On Saturday evening, with the invaluable assistance of blogger and security researcher Olivier Laurelli, aka Bluetouff, TorrentFreak first reported that Trident Media Guard (TMG), the private company entrusted to carry out file-sharing network monitoring for the French government, had been hacked.

As became evident, the term ‘hacked’ was probably overly generous to TMG, since according to Bluetouff the company had left the equivalent of its front door open.

“A virtual machine leaked a lot of information like scripts, p2p clients to generate fake peers, local physical addresses in the datacenter and even a password that could lead to a major global TMG security breach,” he explained.

TorrentFreak obtained and listed some of the files in question in our earlier report, but as the contents of the leak were examined in more detail, it became evident that TMG had not only leaked out its own data, but that belonging to the subjects of their monitoring.

The day after our report, Guillaume Champeau of Numerama, a publication which follows French file-sharing issues in-depth, contacted TorrentFreak to say he had been able to show that IP addresses linked to the 3-strikes process may also have been leaked. He informed the HADOPI agency of his find which led to them to report that they were taking the matter “very seriously”.

Indeed, that concern has been followed by an announcement from Eric Walter, the secretary-general of HADOPI. Walter, a friend of French President Nicolas Sarkozy, who now confirms that “as a precaution Hadopi has decided to temporarily suspend its interconnection with TMG.”

What this effectively means is that since TMG is the only company licensed to do this work for the government, from now on and pending a review, the French 3 strikes regime for dealing with illicit file-sharing is suspended. Data gathered before Saturday evening, however, can still be used.

This suspension will be seen by some as a major embarrassment for President Sarkozy. France has taken a particularly hard-line approach to unlawful file-sharing and the government has continually brushed aside calls from the public and various watchdogs to consider more carefully the privacy and related rights issues connected with such a regime.

Source: French 3 Strikes Suspended Due To Anti-Piracy Security Alert

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In a surprise development, during the next few hours New Zealand’s government is to rush through legislation that will target Internet users who share copyrighted material online without rightsholder permission.

The Copyright (Infringing File Sharing) Amendment Bill, which unanimously passed its first reading in Parliament in April 2010, will put in place a 3 strikes-style regime, whereby Internet service providers will be initially required to send warning letters to alleged infringers at the behest of rights holders.

New Zealand’s Copyright Tribunal will be empowered to rule on cases of alleged repeat infringement and will be given the authority to hand down fines up to a maximum of $15,000 ($11,733 US).

For repeat offenders, a six month period of Internet disconnection may be applied, a measure too far for Green MP Gareth Hughes who wasn’t even aware the Bill was coming up today.

”It really surprised me because we haven’t debated it since November,” he said.

Hughes later confirmed he would request an amendment to remove the suspension clause but a spokesperson for Commerce Minister Simon Power said it would be opposed. While the Greens are against disconnections, they supports the Bill in principle.

Today’s second reading of the Bill is being accompanied by a Supplementary Order Paper (SOP) which in part is aimed at clarifying burden of proof issues in a current clause.

According to intellectual property lawyer Rick Shera, the clause created a presumption in favour of copyright owners and the changes being considered remove the reference to the presumption of guilt being “conclusive”.

“I do act for a number of copyright owners, I can’t see why there is a need for a presumption, I mean if copyright owners are sure of their evidence then they would simply submit that evidence to the copyright tribunal,” Shera told NBR. “The tribunal is perfectly capable of weighing up whose evidence is better, that’s what tribunals do all the time.”

The Bill is expected to pass its third and final stage during the next few hours. The news is already causing protests on Twitter, where users are calling for a repeat of last year’s demonstrations.

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For the past several years, the music industry has championed the need for a 3 strikes-style regime in order to combat illicit file-sharing. The idea is that when someone is monitored illegally sharing files, they are sent a warning letter via their ISP. On receipt of a third such warning the recipient will find his connection to the Internet temporarily severed.

