Friday, October 19th, 2007...4:52 pm
TV-Links.co.uk Raided, Owner Arrested: UPDATED
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TV-Links (now dead) is a site which links to sites like Google Video and YouTube, which host clips of TV shows. Today, the Gloucestershire County Council, in association with a group called the FACT, raided the site’s servers and arrested the 26 year old man from Cheltenham who ran the site.
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.
Like this: The Office on Stage 6.
If I still lived in England, then could I be charged with the same crimes? As ZeroPaid’s Jared asks, could the people who link to my site be charged as co-conspirators?
This is what is known as Deep Linking (wikipedia article). There have been a few legal cases about this already in different parts of the world. The most memorable of these was a case in Texas less than a year ago which involved linking to motocross videos. Unfortunately, the court ruled against a website which linked to a larger company’s videos. (There are other cases at Netlitigation.)
This effectively makes the entire internet illegal.
I don’t know enough about copyright law in England, but clearly the justice system is broken. Google, which is actually hosting the copyrighted content, is untouchable. Don’t forget that Google’s YouTube service only became more popular than rival video sites because of it’s benefit-of-the-doubt copyright policy (which has only just recently been replaced by a content filtering system, now that it has become a high-profile target). They just have so much money that they have become above the law.
Instead, the EU’s version of the MAFIAA has backed a trade union, the Federation Against Copyright Theft, which did policework and created a case to arrest a man who led a community-based content sharing site. Copyright laws do not protect citizens, they prosecute them on behalf of rich copyright cartels.
There isn’t much info about this right now, only a single brief article from the Guardian, but it’s going to be really interesting to see what happens when more details emerge.
Linking is Not A Crime!
Free The 26 Year Old Man From Cheltenham!
R
Update!:
I received an email from somebody high up at TV-Links who wishes to remain anonymous.
Apparently, not only the owner has been arrested, but some of the moderating staff as well. One senior mod, who lives in Ireland and not the UK, was arrested and held for five hours. He had this to say on a forum:
“Well I may aswell post here now. I was an SMod on tv-l, ive been in a police station for the last 5 hours been questioned about my involvement in the site. Apparently they can charge me for involvement in organized crime!!! WTF!!!! The scary thing is that im not even in the UK, im in Ireland, which is governed by FACT (Federation Against Copyright Theft) the police operation was massive scale, I was on tv-l just as it went offline, no warning whatsoever. AFAIK Sin (site owner) is still been held. All I know for sure is that the sites gone (for now anyway)… and that we (mods) could, in theory (if it goes this far) be sued £100,000,000, which FACT are saying is what the industry lost as a direct result of the site. Needless to say, im a little concerned atm”
He doesn’t say he’s been charged, but it sounds like they’re doing some tough interrogation, threatening to charge him with organized crime and a hundred million pound lawsuit.
The source also told me that the TV-Links forum is still alive, but unavailable under the old DNS. To access the forum, use the IP: http://212.125.94.181/index.php?showtopic=50347
He finally said the he doesn’t know how this will end, but if TV-Links does go down, it will go down kicking and screaming. Good luck to them! We might have to wait a little while for more information to come out before we can figure out a way to best support these guys from corporate bullying. I’m going to email the Open Rights Group, the British equivalent of the EFF, to get a statement and maybe try to organize some defense action.
One last thing: A commentor on reddit.com mentioned that TV-Links did not engage in Deep Linking, as I said before, but rather Hotlinking, embedding the Google (or apparently some Chinese alternative) hosted content in their own site. I don’t know how this affects things.
That’s all for now,
Rich
Update 2:
Got another email from a TVL staff member. They’ve started a petition to get some support for Sin, go on and give it a sign.
R
Update 3:
More emails from TV-Links mods. Apparently, the raided servers were hosted in the Netherlands, which means this is a multi national operation.
“I would love to get one thing (works around “fact” grrr) straight:
We or better Sin wasn’t that stupid to host the main site in the UK, it
was a co.uk domain but the servers were in the Netherlands.
All the articles I have read so far went had comments about how this
couldn’t have happened if the site would have been in sweden and what not.
But that’s were the internet law needs some clarification. What does
matter? The Domain? The country where the server is in? Where the site
owner lives?
So, maybe you could get a note out that only our forum (which for some
reason is still active) wasn’t taken down but the servers in the
Netherlands are gone. So, this has to be a bit larger than only the UK
police marching alone versus us.”
Also:
“In the guardian article, it says the we would our visitors download stuff.
That’s not really true. Sure, with the proper knowledge, you can
download everything that your browser displays.
BUT: We did everything we could to make it as hard as possible for the
users to actually download and save the file. No direct download links
or anything. No posts on the forums allowed to the pages on the hosts
where you CAN download them.
OK, the stage 6 player makes it fairly easy but even there we tried
maksed the actual ID from the video. (And even there where the player
has its own download folder and all… most people still couldn’t figure
that out)
So, I think we did a fairly good job to protect the files from
downloading. At least way better than the hosts themselves.”
