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Dutch anti-piracy group BREIN has announced a new campaign which aims to change the behavior of frequent or long-term BitTorrent uploaders. Starting December 15, BREIN will track down users deemed important to the supply chain, sending warnings via their ISPs or directly if providers won't cooperate. Anti-piracy group BREIN is at the forefront of the fight against copyright infringement in the Netherlands. Many of its efforts have been focused on legal action against big targets such as The Pirate Bay and the IPTV market, with the group achi

Amazon hopes to protect online streaming content with a newly awarded anti-piracy patent. The company has developed a technique where personally identifiable information can be dynamically added to streaming content, visibly or not. This is a relatively low-resource option to detect the source of pirated movies, TV-shows, and even live events. Amazon is not just the largest e-commerce retailer, the company also has a significant copyright portfolio. In recent years the company has increased its anti-piracy efforts, both individually and as a

After endless claims that supposed malware in pirate streaming apps is putting Internet users in peril, it's now time to bring these threats into the open. The challenge for anti-piracy groups is to actually start naming and shaming pirate apps that act maliciously. Given the reported grave threat, this should be simplicity itself. Over the past couple of years the big shift for anti-piracy groups everywhere is to claim that piracy apps are dangerous to users. According to the MPA, Digital Citizens Alliance, FACT, and countless other entitie

Internet Matters, a not-for-profit organization based in London, has been running a video anti-piracy campaign for just over a week. In common with many of its kind, it focuses on the supposed dangers of piracy, such as exposure to malware. Its viewing figures are both unusual and extraordinary, especially when placed alongside a similar campaign in the US. Over the past few decades there have dozens of campaigns aimed at preventing people from either copying, downloading, or sharing pirated content. From ‘Don’t Copy That Floppy’ to ‘You Wou

Despite both Spotify and Deezer having a free-tier for listeners on a budget, some users prefer to use unofficial clients that allow them to obtain the premium service for free. Spotify has dealt with these users by threatening to ban accounts but Deezer is taking an altogether softer approach. Today’s legal music streaming services are providing a service that would’ve been unimaginable 15 years ago. Not only do they provide access to tens of millions of tracks, they do so conveniently, on multiple platforms, and at a fair price. In fact, s

The MPAA has updated its anti-piracy guidelines for movie theaters, providing tips and tricks on how to catch “camming” pirates on the spot. Among other things the movie group wants theaters to forbid the use of mobile phone cameras, and be vigilant of suspect cup holders and cameras built into eyeglass frames. To increase motivation, theater employees who bust a movie thief can look forward to a $500 reward. To prevent movie piracy, theaters nowadays are becoming more secure than some airports. During pre-release screenings and premieres employees are often equipped with night-vision goggles

With reported backing from an infamous anti-piracy group, the datacenter of one of Sweden's largest torrent sites was raided last week. The operators of Tankafetast were well prepared and the site was quickly back online delivering movies and TV shows from an international location. The episode is likely to be seen as an embarrassment to the authorities after efforts in 2012 and 2013 both failed to close the site. There was a time when raiding a torrent site meant that it stayed down for good, but with 2014 just a couple of months old it’s clear that things have changed. The latest signs rel

Anti-piracy groups have a long memory, it appears. They don't easily forget about their former adversaries, even those that shut down many years ago. A variety of rightsholders and reporters still flag sites such as Openload, KickassTorrents, isoHunt, Hotfile, and even Rapidshare. Perhaps they're being sentimental but it's high time to move along. Many ‘pirate’ sites – we use that term very loosely here – have come and gone over the years. Older readers may recall that Suprnova was once the leading torrent site, a brief reign that came t

Google has reached a new voluntary agreement with copyright holders in Australia. The search engine promises to block proxies and mirrors of pirate sites without a court order. The new agreement aims to fix a loophole that made alternative addresses of blocked pirate sites easy to find. Years ago, Australia was often described as a hotbed for piracy. This was a thorn in the side of copyright holders, who repeatedly asked the Government to help out. On the top of their list was new legislation that would make it possible to compel ISPs to block pir

Netflix wants to expand its Global Copyright & Content Protection Group. The streaming giant is looking for an individual "who can hit the ground running" into a variety of tasks, from scanning all the major social media platforms and dealing with takedown requests, to gathering data on pirate streaming sites, cyberlockers and usenet platforms. For many years, Netflix relied on content supplied by other companies to satisfy its growing userbase. Now, however, that reliance is beginning to take a back seat to productions of its own. Back in February, Netf

The Japanese government alongside 15 leading producers and distributors of anime and manga are set to begin a huge anti-piracy campaign against 580 sites. To complement the initiative the group will also launch a brand new portal directing pirates to official content being targeted by the scheme. In an effort to crackdown on Internet piracy, during October 2012 the Japanese government introduced new legislation targeted at file-sharers. To support existing punishments of up to 10 years in prison for uploaders, knowingly downloading copyright-infringing material became an offense carrying a