On April 1st 2009, South Korea took a step into the unknown by passing legislation to begin such a regime. By July 2009, warnings were being delivered to users via their ISPs and now, thanks to work by Heesob Nam, the results of the first 6 months of the scheme are available, as shown in the table below:

Interestingly, ‘Suspension of User Account’ – the 3rd strike – hasn’t been used at all in any case. So, while on one side people will argue that a 3 strikes regime was never necessary, others in the music industry will no doubt frame it differently – that the threat was necessary to force compliance and has been proven to be 100% effective. Whether that trend continued for the rest of 2010 remains to be seen.

However, a unique aspect of the South Korean implementation of 3 strikes is that it applies to websites too. If found to be continually hosting infringing content, either as reported by copyright holders or at the discretion of the government, sites run the risk of being shut down by the authorities.

It is of great interest, then, that while the above figures show zero disconnections for the the first 7 months of the scheme, the same will not be true when March 2011′s figures are reported.

The South Korean authorities have just announced they have conducted a major crackdown on some of the country’s top cyberlocker/file-hosting services.

According to the Ministry of Culture, 19 “die-hard” sites were targeted in the operation which was carried out by dozens of investigators over the past several days.

Together the sites are reported to have served between 2 million and 4 million users, and in common with pending cases in the United States, prosecutors in South Korea claim that the sites encouraged those users to upload infringing material.

So far around 1000 TB of data has been seized and the prosecutors say work is now underway to identify the heaviest uploaders. Since South Korea’s 3 strikes law allows action to be taken against those who continually upload infringing content even to file-hosting sites, Internet suspensions could be on the way.

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Hadopi, the French authority with responsibility for issuing warnings to illicit file-sharers, has just announced that so far it has sent out 100,000 email warnings. While the figure is far below the 50-70,000 reports filed by the entertainment industry every day, around 15% of warning recipients have responded by email, some with confessions, some with confusion.

According to those involved in France’s “3 strikes” illicit file-sharing process, the Hadopi authority has sent a total of 100,000 warning emails to Internet account holders since October.

The figure is substantially below the requirements of the entertainment industries who had begun sending complaints to Hadopi at the rate of 25,000 per day in the hope that they would all be passed on. They weren’t, but that didn’t stop the submissions quickly reaching 50,000 per day. The total capacity is 70,000 per day.

The complaints bottleneck has continued, with magistrates involved in the process informing Le Figaro this week that since November Hadopi has been sending out warning emails at the rate of 2,000 per day.

This much lower rate was set for a reason. Ever since its inception critics have believed that the system would be prone to error and innocent people would be accused of offenses they didn’t commit. That may well prove to be the case, but by keeping the numbers down the error rate will stay low too, an essential requirement if people are to have confidence in the process.

Magistrates involved in the process say “It’s too early to conclude” if the emails will have the required long-term effect on recipients. However, they say that around 15% of those receiving these first warnings have actually responded to them by email.

The warning emails don’t currently mention the infringing material in question, so some responses request additional information on which files the warning refers to. According to Jacques Bille from the Court of Auditors, the omission is deliberate to avoid embarrassment, such as wives and girlfriends discovering their partners have downloaded something questionable.

While some warning recipients simply confess and swear not to do it again, others are reportedly making their excuses. Only time will tell if they have a case, and if that case is heard to their satisfaction as has been promised.

Next year its inevitable that the 2,000 emails being sent out daily will increase and according to Jacques Bille, with this comes a dilemma.

“Either we send out hordes of emails and be seen as horribly repressive,” he told Le Figaro, “or we are more cautious and we qualify as ineffective.”

In January 2011, things will step up a gear, with Hadopi sending out more emails and then letters by registered mail to repeat offenders. The promise is that repeat offenders face having their Internet disconnected. Quite when that will happen, 2011 or 2012, remains to be seen, but the entertainment industries want action, quickly.

