Latest news with #piracy
Forbes
2 days ago
- Entertainment
- Forbes
Legal Action Over ‘Demon Slayer: Infinity Castle' Leaks Begins Soon
Demon Slayer: Infinity Castle While Ufotable and others behind the film are celebrating the historic success of the Demon Slayer: Infinity Castle movie in Japan, the film has begun leaking all across the internet, prompting a response that relays how serious this is being taken. In a new post on the official 3 million follower Demon Slayer account, a lengthy statement was prepared addressing the issues of piracy and leaks, and how vulnerable accounts that share these leaks are. Here's the statement in full: 'We would like to express our sincere gratitude to everyone for their incredible excitement and support for Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba – The Movie: Infinity Castle. However, we have recently become aware of unauthorized recordings, uploads, and online distribution of the film. These activities constitute a serious violation of copyright law and other applicable laws and regulations. We will pursue strict legal action, including civil and criminal measures, against such activities such as piracy and illegal uploads. Even those posting anonymously can be identified and will be held liable. Such illegal activities not only harm the experience of our loyal fans who support the film, but also undermine the immense hard work, creativity, and resources we have dedicated to the film. We strongly encourage everyone to experience the film legitimately at movie theaters. We will take appropriate measures to protect our copyrighted work and to ensure that all audiences can enjoy the films as intended. We kindly ask for your continued understanding and cooperation.' Demon Slayer: Infinity Castle There have been countless clips shared of the film, some from pirated copies, some from screen records in Japan. While all movies are pirated to some extent in vast torrent networks and streaming sites, this practice is being amplified by the fact that the film was only released in Japan at its initial premiere, and other regions, including the US, have to wait two months after that in order for the film to reach our shores. Not that this justifies doing anything illegal, but it's likely encouraging this practice. Demon Slayer: Infinity Castle Part 1, the first film in the series-ending trilogy, demolished its own records from the Mugen Train release with $50 million in receipts in its first 4 days in Japan. That would be a solid performance in the US at almost triple the population. Mugen Train went on to make almost a half a billion dollars globally, and if the trend continues, Infinity Castle will likely make hundreds of millions more than that. Lawsuits seem like they'll be coming soon, and even with anonymous or burner accounts, the company seems determined to unmask these leak-sharers, so I hope you took that into account when posting clips. We'll see what happens next and if there are any further updates about what's going on with the leaks, which will only be amplified in the next few months as other regions slowly get the film. As a reminder, here are the global release dates: Follow me on Twitter, YouTube, and Instagram. Pick up my sci-fi novels the Herokiller series and The Earthborn Trilogy.
CTV News
23-07-2025
- CTV News
‘Millions of dollars in criminal profits': Five men sentenced for running illegal TV streaming service
A screenshot from the Internet Archive shows the front page of Jetflicks in 2013. (Jetflicks via Internet Archive) Five men received sentences of up to seven years in prison for operating Jetflicks, described as one of the largest illegal paid TV show streaming services in the United States, with servers that were also based in Canada. The men from Las Vegas were sentenced on May 29 and 30, according to a press release by the U.S. Department of Justice on Tuesday. It said the RCMP 'provided significant assistance' in helping the FBI and other U.S. officials in the investigation. 'This scheme generated millions of dollars in criminal profits, and hurt thousands of U.S. companies and individuals who owned the copyrights to these shows but never received a penny in compensation from Jetflicks,' said Matthew Galeotti, acting assistant attorney general at the U.S. Justice Department's Criminal Division, in a statement Tuesday. The Department of Justice called it the largest internet piracy case, and the first illegal streaming case, to go to trial. Jetflicks allegedly at one point offered 183,285 TV episodes, according to U.S. officials, surpassing licensed streaming services such as Netflix, Hulu, Vudu and Amazon Prime. The U.S. government said it 'conservatively estimated' the value of the copyright infringement at US$37.5 million. How did Jetflicks work? Jetflicks, based in Las Vegas, was an online subscription-based service that allowed tens of thousands of paid subscribers throughout the United States to stream and download TV content without permission from copyright owners, according to the press release, citing court documents and evidence shown at the trial. The convicted men used automated software and computer scripts that constantly scoured sites with pirated content, the release stated. The software and scripts would then make the illegal content available on servers in the U.S. and Canada, often the day after the shows originally aired on television, the press release added. The service worked on the internet and on many types of devices, platforms and software. Who was convicted? A 14-day trial in Nevada, which ended in June 2024, resulted in the following individuals receiving convictions for conspiracy to commit copyright infringement: -Kristopher Lee Dallmann, 42; -Peter H. Huber, 67; -Jared Edward Jaurequi, also known as Jared Edwards, 44; -Felipe Garcia, 43; -Douglas M. Courson, 65. Dallmann was also convicted of criminal copyright infringement by distribution, criminal copyright infringement by public performance, and money laundering, according to the U.S. Justice Department.