R
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125 Comments
October 21st, 2007 at 1:52 am
the forum is currently down completely
th ip address does not work at all
October 21st, 2007 at 8:20 am
[…] click here for more info […]
October 21st, 2007 at 9:56 am
I have been using TV Links for about the last six months. It really sucks that its down because there is no good place on the internet where you can watch free movies and TV shows.
October 21st, 2007 at 10:00 am
This is honestly the dumbest thing ever. TV-Links has done nothing wrong and it should be Google and the other sites getting taken down/charged. Other sites like peekvid.com has not gone down nore been charged.
October 21st, 2007 at 11:05 am
I’d like to express my anger about the imprisoning of the owner of tv-links.co.uk because in my opinion it is a complete inadequate measure!
October 21st, 2007 at 11:08 am
just read some article on guardian.co.uk
they went like this:
—————————————————————-
“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,” said a spokesman for Fact.
—————————————————————-
they also have a pic of Kiefe Sutherland with those lines underneath it:
—————————————————————-
The site allowed users to illegally download shows like 24
—————————————————————-
it’s “kinda” ok if people don’t give a crap about what’s really going on, BUT giving them wrong info isn`t.
i don`t know for sure, but i think they may be other sites out there saying things about tv-l that aren`t true (maybe some are doing it even intentionally or whatever).
now the essence of the article is that tv-l was the root of i-net piracy. and that isn`t true (as everyone should know). the internet is bigger than tv-l.co.uk .
BUT THE BIGGEST PROBLEM i have with FACT is that it seems to me like THEY ARE TRYING TO get the £459 000 000 that the TV and film industries lost over 2006 (as guardian says) back from sin and the moderators.
duh…. REALLY?
fact can do that?
film industries could protect the dvd`s their selling better or yet don`t sell any dvd at all but charge the tv company’s for every time they air a film or serie for that matter. blah blah blah.
now IF sin and the moderators of tv-l get to pay the £459 mill back to the tv industries, that would be very very illegal.
why? beacause forcing someone to take the fall for something he didn`t commit by “how youre own point of view” and “oppinion” on that matter is, that is terrorism.
AS A FORMER USER OF TV-L I KNOW that the site didn`t provie A N Y downloads at all. I KNOW that everything was hosted on other sites, sites like google and youtube and some japanese and so one…. guess what, those sites and maybe even most of the files are still there. even if sin goes free he doesn`t have to bring tv-l back up. if i want to i can get the damn movie with the freakin’ little rat who tries to cook for some people he doesn’t even know (what a great idea for a movie btw. thumbs up)
SO TV-L didn`t do anything illegal. on the other hand, maybe linkin’ is forbidden in the uk. i dunno, never been there. seriously. it could be, why not.
anyway. fact sould investigate on google for video.google.com (while at it - also for earth google since fuc**** terrorists can see my backyard and i didn`t approve to that)
also investigate on youtube. for a lots of reasons but not at least because i don`t like youtube that much.
here`s the link to the article mentioned before:
http://business.guardian.co.uk/story/0,,2195407,00.html
since i`ll go afraid to bed that someone might be knocking at my door for the link above:
I`m taking messages and good wishes for SIN because i just might see him soon. (not really)
I N T E R N E T P I R A C Y W O N ` T S T O P
out of this. dudes love porn and anything they don`t have to pay for. believe me. i am a guy.
(maybe someday, not that far away, in a bookstore not far from you, there`ll be a dictionary wich lists the “linker” as the litte brother of the “hacker”,”cracker”,”scipt kiddy” (lol, rofl, lmao still love the script kiddy) and will describe him as the “internet communist”. )
worte a lot. if you read the post and even my comment (feel kinda sorry for you since it`s long)
FEEL FREE TO SIGN THE PETITION TO FREE SIN!
http://www.petitiononline.com/21212594/petition.html
petition signed nr. 543
good luck
…..to us all
October 21st, 2007 at 4:38 pm
What kind of shitty anti-spam is that. Wtf Ron?
October 21st, 2007 at 4:40 pm
Wtf dude, what kind of anti spam shity is that. anyways, embedding links from other sites is illegal? jeeeeeezus. prosecute google or stage 6 for have the material.
October 21st, 2007 at 9:19 pm
[…] October 21, 2007 at 8:19 pm · Filed under anglomania, so STUPID The New Freedom blog has more details on exactly what went down. […]
October 22nd, 2007 at 1:54 am
Thanks for the most update to info on this issue!
It seems like FACT is picking on a very small fish to press through a precedent. We have started a fund to raise money to fund the tv-links.co.uk team, I assume they do not have the legal resources available to youtube or Google. If prosecutions occur here, it will be a travesty of justice. The rule of law can not only apply to those that do not have the resources to fight it.
The UK tech industry should put their support behind tv-links.co.uk and not let them be railroaded for the sake of an easy win by FACT.
Please consider supporting these guys with more than just our blog words.
Anyone that is directly related to tv-links.co.uk please get in touch with us via http://humanopinion.org/support_for_tvlinks as we would like to assist and so far have $110 contributed to assist with the legal costs! It is a small start.
October 22nd, 2007 at 2:01 am
what the fuck???
i thought there is something like… a law for everyone or something like that… apparently it isn’t..
lets go to cuba and build our own community…..