Article from: TorrentFreak.

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ISP Eircom, the company pioneering a 3 strikes scheme for illicit file-sharers in Ireland, has been outlining the details of the regime it will implement in conjunction with the music industry. Eircom customers will be offered a music streaming service as part of their subscription but for those who choose to continue to share files, 12 months disconnections are on the horizon.

Today, Eircom has been outlining details of a new service it will offer to its customer base. The Irish ISP will offer a new product called MusicHub which will allow subscribers to stream music from the big labels including Universal Music, Sony, EMI, Warner Music and Merlin.

According to Eircom, MusicHub will provide subscriber access to unlimited streaming of all tracks in the above labels’ catalogs, with no restrictions and with no advertising.

If MusicHub users would like to download songs they can do that too. Monthly packages will start at 15 tracks for €5.99 up to 40 tracks for €12.99.

While the MusicHub deal is the product of cooperation between Eircom and the music industry, it is born out of conflict. In February 2009, IRMA – representing EMI, Sony, Universal and Warner – reached an 11th hour out of court settlement with Eircom on the controversial issue of illicit file-sharing.

The implementation of the agreement was held up over legal argument, but earlier this year the High Court in Dublin gave it the green light. The deal would see Eircom introduce a graduated response system for dealing with errant subscribers so now, along with today’s MusicHub carrot, comes the 3 strikes stick.

“Eircom is proceeding with implementation of the protocol which could result in the suspension and ultimately disconnection of broadband service for those customers who deliberately and persistently infringe copyright,” the company said today in a statement.

As expected, Eircom will send out warnings to subscribers suspected of illicit file-sharing in the first instance to “encourage them to change their behaviour”, then it intends to get tough.

“If a customer persists with the illegal activity it may result in a seven day suspension or yearlong disconnection of their broadband service,” the company warns.

A seven day suspension will be triggered when the music industry monitors a user sharing illicit files for the third time. Any further notice will activate the 12 month disconnection.

Eircom notes that the scheme has been operating on a trial basis since June this year and the number of notifications being processed have now reached 1,000 per month.

In stark contrast to its earlier neutral position (on which IRMA took the ISP to court), Eircom now says it has a responsibility to deal with the copyright infringements of its customers on behalf of the music industry.

“The company believes that it has a duty to ensure that the rights of artists and the laws of the state, including copyright law, are upheld, and to take action when illegal activity is brought to our attention,” it notes.

Nevertheless, Eircom adds that “our obligations to our customers remain paramount, and the primacy of their rights, in particular their rights to privacy, are reflected in the phased structure of the protocol, and in the Eircom MusicHub service launched today. Eircom is of the view that these obligations are part of a role that all responsible companies must serve.”

To this end, Eircom is guaranteeing that it will never hand subscribers’ personal details to the music industry and will never monitor their online activities. They will, however, take the word of the music industry and their monitors on face value and presume it is accurate as a matter of course.

Other ISPs in Ireland, such as UPC, have refused to play ball. In a recent court case it was decided that a 3 strikes regime could not be forced on an Internet service provider.

However, as detailed in our earlier report, the government is appealing for the music industry and ISPs to get together to try and reach some sort of compromise. According to its announcement today, Eircom will position itself as some kind of broker in the negotiations.

“Today Eircom confirmed that it will continue to play a leadership role with the music industry, other ISPs, and key stakeholders including Government to find a long term sustainable solution that addresses the issues of illegal file sharing while minimising the impact on customers.”

What remains to be seen now is how the ISP market pans out. Will customers stop pirating and switch to Eircom to gain access to the MusicHub service, or will they stay with the likes of UPC in order to carry on pirating without worry of disconnections? Will the disconnections at Eircom have the desired effect, or will customers simply switch to another ISP? The next few months should prove very interesting.

Article from: TorrentFreak.

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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.

