Protect your product from file sharing!
Welcome to our blog! 
I’ll try my best to keep you up-to-date on piracy issues, and our war against piracy, particularly illegal digital online piracy/warez. Have a digital product? Let ShareCop.com protect it!
Enjoy your stay!
I just received an email from a friend, that the underground’s famous software cracker and script nuller has reportedly been arrested for numerous offenses. I went to the link and this is what has been said:
“When surfing to decodethe.net this is what is found..
Sehr geehrte Nutzer,
hiermit wird bekannt gegeben, dass der Gründer des Projektes “DT.N Services” (bekannt als “TrioxX”) in der Nacht vom 06.12.2009 auf den 07.12.2009 von dem Landeskriminalamt (LKA) auf dem Flugweg zwischen München und Prag während einer gezielten Passkontrolle verhaftet wurde.
Ihm wird unter Anderem vorgeworfen, Softwarefirmen mit einer geschätzten Gesamtsumme in Höhe von 13.500.000 Euro (ca. 9 Mio. US-Dollar) geschädigt zu haben. Hinzu kommen diverse andere Vergehen, die eine landesweite Fahndung nunmehr unumgänglich machten. Weitere Ermittlungen haben ergeben, dass er auch noch für die Verbreitung eines recht bekannten und damals sehr schädlichen Computerwurms in Frage kommt.
Er wird heute, den 07.12.2009 dem Haftrichter in Gelsenkirchen vorgeführt, wo ein angemessenes Strafmaß verhandelt werden soll. Es ist nicht damit zu rechnen, dass er auf Bewährung oder mit einer geringen Haftstrafe davon kommen wird.
Weitere Informationen werden in Kürze folgen.
Wir möchten sämtliche Kunden des DT.N Service-Portals darauf hinweisen, dass bis zur Klärung sämtliche Projekte bis auf unbestimmte Zeit nicht erreichbar sind und uns gleichzeitig für diese Unannehmlichkeiten entschuldigen.
Um jedoch zu gewährleisten, dass sämtliche Kunden in keinster Weise durch diesen Ausfall benachteiligt werden, wird die Leitung der “legalen” Projekte komissarisch übertragen, sollte es zu einer Inhaftierung des Gründers und rechtmäßigen Betreibers kommen.
Da der größte Teil der Nutzer des Portals der deutschen Sprache nicht mächtig ist, müssen wir uns an dieser Stelle des Weiteren noch für die nicht vorhandene Übersetzung entschuldigen.
Mit freundlichem Gruß,
C.R. im Auftrag für DT.N Services
Translation:
Dear users,
is hereby announced that the founder of the project “DT.N Services (known as” Trioxx “) on the night of 06.12.2009 on 07.12.2009 by the State Crime (LCA) on the flight path between Munich and Prague during a targeted passport control was arrested.
He is accused, among other things, to have damaged software companies with an estimated total amount of 13,500,000 euros (about 9 million U.S. dollars). There are also various other offenses, which made a nation-wide investigation is now inevitable. Further investigations have revealed that he is also for the dissemination of a rather well known and then very malicious computer worm in question.
He is now the 07.12.2009 demonstrated the prison judge in Gelsenkirchen, where an appropriate penalty to be negotiated. It is not expected that he will be on probation or with a small sentence about it.
More information will follow shortly.
We want to alert all customers of the DT.N service portal that not all projects until it is determined to indefinitely be reached at the same time, and we apologize for any confusion.
However, to ensure that all customers are not disadvantaged in any way by this failure, the line is transferred to the commissioner’s “legal” projects, should there be a lawful detention of the founder and operator.
Since the majority of users of the portal of the German language is not powerful, we must apologize at this point still further to the non-existent translation.
Sincerely,
C.R. in order for DT.N Services“Is it true? Is it it heresay? Is it a rumor that may have some truth attached? I don’t know.. chime in with comments if you know..
-The Share Cop
Copyright Law of the United States of America
and Related Laws Contained in Title 17 of the United States Code
Circular 92
Appendix B
The Digital Millennium Copyright Act of 19981
Section 1. Short Title.
This Act may be cited as the “Digital Millennium Copyright Act”.
Title I — WIPO Treaties Implementation
Sec. 101. Short Title.
This title may be cited as the “WIPO Copyright and Performances and Phonograms Treaties Implementation Act of 1998”.
* * * * * * *
Sec. 105. Effective Date.
(a) In General. — Except as otherwise provided in this title, this title and the amendments made by this title shall take effect on the date of the enactment of this Act.
