Never Back Down – Pirate Bay Adapts To Stay Alive
In the face of a massive and sustained legal onslaught orchestrated by the combined might of the global music and movie industries, one might have expected The Pirate Bay to fold up and die. Yet as we sit here on the brink of December 2009, the site remains open. No other site in BitTorrent history has ever weathered so many storms, so many obstacles and so many setbacks, but still prevailed. When threatened in an aggressive manner, most torrent sites show a little bravado but ultimately comply with the shutdown requests. Not so The Pirate Bay. The huge raid back in 2006 resulted in t

Anti-Piracy Outfits Demand Cash Without Proof
Good times lie ahead for the companies that gather information on BitTorrent and other file-sharing networks. In the US, the MPAA and RIAA are negotiating with ISPs on how to deal with alleged copyright infringers, and in the UK citizens could lose their Internet access for this alleged offense if overall levels of file-sharing aren’t reduced to meet government targets. While the evidence gathering techniques differ from agency to agency, they all have one thing in common. None of them can provide proof that the account holder has actually committed copyright infringement. In fact, some anti-piracy outfits cannot even prove that the IP-address they have on file was used in a

SceneTorrents BitTorrent Tracker Shuts Down
SceneTorrents (ScT) has been a respected and well-connected private BitTorrent tracker for more than four years. An invite for the tracker was hard to find, but the lucky few that did get in had little to complain about, until today that is. A few hours ago ScT put up a sad and unexpected announcement for its 20,000 members, as the site’s operators have decided to close the site for good tomorrow. Thus far the staff refuses to comment on the reason for the shutdown, which has resulted in widespread rumors among the site’s users. ScT announces that it will close the site tomorrow at 10PM GMT.

IsoHunt Asks Court to Legalize Its Operations
During September 2008, isoHunt founder Gary Fung grew tired of the threats from the Canadian Recording Industry Association (CRIA). Instead of waiting for the CRIA to take action against him, Fung took the unusual step of suing the music industry outfit, seeking confirmation that the site’s operations are legal. “This is our preemptive strike with a narrowly defined petition for Declaratory Relief that we do not infringe, in anticipation they are going to file their own l

Mandelson Gets His Own Digital Economy Bill Protest Song
When Lily Allen inflamed the UK, and indeed, much of the Internet with her views on piracy a couple of months ago, it was difficult to see who could come along and create more controversy on the issue. But of course, Britain has a secret weapon – Peter Mandelson. Lord Mandelson, or ‘Mandy’ to those speaking of him affectionately, has truly set the cat among the pigeons with his Digital Economy Bill, pleasing almost no-one apart from Big Music and Big Movies, and alienating everyone from most of the ISPs in the country through to millions of Internet users