The Sun
21-07-2025
- The Sun
Dodgy streaming network CLOSED in major raid as piracy barons caught with £430,000 trove of gold, cash and Bitcoin
FIVE men suspected of being the masterminds behind a huge illegal streaming operation have been arrested in the latest police crackdown. The group are accused of reselling premium streaming services including Netflix on the cheap. 2 2 Illegal streaming has become a massive problem for organisations like Sky and the Premier League as cyber crooks look to cash in on viewers frustrated by bill rises. Nine properties were raided in June as part of a coordinated anti-piracy effort by police in Germany. More than 100 officers were involved, covering areas of Munich and Hamburg. Police obtained an entire "server landscape" thought to be used to host the illegal streaming "IPTV" service, as well as a large number of mobile phones, USB sticks, game consoles, and backups of extensive cloud data. They also confiscated cash, gold coins, and cryptocurrencies worth over £432,000 that are believed to be linked to the accused crimes. Five men were arrested, including three 25-year-old Germans, a 25-year-old Austrian, and a 27-year-old Azerbaijani. Three of the five were remanded in custody initially. But an arrest warrant for a 25-year-old from Munich has since been lifted as police failed to confirm strong suspicion based on preliminary analysis of the seized data, Zentralstelle Cybercrime Bayern said. However, one of the men faces more accusations, including inciting serious sexual abuse of children, producing child pornography and providing possession of child pornography. It comes months after a major illegal streaming site used by 22million to watch Sky Sports and more at a cut price was shut down with five UK properties raided. The joint police, Europol and Eurojust operation spanned several countries across Europe with more than one hundred houses searched. Closer to home, an illegal streaming kingpin who made £1million from three sites was jailed. Stephen Woodward, 36, splashed out on designer clothes and jewellery, expensive holidays and a Jaguar F-Type V8 coupe worth £91,000 from his ill-gotten gains. He ran three websites - IPTV Hosting, Helix Hosting and Black and White TV - with access to Sky Sports and 4,500 other premium channels for a small fee. Stephen was sentenced to three years and one month in jail on July 11. Warning over 'jailbroken' Fire Sticks Illegal streaming can be delivered by a number of devices by one of the most common are 'jailbroken' Fire Sticks, which means a third-party media server software has been installed on to it. The software most commonly used is called Kodi. It can grant users unrestricted access to new features and apps the normal version of the device wouldn't allow – but it is not legal to use in the UK. But it becomes illegal when a box is used to stream subscription channels for free. It is also illegal to buy or sell these modified devices which have become known as "fully-loaded" - a term that describes how the software has been altered to allow access to subscription-only channels. 'These devices are legal when used to watch legitimate, free to air, content,' the government said at the time. 'They become illegal once they are adapted to stream illicit content, for example TV programmes, films and subscription sports channels without paying the appropriate subscriptions.'
Yahoo
19-07-2025
- Yahoo
Switch 2 owner warns other gamers against buying second-hand games online after their console was banned for breaching Nintendo's anti-piracy rules
When you buy through links on our articles, Future and its syndication partners may earn a commission. A Nintendo Switch 2 owner was reportedly banned after playing legitimate second-hand games that were later found to be cloned Reddit user 'dmanthey' says they were able to reverse the ban after speaking to Nintendo Nintendo has been cracking down on piracy by restricting consoles caught using piracy tools A Nintendo Switch 2 owner is warning players about buying pre-owned physical games after being banned for unknowingly playing cloned versions. Last month, it was reported that Nintendo was cracking down on piracy and had begun blocking access to online services on the Switch 2 if players were caught using MIG Flash, a tool used to create copies of games. But it seems that even innocent players aren't safe from the company's strict anti-piracy policy. As reported by IGN, Redditor 'dmanthey' shared a post saying that they were banned by Nintendo after loading up some original Switch games they bought from Facebook Marketplace. The user explained that although the physical copies were legitimate, they later discovered that the games had already been copied by the original owner, which was the reason their console was restricted. "Switch 2 users - be careful buying used Switch 1 games. You can get banned if a bad actor dumped it," 'dmanthey' said. "Got banned and unbanned after simply downloading patches for 4 Switch 1 games I bought from Facebook marketplace." Dmanthey explained in the thread that they unknowingly played original Switch cartridges that were cloned using a piracy-enabling device. "Basically, a thief buys/rents a game. They make a copy for themselves using the MIG dumper," the user said. "They resell the original game and keep a copy for themselves on their MIG. Then both of you get banned when the Switch 2 goes online. Only one of you has the carts, so that's the person that will be unbanned." Thankfully, dmanthey was able to get unbanned after speaking to Nintendo's customer service and providing evidence of their purchase and conversation from the Facebook Marketplace seller. "I contacted Nintendo support and found out I was banned," they said. "They had me pull up the Facebook Marketplace listing and take some pics of the cartridges. The whole process was painless and fast." 