(b) Amendments Relating to Certain International Agreements. — (1) The following shall take effect upon the entry into force of the WIPO Copyright Treaty with respect to the United States:
(A) Paragraph (5) of the definition of “international agreement” contained in section 101 of title 17, United States Code, as amended by section 102(a)(4) of this Act.
(B) The amendment made by section 102(a)(6) of this Act.
(C) Subparagraph (C) of section 104A(h)(1) of title 17, United States Code, as amended by section 102(c)(1) of this Act.
(D) Subparagraph (C) of section 104A(h)(3) of title 17, United States Code, as amended by section 102(c)(2) of this Act.
(2) The following shall take effect upon the entry into force of the WIPO Performances and Phonograms Treaty with respect to the United States:
(A) Paragraph (6) of the definition of “international agreement” contained in section 101 of title 17, United States Code, as amended by section 102(a)(4) of this Act.
(B) The amendment made by section 102(a)(7) of this Act.
(C) The amendment made by section 102(b)(2) of this Act.
(D) Subparagraph (D) of section 104A(h)(1) of title 17, United States Code, as amended by section 102(c)(1) of this Act.
(E) Subparagraph (D) of section 104A(h)(3) of title 17, United States Code, as amended by section 102(c)(2) of this Act.
(F) The amendments made by section 102(c)(3) of this Act.
* * * * * * *
Title II — Online Copyright Infringement Liability Limitation
Sec. 201. Short Title.
This title may be cited as the “Online Copyright Infringement Liability Limitation Act”.
* * * * * * *
Sec. 203. Effective Date.
This title and the amendments made by this title shall take effect on the date of the enactment of this Act.
* * * * * * *
Title IV — Miscellaneous Provisions
Sec. 401. Provisions Relating to the Commissioner of Patents and Trademarks and the Register of Copyrights
(a) Compensation. — (1) Section 3(d) of title 35, United States Code, is amended by striking “prescribed by law for Assistant Secretaries of Commerce” and inserting “in effect for level III of the Executive Schedule under section 5314 of title 5, United States Code”.
* * * * * * *
(3) Section 5314 of title 5, United States Code, is amended by adding at the end the following:
“Assistant Secretary of Commerce and Commissioner of Patents and Trademarks.
“Register of Copyrights.”.
* * * * * * *
Sec. 405. Scope of Exclusive Rights in Sound Recordings; Ephemeral Recordings.
(a) Scope of Exclusive Rights in Sound Recordings.
* * * * * * *
(5) The amendment made by paragraph (2)(B)(i)(III) of this subsection shall be deemed to have been enacted as part of the Digital Performance Right in Sound Recordings Act of 1995, and the publication of notice of proceedings under section 114(f)(1) of title 17, United States Code, as in effect upon the effective date of that Act, for the determination of royalty payments shall be deemed to have been made for the period beginning on the effective date of that Act and ending on December 1, 2001.
(6) The amendments made by this subsection do not annul, limit, or otherwise impair the rights that are preserved by section 114 of title 17, United States Code, including the rights preserved by subsections (c), (d)(4), and (i) of such section.
* * * * * * *
(c) Scope of Section 112(a) of Title 17 Not Affected. —
Nothing in this section or the amendments made by this section shall affect the scope of section 112(a) of title 17, United States Code, or the entitlement of any person to an exemption thereunder.
* * * * * * *
Sec. 406. Assumption of Contractual Obligations Related to Transfers of Rights in Motion Pictures.
(a) In General. — Part VI of title 28, United States Code, is amended by adding at the end the following new chapter:
“Chapter 180 — Assumption of Certain Contractual Obligations
“Sec. 4001. Assumption of contractual obligations related to transfers of rights in motion pictures.
Ҥ4001. Assumption of contractual obligations related to transfers of rights in motion pictures
“(a) Assumption of Obligations. — (1) In the case of a transfer of copyright ownership under United States law in a motion picture (as the terms ‘transfer of copyright ownership’ and ‘motion picture’ are defined in section 101 of title 17) that is produced subject to 1 or more collective bargaining agreements negotiated under the laws of the United States, if the transfer is executed on or after the effective date of this chapter and is not limited to public performance rights, the transfer instrument shall be deemed to incorporate the assumption agreements applicable to the copyright ownership being transferred that are required by the applicable collective bargaining agreement, and the transferee shall be subject to the obligations under each such assumption agreement to make residual payments and provide related notices, accruing after the effective date of the transfer and applicable to the exploitation of the rights transferred, and any remedies under each such assumption agreement for breach of those obligations, as those obligations and remedies are set forth in the applicable collective bargaining agreement, if —
“(A) the transferee knows or has reason to know at the time of the transfer that such collective bargaining agreement was or will be applicable to the motion picture; or
“(B) in the event of a court order confirming an arbitration award against the transferor under the collective bargaining agreement, the transferor does not have the financial ability to satisfy the award within 90 days after the order is issued.