October 22nd, 2007 at 2:22 am
[…] http://www.thenewfreedom.net/wp/2007/10/19/tv-linkscouk-raided-owner-arrested/ […]
October 22nd, 2007 at 3:05 am
The big players like Youtube HOST tons of probably illegal material. A small fish which LINKS zu some probably illegal material was prisoned. I not understand!
October 22nd, 2007 at 3:06 am
FACT isn’t a “trade union”, a trade union is a labour organisation (US English=”labor union”), an organisation of workers.
FACT is a “trade organisation”, an organisation made up of companies in the same trade.
October 22nd, 2007 at 3:22 am
Motherf#^@$rs!
October 22nd, 2007 at 3:45 am
You see, to me, sites like TV-Links hold an incredible (untapped?) opportunity for copyright holders. Sure, programs like Arrested Development never did well on television because most Americans are too over-medicated to pay attention to brilliant writing. And those of us who’ve all but given up on television never hear about the good stuff until it’s long gone, it seems. Unlike television, however, internet allows for much better demographic polling so intelligent and “underground” programming can reach its target audience… and with an unlimited “broadcast schedule”.
What TV-Links did was allow folks like myself to cut through the chaff of crappy television and see what programmes out there are good enough for me to spend time tracking down on DVD. (Those of us who work in the service industry don’t always have the viewing options of you nine-to-fivers.) And, honestly, if tv-execs don’t have long-term (read: DVD and net-viewing) sales as a primary goal, then why do they even bother going to work in the morning?
More “Lessons” from the folks at Network-23… http://video.google.com/videosearch?q=max+headroom+lessons&sourceid=navclient-ff&ie=UTF-8&rlz=1B3GGGL_en___US232&um=1&sa=N&tab=wv
October 22nd, 2007 at 3:47 am
To me, sites like TV-Links hold an incredible (untapped?) opportunity for copyright holders. Sure, programs like Arrested Development never did well on television because most Americans are too over-medicated to pay attention to brilliant writing. And those of us who’ve all but given up on television never hear about the good stuff until it’s long gone, it seems. Unlike television, however, internet allows for much better demographic polling so intelligent and “underground” programming can reach its target audience… and with an unlimited “broadcast schedule”.
What TV-Links did was allow folks like myself to cut through the chaff of crappy television and see what programmes out there are good enough for me to spend time tracking down on DVD. (Those of us who work in the service industry don’t always have the viewing options of you nine-to-fivers.) And, honestly, if tv-execs don’t have long-term (read: DVD and net-viewing) sales as a primary goal, then why do they even bother going to work in the morning?
More “Lessons” from the folks at Network-23… http://video.google.com/videosearch?q=max+headroom+lessons&sourceid=navclient-ff&ie=UTF-8&rlz=1B3GGGL_en___US232&um=1&sa=N&tab=wv
October 22nd, 2007 at 5:46 am
[…] We can’t have one rule for the rich and another for everyone else! Read all about it in the article here. […]
October 22nd, 2007 at 6:13 am
Wow. Totally ridiculous! Seems this is going to be a big deal that may actually get some change either for the better or worse regarding internet content legality! Hopefully this will spur a user based uprising. Best of luck to all!
October 22nd, 2007 at 8:57 am
[…] En este blog tienen algo mas de info, miembros del staff de TV-links están en contacto con el autor. […]
October 22nd, 2007 at 9:52 am
[…] Until the police have concluded their investigations, the exact connection between this piece of law and “the facilitation of copyright infringement” will be up for speculation. You can read some speculation here, here, here and here. We will keep on this story and keep you updated. […]
October 22nd, 2007 at 10:30 am
[…] TVlinks.co.uk raided, owner arrested This totally sucks because I love this website!! Its provided hours of entertainment for me the last year or so. It’s also a little scary considering I do a fair amount of linking!! Thank goodness Alluc is still up and running or I’d be up a creek! […]
October 22nd, 2007 at 10:56 am
Mother fuckers, why did you close the site, eat my balls you ass holes.
Can you give me a link to a similar site since this one is closed
October 22nd, 2007 at 12:30 pm
open a webpage and start a fund raising so we help him with getting best lawyer possible !!!!!
Bastards !
Do you have whole site saved somehwere ? i have a friend in Ukraine that can host it !!!
FREE SIN !FREE SIN !! FREE SIN!!!
October 22nd, 2007 at 7:12 pm
[…] With TV-Links being raided and shut down in a blaze of glory, it leaves us to ponder the question, who is next? This weekend, TV-Links.co.uk was closed down in a joint operation between multiple European police forces, FACT, Trading Standards and other government agencies, for an intermediary to copyright theft. […]
October 22nd, 2007 at 7:28 pm
linking is not a crime!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
October 23rd, 2007 at 2:33 am
hi
i came across this post in your blog and i couldn’t agree with you more.
i have started a wiki at the following address to document this case, so if you are interested sign up and ill make you a moderator as you seem to have some good views and information.
my aim is to promote awareness of what i and clearly many others feel is an illegal and unfair action.
http://www.eltonone.com/save-tv-links
hope to hear from you soon,
elton1
cool anti-spam btw.. :)
October 23rd, 2007 at 4:49 am
So that’s what happened to TV-Links. I just tried going there yesterday to see if they had some of the old animated movies I wanted to see, but it was down and now I know why..
