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In its latest “Out-of-Cycle Review of Notorious Markets” report the United States Trade Representative (USTR) lists some of the world’s largest file-sharing sites as venues for prolific copyright infringement.

“Commercial scale trademark counterfeiting and copyright piracy cause significant financial losses for rights holders and legitimate businesses, undermine critical U.S. comparative advantages in innovation and creativity to the detriment of American workers, and can pose significant risks to consumer health and safety,” the report begins.

“The Notorious Markets List (“List”) highlights select online and physical marketplaces that reportedly engage in and facilitate substantial copyright piracy and trademark counterfeiting.”

Torrent Sites

It’s no surprise that The Pirate Bay is on the USTR list again this year but its first mention is framed as a success. The December 2014 raid against the famous site is quite properly noted but then subsequent references paint a confusing picture.

While the USTR correctly notes that the site eventually resumed operations at ThePirateBay.se, it also claims that the site first came back online at ThePirateBay.si “as well as under several other domain names”. This account runs counter to the actual sequence of events which were regularly documented online.

Although not mentioned specifically by name, numerous PirateBay clones also make an appearance, notably the version created by the IsoHunt.to team.

KickassTorrents is also proving to be a thorn in the side of the USTR. Now reporting that the site is based in Canada, the U.S. government notes that the site reaped the rewards of the Pirate Bay takedown in December by scooping up additional traffic. It notes that the site has had domain name difficulties recently (praising the action by the .SO registry) but concedes that the site remains fully operational.

Meta-search engine Torrentz.eu makes another appearance on the list this year but with an added twist. The USTR is now referring to the site as being part of a group called ‘Movshare Group/Private Layer’ which includes various Torrentz domains plus Putlocker.is, Nowvideo, Movshare, BitSnoop and Novamov, among others.

“This group of affiliated and extremely popular sites, with ties to Switzerland,
Netherlands, Panama, Canada, and other countries, reportedly uses multiple technologies to make available countless unauthorized copies of movies, games, music, audiobooks, software, and sporting event broadcasts,” the USTR writes.

YTS.re or YIFY as it’s still known, receives particular focus in the U.S. government report. Noting that the site has millions of visitors every month and is continuing to grow, the report makes a curious allegation – that YTS is responsible for creating Popcorn Time.

“Yts.re’s operators also created a desktop torrent streaming application called ‘Popcorn Time,’ similar to [Spanish-focused version] ‘Cuevana Storm’,” the report reads.

An interesting situation has also developed around Bulgarian torrent sites Zamunda and Arena.bg. Both sites have been present on the USTR’s list for many years and in practical terms nothing has changed in respect of the way the sites offer copyrighted material. However, the U.S. government now says that both will now be removed from the list.

“[In] recognition of Bulgarian law enforcement efforts and recent reports that the operators of these sites agreed with rights holders to remove links to unauthorized movies upon notification, the sites [have been removed],” the report reads.

Predictably the massively popular Russia-based RuTracker remains a “notorious site” this time around but the problems facing war-torn Ukraine haven’t given that country a free pass. The USTR remains concerned over the country’s approach to protecting copyright so torrent site ExtraTorrent.cc remains on the list alongside hosting site EX.ua.

A curious addition to the list is the Spain-focused EliteTorrent. Criticized for removing content following rightsholder complaints only to replace it at a later date, the site no longer exists having shut itself down in January 2015.

Cyberlockers

With millions of visitors every day, file-hosting site 4shared heads the USTR list. The government notes that the site works with rightsholders by implementing a scanning system to remove unauthorized material but apparently that’s not enough. Complaints from the music industry means that the site remains on the list this time around.

Uploaded.net, another regular feature of the USTR report, makes another appearance this time around. While claiming the site has alleged links to Switzerland and Netherlands, the U.S. government plucks figures directly from the recent and controversial NetNames cyberlocker report by claiming the site generates $6 million per year in revenues.

