Breaking News: Playstation 3 Finally Hacked?
If this news turns out to be true, it’s the nightmare scenario Sony has been dreading. After thousands of experiments carried out by hackers around the globe, has the Playstation 3 finally been hacked?
Archive for the ‘Piracy’ Category
Fear and Loathing in the Gaming Industry?
Are game developers avoiding the PC platform to avoid losing money to piracy? No, says Christopher Sundberg, co-founder of Sweden based Avalanche Studios and creator of “Just Cause” and the newly released “Just Cause 2″.
Law Would Allow Blocking of File-Sharing Sites
The Open Rights Group are asking citizens to complain about a proposed amendment to law which would allow courts to block sites which allegedly infringe copyright.
UK Lord Provides Overview of File-Sharing Threat Schemes
In yesterday’s House of Lords debate on the Digital Economy Bill, Lord Lucas provided a rather accurate summing up of the ‘pay up or else’ scheme being targeted at alleged file-sharers in the UK by ACS:Law and Tilly Bailey & Irvine.
Using WiFI to Infringe Copyright – The Moral Dilemma
Untold thousands of people either leave their WiFi networks open or have no idea how to secure them. Inevitably this means they can be used to share illicit files. But what happens when the owner of the network gets blamed for infringing copyright?
Pirate TV Show: Welcome To The Scene Revisited
In 2004, a series of short TV-style shows started to hit the web dramatizing the ‘Warez Scene’. ‘Welcome to the Scene’ was downloaded hundreds of thousands of times.
UFC Files Lawsuits Against Commercial Pirates
As promised the UFC has started to set its lawyers on those it say are undermining their business. Although piracy of its events hasn’t stopped, and despite fighting talk from boss Dana White, their strategy is becoming more clear.
88-Year Old Avatar Pirate Caught in Theater
An 88-year old man, carrying a walking stick and a camcorder, has been caught by movie theater personnel when he tried to make a private copy of the movie Avatar. The man was planning to show the film to his wife who could not make her way to the theater.
Video: Activist Mark Thomas Tackles ’3 Strikes’
Activist Mark Thomas talks to Billy Bragg, Feargal Sharkey, Cory Doctorow and TalkTalk about the challenges faced when disconnecting Internet users on allegations of file-sharing.
Innocent Grandmother Kicked Off The Net For Piracy
A 53 year-old grandmother was temporarily kicked off the Internet by her ISP after wrongful piracy allegations. Only when the press got involved was she cleared.
File-Sharer Says “No” to RIAA’s $25k Offer To Settle
Just days after a judge reduced the $1.92m damages bill handed down to Jammie Thomas to a slightly more sensible $54,000, her legal team have turned down an offer to settle for $25,000.
Music Pirates Aren’t Going To Love MusicDNA
MusicDNA, the new music format being touted to take over from the humble MP3, is being promoted by the creators as a possible solution to piracy. But it doesn’t seem likely that music pirates will fall over themselves to adopt this new filetype.
Free Culture Massachusetts Senate Run
The death of Senator Ted Kennedy in August may have disrupted American politics, but some are hoping to capitalise on it. One such person is Ken Takusagawa, who is running as an independent write-in candidate, with a Free Culture Platform
Making Peace Between BitTorrent Users and Content Providers
In response to our offer to let our readers have their voices heard, FreakBits reader Ruslan from Russia has written an article which he hopes will provide the seeds for peace between BitTorrent users and content providers.
TorrentFreak Readers – Have Your Say On FreakBits
Today we officially invite you, our loyal readers, to get your thoughts out to a wider audience by having your say on FreakBits, the official side-blog of TorrentFreak.com.
Spotify Clients Exclude Impaired Individuals
It’s being claimed that blind and visually impaired Internet users are being drawn away from Spotify towards illicit P2P and file sharing due to the lack of disabled accessibility in the company’s client.
Will Movie Streaming Destroy Piracy?
The Washington Post is reporting that a new study done by Global Web Index, a London based internet research organization, suggests the end of piracy is nigh. Streaming sites, they say, have taken over and could possibly become the nail in the coffin for illegal downloads.
Microsoft: ‘Piracy no longer poses a threat to us’
In a recent interview, managing director of Microsoft Philippines Inc., John Bessey, has claimed that piracy no longer poses a threat to the software giant.