I swear… trying to put bars and limits on the internet just isn’t going to work. Is there not hundreds of other sites that offer the same thing TV-Links did? Just because you take down one website doesn’t mean it’s going to stop, but these big corporations don’t seem to care about that.
At this point, regulating the internet is not possible. There will always be a site or program that allows you to download the newest movie, or your favorite song or band, or practically anything else you want. For example, I actually found a torrent of the entire series Freakazoid. Come on? How awesome is that? It’s such an old series, and yet it’s still available.
Down with copyrights and big corporations! Up with freeeeedooom!
October 23rd, 2007 at 12:52 pm
[…] Also, if you feel that the case is only trivial and unimportant please look at the emails on this article by The New Freedom. […]
October 23rd, 2007 at 1:07 pm
I hate this
i live in th uk, and it sucks theyre taking them down
fuck sake
go anoy limewire or something
were not downloading anything
just watching it
so we cant re publish it or make profit
yeh
thats a point
hes taken down for something other people use
and he wasnt making money
…
what was the point in taking himn down again
grr
heres my email, cus it wont publish it on the main part sailorscouters@yahoo.co.uk
October 23rd, 2007 at 2:19 pm
[…] tv-links.co.uk raided & shut down. not sure if this should be in the news & politics or here… but yeah. tv-links.co.uk is gone. apparently it was a multi-national co-operative effort by the police, and associated copyright infringement bodies. more info here, on the new freedom blog. also here, on the guardian website. discuss. […]
October 23rd, 2007 at 4:32 pm
wow this is harsh, what is happening to tv links is very unfair, some other are doing the same thing on a much higher scale and dont get raid or whatever so this just prove it’s bullshit…complete and everlasting Bullshit..
October 24th, 2007 at 12:22 am
I can’t believe they arrested him! Sin and crew were a great bunch and did their best to actually made it near impossible to download anything without some decent computer skills. If anything THEY were the ones who took more steps to prevent copyright infringement than that of Google or that Japanese alternative. I don’t know how different the laws are in the UK from the US, but apparently they’re different enough. I signed the internet petition and left rather angered comment there too. I hope for the best and really believe there has been a serious breech in law against the good TV-Link’s people. Best of luck to Sin and them and I’ll be checking in on this blog from time to time to get the updates. Thank you very much! :D
October 24th, 2007 at 1:37 am
This is terrible. The industries are losing money because they’re putting crap on TV, and its silly, because I know people like South Park creators aren’t against people watching their shows on the internet.
October 24th, 2007 at 6:39 am
[…] Liest man die folgende Nachricht oberflächlich, könnte man denken, es sei mal wieder einer von diesen illegalen Download-Servern geschlossen worden: TV-Links (now dead) is a site which links to sites like Google Video and YouTube, which host clips of TV shows. Today, the Gloucestershire County Council, in association with a group called the FACT, raided the site’s servers and arrested the 26 year old man from Cheltenham who ran the site. […]
October 24th, 2007 at 7:38 am
They have no right to arrest them!
October 24th, 2007 at 9:11 am
While I have wrote large comments on the finer points and legal aspects of the case. The defence is not that of what people could download, but what they could see.
While it would seam that the charges relate to certain aspects of the copyright laws, with the correct representation, these do not apply to the case.
HOWEVER there are some broad casting laws that you did not meet with. Age control being one..
As a website directory, such as google video and Youtube, you provided links to media content.
You tube has a active anti piracy condition and there for as there is no illegal linking to the youtube site, your belief was that the content was legally available as it should have been from the other sites.
Also as you were not in control of many of the users, the content of the website was not in the direct control of the owner. at best, you failed to carryout your job to effectivly mod the site with the less than straight forward copyright and owner ships laws.
To the best of your ability, you aknowledged the creators of the works and those who had copyright and trademarks of those works. with links to them. Those links also encoraged purchasing of the files/videos in these cases.
While moderation of a vast site is a task to carry out, some users posts could not be effectivly viewed within a certain time frame to access the content of the links. Aside the trust in the hosting site to control illegal materials.
Lastly, your belife that the users were honest users of the site, who viewed shows and content that they had missed for any reason could turn to a site to review what they had missed and would have the permissions and rights to them.
AKA, I have cable, I am watching shoot.. its a series and I miss one show.
I go to TV LINK to watch it, is this illegal? NO
Please search the web topics for more detailed information on this subject.