With Google being asked to remove close to 10 million links from ZippyShare.com, it’s little surprise that the file-hosting site is present on this year’s list.

“The site offers features that make piracy more ‘infringer friendly,’ including through accelerated downloading. Its revenues reportedly come from paid advertising, which targets the millions of users who download files from the site,” the report reads.

But despite being one of the largest sites of its type, Russia’s Rapidgator gets only a short mention, possibly due to the USTR’s belief that its popularity is declining. Social network VK or vKontakte is given much more focus, however. The USTR cautiously notes the site’s efforts to reduce infringement but concludes that much more needs to be done.

On the linking front Baixeturbo.org gets a notable mention.The site has been in operation for almost seven years and is reportedly popular with Brazilians. However, it’s hosted in the UK so should in theory be an easy site for the Police Intellectual Property Crime Unit to disrupt. Nevertheless, it remains online and features prominently in the USTR’s list.

Domain registrars

The USTR Notorious Markets report usually focused on sites and services involved in online copyright infringement, but this time around the government appears to be widening the net. For the first time legitimate companies that simply register domain names are being put under the spotlight.

“This year, USTR is highlighting the issue of certain domain name registrars. Registrars are the commercial entities or organizations that manage the registration of Internet domain names, and some of them reportedly are playing a role in supporting counterfeiting and piracy online,” the report reads.

“Some registrars..[..]…reportedly disobey court orders and other communications, including from government enforcement authorities. Some registrars apparently even advertise to the online community that they will not take action against illicit activity, presumably to incentivize registrations by owners and operators of illicit sites.”

The USTR singles out Canada-based Tucows as “an example of a registrar that fails to take action when notified of its clients’ infringing activity. Consistent with the discussion above, USTR encourages the operators of Tucows to work with relevant stakeholders to address complaints,” the USTR writes.

Successes

In common with previous years the report begins with a short summary of successes. Spanish site Seriesyonkis.com and Blu-ray ripping software vendor Aiseesoft were commended for their positive actions and with some reservations noted, Chinese site Xunlei was removed from the latest list.

Action taken against the German-based linking site Boerse.bz was also deemed worthy of a mention but its resurrection as Boerse.to was relegated to a fine-print footnote.

Putlocker.com, a site reportedly targeted by law enforcement in 2012 and 2013 (later rebranding to FireDrive in 2014) has also been removed from the list. The USTR notes that the site may not have completely mended its ways but since traffic has dropped dramatically the site has lost its “notorious” status.

Conclusion

While there are no real surprises in the report, the addition of domain registrars is a notable development. Expect this element to grow in future editions and for the cat and mouse game with most other sites to continue.

Source: TorrentFreak, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, torrent sites and anonymous VPN services.

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While sites like The Pirate Bay are stuck in a presentational time-warp, in recent times other file-sharing related domains have been revamping their appearances.

KickassTorrents is probably one of the best looking public torrent sites but there are plenty of private trackers whose presentations are something to behold. Streaming sites have also made big strides in their graphical layouts, something which has spooked entertainment industry outfits such as the MPAA.

That being said, one of the biggest problems for them at the moment is Popcorn Time. Its Netflix-style interface not only looks good but behind the scenes it works almost flawlessly. Add to the mix complete simplicity of use and the software is definitely a force to be reckoned with.

However, Popcorn Time – in whatever format chosen by the user – needs to be installed on a PC, cellphone, tablet or other device in order to work. A small obstacle for many users perhaps, but for the real novice that still has the potential to cause problems – unless people have nachos as well as popcorn, that is.

Sometime last week a brand new service hit the Internet. Titled NachoTime, the best way of explaining the product is PopcornTime in a browser. It looked absolutely beautiful, with full color graphics for all the content it presented – mainly mainstream movies of course.

Every single one played almost instantly in a YouTube-style interface with no noticeable buffering and it even worked flawlessly on mobile devices with no extra software required.