Forcing Internet service providers to take responsibility for the actions of others is becoming an increasingly popular activity for the music and movie industries. On the one had there is huge pressure for ISPs to take action against their own customers in the form of warning letters and notifications, and on the other to provide a censorship service for websites that the entertainment companies would rather the world didn’t have access to.

The latest attempt at blocking a website comes from Verein für Anti-Piraterie der österreichischen Film und Videobranche (VAP) – the anti-piracy association of the Austrian film and video industry.

In October, VAP approached several ISPs with a request to block Kino.to, a popular movie streaming portal which ranks in the top 50 sites of both Germany and Austria. Kino.to hosts no illicit content itself but indexes material stored on file-hosters and other streaming services.

More than 1500 IP addresses and nine domains are present on a VAP blocking wish list including MegaVideo.com, duckload.com, Freeload.to, Speedload.to and Archive.to.

Internet Service Providers Austria (ISPA) responded robustly to the request on behalf of their members, stating clearly that ISPs are mere carriers of information and that the request has no legal basis.

“It would be better for the rights holders to think about innovative business models,” said Secretary-General Andreas Wildberger.

Undeterred, at a press conference this week VAP announced that it now intends to force ISPs to cede to their wishes. They say they will do this by singling out one ISP in particular, UPC, to block Kino.to and other domains via a court injunction.

“Since the operators [of the 'infringing' services] cannot be found, we will hold the Internet service providers to account,” said a VAP spokesman.

In common with its division in Ireland (there it refused to cooperate with 3 strikes demands from the music industry), UPC is standing its ground.

“UPC enables its customers to access the Internet, but has no obligation and no right to selection or examination of the content provided therein,” the company said in a statement.

Werner Müller of VAP said the aim of the test case against UPC is to see whether the blocking of sites with “consistently illegal content” can be enforced via the courts.

The Pirate Party of Austria said it “is appalled but not surprised” at what it describes as a “Chinese-style” censorship attempt.

“It’s not about censorship, but rather the imposition of economic interests,” said VAP lawyer Andreas Manak.

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New Zealand’s Parliament Commerce Committee has reported back on the Copyright Infringing File Sharing Bill and it will now move to parliament for its second reading. The controversial 3 strikes provision is still included, but will now only be implemented if a letter writing scheme to educate citizens fails, and people continue to share illicit files during the next two years.

Following a review, New Zealand’s Commerce Select Committee has recommended changes to the Copyright (infringing File Sharing) Amendment Bill, the proposed legislation aimed squarely at reducing instances of online infringement.

The Bill, which unanimously passed its first reading in Parliament in April and repeals section 92A of the Copyright Act, will put in place a 3 strikes-style regime, whereby Internet service providers will initially be required to send warning letters to alleged infringers at the behest of rights holders.

The Copyright Tribunal, which will be empowered to rule on cases of alleged infringement, will be given control over a streamlined, lost-cost system for dealing with cases and will be empowered to hand down fines up to $15,000 ($11,500 USD).

In a statement, Commerce Minister Simon Power welcomed the changes to the Bill.

“The Commerce Select Committee’s recommended changes to the bill will help it be more workable and effective,” said Mr Power.

The power for District Courts to disconnect Internet users for a period of up to 6 months remains in the Bill, but the Committee is recommending that the measure is not activated unless citizens fail to respond to the warning letters sent out by rightsholders and ISPs.

“This will enable the Government to work with stakeholders to monitor and review the situation and determine when a further deterrent may be needed,” notes Powers’ office.

That review is expected to come late 2012, which gives file-sharers around 2 years to mend their ways. Failure to do so would hand the decision to implement disconnections directly to Minister Power, who will be able to do so without further discussion.

“I am pleased that the Committee has recommended that account suspension not be introduced now,” says InternetNZ Chief Executive Vikram Kumar.

“We would have preferred no remedy of account suspension being included in the legislation. The decision to leave it in but not commence its application is a second best option, but is far better than the current law, and better than the initial draft,” he added.