October 24th, 2007 at 2:43 pm
I’m really pissed off men..!! :( Linking is not illegal, hosting is… this is completely unfair. But don’t worry, there are plenty of other sites that can perfectly replace tv-links. For example, i found http://www.sidereel.com they have almost all the tv series, tons of movies and music vids. There’s also Dailymotion or Stage 6, thanks god they can’t stop us..!! he he LOL
October 24th, 2007 at 4:32 pm
F.A.C.T and their whole anti-copyright crusade is a foul waste of time. It was just vaguely annoying when I had to put up with them in the cinema but recently they’ve just gone too far. I am sick and tired of buying a DVD (with what disgracefully little money I have) only to find I have to sit through a lecture from F.A.C.T about how it is wrong to steal DVDs. WHAT THE HECK!? I may as well pirate the movie, at least that way I get it without the annoying (unskipable) F.A.C.T advert. Since when did law enforcement agencies decide it was a good idea to punish the public for doing the right thing? Because that is essentially what F.A.C.T do. If I buy the DVD I know I will be forced to watch an anti-piracy ad (which has been widely ridiculed in popular culture: see IT Crowd) whereas if I break the law and simply pirate the video I will not have to watch the ad.
Yet it would seem F.A.C.T were tired of simply being an annoyance and have decided to up their crusade to disgraceful new levels. The arrest and charging of Sin and his workers from www.TV-Links.co.uk and its affiliated sites is a prime example of F.A.C.T’s bullying and harassing tactics. No response has been given to the massive number of complaints regarding the fact that the site’s servers were not within UK territory and that the site did not host linked material. I am disgusted (as are most of my friends and colleagues) at the behaviour of the British police in this incident. My friends and I, as dwellers of London, have been robbed many times. Now my friends and I would like to know why our tax funds are going towards arresting poor people like Sin, simply trying to make the lives of others a little bit more enjoyable and not towards arresting the real criminals that operate very openly on London’s streets.
Please sign the petition to free Sin: http://www.petitiononline.com/21212594/petition.html
October 24th, 2007 at 5:08 pm
[…] The New Freedom - “TV-Links.co.uk Raided, Owner Arrested” - http://www.thenewfreedom.net/… […]
October 25th, 2007 at 3:39 am
I’ve read the hole page. And am disappointed and sad about it.
This site was my savior, it had all my favo programs in quality. And the most of them I liked really much and are not to be seen on other pages. The most of the shows on this site, I liked, at specially the documentaries, they were awesome, and won’t be send out in this little country called Holland.
I hope this site will be on line soon again, but under a other name that the government can’t track. Than there will be more people than ever looking at it.:D
Nuke the UK government, uhm all governments pls:D
October 25th, 2007 at 5:07 am
[…] 25 Oct 2007 Armazenar conteúdo pirata, o Google pode… Publicado em Bronca, Web por John-Henrique à s 9:07 am | Lendo alguns artigos da Geek Equipe de site inglês é presa acusada de pirataria fiquei pasmo com a afirmação de The new freedom… […]
October 25th, 2007 at 6:23 am
i think this is the most rediculous thing i have ever heard in my whole life.I keep checking everyday to see if the site works again :( but it never does which is very upsetting and i was reading the part about where “he let other people download illegal videos” and i was thinking to myself you dont download them jesus if your gonna tell a story make sure you know all the facts the website i got this from is http://business.guardian.co.uk/story/0,,2195407,00.html
you might wanna read it i had a good crack lol. when is the site going to be running again and where else can i cure my tv-links craving:( plz help
October 25th, 2007 at 2:23 pm
this is complete bullshit, so basically if i want to see a movie i have to go get ripped off to do so at either the overpriced movie theatre or the overpriced movie rental stores, thanks alot european police!
October 25th, 2007 at 2:24 pm
this is bullshit!so basically to watch movies now i will get ripped off by theatres/movie rental/bootleg thanks alot european police!
October 25th, 2007 at 11:20 pm
im a citizen in the united states who is enraged by your perdicament. is there any significance to my foriegn name on that petition?
October 26th, 2007 at 10:37 am
I would like to sign this petition, where can i find it?
October 26th, 2007 at 5:50 pm
The legal case here is that the fault lies with the owners of TV-L for providing a service which knowingly, solely and directly provided links to copyrighted material.
The strongest argument in favour of the TV-L case is that they did not profit from any of the links within the site. Had they profited then the prosecution has a sure win. In essence they were merely providing a speedy search facility for web users who would have likely found the same through Google had they looked hard enough.
Another strong argument is rights of free speech.
Companies such as youTube and all other legitimate movie sharing sites differ from TV-L. Their purpose is to provide people with a place to put un-copyrighted content. If that is abused by contributors to those sites it is not the fault of the provider of the service.
You should avoid saying that youTube et al should shoulder any blame for their contributors content. It’s tantamount to saying that the Google search engine should be shut down because it links to terrorist organisations and sympathisers. It’s evidently not their goal but is unavoidable for them.
In a perfect world the blame and prosecutions would occur at source with those people who pirated and provided the material in the first place. This is of course unworkable.
This is a case of a popular site being targeted for publicity purposes. The trial and I suspect conviction of the people involved will likely make national news here in the UK and dissuade others from creating sites like theirs. For FACT it’s about nipping potential problems in the bud with high-profile cases. Napster all over again.
October 27th, 2007 at 12:55 am
I would say that BREIN, the Dutch anti-piracy body got their legal team to write up some threatening letters which causes Leaseweb’s balls to shrivel and they pulled them offline - rather than there was any kind of seizure by legal authorities in the Netherlands.