Here Come The Oscars DVD Screeners
It’s that time of year again. The time of year when despite increasing security measures backed up by threats of legal action, DVD screener copies of Oscar nominated movies start leaking on to the Internet.
Scene-Base Admin Raided, Bailed
On November 12th, Private Tracker site Scene-Base went offline. The page replaced by a stern warning that the site was down, with a link to the IRC channel. The topic in the channel?
Indie Artist Profits From “Pay What You Like” Model
Norwegian one man army, Gisle Martens Meyer, recently released the Nebular Spool album Shul as a free download, but if you like, you can also pay for it. Gisle says he is making a reasonable amount of money from “free”.
Musicslu Pledges New Sales Channel for Artists
New music site musicslu aims to give artists another avenue to sell their ‘warez’. Through pledging, it allows artists to sell their music for a price they deem fair, while allowing customers to purchase for a price they deem fair. Afterwards, the music is released under a creative commons license.
Joss Stone Reveals Why Lily Allen Hates Piracy
Lily Allen, blah blah, piracy, downloading, It’s Not Alright, etc etc. Cutting through all the nonsense, comes a beautiful ray of light. Joss Stone says Lily hates piracy because she can’t sing.
Mandelson “Hoodwinked” On File-Sharing, Says MP
After earlier labeling throttling and disconnection measures against file-sharers as “futile”, Labour Party MP Tom Watson says that Peter Mandelson has been “hoodwinked” on piracy.
Michael Jackson’s ‘This Is It’ Hits BitTorrent
In an attempt to thwart piracy, last week Sony’s CEO announced there would be a simultaneous worldwide release of Michael Jackson’s ‘This Is It’. He said it would take around a day to be pirated and he was absolutely right.
Some Guy Tries To Resurrect Lily Allen Piracy Corpse
After hundreds of people disagreed with her stance and she was herself outed as a serial copyright infringer, Lily Allen took down her blog and abandoned the piracy debate. Now some guy is trying to start it back up again. Badly.
8,000 Release Warez Scene Group Calls it Quits
Warez-scene group ViRiLiTY, responsible for an estimated 8,000 commercial software releases and keygens, has announced its self-imposed retirement.
Prosecutors Take P2P Dev To The Supreme Court
Earlier this month a court acquitted the creator of the Winny file-sharing software, overturning an earlier decision. Prosecutors will now take the case to the Supreme Court
Anti-Piracy Propaganda Déjà Vu’s
This Hour has 22 Minutes is a Canadian show that takes a satirical look at the weeks news stories. In their October 20th episode, it shows how the anti-piracy claims made now, mirror the claims made in the past over previous technologies, and how those claims didn’t come true.
Download Pirates Give Shakira A Perfect 10
Ever since Lily Allen threw her 2 cents into the file-sharing debate, the press has been asking other female singers what they think of Lily’s views. Shakira is proving the most attractive to pirates so far.
U2 Live Concert Blackout in Scandinavia, Arrrrrrr!
In a move so typical of elements of the music industry, the upcoming live concert from U2 will be on YouTube but artificially restricted. No access is available from Sweden, the home of Pirate Bay.
Is Your Anonymous BitTorrent Really Secure?
Hundreds and thousands of BitTorrent users have taken measures to hide their identity when they are downloading. But, can they really be sure that your VPN or anonymizing software is hiding their IP-address? Now they can.
Calling All Copyright Criminals
What promises to be a superb documentary on musical sampling, copyright law and their effects on creativity will see its official launch in January 2010. No harm in taking an early preview though.
60% of All iPhone Apps are Pirated
New statistics reported by PinchMedia reveal that a massive 60% of all iPhone apps have been pirated. According to the company the real piracy rate might even be higher since some apps disable PinchMedia’s tracking.
Forza Motorsport 3 Leaked To BitTorrent
One of the most anticipated games of the year and hopefully one of the best racing games of all time has been leaked. The US NTSC version of the Xbox 360 exclusive of Forza Motorsport 3 is now available from various torrent sites.
Sony PSP Go Hacked
The brand new PSP Go handheld console has been hacked. Going by previous attacks against Sony’s machine, fully fledged homebrew and then pirate game playability will likely follow in the weeks and months to come.