However, Kumar was still critical of elements of the Bill, noting that it “still leaves account holders entirely responsible for another person’s use of their account even where they have no control over them.”

While critics remain skeptical that the warnings letters will have the desired effect, some feel that infringements could be reduced significantly.

“If done right, the Copyright (Infringing File Sharing) Amendment Bill will go a long way towards reducing the level of online copyright infringement, as research has shown that seven in ten people will stop upon receiving the first notice from their ISP,” said NZFACT executive director Tony Eaton.

In common with the UK, warning letters will not be sent out to users of cellular networks in the first instance and in New Zealand not until August 2013.

“This position is likely to change in the near future as technology advances and mobile broadband prices go down,” said Mr Power.

An additional recommendation by the government is to enable the District Court to refuse to implement an Internet disconnection “where it would be manifestly unjust to the account holder” to do so.

Article from: TorrentFreak.

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In an effort to reduce illicit file-sharing, draft legislation was passed in Finland last week which will require Internet service providers to send letters to customers suspected of unauthorized sharing. The warnings will be initiated by copyright owners, but at no stage will Internet subscribers‘ identities be compromised. A three strikes-style regime is not on the agenda.

In common with most countries around Europe, Finland has been under pressure from the entertainment industries to do something about unauthorized Internet file-sharing.

To this end, Finland’s Government has drafted changes to both the country’s copyright and electronic data protection laws with the aim of reducing what it terms the “unlawful distribution of creative content.”

The legislation, which was presented to parliament last Friday, proposes an alternative to expensive court proceedings initiated by copyright holders.

After infringers are tracked on file-sharing networks by copyright holders, allegations of infringement will be sent to Internet service providers who will then be required to forward them to the appropriate subscriber.

“The proposed approach is taken to guarantee that the subscriber’s identity data stays with the Internet service provider and is not disclosed to the copyright holder,” Government Minister Jorma Walden said in a statement.

At this stage, the exact text of the letters has not been revealed, but it is thought there will be no outright allegations of wrongdoing.

It is hoped that this approach to dealing with infringements will reduce the need for police involvement in simple file-sharing cases and the subsequent load on the courts.

The bill, which is a continuation of negotiations started in 2008 to promote e-commerce and content creation, is expected to come into force during spring 2011.

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As authorities, rightsholders and ISPs in Denmark negotiate behind an agreed press blackout over the possible introduction of a 3 strikes-style file-sharing regime, the government is set to commit tax payers’ money to the overall plan. The Ministry of Culture says it will help fund a public anti-piracy campaign and will match any financial contributions made by the entertainment industries and ISPs.

In common with many countries around the world, Denmark has faced huge pressure from the entertainment industries in recent times over illicit file-sharing. After failing to reduce infringement by going after individuals and torrent site owners, the music and movie companies decided to channel their energies towards ISPs.

Naturally this approach leads to friction since ISPs don’t want to be held responsible for the activities of their users and don’t want to stress customer relations. In order to address the issue, the Ministry of Culture formed an Anti-Piracy Committee who have been trying to come to agreement on how infringements should be handled.

Negotiations between lawyers, rightsholders, ISPs and other groups have been going on since the start of the year and early this month it was finally revealed that Denmark would indeed by treading a 3 strikes path, although exactly how it will do so remains undecided. As usual, everyone is arguing about who bears the cost.

At the moment there are two models on the table. Rightsholders will almost certainly do all the monitoring of file-sharers, but in one model ISPs send out warning letters and in the other the task is handled by a public body. In both models, an independent body assesses the evidence.