October 27th, 2007 at 1:07 pm
[…] At the current time it is uncertain whether or not the site will return, but according to The New Freedom Blog one of the moderators of tvlinks was interrogated. According to The New Freedom he said that he “doesn’t know how this will end, but if TV-Links does go down, it will go down kicking and screaming.” […]
October 27th, 2007 at 1:17 pm
Hello Rich
I am a part of a small online journal thats just started up and am an avid fan of tvlinks. I have used some of the information from this post, and have referenced it many times. I just wanted to check that you have no issues with that. I am just trying to spread the word to people i know about the tvlinks situation.
You can check out the post at http://compsa.queensu.ca/segfault/2007/10/27/tvlinks-owner-arrested/
Let me know if you have any problems with the post.
Manson
ps. yes the site looks terrible, we haven’t gotten to modding the look of it yet.
October 28th, 2007 at 12:07 pm
[…] Hugh wrote an interesting post today on TV-Links.co.uk Raided, Owner ArrestedHere’s a quick excerpt […]
October 28th, 2007 at 2:01 pm
Gestapo Tactics Shut Down Major Website!…
Major “Pirate” Website Shut Down
[I’m pissed! Only a small portion of this site was illegal! So why shut the whole thing down????
I enjoyed watching the legal cartoons and videos, home-made ones too, from this site. There were many …
October 28th, 2007 at 2:15 pm
[…] Also Posting: P2PNet The New Freedom […]
October 28th, 2007 at 3:33 pm
This is ridiculous, how can we go on with out this site!!!
October 29th, 2007 at 8:01 am
[…] October 29, 2007 | Filed Under a better way This effectively makes the entire internet illegal. […]
October 29th, 2007 at 8:21 am
[…] At the current time it is uncertain whether or not the site will return, but according to The New Freedom Blog one of the moderators of tvlinks was interrogated. In the interview he said that he “doesn’t know how this will end, but if TV-Links does go down, it will go down kicking and screaming.” […]
October 29th, 2007 at 2:59 pm
To my knowledge no law existed during the hosting of TV Links that bans enmeshing copyrighted materials because of an original format factor.
http://www196.legal500.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=1277
October 29th, 2007 at 5:41 pm
I think thats stupid as hell myself. Nobody has a right to do anything anymore in this country or other countries sounds like. Whats the difference in taping a movie off the tv and watching it online, ( not a damn thing ) if you ask me. Goverment people think they have the right to run everyones lives when you know damn well they do the same shit we do but they get away with it.
October 30th, 2007 at 8:58 am
[…] David W. Dunlap wrote an interesting post today!.Here’s a quick excerptTV-Links (now dead) is a site which links to sites like Google Video and YouTube, which host clips of TV shows. Today, the Gloucestershire County Council, in association with a group called the FACT, raided the site’s servers and … […]
October 31st, 2007 at 6:37 am
[…] http://www.thenewfreedom.net/wp/2007/10/19/tv-linkscouk-raided-owner-arrested/ […]
October 31st, 2007 at 12:08 pm
What were the charges Tv-links.co.uk were sued for? They didn’t do anything wrong but eventually i knew this would happened for copyright infringment. The most sever punishment would be a fine and a restriction on the website at most, why are these people in jail. Many supporters of tv-links.co.uk will be pretty pissed….
November 1st, 2007 at 2:37 am
IF the guys of the bloody music and film industry would lower the prices for a CD or DVD at least for the half of it, then there would be no crime.
November 1st, 2007 at 2:46 am
IF the guys of the bloody music and film industry would lower the prices for a CD or DVD at least for the half of it, then there would be no crime.
November 1st, 2007 at 4:53 am
This is just the film and tv industry taking potshots at the little guy in an attempt to make it look like they are doing something about copyright theft. If they really wanted to make a statement they would be suing google for 100 million and pushing for more stringent laws on copyright. Also the fact that the police would have to go through googles legal division before as well as after a raid. Oh well guess it’s easier to kill a thousand Davids than it is to take on one Goliath. See there are rules to this world we live in.
1. The little guy always gets crapped on
2. Don’t commit big crimes unless you are
a) The police trying to stop brazillian terrorists
b) Invisible
c) A global company (Google,Microsoft) with billions of pounds at your disposal
d) The leader… opps he is actually rule 1
November 2nd, 2007 at 9:57 am
i think this is all SHIT for one every thing on the tv-l site was from you tube and little sites like that . So they are have ing to do jail time because unlike any other dumb ass in this world the put the 50 second clips together . why is you tube and google and every one else that have these movies and tv shows on thier site not getting in trouble we have shit like lime wire you pay 9.95 a mounth and get any movie , music video, porno, or songs in the world so how is this right i watch kids for a liveing and i liked tv-links for the simple fact i could put cartoons on all day for them any ways i would like to help any way possible my email is deanna_rodriguez_stovall@yahoo.com or my myspace is myspace.com/jonsangel
November 3rd, 2007 at 7:56 pm
really interested in some of the points you lay out and to see how this whole thing plays out.
keep us updated! thanks so much,
brad
November 3rd, 2007 at 9:17 pm
This is stupid as hell. The site is the best streaming site there is. The cartels are only looking for a new excuse to sue. I mean people like FACT are examples of business whose only purpose is to sue for piracy.
