As Techdirt has pointed out a number of times, attacking the huge free online repository of academic papers, Sci-Hub, is wrong from a number of viewpoints. It's wrong because Sci-Hub is not a site aiming to profit from the labor of others, but is...

Law-abiding citizens: Please do NOT download. Thank you.

Sci-Hub, often referred to as the "Pirate Bay of Science," remains a thorn in the side of academic publishers. After obtaining an injunction against the site last year, the American Chemical Society went back to court for an update, which now gives it the authority to seize newly registered domain names as well. But will that end the domain whac-a-mole?

Amazon has removed the popular media center Kodi from the app store claiming it facilitates piracy. The software, formerly known as XBMC, doesn't link to or host any infringing content, but third-party add-ons are giving the software a bad reputation.

A new crazy bill in front of the Swedish parliament makes ordinary sharing of TV, music, and movies as severe a “crime” as some types of homicide. The Swedish IT industry and net community is in shock and disbelief, while the copyright industry lobbyists are cheering.

Flight sim company FlightSimLabs has found itself in trouble after installing malware onto users' machines as an anti-piracy measure. Code embedded in its A320-X module contained a mechanism for detecting 'pirate' serial numbers distributed on The Pirate Bay, which then triggered a process through which the company stole usernames and passwords from users' web browsers.

Denuvo, the company behind the world's most famous video game anti-piracy system, has been sold. The buyer is global anti-piracy outfit Irdeto, which specializes in protecting all kinds of content, with an emphasis on the audio-visual sector. The news comes a day after Denuvo's latest protection was defeated by pirates after a couple of months in the wild.

Internet slowdowns at home aren't just annoying anymore. They can be hazardous to your health or dangerous if you're in an area that freezes. Internet service...

A letter sent out by a US ISP warns customers that by engaging in persistent online piracy they will force the company to downgrade their access plan to the minimum, and customers may have problems with controlling thermostats in the dead of winter. The letter, posted by an anonymous user on Imgur last week, and first reported on by torrenting news site TorrentFreak, did not mention issues with thermostats by mere accident.

A series of documents released by the US Department of State have revealed how Sweden was pressed to take action against The Pirate Bay. According to US officials, this directly led to law enforcement's decision to shut down the torrent site more than ten years ago. Sweden, meanwhile, avoided a spot on the feared US Trade Representative's 301 Watch List.

This is a clever little piece of lateral thinking: NetflixNFLX -1.84% monitors what is being illegally downloaded on BitTorrent and other pirate sites in order to work out what shows they ought to try and purchase. This is more about the European market, or rather individual markets within Europe, but it's an interesting method of gathering the necessary information. The original report is here but if your Dutch isn't up to much (mine neither) then this report gives a translation...

The Kodi box pitch is hard to resist. A little black plastic square, in look not much different from a Roku or Apple TV, and similar in function as well. This streamer, though, offers something those others never will: Free access to practically any show or movie you can dream of. No rental fees. No subscriptions. Just type in the name of a blockbuster, and start watching a high-definition stream in seconds.

In 2016, mass ‘copyright-trolling’ hit Sweden for the first time. An organization calling itself Spridningskollen (Distribution Check) claimed its new initiative would save the entertainment industries and educate the masses. Following a huge backlash, however, the operation shut up shop and retreated, tail between its legs. But for those who expected the trolls to disappear altogether, bad news was just around the corner.

Julia Reda MEP has been targeted in an extremely controversial article published by musician and industry activist David Lowery. In a piece titled 'Why is it Every Time We Turn Over a Pirate Rock White Nationalists, Nazi’s and Bigots Scurry Out?', Lowery suggests that Reda's complaints over copyright restrictions on Anne Frank's Diary are based out of a far-right agenda.

Back in 2014, the European Commission paid the Dutch consulting firm Ecorys 360,000 euros (about $428,000) to research the effect piracy had on sales of copyrighted content. The final report was finished in May 2015, but for some reason it was never published– according to Julia Reda’s blog, the only Pirate in the EU Parliament.

The seventh season of Game of Thrones has brought tears and joy to HBO this summer. It was the most-viewed season thus far, with record-breaking TV ratings. But on the other hand, HBO and Game of Thrones were plagued by hacks, leaks, and piracy, of course. While it’s hard to measure piracy accurately, streaming in particular, piracy tracking outfit MUSO has just released some staggering numbers. According to the company, the latest season was pirated more than a billion times in total.

According to TorrentFreak, a proposed final judgment has been reached between audio-ripping site YouTube-MP3.org and a collection of record labels including UMG, Sony Music, and Warner Bros. Although the document has not yet been signed by a judge, it indicates a decision in favor of the labels, with an undisclosed settlement fee and an order to transfer the domain to a party representing the labels.

Illegal streams of the anticipated event were advertised on e-commerce sites including Amazon, eBay and Alibaba, according to digital security company Irdeto. The showdown between Floyd Mayweather Jr. and Conor McGregor in Las Vegas on Saturday night proved to be a hit via pay-per-view and theaters, however, many were able to get away with watching the fight for free as some viewers looked to dodge the $20 theater tickets and $100 pay-per-view price.

In recent years streaming piracy has become a popular pastime for millions of people. A lot of this takes place through 'rogue' websites or dedicated pirate devices, which are often scolded by the movie industry.

Four people have been arrested in India for leaking an episode from HBO's "Game of Thrones" television series before it was aired in the country, police said Monday. Already the most pirated show in TV history, the popular fantasy drama -- which tells the story of noble families vying for the Iron Throne -- has been plagued by leaks in recent weeks following the premiere of the seventh season.