BitTorrent

A group of adult movie companies is suing Verizon for failing to hand over the personal details of alleged BitTorrent pirates. The provider systematically refuses to comply with court-ordered subpoenas and the copyright holders see these actions as more than just an attempt to protect its customers. According to the them, Verizon’s objections are in bad faith as the Internet provider is profiting from BitTorrent infringements at the expense of lower-tier ISPs.

verizonThe ongoing avalanche of mass-BitTorrent lawsuits reveal that IP-addresses can get people into a heap of trouble.

A number of seven popular private BitTorrent trackers have been disrupted by distributed denial-of-service attacks launched against them. A hacker called Zeiko Anonymous has taken credit for the attacks.

The targets are IPTorrents, PassThePopcorn.me, Broadcasthe.net, HDBits, What.cd, The Vault and SceneAccess, TorrentFreak informs.

On November 9, the attacker became displeased with the fact that What.cd hadn’t given him an invite, so he attempted to persuade them by attacking the site.

New data published by the Canadian broadband management company Sandvine reveals that BitTorrent traffic increased by 40% in North America over the past half-year. During peak hours BitTorrent is credited for more than a third of all upload traffic, while Netflix accounts for 28 percent of all downstream traffic during the same period.

Many Internet traffic reports have been published over the years. Back in 2004, long before the BitTorrent boom began, studies indicated that BitTorrent was responsible for an impressive 35% of all Internet traffic.

The nightmare week for Demonoid has just reached a huge crescendo, with news coming out of Ukraine that following a massive DDoS attack the site has now been busted by local authorities. Those looking for a U.S. connection to the raid won’t be disappointed – a source in the country’s Interior Ministry says that the action was scheduled to coincide with Deputy Prime Minister Valery Khoroshkovsky’s trip to the United States.

After initially attempting to target around 9,000 individuals, Golden Eye International acting on behalf of pornographic film producer Ben Dover are about to start dumping cash demands on the doorsteps of 2,845 alleged file-sharers in the UK. TorrentFreak has obtained a copy of the letter due to be sent out and it amounts to little more than a demand for cash wrapped up in an ACS:Law-style fishing exercise.

A landmark ruling in one of the many mass-BitTorrent lawsuits in the US has delivered a severe blow to a thus far lucrative business. Among other things, New York Judge Gary Brown explains in great detail why an IP-address is not sufficient evidence to identify copyright infringers. According to the Judge this lack of specific evidence means that many alleged BitTorrent pirates have been wrongfully accused by copyright holders.