from the Business Software Alliance, Kartel.ro was closed in 2007 but it has taken three years for the case to come to a conclusion. The outcome is a 6 month suspended sentence and an unspecified fine.