“(2) For purposes of paragraph (1)(A), ‘knows or has reason to know’ means any of the following:
“(A) Actual knowledge that the collective bargaining agreement was or will be applicable to the motion picture.
“(B)(i) Constructive knowledge that the collective bargaining agreement was or will be applicable to the motion picture, arising from recordation of a document pertaining to copyright in the motion picture under section 205 of title 17 or from publication, at a site available to the public on-line that is operated by the relevant union, of information that identifies the motion picture as subject to a collective bargaining agreement with that union, if the site permits commercially reasonable verification of the date on which the information was available for access.
“(ii) Clause (i) applies only if the transfer referred to in subsection (a)(1) occurs -
“(I) after the motion picture is completed, or
“(II) before the motion picture is completed and -
“(aa) within 18 months before the filing of an application for copyright registration for the motion picture under section 408 of title 17, or
“(bb) if no such application is filed, within 18 months before the first publication of the motion picture in the United States.
“(C) Awareness of other facts and circumstances pertaining to a particular transfer from which it is apparent that the collective bargaining agreement was or will be applicable to the motion picture.
“(b) Scope of Exclusion of Transfers of Public Performance Rights. — For purposes of this section, the exclusion under subsection (a) of transfers of copyright ownership in a motion picture that are limited to public performance rights includes transfers to a terrestrial broadcast station, cable system, or programmer to the extent that the station, system, or programmer is functioning as an exhibitor of the motion picture, either by exhibiting the motion picture on its own network, system, service, or station, or by initiating the transmission of an exhibition that is carried on another network, system, service, or station. When a terrestrial broadcast station, cable system, or programmer, or other transferee, is also functioning otherwise as a distributor or as a producer of the motion picture, the public performance exclusion does not affect any obligations imposed on the transferee to the extent that it is engaging in such functions.
“(c) Exclusion for Grants of Security Interests. — Subsection (a) shall not apply to —
“(1) a transfer of copyright ownership consisting solely of a mortgage, hypothecation, or other security interest; or
“(2) a subsequent transfer of the copyright ownership secured by the security interest described in paragraph (1) by or under the authority of the secured party, including a transfer through the exercise of the secured party’s rights or remedies as a secured party, or by a subsequent transferee.
The exclusion under this subsection shall not affect any rights or remedies under law or contract.
“(d) Deferral Pending Resolution of Bona Fide Dispute. — A transferee on which obligations are imposed under subsection (a) by virtue of paragraph (1) of that subsection may elect to defer performance of such obligations that are subject to a bona fide dispute between a union and a prior transferor until that dispute is resolved, except that such deferral shall not stay accrual of any union claims due under an applicable collective bargaining agreement.
“(e) Scope of Obligations Determined by Private Agreement. — Nothing in this section shall expand or diminish the rights, obligations, or remedies of any person under the collective bargaining agreements or assumption agreements referred to in this section.
“(f) Failure to Notify. — If the transferor under subsection (a) fails to notify the transferee under subsection (a) of applicable collective bargaining obligations before the execution of the transfer instrument, and subsection (a) is made applicable to the transferee solely by virtue of subsection (a)(1)(B), the transferor shall be liable to the transferee for any damages suffered by the transferee as a result of the failure to notify.
“(g) Determination of Disputes and Claims. — Any dispute concerning the application of subsections (a) through (f) shall be determined by an action in United States district court, and the court in its discretion may allow the recovery of full costs by or against any party and may also award a reasonable attorney’s fee to the prevailing party as part of the costs.
“(h) Study. — The Comptroller General, in consultation with the Register of Copyrights, shall conduct a study of the conditions in the motion picture industry that gave rise to this section, and the impact of this section on the motion picture industry. The Comptroller General shall report the findings of the study to the Congress within 2 years after the effective date of this chapter.”.
* * * * * * *
SEC. 407. EFFECTIVE Date.
Except as otherwise provided in this title, this title and the amendments made by this title shall take effect on the date of the enactment of this Act.
* * * * * * *
Title V — Protection of Certain Original Designs
Sec. 501. Short Title.
This Act may be referred to as the “Vessel Hull Design Protection Act”.
* * * * * * *
Sec. 505. Effective Date. 2
The amendments made by sections 502 and 503 shall take effect on the date of the enactment of this Act.3
Appendix B · Endnotes
1This appendix contains contains provisions from the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA), Pub. L. No. 105-304, 112 Stat. 2860, that do not amend title 17 of the United States Code.