3G Mobile Networks Overloaded By Pirates
Accessing the Internet via mobile devices is an increasingly popular activity but the high consumption of bandwidth is causing problems for operators.
Wanted: Pictures of Real Life Internet Pirates
Do you consider yourself to be a supporter of The Pirate Bay and Pirate Parties? Here is a chance to show your support and to help a student out at the same time.
UK Pirate Party More Popular Than Government on Facebook
Last month the UK Pirate Party announced that they had become officially registered. Now just weeks later the party’s popularity is increasing – they now have more Facebook supporters than the Labour government.
Pirates Jump on Pearl Jam’s Backspacer
Pearl Jam’s ninth studio album ‘Backspacer’ is set to be released a week from now. However, a digital copy of the album leaked before the official release and close to 200,000 BitTorrent users have already added it to their collection.
Download This Song
When MC Lars released “download this song” on his fifth studio album back in 2006 he was urging the record labels to reconsider their outdated business models. Not much has changed in the three years that passed, let’s hope there will be some progress in 2012.
Federal Jury Indicts Members of Scene Group RNS
Four members of the Scene release group RNS have been indicted by a federal grand jury on charges of conspiracy to commit copyright infringement. They face five years in jail and a $250,000 fine.
Tricked Batman Pirates Find Game Impossible
The publishers of the PC version of Batman: Arkham Asylum are quietly laughing among themselves as their novel anti-piracy solution causes a pirate to break cover – for gaming tips.
How Torrents Can Ruin Your Life
Every week thousands of people receive threatening emails form their ISPs, warning them that they’ve been caught downloading copyrighted material. It usually stays with a warning, but not for Sandy Johnson. Torrents ruined her life.
Spotify Won’t Remove My Music, Says Artist
An artist who launched an attack on Spotify after he complained they paid him less than a busker could earn in a day, is angry again. Apparently Spotify won’t remove his music from their site.
‘Pioneering’ System To Target Cellphone Music Piracy
The Japanese government and music companies have set their sights on a “pioneering system” designed to stop the unauthorized copying of music on mobile phones. Persistent offenders could have their phone’s music capabilities disabled.
Halo 3: ODST For 360 Leaks Online
It’s not due for release for a few weeks yet, but Halo 3: ODST, the hugely anticipated release for Xbox360, has been leaked online.
Interview with Pro-Pirate Bay Writer Unni Drougge
Swedish writer Unni Drougge has spoken out in defense of The Pirate Bay, put her latest book on the site for free and also held a speech at a Pirate Party rally.
Fake Torrent Stats Fool Filmmakers
The makers of the film “X’s and O’s,” have piracy to thank for Hollywood’s renewed interest for their romantic comedy. Thanks to tens of thousands of illegal downloads the film will get a second chance.
The 10 Most Pirated eBooks of 2009
At our sister site TorrentFreak we do a weekly roundup of the most downloaded movies on BitTorrent, but there is of course more content on BitTorrent that is shared by many. Here’s an overview of the 10 most downloaded books on BitTorrent this year.
Distributors Call In Police Over Leaked Disaster Movie
A movie described as a “mega-hit disaster film” was leaked to the Internet this weekend. It was downloaded 100,000 times and the distributors have angrily called in the police to investigate.
PSPgo To Have Internal Battery To Stop Pandora Pirates
From very early on in its life-cycle, Sony’s PSP has been subjected to hacks that enable it to play pirate games. With the introduction of a new model, Sony hopes to stop the pirates. Some hope.
Ex-Warner Anti-Piracy Boss Joins Nintendo
Nintendo has hired Warner Bros’ ex-anti-piracy boss to go after UK retailers that are still selling the R4 backup-enabling device.
Antichrist Shocks Cannes, Now Shocks BitTorrent
Audiences were shocked last Sunday when horror/torture porn movie ‘Antichrist’ screened at the Cannes film festival. Most audiences will have to wait until until October 23rd to watch the scenes of genital mutilation. Not so BitTorrent users.
Peter Sunde Key Speaker At iWeek
Known online as ‘brokep’, ex-Pirate Bay spokesman Peter Sunde will be the key speaker at the iWeek Internet conference next week.
Anti-Piracy Hunger Strike Causes Musician to Collapse
Back in July we reported that in apparent desperation at high music piracy rates in Nigeria, music industry groups arranged a hunger strike to draw attention to their cause. One musician has now collapsed.
