TorrentFreak explained

TorrentFreak
Type:Blog
Language:English
Owner:Lennart Renkema PhD[1]
Author:Ernesto van der Sar
Andy Maxwell
Rickard Falkvinge
Ben Jones (modified WordPress)
Editor:Ernesto van der Sar
Revenue:Advertisements
License:CC BY-NC 3.0 (text only)[2]

TorrentFreak (TF) is a blog dedicated to reporting the latest news and trends on the BitTorrent protocol and file sharing, as well as on copyright infringement and digital rights.

The website was started in November 2005 by a Dutchman using the pseudonym "Ernesto van der Sar".[3] [4] He was joined by Andy "Enigmax" Maxwell and Ben Jones in 2007.[4] [5] Regular contributors include Rickard Falkvinge, founder of the Pirate Party.[6] The online publication eCommerceTimes, in 2009, described "Ernesto" as the pseudonym of Lennart Renkema, owner of TorrentFreak.[7] TorrentFreak's text is free content under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial version 3.0 license.

Their lead researcher and community manager was the Pirate Party activist Andrew Norton, from 2007 until 2022.

Specialist areas

According to Canadian law scholar Michael Geist, TorrentFreak "is widely used as a source of original reporting on digital issues".[8]

Frequent areas of reporting include:

As well as other news affecting copyright, privacy, file sharing and adjacent topics.

Editorial stance

In a 2021 article, Andy Maxwell outlined TorrentFreak's editorial stance. He wrote: "As a publication entirely dedicated to reporting on copyright, piracy, torrent and streaming sites (plus all things closely related), here at TorrentFreak we aim to tell all 'sides' of the story. We do not shy away from reports that show that piracy hurts sales and we have no problem publishing research projects that show completely the opposite. It's called balanced reporting and it hurts absolutely no one."[15]

History

On 17 August 2007, TorrentFreak reported that Comcast had begun throttling its upload bandwidth, specifically against BitTorrent users. This made seeding, which is an essential part of the BitTorrent protocol, effectively impossible.[16] It was later determined that Comcast was using Sandvine products, which implement network traffic shaping and policing, and include support for both blocking new and forcefully terminating established network connections. Comcast has denied these claims whenever they have been asked to comment. A guide, for customer service representatives when asked about Comcast's BitTorrent throttling, was leaked to The Consumerist on 26 October 2007.[17]

In October 2008 through to March 2011 TorrentFreak ran a short lived video news service titled 'torrentfreak.tv', directed by Andrej Preston, founder of torrent site Suprnova made available for streaming and download on Mininova.[18] [19]

On 21 August 2013, Comcast threatened TorrentFreak for writing about publicly available court documents.[20] [21] The underlying document links a Comcast subscriber with the Prenda Law firm.[22] The court case where the document was filed was a copyright infringement lawsuit brought by AF Holdings for alleged infringement of an adult movie.[23] [24]

In August 2013, Sky Broadband blocked the site for UK customers after torrent site EZTV pointed its DNS servers to TorrentFreak's IP address and, in July 2014, the site was blocked by the controversial Sky Broadband Shield parental filter system.[25] [26]