Its pathetic.
November 4th, 2007 at 2:02 am
Tvl in no way stepped on the toes of corporate entertainment. It just centralized the clips/videos which already existed. The people who attacked sin should grow a pair and attack the source rather than the people who provided an information gathering service for the community. Hell try a democracy and have the country decide if some crime was committed.
The problem of copy right infringement has become a concern for all users of the net. We see lives ruined over a few songs, movies, or television shows, but this has not been a good deterrent. Often time it is not even the artists who are concerned with the infringements, but rather the organizations who promote the artists. The obvious injustice committed against tvl is a problem of architecture. The quality of a song, movie, or show should not be forced upon us by entertainment companies. It should be decided by the people who watch them.
Solution: Create an internet infrastructure which allows people to buy media directly from the artists and companies who produce the arts.
November 4th, 2007 at 7:40 pm
this is complete bull crap, ive been using this site for at least 4 or 5 months now in the U.S and i believe that the owners and people offiliated with this site should not be prosecuted, they mearly submitted url links to there site for people to watch videos, all they did was use there site as a mediator for the links so as you click on them the site plays the video from the website they took the link from, i hope somebody creates a new server and hosts as a new tv links it was way better than tv and had a lot of shows people dont see around the world, for instance i have been watching uk shows and movies and this is actually benifiting movie makers in the uk and wherever the other movies came from because if people liked it like my self they will purchase the dvds of those movies or shows and you make profit that way, i would have never heard of Trailer park boys a canadian hit tv show if it wasnt for tv links and im going to purchase all the seasons from that show so i dont see how its affecting anyone. for those of you that read this please help fight for tv links they dont need to be stopped, they need to be given rights to keep there site up and running
November 5th, 2007 at 5:12 pm
If i may, Iam a Dutch resident…
and a very active user of Tv-l. Here we have had no report whatsoever on what the hell happened (just so you know…) Iám deeply shocked by the fact that this sorta thing can happen.
I mean the people behinf tv.l did a great job keeping up to date and I don’t understand why such a thing can be illegal…..(the hosting ok… but linking to the content?)
November 6th, 2007 at 10:49 am
[…] rn rn rn rn rn rn rn tv-links owner: Falsely arrested?rn rn rn rn rn rn rn it has come to my attention that tv-links has been forcefuly shut down by FACT…the evil corporation in europe that is trying to stop all fun!n nim posting this to raise awareness of the stupidity of the fact that the owner of this website was arrested FOR LINKING!!! thats right! he diddnt get arrested for having a HUGE variaty of free music and videos…it was linking…. (lol of all things)n nlink to source: The New Freedom » Blog Archive » TV-Links.co.uk Raided, Owner Arrested: UPDATEDn nim also just posting this to inform some people who were wondering what happened to the siten nplease vote AFTER READING THE ABOVE LINK weather or not you think he should of been arrestedrn rn rn rn rn rn rn rn rn rn __________________rn n"Give me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, the courage to change the things i can, and the wisdom to know the difference" - Kurt Vonnegutn+Rep/Thank me if I helped you or made an interesting point in a discussion.^^rn rn rn rn rn rn rn rn rn rnrnrn […]
November 7th, 2007 at 6:00 am
[…] whoa! apparently tv-links was shut down last month! how will i watch endless episodes of shitty british tv shows now?!? […]
November 8th, 2007 at 9:16 pm
NOOOOOO!!!! HOW WILL I DO MY HW???!!!!!!!
November 9th, 2007 at 8:30 am
I can’t believe it… why aren’t the sites like Youtube gone then?! Linking is not a crime!
November 10th, 2007 at 11:41 pm
I was a Huge user for this site im kinda sad that it went down I didn’t know why till i read this Blog so thank u
November 11th, 2007 at 7:03 am
[…] Story On The New Freedom with some good information […]
November 11th, 2007 at 8:09 am
would you not think that the police forces would have better things to be doing like stopping ACTUAL criminals than arresting people for hot linking as far as ican c he is getting i more trouble than drug dealers and robbers!
November 11th, 2007 at 10:28 am
Keep the info coming mate.
November 12th, 2007 at 4:59 pm
In regards to some of the questions raised concerning legislation:
In my opinion, the downloading argument is not a valid one from a legislative perspective. Downloading occurs when you watch streaming vids, in a temp map but nevertheless. Furthermore, it is not the downloader who is on the spot but the facilitator, right?
IP law, especially on the internet is unclear. I would argue that laws apply in the country where the crime is committed, and definitely not the other way around. (F.i. it would be odd if china could apply their laws on European soil, or the US sentence their death penalty in a country overseas). It is also not relevant where you live (think about drug smugglers who face extreme penalties in another country)
From this perspective I don’t thinks the domain name is relevant. I am somewhat confused about the Dutch influence here because the ip address of the website does refer to the UK? However if it falls under the jurisdiction of The Netherlands their has been a case between ZoekMP3.com. After appeal they were found guilty. You can find the article here: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/5097664.stm
It might be a good idea for the guys from tv-links to post all the legal documentation online as thepiratebay has been doing..?
