In 2011, the MPAA and RIAA teamed up with several major U.S. Internet providers, announcing their plan to shift the norms and behavior of BitTorrent pirates. The parties launched the Center for Copyright Information and agreed on a system through which Internet account holders are warned if their connections are used to download pirated content. The program allowed ISPs to take a variety of repressive measures, including bandwidth throttling and temporary Internet disconnections.

If you've thought of using a VPN to get around the Federal Court’s blocking of The Pirate Bay and other file-sharing websites, you might want to take a closer look.

Remember how piracy was supposed to be killing the entertainment industry and no one would make anything any more? Of course, almost exactly five years ago, we showed this wasn't true at all, and the actual output of creative content was way, way up. Obviously, some of that was "amateur" creations, but it was true of professional creative content as well.

The Australian Federal Court has ordered ISPs to block piracy websites, with content owners having to pay for the privilege.

EFF, Public Knowledge, and the Center for Democracy and Technology Urge The United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit to Protect Internet Subscribers in BMG v. Cox.

Copyright holders asked Google to remove more than 1,000,000,000 allegedly infringing links from its search engine over the past twelve months. A new record, in line with the continued rise of takedown requests and the increase in pressure on Google to do more to tackle piracy.

This week the European Court of Justice heard a crucial case that will give more clarity on the infringing nature of unauthorized streaming. Dutch anti-piracy group BREIN and the Spanish authorities argued that offering or watching pirate streams is a violation of the EU Copyright Directive. However, the European Commission believes that consumers who watch unauthorized streams are not breaking the law.

A man is preparing a legal battle to find out where the boundaries lie when it comes to offering "fully loaded" Kodi TV devices in the UK. Brian Thompson, who is being taken to court by his local council, says he expects to lose the case. And barring a miracle that's exactly what's going to happen.

Entertainment industry workers usually speak about illegal downloading in the harshest of terms but for one former Disney executive, it has its upsides. Speaking at the huge All That Matters conference, Samir Bangara admitted that he "loves" piracy as it's a great indicator of content popularity. The piracy debate can be broadly split into two camps – those who believe it’s a destructive thing that needs to be stopped at all costs, and those who maintain the phenomenon has its upsides.

In July, Polish law enforcement officers arrested Artem Vaulin, the alleged founder of KickassTorrents, who’s been held in a local prison since. Polish authorities acted on a criminal complaint from the U.S. Government, which accused him of criminal copyright infringement and money laundering. Last month the 30-year-old Ukrainian was indicted together with two co-conspirators, all with ties to Ukraine. While the fate of the other two is unknown, we’ve learned that the U.S. Government has now officially requested Vaulin’s extradition.

Copyright trolls are known for their dubious tactics but a new report from Canada shows just how low they can sink. According to the University of Manitoba’s copyright office, among a flood of 8,000 piracy notices are some warning students that they could lose their scholarships or even be deported if they don't pay a fine.

Lots of people have been talking the past few days about TorrentFreak's discovery of the fact that Warner Bros., via its hired DMCA agent Vobile, has been issuing DMCA takedowns on its own website. Specifically, in recent notices to Google from Vobile, on behalf of Warner Bros., the infringing domains include WB's own official websites for movies like "Batman, the Dark Knight" and "The Matrix."

According to a government sanctioned warning on blocked torrent sites, using the Internet to access a blocked website in India could result in a ~$4,500 USD fine as well as imprisonment for 3 years. This is the same government that has denied Internet access to Jammu and Kashmir for over a month. Up until a few days ago, India’s blockage of sites was done at the DNS level and by all ISPs. When trying to access a blocked website, usually users would receive no message or simply this one: “The url has been blocked under instructions of the Competent Government Authority or in compliance to the orders of Hon’ble Court.”

Founded in 2003, Torrentz has been a stable factor in the torrent community for over 13 years. With millions of visitors per day the site grew out to become one of the most visited torrent sites, but today this reign ends, as the popular meta-search engine has announced its shutdown. A few hours ago and without warning, Torrentz disabled its search functionality. At first sight the main page looks normal but those who try to find links to torrents will notice that they’re no longer there.

Warner Bros has asked Google to remove a Reddit link from search results because it contains a link to a pirated film from 2015.

Pirate Bay co-founder Peter Sunde says that the "piracy" scene needs more innovation if it wants to sustain itself. In the wake of the KickassTorrents shutdown, he argues that the current ecosystem relies too heavily on a few large sites. More decentralization is the key to solve this vulnerability.

Vaulin is alleged to own Kickass Torrents or KAT, which in recent years has eclipsed The Pirate Bay.

Following a few hints earlier this week, it is now fully confirmed. Kim Dotcom will be launching a brand new file-sharing site with a familiar name. Megaupload 2.0 is pencilled in for a January 2017 launch, an event that will coincide with the 2012 closure of the original Megaupload and the massive police raid on its operators. Having successfully avoided the clutches of a hungry United States government for half a decade, this five-year anniversary is an important one for Dotcom, and it’s becoming clear he hopes to celebrate it with another poke in the eye for the Obama administration.

The UK Government's Digital Economy Bill, which is set to revamp current copyright legislation, has been introduced in Parliament. One of the most controversial changes is the increased maximum sentences for online copyright infringement. Despite public protest, the bill increased the maximum prison term five-fold, from two to ten years. The current maximum of two years is not enough to deter infringers, lawmakers argued. The plan followed a recommendation put forward in a study commissioned by the UK Intellectual Property Office (IPO) a few months earlier.

Popular code repository GitHub has just published its transparency report for 2015. While receiving a relatively modest 12 subpoenas for user data last year, the site also handed seven gag orders. It also received large numbers of DMCA notices which took down more than 8,200 projects. Github ‘reveals’ that it received somewhere between zero and 249 National Security Orders in 2015.