2The Intellectual Property and Communications Omnibus Reform Act of 1999 amended section 505 by deleting everything at the end of the sentence, after “Act.” Pub. L. No. 106-113, 113 Stat. 1501, app. I at 1501A-521, 593.
3Section 502 of the DMCA added chapter 13 to title 17 of the United States Code. Section 503 made conforming amendments. The date of enactment of this Act is October 28, 1998.
Today, there are many webmasters taking up benefit from adding digital downloads to their website, the downloads are of a variety of games, music, movies or any other information such as ebooks or encyclopedia which are downloaded by the users to their own computer from original sites. These digital downloads help the users to make the information and other things handy and they can use them whenever they feel so. The greatest advantage of digital downloads is that they do not include any manufacturing or printing costs and completely eliminates the shipping cost on part of business owner. The files downloaded by the people provide them instant access to the resources available through downloads. Many people nowadays sell their downloads online. They sell ebooks, software, mp3 and audio files and others. However, there are some issues and concerns regarding downloads, which are needed to be given extra care and attention by the webmasters when they sell their downloads.
The popularity of illegal file sharing on Internet is increasing tremendously and its sudden increase is obvious throughout peer to peer site networking. The free access to all mp3 music files or any computer games by means of registration key code makes it available immediately for everyone. People often evaluate the need of buying expensive software to download their required particulars when they can get a complete functional copy without paying a single penny. Obviously, most of us feel good after getting anything for free. The thing is that if you are selling e.g. ebook, you wouldn’t want it to be shared among thousands of Internet users… This way you could loose a lot of money – lost sales.
Security concern with illegal Digital Downloads
It is already said that webmasters have to be extremely aware while placing digital downloads onto their computers. One of the concerned issues with illegal digital download is piracy which means stealing or downloading an illegal file. With unprotected downloading facilities, anyone can download any information or file without paying for it. Illegal and unauthorized access to the digital downloads gives the pavement for piracy. Therefore, the steps to protect illegal file sharing should be taken.
• While setting up all the digital downloads, a webmaster should make certain that he or she has taken all the necessary precaution against the illegal or unauthorized access to file sharing.
• All the safeguards and security features should be set up by them to keep the unauthorized users away from it. Such securities include the download link or thank-you page link (that are provided for the customer after the successful payment) cloaking.
• Normally, skilled people called hackers who are familiar with programming are much capable to bypass entire systems. If feasible, webmasters must make use of digital download software programs to carry out downloads or they can also set up downloads through other websites in order to ensure its security.
• There are number of programs that can be downloaded by the webmasters in order to ensure protection to their websites or digital downloads. Likewise, online banks contain some kind of digital download program for their protection. These programs are much effective as they are already prepared and all set to go. The webmaster only has to do its installation in the particular website to avoid illegal file sharing. These link cloakers ‘hides’ the real download or thank-you page link, so only the temporary download link is generated for each single buyer. These links expire after some time, so your download could not be shared with other users by one of your buyers.
• Another thing a webmaster can do is to check his or her web host services in order to protect illegal file sharing.
• Ensure password in reference to protect the digital download directories. Password can help keep the files locked and safe from unauthorized access. Also, downloaded pages must not be linked to other web pages of any website in order to make the page isolated and secured.
• Go to the compliance officer who is responsible to protect your files against illegal act.
These are just some of the things you can do to protect your digital product from piracy and unauthorized downloading.
It’s not a happy new year for one UK resident who was busted for piracy.
The unnamed Staffordshire man, in his thirties, was apprehended after a joint raid by Trading Standards and the Entertainment and Leisure Software Publishers Association (ELSPA).
Prior to the official raid, investigators set up a sting operation where they visited him to have their Xbox chipped and purchase pirated games. The console and games were then forensically examined to provide the evidence needed to obtain a search warrant.
Four computers with burners and more than 1,000 illegally copied games were seized in the raid – including 700 Xbox 360 games, 300 Wii titles and 100 PlayStation 2 games. Three Xbox 360 and two Nintendo Wii consoles were also seized. The man admitted to running an illegal chipping operation via his Gumtree.com site for nearly two years.
Michael Rawlinson, managing director of ELSPA, has said “Our team in the Intellectual Property Crime Unit (IPCU) will step up its fight against counterfeiters and illegal chipping services in 2009. Such illegal activity can pose real health dangers for the public and certainly deprives gamers of any proper quality control. Furthermore, it can cause the industry to lose vital income and with it jobs across the UK. ”
A POCA (Proceeds Of Crime Act) investigation has already begun to estimate the criminal gain from the offender’s illegal activities. The crime itself carries up to ten year’s imprisonment, and an unlimited fine.
