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Police take down Kino.to in massive anti-piracy operation
In the ongoing fight against piracy, European police this week carried out coordinated raids in Germany, France, Spain, and the Netherlands. The raids on offices, apartments, and data centers were in connection with a probe into an Internet film provider called Kino.to.
This is one of the largest piracy-related busts in history, with more than a dozen people connected to the site arrested (some reports say 13, though that number will likely grow). Prosecuting the suspects in the case may prove difficult since Kino.to hosted no illicit content itself, but indexed material stored on file-hosting services and other streaming websites.
According to local anti-piracy group Gesellschaft zur Verfolgung von Urheberrechtsverletzungen (GVU, translated as the German Federation against Copyright Infringement), some 250 police and tax officers as well as more than a dozen computer specialists were involved in Germany alone. Shortly after the raid was announced, GVU's website crashed. The group said its website had been the victim of a hacker attack, according to Hollywood Reporter.
The website was used by 4 million users daily, hosted links to German versions of thousands of copyright protected films and TV shows, and was once called the "world's largest German-language piracy website." It is suspected of being involved with a criminal organization and of breaching copyright laws over 1 million times. Kine.to is no longer available since police reportedly seized the domain name.
Kino.to has long been a huge issue for studios, networks, and producers in Germany. Until now, however, authorities had been unable to take action against the website. They have now succeeded, and pirates are likely already hard at work on an alternative.
User Comments (11)
Post a comment|
treetops
on June 10, 2011 7:36 AM |
In other news meth labs infest the city, clergy men continue to molest children, corporations give campaign contributions to politicians to dump nuclear waste in rivers, robbery and murder rates go up. Police response, we do not have the manpower. Really a 250 police man bust for this type of none sense? I hope voters voice there opinion on where they want there tax money being spent. |
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Trillionsin
on June 10, 2011 7:46 AM |
Treetops said: In other news meth labs infest the city, clergy men continue to molest children, corporations give campaign contributions to politicians to dump nuclear waste in rivers, robbery and murder rates go up. Police response, we do not have the manpower. Really a 250 police man bust for this type of none sense? I hope voters voice there opinion on where they want there tax money being spent. +1 |
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Tomorrow_Rains
on June 10, 2011 8:03 AM |
Treetops said: In other news meth labs infest the city, clergy men continue to molest children, corporations give campaign contributions to politicians to dump nuclear waste in rivers, robbery and murder rates go up. Police response, we do not have the manpower. Really a 250 police man bust for this type of none sense? I hope voters voice there opinion on where they want there tax money being spent. Voters...I'm pretty sure voters would rather these "Hackers" be taken down and their wives and Husbands murdered and raped. I've seen crack dealers get on tv and talk about how anonymous is ruining everyones freedom on the internet. Its a sad time when children are murdered and they would rather keep corporate interests secure. |
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ryan29121
on June 10, 2011 9:03 AM |
Gesellschaft zur Verfolgung von Urheberrechtsverletzungen.... Can anyone even say this? |
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Archean
on June 10, 2011 9:36 AM |
trillionsin said: Treetops said: In other news meth labs infest the city, clergy men continue to molest children, corporations give campaign contributions to politicians to dump nuclear waste in rivers, robbery and murder rates go up. Police response, we do not have the manpower. Really a 250 police man bust for this type of none sense? I hope voters voice there opinion on where they want there tax money being spent. +1 +2 |
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Guest
on June 10, 2011 11:59 AM |
Two wrongs don't make a right. Just because there are other people doing other bad stuff does not make it OK to steal stuff. Stop trying to justify stealing, it is wrong. |
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Zilpha
on June 10, 2011 12:22 PM |
Two wrongs don't make a right. Just because there are other people doing other bad stuff does not make it OK to steal stuff. Stop trying to justify stealing, it is wrong. No one is saying that it is right - merely that the response is a bit.... Unbalanced relative to the crime. |
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yRaz
on June 10, 2011 3:59 PM |
Archean said: trillionsin said: Treetops said: In other news meth labs infest the city, clergy men continue to molest children, corporations give campaign contributions to politicians to dump nuclear waste in rivers, robbery and murder rates go up. Police response, we do not have the manpower. Really a 250 police man bust for this type of none sense? I hope voters voice there opinion on where they want there tax money being spent. +1 +2
+3 |
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ramonsterns
on June 12, 2011 2:53 AM |
Treetops said: In other news meth labs infest the city, clergy men continue to molest children, corporations give campaign contributions to politicians to dump nuclear waste in rivers, robbery and murder rates go up. Police response, we do not have the manpower. Really a 250 police man bust for this type of none sense? I hope voters voice there opinion on where they want there tax money being spent. Piracy fuels terrorism and child porn. It can also be used to make drugs. True story, bro. |
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petert
on June 12, 2011 4:35 PM |
Treetops said: In other news meth labs infest the city, clergy men continue to molest children, corporations give campaign contributions to politicians to dump nuclear waste in rivers, robbery and murder rates go up. Police response, we do not have the manpower. Really a 250 police man bust for this type of none sense? I hope voters voice there opinion on where they want there tax money being spent. Damn - you are right - I will never understand the so called civilized countries. There are so many priorities yet they choose the least stringent one. I would also like to add the animal right activists as the right example of hypocrisy. There are suffering people, even in US and Europe not to mention other parts of the world, who cannot afford to pay for a home or for medical care. All the animal right activists see is their precious animals - they cannot be bothered with helping a human soul. Just thinking that the amount of money and effort spend on a dog could be spent on a human being drives me crazy. |
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catburst
on June 12, 2011 4:41 PM |
It will be back in a month |
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