'Dmanthey' added, "The amount of info they had is crazy". "They could see my ddwrt endpoints, the brand of my memory card, they even knew that I had an EVGA mouse and keyboard plugged into my Switch 2," they continued. Another user was faced with a similar situation last month after they purchased pre-owned Switch 2 from Walmart, only to find that it had been 'bricked' by Nintendo after booting it up. You might also like... The Nintendo Switch 2 is the company's least ambitious console to date, but its improvements are astronomical I've spent 40 hours exploring Death Stranding 2: On the Beach, and it's an incredible sequel that builds upon its unique predecessor to become a masterpiece I've spent 150 hours with The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, and the Switch 2 Edition is an incredible upgrade
WIRED
18-07-2025
- Entertainment
- WIRED
Italian YouTuber Faces Jail Time for Showing Android Handhelds With Emulated Games
Ryan Whitwam, Ars Technica The games on the devices shown by the content creator may not be entirely legal. That was enough for Italian law enforcement to ding him for 'promotion of pirated copyrighted materials.' Photo-Illustration: WIRED Staff; Photograph:There are countless Android-powered gaming handhelds, but they go beyond the usual slate of Android games by offering console emulation support. The problem is the game ROMs on these devices, which are not entirely legal. Italian YouTuber Once Were Nerd is learning how seriously some rights holders are taking game piracy after agents from the country's Guardia di Finanza showed up to confiscate his consoles. He now says the investigation could lead to criminal charges and the end of his channel. Once Were Nerd has produced YouTube content covering a plethora of gaming topics, including Android-based handheld game machines from the likes of Powkiddy and TrimUI. These devices usually run an older version of Android that has been heavily modified for gaming, featuring built-in emulation support for retro consoles like SNES, Nintendo 64, PlayStation Portable, GameCube, and more. They've become quite popular as the cost of mobile hardware has come down, making it possible to buy what is essentially an updated PSP or Game Boy Advance for $100 or less. Recently, Once Were Nerd attracted the attention of Italy's Ministry of Economy and Finance, which is tasked with policing copyright in the country. In the video first spotted by Android Authority (which has an AI-generated English language track), the YouTuber explains that Guardia di Finanza appeared at his door in April with a search warrant. Agents accused the creator of promoting pirated copyrighted materials stemming from his coverage of Anbernic handheld game consoles. While emulation software is not illegal, a surprising number of these devices ship chock-full of preloaded ROMs—the channel showed multiple Sony and Nintendo games running on the device. Once Were Nerd is far from the only channel posting about these devices, though. Officials seized more than 30 handheld consoles and demanded copies of Once Were Nerd's correspondence with the companies making these devices. Once Were Nerd says he has cooperated fully with investigators and contends that he has done nothing wrong. Legal Gray Area The firms making these handhelds all operate out of China, which is beyond the reach of Western copyright law. They still sell the devices internationally, sticking to vague language about the inclusion of game ROMs. For example, Anbernic offers bundles with microSD cards marked as "compatible 7000+ games." That makes this approach to revisiting retro games a legal gray area at the very least. Authorities believe Once Were Nerd's activities may still run afoul of Article 171 in Italy's copyright law, which allows for up to three years imprisonment for violations. It is unclear who made the original complaint against the channel. Once Were Nerd has seen documents that cite copyrighted material from Nintendo and Sony, but Guardia di Finanza doesn't need to reveal that detail until the preliminary investigation is finished, and cases can be brought by the agency itself. (Nintendo, for one, is particularly litigious when it comes to defending its intellectual property.) When the investigation is complete, the government will either file charges or dismiss the case. Current law also gives officials the power to shut down the Once Were Nerd channel while the investigation is ongoing. Italy has a history of heavy-handed copyright enforcement—the country's internet regulator recently demanded that Google poison DNS to block illegal streams of soccer. So it's not hard to believe investigators would pursue a case against someone who posts videos featuring pirated games on YouTube. This story originally appeared on Ars Technica.
