Stop Online Piracy Act

[grupof0091]

I think that money for downloads will be over (maybe), if so then only those who share for the pleasure of share will stay. I think that the good old days when you shared whitout especting to earn money from warez will be back.

[GigaWatt]

Hail Caesar!

[Trey]

Alright... That's just creepy...

[TigerTheGreat]

It's spot on...

[Shattered]

An update regarding the blockade of TPB in Holland:

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http://torrentfreak.com/dutch-isps-refuse-to-block-the-pirate-bay-120129/

BREIN has officially asked other providers to block TPB. As it looks now there will be more trials in the near future. The two providers I talked about earlier have to block TPB at the 1st of February.

I do agree with the opinions of many people regarding the outdated business models of the industry. It takes months for new American movies and TV series to reach the cinemas + TV here in Holland. Furthermore, the same series are repeated over and over again. No wonder people start to download.

[catchaserguns]

What will happen to this site if the Feds close down 4shared?

[Scaryfun]

I don't see that happening, but if it did then it's up to the uploaders if they want to reup stuff again. Or, we could change it to an abandonware site only.

[rastan saga]

"...Or, we could change it to an abandonware site only"

If it happens don't worry Scaryfun, you're our beloved admin always. You and others, you have done a great job in here. This was a miracle, seriously. Who created this game library ( admins, moderators, uploaders ), I salute them. They deserved a big respect, this was not an ordinary thing for me...

[Scaryfun]

Thanks! That's nice of you to say.

[Shattered]

Another update regarding the blockade of TPB:

BREIN sues 4 more providers to court. Let's see what will happen.

Another interesting article about the cyberlocker world:

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http://torrentfreak.com/cyberlocker-to-shut-down-after-paypal-ban-120226/

Paypal has banned RapidGator due to the “high risks” associated with processing payments to file-sharing services. I hope this has something to do with the affiliate program the site runs. Maybe PP did this to avoid getting into legal trouble. Whatever the reason, this could bring other hosters to close down as well.

[Shattered]

Another two victories for BREIN - 5 more Dutch ISP's have to block TPB:

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http://torrentfreak.com/five-more-dutch-isps-given-10-days-to-censor-the-pirate-bay-120510/

And:

The Court has forbidden the Dutch Pirate Party from linking to, operating or listing websites that allow the public to circumvent a local Pirate Bay blockade. The political party is further ordered to shutdown its reverse proxy indefinitely and block Pirate Bay domains and IP-addresses from its generic proxy.

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http://torrentfreak.com/court-forbids-linking-to-pirate-bay-proxies-120510/

Blog of the Pirate Party (Dutch, some articles are in English):

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https://depiratenpartij.wordpress.com/

[Shattered]

Usenet is targeted more and more. Search engine NZBMatrix has closed down:

The End...

It is with our regret to announce that NZBMATRIX has closed.

We have had to make this decision due to a very large takedown request from a company called Wiggin LLC. These represent the following: Federation Against Copyright Theft Limited ("FACT"), Paramount Home Entertainment International Limited; Sony Pictures Home Entertainment Limited; The Walt Disney Company Limited; Twentieth Century Fox Film Company Limited; Universal Pictures (UK) Limited; Warner Bros. Entertainment UK Limited.

As everyone is aware we are DMCA/Takedown notice compliant, and always have been.
Once this notice is completed we are left with an impossible task of policing our indexing bots. Even then it won't stop there, there will be follow-up notices etc.

Coupled with this is problems with payment providers, we have been through pretty much everyone out there, in the end they all pull out.
There are massive server/bandwidth costs to pay, with the payments in-stability this is a very hard task.

NZBMATRIX has never been the subject of any legal issues or threats.

Also the Usenet Indexing scene is going through some changes, with content being removed from pretty much every provider its making the existence of an indexer irrelevant if the content does not even exists anymore.

So it's time for us to bow out...

Source:

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http://nzbmatrix.com/the_end.html

Also, Dutch usenet providers see a significant increase in takedown requests. Translated link:

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http://translate.google.com/translate?depth=1&hl=en&rurl=translate.google.com&sl=nl&tl=en&twu=1&u=http://tweakers.net/nieuws/85442/usenetproviders-zien-flinke-toename-takedown-requests.html

But it's not only the takedown requests; pressure is coming from different angles. Paypal has banned some Dutch usenet providers:

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http://torrentfreak.com/paypal-bans-usenet-providers-over-piracy-concerns-121121/

My guess is some will bail out pretty soon.