Notes and References

  1. News: Piraten zijn digitale pioniers . Pouwelse . Johan . Renkema . Lennart . 17 April 2009 . nl . Pirates are digital pioneers . . 14 June 2010 . 11 September 2010 . https://web.archive.org/web/20100911235911/http://www.nrc.nl/opinie/article2215167.ece/Piraten_zijn_digitale_pioniers . live .
  2. Web site: Copyright . TorrentFreak . 27 October 2018 . 27 October 2018 . https://web.archive.org/web/20181027200527/https://torrentfreak.com/copyright/ . live .
  3. Web site: Pwned: Final Project Interview #2: Ernesto of TorrentFreak.com . 14 May 2007 . Injijian . Allen . https://web.archive.org/web/20070630095336/http://uscpwned.blogspot.com/2007/05/final-project-interview-2-ernesto-of.html . 30 June 2007 . 7 October 2012 .
  4. . Smith . Ethan . McBride . Sarah . Web Piracy: The Enemy Within? . 4 August 2008 . 14 June 2010 . 25 October 2016 . https://web.archive.org/web/20161025061013/https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB121781125541508813 . live .
  5. Web site: About TorrentFreak. 14 June 2010. 27 June 2010. https://web.archive.org/web/20100627032828/http://torrentfreak.com/about/. live.
  6. Profile. Rick Falkvinge, torrentfreak.com.
  7. Web site: Pirate Bay Decides to Join the Navy . 7 October 2012 . Renay . San Miguel . E-Commerce Times . 30 June 2009 . 26 October 2012 . https://web.archive.org/web/20121026011541/http://www.ecommercetimes.com/story/67472.html . live .
  8. Web site: The 2009 Copyright Consultation: Setting the Record Straight . 20 April 2010 . 14 June 2010 . Michael . Geist . 27 June 2010 . https://web.archive.org/web/20100627090359/http://www.michaelgeist.ca/content/view/4971/125/ . dead .
  9. Web site: File-sharing site back up after copyright suspension. 23 December 2014. 23 December 2014. https://web.archive.org/web/20141223132309/http://www.trademarksandbrandsonline.com/news/file-sharing-site-back-up-after-copyright-suspension-3943. live.
  10. News: Lee. Dave. Police placing anti-piracy warning ads on illegal sites. 23 December 2014. 29 July 2014. 3 December 2014. https://web.archive.org/web/20141203014219/http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-28523738. live.
  11. News: Johnson. Ted. U.S. Trade Representative Defends Pending Trade Pact After WikiLeaks Disclosure. 2 January 2015. 15 November 2013. 12 January 2015. https://web.archive.org/web/20150112054024/http://variety.com/2013/biz/news/u-s-trade-representative-says-pending-pact-has-zero-to-do-with-sopa-1200838860/. live.
  12. News: Cooke. Chris. MPAA research bigs up UK web-blocking. 23 December 2014. 1 September 2014. 23 December 2014. https://web.archive.org/web/20141223124149/http://www.completemusicupdate.com/article/mpaa-research-bigs-up-uk-web-blocking/. live.
  13. News: Knowles. Jamillah. UK Pirate Party sees more than 1.8m visits in 24 hours after ISPs block The Pirate Bay website. 2 January 2015. 18 May 2012. 3 January 2015. https://web.archive.org/web/20150103014930/http://thenextweb.com/uk/2012/05/18/uk-pirate-party-sees-more-than-1-8m-visits-in-24-hours-after-isps-block-the-pirate-bay-website/. live.
  14. News: Henry. Alan. Five Best VPN Service Providers. 2 January 2015. 23 March 2014. 1 January 2015. https://web.archive.org/web/20150101080303/http://lifehacker.com/5935863/five-best-vpn-service-providers. live.
  15. News: Maxwell . Andy . January 3, 2021 . Police Have a 'Secret Weapon' to Stop Fans Streaming Pirate TV For Free . TorrentFreak . February 3, 2023.
  16. Web site: Comcast Takes on TorrentFreak . Ryan . Lawler . 21 August 2007 . 14 June 2010 . Light Reading . 27 October 2009 . https://web.archive.org/web/20091027221933/http://www.lightreading.com/document.asp?doc_id=132115 . live .
  17. Web site: Comcast's "We Don't Throttle BitTorrent" Internal Talking Points Memo . . 26 October 2007 . 14 June 2010 . https://web.archive.org/web/20071027093002/http://consumerist.com/consumer/leaks/comcasts-we-dont-throttle-bittorrent-internal-talking-points-memo-315791.php . 27 October 2007.
  18. News: Ernesto. TorrentFreak TV Is Back!. 2 January 2015. 20 March 2011. 29 October 2014. https://web.archive.org/web/20141029093635/https://torrentfreak.com/torrentfreak-tv-is-back/. live.
  19. News: Roettgers. Janko. Suprnova.org: Former Pirate King Embraces Web Video. 2 January 2015. 14 May 2011. 28 October 2014. https://web.archive.org/web/20141028181754/https://gigaom.com/2011/05/14/suprnova-torrent-site-web-video/. live.
  20. News: Franceschi-Bicchierai. Lorenzo. Comcast Threatens to Sue TorrentFreak for Copyright Infringement. 2 January 2015. 21 August 2013. 3 January 2015. https://web.archive.org/web/20150103005808/http://mashable.com/2013/08/21/comcast-torrentfreak-copyright-infringement/. live.
  21. Web site: Comcast Threatens to Sue TorrentFreak for Copyright Infringement (updated) . TorrentFreak . 21 August 2013 . 21 August 2013 . 21 August 2013 . https://web.archive.org/web/20130821112309/http://torrentfreak.com/comcast-threatens-to-sue-torrentfreak-for-copyright-infringement-130821/ . live .
  22. Web site: Comcast Business Record Affidavit. Docket Alarm, Inc.. 21 August 2013. 3 December 2013. https://web.archive.org/web/20131203002110/https://www.docketalarm.com/cases/Georgia_Northern_District_Court/2--12-cv-00262/AF_Holdings_LLC_v._Patel/61/15/. live.
  23. Web site: Docket for AF Holdings, LLC v. Patel, 2:12-cv-00262, No. 1 (N.D.Ga.). Docket Alarm, Inc.. 21 August 2013. 3 January 2015. https://web.archive.org/web/20150103014729/https://www.docketalarm.com/cases/Georgia_Northern_District_Court/2--12-cv-00262/AF_Holdings_LLC_v._Patel/. live.
  24. Web site: Complaint, AF Holdings, LLC v. Patel, 2:12-cv-00262, No. 1 (N.D.Ga. Nov. 2, 2012). Docket Alarm, Inc.. 21 August 2013. 3 December 2013. https://web.archive.org/web/20131203004732/https://www.docketalarm.com/cases/Georgia_Northern_District_Court/2--12-cv-00262/AF_Holdings_LLC_v._Patel/1/. live.
  25. News: Shubber. Kadhim. News site TorrentFreak 'blocked' by Sky's piracy filter. 23 December 2014. 9 August 2013. 10 April 2016. https://web.archive.org/web/20160410204808/https://www.wired.co.uk/news/archive/2013-08/09/torrentfreak-blocked. dead.
  26. News: Brewster. Thomas. TorrentFreak News Site Blocked By Sky Porn Filter. 23 December 2014. 6 January 2014. 23 December 2014. https://web.archive.org/web/20141223124304/http://www.techweekeurope.co.uk/workspace/torrentfreak-blocked-by-sky-filter-135024#IBofIe5AmFVSk7bp.99. live.

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