Largest TV Piracy Site Shut Down, Staff Arrested

Max_Payne · 10-30-2007, 09:36 PM

TV-Links.co.uk rankled the media industry for long enough according to British authorities

Marking the first closure of its kind against a UK-based piracy site, TV-Links.co.uk was raided and shut down by British authorities late last week. According to the United Kingdom (FACT), the raid also culminated with the arrests of the site’s 26-year-old webmaster and part of the site’s moderation staff. The raid was carried out through a coordinated effort involving investigators from FACT and the local police.

TV-Links.co.uk provided links to TV shows posted on various video-sharing websites, like YouTube or Google Video. The site didn’t in actually host any copyrighted content – a fact that forum posters throughout the internet have pointed out – and oftentimes the sites that TV-Links linked to did nothing to remove infringing content.

According to FACT, “sites such as TV-Links contribute to and profit from copyright infringement by identifying, posting, organising, and indexing links to infringing content found on the internet that users can then view on demand by visiting these illegal sites.” Kieron Sharp, director general for FACT said that TV-Links is only the first target in a larger “crackdown” on web piracy.

“It's a pity the Gloucestershire Police started with such small fry. There are a couple of multibillionaires called Larry Page and Sergey Brin -- the founders of Google -- who provide vast numbers of links to content that is being illegally distributed,” wrote Jack Schofield, a blogger and commentator for The Guardian. “Indeed … they actually host plenty of illegal content on their own video site, YouTube, which has a UK operation.”

“This effectively makes the entire internet illegal,” wrote ‘Rich’ of The New Freedom. “A man is now in prison because he runs a site where other people can link to low-resolution TV shows, hosted by Google. FACT did not raid Google, they raided a site which merely links to TV shows.”

Source

bobbinrob · 10-31-2007, 02:34 AM

i loved tv links was great site

coldfire · 10-31-2007, 06:16 AM

yeah! And I was asking why didn't it work any more! It was a great site!

Joshjb · 11-03-2007, 02:08 PM

Awww man that really sucks.
They are so right about Google and YouTube... this is totally not fair.

coldfire · 11-09-2007, 12:38 PM

^I tottaly agree, uselly I would of watched PB by now but bow I still didn't watch epi 7! I sooo hate this!

Charles22 · 11-10-2007, 04:34 PM

Noooooooo!!!!! I watched loads of shows on there. >.<
I'll have to find some alternate sources for episodes.

meimei42 · 11-10-2007, 05:32 PM

I can understand shutting it down, but to arrest the people for hosting a site with *links*....well that seems a little extreme.

Charles22 · 11-10-2007, 05:40 PM

They are pretty strict on stuff like that here. If only they spent
more time trying to catch real criminals. It's no big deal anyway.
I can remember most of the host sites names anyway. The sites
are in Chinese, but it shouldn't be a problem.

BuddyNick · 11-11-2007, 09:08 PM

I believe the owners of the website were sent several cease and desists and failed to comply to them. More and more of the bigger networks are doing the online streaming of episodes and losing a ton of money to these sites that provide links to them.

bobbinrob · 11-12-2007, 01:40 AM

oh share em with me charles!!
I hate that the networks only stream for us people, seems very unfair~

10-30-2007, 09:36 PM	#1
Max_Payne Senior Member Join Date: Oct 2007 Posts: 103	Largest TV Piracy Site Shut Down, Staff Arrested TV-Links.co.uk rankled the media industry for long enough according to British authorities Marking the first closure of its kind against a UK-based piracy site, TV-Links.co.uk was raided and shut down by British authorities late last week. According to the United Kingdom (FACT), the raid also culminated with the arrests of the site’s 26-year-old webmaster and part of the site’s moderation staff. The raid was carried out through a coordinated effort involving investigators from FACT and the local police. TV-Links.co.uk provided links to TV shows posted on various video-sharing websites, like YouTube or Google Video. The site didn’t in actually host any copyrighted content – a fact that forum posters throughout the internet have pointed out – and oftentimes the sites that TV-Links linked to did nothing to remove infringing content. According to FACT, “sites such as TV-Links contribute to and profit from copyright infringement by identifying, posting, organising, and indexing links to infringing content found on the internet that users can then view on demand by visiting these illegal sites.” Kieron Sharp, director general for FACT said that TV-Links is only the first target in a larger “crackdown” on web piracy. “It's a pity the Gloucestershire Police started with such small fry. There are a couple of multibillionaires called Larry Page and Sergey Brin -- the founders of Google -- who provide vast numbers of links to content that is being illegally distributed,” wrote Jack Schofield, a blogger and commentator for The Guardian. “Indeed … they actually host plenty of illegal content on their own video site, YouTube, which has a UK operation.” “This effectively makes the entire internet illegal,” wrote ‘Rich’ of The New Freedom. “A man is now in prison because he runs a site where other people can link to low-resolution TV shows, hosted by Google. FACT did not raid Google, they raided a site which merely links to TV shows.” Source __________________

10-31-2007, 02:34 AM	#2
bobbinrob Moderator Join Date: Aug 2006 Posts: 20,486	i loved tv links was great site __________________

10-31-2007, 06:16 AM	#3
coldfire Senior Member Join Date: Sep 2007 Location: morocco Posts: 3,617	yeah! And I was asking why didn't it work any more! It was a great site! __________________

11-03-2007, 02:08 PM	#4
Joshjb Senior Member Join Date: Aug 2007 Posts: 2,289	Awww man that really sucks. They are so right about Google and YouTube... this is totally not fair. __________________

11-09-2007, 12:38 PM	#5
coldfire Senior Member Join Date: Sep 2007 Location: morocco Posts: 3,617	^I tottaly agree, uselly I would of watched PB by now but bow I still didn't watch epi 7! I sooo hate this! __________________

11-10-2007, 04:34 PM	#6
Charles22 Senior Member Join Date: Aug 2007 Location: England Posts: 6,686	Noooooooo!!!!! I watched loads of shows on there. >.< I'll have to find some alternate sources for episodes. __________________ Icon \| Normal people are so hostile. - Dexter

11-10-2007, 05:32 PM	#7
meimei42 Moderator Join Date: Feb 2007 Location: Massachusetts Posts: 11,818	I can understand shutting it down, but to arrest the people for hosting a site with links....well that seems a little extreme. __________________ AV by ewlyn on Livejournal

11-10-2007, 05:40 PM	#8
Charles22 Senior Member Join Date: Aug 2007 Location: England Posts: 6,686	They are pretty strict on stuff like that here. If only they spent more time trying to catch real criminals. It's no big deal anyway. I can remember most of the host sites names anyway. The sites are in Chinese, but it shouldn't be a problem. __________________ Icon \| Normal people are so hostile. - Dexter

11-11-2007, 09:08 PM	#9
BuddyNick Senior Member Join Date: Aug 2006 Location: Seattle Posts: 2,157	I believe the owners of the website were sent several cease and desists and failed to comply to them. More and more of the bigger networks are doing the online streaming of episodes and losing a ton of money to these sites that provide links to them. __________________

11-12-2007, 01:40 AM	#10
bobbinrob Moderator Join Date: Aug 2006 Posts: 20,486	oh share em with me charles!! I hate that the networks only stream for us people, seems very unfair~ __________________

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