In addition to instant streaming, NachoTime provided links to torrents for the same content in various qualities supported by the appropriate subtitles if needed. No other public site has ever looked this good.

However, all of this is now relegated to history as Dutch anti-piracy group BREIN acted against the service before it even got off the ground. The site now displays a notice explaining that it has been permanently shutdown.

This site has been removed by BREIN because it supplies illicit entertainment content.

This website made use of an illegal online supply of films and television series.

Uploading and downloading of illegal content is prohibited by law and will therefore result in liability for the damages caused.

SUPPORT CREATIVITY

Go to Thecontentmap.nl and see where you can legally download and stream

BREIN says it contacted the site’s host who in turn contacted the site’s owner, who took NachoTime down immediately. TorrentFreak contacted BREIN chief Tim Kuik and put it to him that his group has just taken down the best looking site around.

“I agree, very well presented,” Kuik said. “A pity it was illegal.”

The reaction to NachoTime’s arrival by BREIN was particularly quick. That, Kuik says, is due to the nature of these new waves of PopcornTime-like services. The anti-piracy group says it views them as a greater threat than torrent sites.

“Their ease of use makes them very popular so they are hurting the growth of legal online platforms,” Kuik explains.

What will happen to the individual running the site isn’t clear, but Kuik told us that he’s a 22-year-old from the Dutch city of Utrecht who signed a declaration to keep the site offline. His quick response appears to have been well received by BREIN but others thinking of embarking on the same kind of project are already on a warning.

“They will be offered a settlement or they will be sued,” Kuik explains.

“Settlement is a cease and desist undertaking with a penalty sum, a BREIN text on the site referring to Thecontentmap.nl that lists legal online platforms and payment of compensation depending on circumstances. A court case would include an injunction and full costs (likely between € 8,000 – 15,000) and a procedure on the merits regarding damages and again full costs.”

While Popcorn and Nachos are definitely tasty snacks for pirates, at least one is currently off the menu. Time will tell when the next one will come along and how long it will last.

Source: TorrentFreak, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, torrent sites and anonymous VPN services.

The likely Republican presidential contenders have been more than willing to pile onto Hillary Clinton's email controversy.

In the wake of Monday's New York Times report that Clinton exclusively used a personal email account as secretary of state, former Gov. Jeb Bush (R), Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Florida), Sen. Rand Paul (R-Kentucky), former Texas Gov. Rick Perry (R), and former Hewlett-Packard CEO Carly Fiorina all weighed in.

On Fox News and on Twitter, these White House hopefuls criticized Clinton. Many accused her of intentionally circumventing federal regulations to avoid disclosing her communications. And at least one potential Clinton foe said Clinton put vital state secrets at risk by using an unsecured email server.

The potential Democratic contenders have apparently been far less eager to weigh in.

Business Insider rounded up the Republicans' reactions below:

Jeb Bush

Bush was the first among the field of presumed GOP candidates to pounce on Clinton after news broke of the email scandal late Monday.

Bush's tweet was a reference to his newly-launched website where he released thousands of his emails from his two terms as Florida's governor. The website only includes messages that relate to official state business — such as emails to state officials, constituents, and reporters. It does not contain emails about campaign activity or communication with Bush's family and friends.

"Gov. Bush does not have a plan to release his personal e-mails not related to state business, like where he was planning to have dinner or when his tee times were," Bush spokeswoman Kristy Campbell told the Washington Post on Tuesday.

Marco Rubio

Rubio told Fox News on Tuesday that Clinton's use of a personal email server jeopardized state secrets and "clearly violated" federal rules for archiving official communication.

"Using a private server outside the government system is extremely vulnerable to hackers and all sorts of foreign countries that can hack in and get secrets. The secretary of state potentially transacting national business on an unsecured server or a private server and that leaves our secrets and not only just that, but our strategies, exposed to the Chinese and the Russians and other intelligence agencies," Rubio told Fox anchor Megyn Kelly.