The letters to be sent are also set to contain an educational message. While indicating that rightsholders have detected an infringement from the IP address in question, it’s proposed that recipients should also be informed about Denmark’s Copyright Act. Information on how to secure a wireless network and how to block and/or remove file-sharing software will be included along with the telephone number of a helpdesk to answer further questions

Comon.dk have been following developments closely and have made efforts to get information about negotiations from the Anti-Piracy Committee. After experiencing difficulty, Comon was told by Committee members that they had “promised to keep working secretly in order not to create too much fuss” and “could never agree on some recommendations if there was too much public debate about its work.”

Martin Salamon from the Consumer Council, which is opposed to sending out warning letters, confirmed that there was agreement not to discuss matters with the press.

Of course, this is problematic on a number of levels and especially when consumers inevitably pick up the tab. If the entertainment industries pick up the bill initially, their customers pay. If ISPs have to finance 3 strikes, their customers pay. And if the government pays, taxpayers have to pay.

Although it seems unlikely that the government will pick up the bill for administering whichever model is chosen, already it is pledging to get more involved in the anti-piracy fight. To this end it is offering financial support to help the entertainment industries’ battle.

The government says that it has put funds aside to assist in raising public awareness of its anti-piracy message. In a statement the Ministry of Culture said it will match money put into the campaign by rightsholders and Internet service providers. The amount is confirmed to be around 1 million kroner ($187,700).

Earlier anti-piracy campaigns in Denmark have failed so it will be interesting to see if the approach this time will be different. After all, only an insane person does the same thing over and over again and expects different results.

Article from: TorrentFreak.

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DtecNet has been one the world‘s leading anti-piracy monitoring companies for some time. Utilized extensively by the international music and movie industries to track users on BitTorrent and other file-sharing networks, the company has its base in Denmark. That now appears set to change with news that DtecNet has been sold to US anti-fraud and brand abuse company, MarkMonitor.

In July this year, we reported on some new stats made available by the RIAA.

In less than two years the music industry group had sent out copyright infringement notices to 1.8 million Internet subscribers and a further 269,609 to colleges and universities. This kind of tracking and monitoring is a substantial task, so the RIAA along with its partners at IFPI and BPI, use companies who specialize in the work.

While BayTSP is a company many readers will be most familiar with, Denmark’s DtecNet has been increasing its profile substantially in recent years. During the AFACT v iiNet trial in Australia it became clear that much of the evidence had been collected by DtecNet and the company has worked with IRMA, the Irish Recorded Music Association, in connection with its 3 strikes agreement with ISP Eircom.

DtecNet, which is active in over two dozen countries, originally stemmed from anti-piracy lobby group Antipiratgruppen (APG), who along with IFPI represent the music and movie industry in Denmark. DtecNet was owned by the Johan Schlüter Law Firm, which itself has close ties to APG and IFPI.

However, according to a report from Denmark, the company has now been sold to US-based company, MarkMonitor.

With its headquarters in San Francisco and offices in London, Boise, Washington, D.C., and New York, MarkMonitor describes itself as “the global leader in enterprise brand protection” and claim that “more than half the Fortune 100 depend on MarkMonitor to help safeguard their brands online.”

MarkMonitor has listed DtecNet as one of its partners for some time now and together they have offered a one-stop-shop solution to tackle piracy online in both its physical and digital form. While DtecNet monitored P2P networks, blogs, Usenet and streaming services, MarkMonitor dealt with listings for counterfeit products on sites such as eBay and various social networking platforms.

Together they collected evidence of alleged infringements and sent DMCA takedown notices, requested items or posts to be delisted and issued cease and desist notices. MarkMonitor also worked to steer Internet users away from sites offering counterfeit material and towards those offering official products.

The sale will undoubtedly net Thomas Sehested, co-founder and CEO of DtecNet, a sizeable amount, although at this stage the amount MarkMonitor paid for his company is not available. Indeed, there is currently no mention of the deal anywhere on either company’s website.

TorrentFreak contacted both Thomas Sehested and Te Smith, Vice President, Communications at MarkMonitor for comment. Neither were prepared to confirm or deny the news.

Article from: TorrentFreak.

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