- update on TPB:

All the major ISP's have to block access to TPB now. The first appeals are planned for beginning next year.

- update on "Download Prohibition":

We had elections some months ago and a new cabinet was installed on the 5th of November. The spokesman of one of the parties said that they didn't want to rule out some kind of download prohibition (only to target those who make money off it), so for a short time the plan was back on the table. But now they are definitely against it, because they fear for the privacy and freedom of the users. Furthermore, making money off piracy is already illegal. The spokesman said their party is never going to support a law that limits users from downloading in any kind of way.

As a result of the above, there's no majority anymore so chances of actually getting a download prohibition are very slim. We will most likely get an expanded copying levy:

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http://www.futureofcopyright.com/home/blog-post/2012/07/20/dutch-private-copying-levy-may-apply-to-tablets-smartphones-and-memory-cards-by-2013.html

At the moment it's already present on empty CD's, DVD's and tapes.

A translated link with some indications how much more things are going to cost:

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http://translate.google.com/translate?sl=nl&tl=en&js=n&prev=_t&hl=nl&ie=UTF-8&eotf=1&u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.computeridee.nl%2Fnieuws%2Fthuiskopieheffing-maakt-smartphone-en-tablet-duurder

[Shattered]

Downloading Movies and Music Stays Legal in The Netherlands

One third of the Dutch population downloads “pirated” music, movies and games from the Internet, and for a while the government has been wondering what to do about it. In recent weeks a “download ban” was put on the political agenda, but the House of Representatives struck down this plan yesterday. Downloading remains legal, and in exchange rightsholders will be compensated through a private copying tax on various media storage devices.

As in many other countries around the world, downloading music and movies is hugely popular in the Netherlands.

Recent surveys estimate that 30% of the population downloads copyrighted music and video files without paying for them, which is currently legal under Dutch law.

However, since last year there have been discussions on making the activity unlawful.

This fall State Secretary for Security and Justice Fred Teeven reintroduced a download ban, but this plan has now been struck down by the House of Representatives. Several political parties decided that a download ban is not the right approach to tackle the “piracy” problem.

Yesterday the majority of the house accepted a motion that would take the plan off the table, and further ensured that the right to make copies for personal use should not be restricted.

“Luckily the House of Representatives clearly chooses to establish the much-needed modernization of copyright law within the limits of Internet freedom,” says Kees Verhoeven, the House member who drafted the motion.

“We need to strive towards increasing the legal availability, through new online business models. A download ban doesn’t really solve the problem of unpaid downloads but is guaranteed to lead to other problems such as the restriction of privacy of individual users,” Verhoeven adds.

The vote means that downloading movies and music for personal use remains legal. However, the entertainment industry isn’t being left out in the cold. Presently, copyright holders in the Netherlands are compensated through a “piracy tax” on blank media such as CDR media and writable DVDs.

In October it was decided that this piracy tax will be extended to a variety of other media storage devices such as tablets, smartphones, USB-drives, PCs and Laptops. The money that’s collected, up to 5 euro per device, will be distributed to copyright holders.

The piracy tax, however, is not without controversy. Hardware makers Acer, HP and Dell have sued the Dutch Government claiming that they could lose millions of Euros in revenue due to the artificial price increase.

“The excessively high tax for the film and music industry is not in proportion with the economic damage caused to the rightsholders,” they say.

For Dutch downloaders, however, everything will stay the same. Movies and music can be downloaded for free without running into legal trouble, as long as the files are not shared with others.

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http://torrentfreak.com/downloading-movies-and-music-stays-legal-in-the-netherlands-121221/

We're not completely out of the clear yet, as they are still investigating our copyright laws in the European Court.

[Shattered]

Today is the appeal in the case Ziggo/XS4ALL vs BREIN.

No surprise here: research shows the blockade has no effect, on the contrary: the torrent traffic has increased slightly.

EDIT:

The verdict will follow on the 17th of December.

[Shattered]

The blockade is gone:

In its ruling the Court states that the Pirate Bay blockade is disproportionate and ineffective, citing TNO research and the Baywatch report of the University of Amsterdam. As a result, the blockade was found to hinder the Internet providers’ entrepreneurial freedoms.

Source:

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http://torrentfreak.com/isps-no-longer-have-to-block-the-pirate-bay-dutch-court-rules-140128/