"The State Department has a rule because the diplomatic discourse and so forth is part of the archives of the United States," he added. "So that rule was clearly violated."

Rand Paul

Paul told Fox News on Wednesday that Clinton will have to explain herself after "directly flouting the law." He also said authorities may have to look into another issue, Clinton's family foundation's acceptance of foreign contributions while she was at the State Department.

"Not only is it the emails and directly flouting the law, I think there's going to be a constitutional question of whether or not she was receiving foreign gifts while in office," he said. "The constitution explicitly says that as a senator or as a secretary of state you’re not allowed to receive gifts from foreign countries. They've been receiving millions of dollars in their foundation. Now, they're going to say, 'That's not us, me directly.' But do they profit any way from their foundation, does it pay for their travel, does it pay for any of their expenses? She's got a lot of questions she’s going to have to answer."

Rick Perry

Also on Fox News, Perry argued Clinton's email scandal is just the latest in a pattern of stonewalling by the former Secretary of State.

"When you think of the dollars that she took, there's an ethical issue with the foreign dollars for the foundation. There's a pattern here and I think that's what got most of the people really concerned," he said Tuesday.

Perry further predicted that populist Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Massachusetts) and other liberal critics will begin to question Clinton on the matter.

"There's a pattern here of non-transparency I guess is the real concern for most people. It's an ethical problem that she’s gonna have to address. It continues to be building here. I’m thinking that Sen. Warren is probably gonna jump on this, along with some other folks and continue to cause real questions about is Hillary gonna be the right candidate or not from the standpoint of transparency and openness with the American people."

As far as his own email usage in state government, Perry said he "followed all the statutes in the state of Texas as relative to our email acquisitions." 

Carly Fiorina

Fiorina, who has never held public office, similarly questioned Clinton's actions in a Fox News interview Wednesday. Fiorina connected the private email account to Clinton's other "disturbing" controversies, including her foundation's foreign contributions.

"How many ways can we count that she’s been hypocritical?" Fiorina asked. "Not only does Hillary Clinton obviously believe that people should do as she says not as she does, not only does she obviously believe that the rules don't apply to her, but it's yet another example of something that clearly looks like a problem, clearly looks like a conflict just as the Clinton Foundation taking donations from foreign governments while she's secretary of state. Honestly, I think it’s a pattern she doesn’t think the rules apply to her and that’s very disturbing."

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When new dad Fabian Herrera pretends to cry in front of his baby boy, the empathetic 6-month-old starts crying along with him until he stops.

[fabian herrera/via shagguire]

One of the most anticipated launches of 2015 is the debut of HBO’s standalone streaming service. The name, price, timeline and availability are still unconfirmed but a new report claims to have uncovered many of these details.

The International Business Times reports that the service will be called HBO Now, though it’s worth noting that this particular phrase has not yet been trademarked.

The actual launch date is still uncertain but the Times’ source says the plan is to have it up before the April 12 launch of the fifth season of Game of Thrones.

As we mentioned before, HBO has enlisted the help of MLB Advanced Media, the group at Major League Baseball responsible for streaming services like MLB.tv and WatchESPN. Anyone familiar with MLB.tv knows that the service is not without its issues, particularly when stressed by a large number of users.

While previous comments by HBO have indicated that the service would be sold through participating broadband providers, this report also claims that HBO will sell access directly to consumers. Additionally, HBO is talking to Apple about making Apple TV a launch partner.

The story cites the expected monthly price of $15 though it’s unclear if that’s information from HBO sources or just from previous reports on the service.

Etsy, an online marketplace that specializes in crafts and other artistic items, just filed its S1 to go public.

The decade-old, Brooklyn-based company generated $195.6 million in revenue in 2014, up 56.4% from $125.02 million in 2013. 

CEO Chad Dickerson has said that the company has been profitable since 2009, but Etsy had a net lost of $15.2 million in 2014 and $800,000 in 2013. 