If your business involves selling digital products, then you need to know all you can about protecting your product & download links. Otherwise, you would find that your potential customers can, instead of paying, go right to your download page and download your product free of cost costing you thousands or even millions in profit loss.
What you should have is a secured and encrypted link which should have an expiration date so the customer would have to download your product immediately or get the purchased download within specified period of time (e.g. 48 hours). In this way, you can protect your product from:
a) Customers sharing the download link
b) Search engines finding the download page or download link and indexing them
c) People finding & sharing your thank-you page with all links to download your product
Unprotected Thank-You Pages And Download Links mean Massive Profit Loss
There are many ways that could deplete your profits when you have your digital products unprotected. Though not every customer would be out to “cheat” you, most people would be delighted to get the product without payment.
Protecting your download page would prevent:
1. The “Search Engine Hack” – it is easy to find your unprotected download page & your products through the search engine and therefore make it available to people to download without paying. Some people may not even know they are stealing and you would not know you are losing money. Search engines crawl and index everything – ebook (pdf) files, software products and even the videos.
2. Download sharing – you send one link and your customer could have it up for free or sell it themselves even if it had a limited time cap. In order to prevent that, you would need to limit the number of downloads as well. Say, you could have it valid for two hours and four download attempts. The customer should be informed about the security measures before you send the link so they would be prepared for it. If a download time or limit expires and customer tells you that he missed the download period and asks for files to download, you can easily ask that customer to provide the proof of a purchase.
3. The Thank You Page Vulnerability – this is the simplest way of hacking for a digital product. You get through the unprotected thank you page, get the url and download it without any problem. You need to put a download guard in place which would check whether payment was made before permitting access to the e-book or any other digital product you have.
How to Protect Your Ebooks, Software and Other Files? What Are The Alternatives?
You could take the following measures:
1. Change the download site/domain frequently
2. Change the page from where the download needs to be done at regular intervals
3. Take the help of encryption to prevent right click copying and exposure of source code
4. Search engines scan only two levels down your domain; try keeping your downloadable product three or four levels down – for example, www.mydomain/directortyA/directoryB/sub-directoryC/mydownloadfile
There are more of these alternatives, however they are hard to implement and not so effective as they sound. The best way to prevent such theft would be to install a very effective download guard such as DLguard but it is costly and may take some time to setup. Then there are slightly less expensive websites that will host and deliver your product for you for a monthly fee, such as e-junkie.com.
I hope this has helped you learn how to protect your digital products. If you like this article, please share it with others with the links below.
Mininova has lost its civil dispute with Dutch anti-piracy outfit BREIN. The judge ruled that Mininova is not directly responsible for any copyright infringement, but ordered it to remove all torrents linking to copyrighted material within three months, or face a penalty of up to 5 million euros.
Mininova Torrent Network was sued this spring by BREIN, an outfit which protects the rights of several large entertainment industry corporations.
Today, the judge ruled that the world’s largest BitTorrent indexer has been ordered to clean up its site and remove all torrents that link to infringing content.
BREIN’s intention was not to shut down the site. Instead, the organization called for a filter based on infringing keywords and possibly digital fingerprints to guarantee that the rights holders have sufficient means to protect their content.
The court agreed with BREIN’s assessment that Mininova is not doing enough to protect the rights of copyright holders, and ordered the site to remove all torrent files that link to infringing content within three months, or pay a penalty of 1000 Euro per infringing torrent with a maximum of 5 million euros ($7 million).
Mininova’s notice and takedown policy that allows copyright holders to remove infringing torrents is not sufficient, the court said. Interestingly, the recently announced copyright filter that Mininova launched together with the Motion Picture Association (MPA) wasn’t mentioned in the verdict.
The court did not agree with Mininova’s defense that it is impossible to moderate all torrents that are uploaded to the site. It further said that Mininova is encouraging its users to download copyrighted material, helped by the several moderators that the site has in place.
The moderators keep the site clean and ‘family friendly’ by removing torrents that link to adult content, viruses and fake files. They do this proactively and in response to user feedback, the court concluded, pointing out that they should also be able to moderate torrents that link to copyrighted material.
It was further concluded that Mininova profits from copyright infringement though the ads that appear on the site.
Mininova co-founder Erik Dubbelboer said in a response: “We are obviously not happy with the verdict.” Mininova is considering to appeal the decision, which they have to do within three months
We will have more as the story develops.
