IRON MAN 3 BECOMES MOST PIRATED FILM — THE CHINESE VERSION

Iron Man 3 finally took the top spot on TorrentFreak’s list of the most pirated movies of the week last week. But it was the version of the movie especially edited for China, with about four minutes of scenes not included in the version released domestically and in other countries. (It also features subtitles in […]

APPROVAL OF BITTORRENT APPS A MISTAKE, SAYS APPLE

Apple now says that its decision to approve two BitTorrent apps for the iPhone, iPad, and the iPod Touch was a mistake. The approval, reported last week by TorrentFreak.com and duly noted here, was regarded as a significant departure from Apple’s previous policy of rejecting any app that had any connection at all to the […]

AVENGERS MAY BE SETTING MIDWEEK RECORDS, TOO

Disney/Marvel’s The Avengers continued to rack up ticket sales during midweek that would have been the envy of any studio on a weekend. On Monday, the movie earned $18.9 million, followed by $17.7 million on Tuesday. Those would appear to be near-record — or possibly record — figures for a film that did not open […]

MOST-PIRATED MOVIES ARE ALSO BOX-OFFICE HITS

The most-pirated movies of all time are also some of the biggest box-office winners, according to TorrentFreak.com, which tracks BitTorrent use on the Internet. According to the website, Avatar, with 21 million downloads, is the most pirated movie ever, with The Dark Knight and 2007’s Transformers tied for second place with about 19 million. Avatar, […]

REPORT: FREE HULU USERS FLEEING TO PIRATE SITES

Fox’s decision to make users of the free version of Hulu wait eight days before they can watch its shows on the video website has apparently backfired — sending them to pirate sites, according to TorrentFreak.com, which tracks BitTorrent usage. The website, which said it saw a drastic decrease of TV-show piracy after the introduction […]

MEDIA EXEC: PIRATES SPEND MORE ON MOVIES THAN OTHERS

The former chief information officer of Google, who went on to become COO of New Music for EMI, has disclosed that research he conducted concerning users of the now-shuttered LimeWire peer-to-peer service indicated that those who pirated copyrighted content online were also some of the biggest spenders on such content. As reported by ComputerWorld (via […]

BOLLYWOOD FORCES ALLEGED PIRATE SITES TO SHUT DOWN

Users in India of some of the leading file-hosting sites found those sites replaced by the following announcement on Wednesday: “This site has been blocked as per instructions from Department of Telecom (DOT). As reported by TorrentFreak.com, such sites as RapidShare, MegaUpload, MediaFire, and HotFile have been blocked. India produces the largest number of movies […]

MOVIE TO HIT BITTORRENT SITE BEFORE GOING TO THEATERS

James Cromwell, the actor best known for his role as the farmer in 1995’s Babe and the father of Peter Parker’s love interest in Spider-Man 3, is exec producing a film that will, by design, be distributed first via BitTorrent — often damned as the platform of choice for movie pirates — before heading for […]

WEBSITE CLAIMS LAWYERS ARE GETTING RICH ON COPYRIGHT SUITS

Making the case that numerous lawyers are turning anti-piracy into a business — by locating illegal file sharers and offering to settle their cases for around $2,000 — the website TorrentFreak.com tells the story of Mayra Gonzalez, who claims that because of a confusing file name, she inadvertently downloaded a gay porn film rather than […]

WARNER INSTITUTES DELAY IN HUNGARY RELEASES

Warner Bros. has decided to delay the release of its films in Hungary after determining that a number of them that turned up on the Internet immediately after they were released were camcorded by pirates working out of theaters in that country. TorrentFreak.com, which tracks BitTorrent activity, speculated on Sunday that the studio had probably […]

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