Transmission 1.74 Just Released For Download
Transmission, the popular cross-platform BitTorrent client, is now available in a new version offering improvements and bug-fixes.
Singapore Rules Out 3 Strikes For Pirates – For Now
Last week it was reported that Singpore is among the latest additions to the list of countries considering 3 Strikes-style sanctions for illicit file-sharers. Now the Intellectual Property Office of Singapore has ruled that out.
Are Your iPhone Apps Spying On You?
The iPhone continues its huge popularity and the amount of software from the App Store continues to grow, but what if the apps you install were spying on you? According to a report, this is exactly what is happening.
Archive of Pirate Bay User Comments Now Online
After we reported on TorrentFreak that an anonymous user had managed to create a backup of The Pirate Bay, yesterday we revealed that the owner of BTArena had put the entire thing online. But the precious torrent comments were missing……
Dexter Season 4 Premieres on BitTorrent
The first episode of season 4 of the hit series Dexter leaked on BitTorrent a month before its official TV premiere. As always, the question is if this the work of hardcore pirates, or just some cheap promotion by the TV studio?
First Ever Japanese ‘Cam’ Uploader Arrested By Police
Japanese police have arrested a man for uploading a ‘cammed’ movie to the Internet. According to an anti-piracy group, this is the first time anyone has been arrested for uploading a movie recorded in a Japanese cinema.
BitTorrent and P2P Banned in Antartica
Employees of the United States Antarctic Program (USAP) received a security alert today, warning them about the threats that BitTorrent and other P2P applications pose to them and the USAP. Aside from eating up precious bandwidth, these applications are bound to install viruses and keystroke loggers.
Court of Appeal Convicts File-Sharer
The Helsinki Court of Appeal has upheld the earlier decision of a regional court when it found a man guilty of file-sharing. The punishment stands at 3,000 euros for sharing more than 150 albums.
Portuguese Government Censors 28 ‘Pirate Sites’
Following up on a complaint from a local anti-piracy outfit, the Portuguese Ministry of Culture decided to order a shutdown and blockade of 28 sites that supposedly link to copyright infringing material.
Recording Studios In Crisis – But Don’t Blame Piracy
According to research carried out by The University of Nottingham, the UK’s music recording studios are in crisis with closures and redundancies. Of course the industry would love to blame piracy but really advancing technology is the problem.
Snow Leopard ‘Final’ Leaked to BitTorrent
Earlier this week the latest Mac OS X 10.6 “Snow Leopard” was released to developers. As expected, it didn’t take long before this alleged Gold Master of Apple’s latest operating system would surface on the usual BitTorrent sites.
Pirate Bay Taunts RIAA With $675,000 Torrent
Ever since Joel Tenenbaum picked up a huge fine of $675,000 for sharing music on the Internet, torrents have been appearing which taunt the RIAA. Now The Pirate Bay are promoting one such torrent on their homepage.
How To Make a Personalized TV-Torrent RSS Feed
EZTV just released ezRSS, a new site that makes it easier to find the latest episodes of your favorite TV-shows. ezRSS has extended search options and support ‘search based rss feeds’. These allow anyone to make a personalized TV-torrent feed, all your favorite TV-torrents in one feed.
German Young Liberals Scared of Pirate Party
There’s an old saying, that things don’t go away if you ignore them. Someone might want to remind the German Young Liberals about that. The Young Liberals, the third biggest youth party in Germany advised its members to ignore the Pirate Party and not give them any air time.
COD: Modern Warfare 2 Just Begging To Be Pirated
The Call of Duty series has enjoyed huge success and masses of sales in recent years. It certainly hasn’t been damaged too much by piracy – Call of Duty 4 Modern Warfare was 2007′s biggest selling game, shifting 2 million units in its first month and 9 million by April 2008 and 10 million to [...]
Mercury Prize Nominee Talks About File-Sharing
Speech Debelle is a 26 year old rapper from south London. Her debut album ‘Speech Therapy’ was last week included on the shortlist for this year’s Mercury Prize, an annual award for the best album out of the United Kingdom and Ireland. Now, speaking with The Guardian, Debelle (real name Corynne Elliot) shares her thoughts [...]
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