It will be listed on the Nasdaq under the symbol ETSY. Its $100 million fundraising target is just a placeholder and the company could be raising much more (Bloomberg reported in January that it would raise about $300 million).   

About 55% of Etsy's revenue comes from charging its 1.4 million active sellers $0.20 to list a single item for four months, and then 3.5% of the value of the sale if an item sells. It's "seller services," like direct checkout, promoted listings, and shipping, labels, contribute 42.1% of revenue. The rest — which Etsy puts in the "Other" category — comes from fees it receives from a third-party payment processor. 

The big winners in the offering will be investors Accel, which owns 59 million shares (30% of the company) prior to the offering, and Union Square Ventures, which owns 30 million (15%). CEO Chad Dickerson, who started as Etsy's chief technical officer, owns 4.2 million shares, or 2%, prior to the offering. 

Here's a look at Etsy's financials:

Here's Etsy's revenue break-down over the last three years:

Etsy currently has 685 employees. More than 53% of its site visits came from mobile in 2014 and its app has been downloaded 21.8 million times. 

Etsy also disclosed some accounting problems, which it says it is taking steps to fix. 

SEE ALSO: Etsy's Offices Are Just As Artsy And Quirky As You Imagined

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Keurig’s K-Cup coffee pods are popular brewing devices that you can find in homes, offices, and waiting rooms. There are even refrigerators with a machine built right in. Do you know where you won’t find one, though? The home of the man who invented the machine back in the ’90s, John Sylvan.

This week, The Atlantic looked at the practical and environmental problems that the Keurig causes, and started from the very beginning, when inventor Sylvan was just a guy who wanted to invent a better way to dispense coffee in the office. He figured that people would buy the pods, but didn’t foresee how popular his invention would become. He sold his share of the company (“Keurig” is the Dutch word for “excellence”) for $50,000.

K-Cups are complicated; Keurig-licensed cups can theoretically be disassembled, but only in rare cities that recycle #7 plastic and if you have the patience to take the cup apart, tossing out the foil top, paper filter, and coffee grounds, and recycling the tiny cup.

“It’s like a cigarette for coffee, a single-serve delivery mechanism for an addictive substance,” he explained to the Atlantic. Very few people want to disassemble a convenience pod so it can be recycled.

Single-serve pod machines may not be as wasteful as they seem at first. You save electricity by not keeping a whole pot of liquid warm, for one thing. The coffee is measured out perfectly to the gram, which is better than I can do while waving a bag vaguely toward my French press while half-awake. You’re paying $40 per pound for that ground coffee, sure, but you’re guaranteed not to waste any of it. The accumulation of trash is a problem, but some third-party pods can be composted and recycled.

A Brewing Problem [The Atlantic] (Thanks, Rowell!)

UPDATE: The suspect in question has been apprehended after he turned himself in.

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When it comes to crafting videogames out of the norm, there’s one question developers should ask themselves: What are we afraid of?

Games are the perfect medium for exploration of bizarre, unnatural worlds, and yet it seems few developers are interested in traveling to those places. What makes us afraid to innovate beyond the comfort of realism? While mainstream games rarely stray from convention, many indie developers are plumbing the darker corners of the human mind, creating strange worlds that both thrill and unsettle us. 

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My living-room entertainment center would be a crowded place if companies had their way. Between streaming sticks, Android set-top boxes, consoles like the Xbox One and PS4, and home-theater PCs, I’ve got a lot of choices for relatively little real estate. Particularly because no one item hits every point I could ever want—there’s just enough overlap to have overwhelming redundancy in some areas (Netflix streaming) but very little in others (being able to pick up and play my games on multiple devices in the same ecosystem).

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Lasers have staggering range, can attack land or air-based targets and are dirt-cheap to fire, making them ideal for a military with one eye on the budget. Now, Lockheed Martin has worked out that the technology could also be used for stopping a car ...