I hope it all works out, for the sake of the internet..
November 13th, 2007 at 2:41 pm
Just signed the petition. I’m from Holland and I think this is just the “world copyright government” trying to set an example ~~ without hurting the things that make it’s existance necessary. it’s complete rubbish, this sort of international coop shit pisses me off completely, screw globalism, screw the nwo. they only touch the people that use the big fish, not the big fish that provides that which is illegal.
fucking gay.
November 14th, 2007 at 8:46 am
[…] The significance of the arrest was not lost on the Guardian writers, who asked why the police went for such small fry, noting that 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. Indeed, as everyone knows, they actually host plenty of illegal content on their own video site, YouTube, which now has a UK operation. Maybe Google is now above the law. […]
November 14th, 2007 at 5:03 pm
I really miss the site. I was able to watch episodes
that I has missed and others that you can’t find anywhere else to watch. I never saw anything about downloading, I enjoyed watching it because I had no cable to watch for 2 years. I think what happened is just big business being assholes and greedy bastards. Sorry about the language.
Hope they let him go soon.
November 17th, 2007 at 10:36 pm
This is just stupid. How can they chase after him and not a major company that does this so obvious?
And charge em (maybe, atleast threaten with it) a 100.000.000£ bill? Wahahaha yeah right, only a major company sutch as google who delivers copyrighted stuff updated everyday can pay that amount.
Well, I’m happy Norway ain’t like that yet. But were things are going, it looks grim.
PFF! I’m with you Sin, don’t give up.
November 18th, 2007 at 10:06 pm
i think people are taking things to far.
November 19th, 2007 at 2:35 pm
…The owner of Tv links should not be held responsible for just links,in fact his web site helps the copy right owners,So they could find out the real person hosting all the illegal videos,like the new harry potter movie.
November 20th, 2007 at 8:29 pm
[…] The site tv-links.co-uk is now closed If anyone here ever went to tv links (the greatest place to watch TV shows and movies) it has been shut down some details here: Major pirate website shut down | Business | Guardian Unlimited that is very basic and it goes into a little more detail here with some background from one of the TV links mod here: The New Freedom » Blog Archive » TV-Links.co.uk Raided, Owner Arrested: UPDATED If you would like to sign a petition to bring back TV Links, go here: Free Sin and bring back TV-links Petition I loved this site and cannot find any other like it. __________________ If you have any questions, send me a Private Message […]
November 23rd, 2007 at 1:56 pm
there evil bastards
November 24th, 2007 at 4:36 pm
freedom!
November 26th, 2007 at 1:28 am
I think its a outrage too something needs to be done i just got out of the hospital just to find out tv-links is gone those BASTARDS!!!
November 26th, 2007 at 9:05 am
You gotta be kiddin me. I am living in germany and loved the site because I could improve my english when watching TV series and movies in the original language. Even if there is a problem with the copyrights, WHY is he being sued just for linking to those copyrighted material while the hosts of those files get away with it…even if they are trying to prevent ppl from uploading copyrighted stuff and even if they delete it once they see it…
November 28th, 2007 at 7:56 am
The Person has to get free !
He just linked the pages !
Let him go !
December 2nd, 2007 at 2:03 am
http://tvshack.net is a good replacement site
December 6th, 2007 at 12:57 am
let him free it was a good site FUCK THE POLICE
December 6th, 2007 at 12:58 am
it was a good site let him free FUCK THE POLICE
December 7th, 2007 at 1:22 pm
New search engine for movie & tv sites. Search for your shows across every movie site on one site. Linkjoy.org
http://www.linkjoy.org
December 9th, 2007 at 6:35 am
[…] http://www.thenewfreedom.net/wp/2007/10/19/tv-linkscouk-raided-owner-arrested/ Der Betreiber der Seite wurde inhaftiert und mehrere Moderatoren wurden von der Polizei befragt und stehen nun wahrscheinlich vor einer Anklage. Google und andere Hoster bleiben unbelangt. […]
December 12th, 2007 at 7:56 am
[…] ¿Se acuerdan de esa maravilla llamada TV Links? Me imagino que ya supieron la mala noticia: el sitio lo botaron, e incluso arrestaron a su dueño. Pero la vida continúa, o mejor dicho, las series continúan, asà que mientras todos esperamos que liberen al profeta, me dediqué a buscar otros sitios que pudieran reemplazar a TV Links por ahora… y pucha que encontré varios! TV Life, TVLinko, SurfTheChannel y mi favorito, TVLinksDB. Hay otros que se especializan en una u otra serie, pero no se los recomiendo porque son bien desordenados (incluso algunos ni siquiera tienen todos los capÃtulos, como WatchPrisonBreak). ¿Algún otro? SÃ, mención honrosa para Cucirca y MovieCatchup, que además de tener los catálogos al dÃa son fáciles de navegar porque mantienen la estructura de un blog tradicional. ¡Bon appétit! […]
December 13th, 2007 at 5:23 am
FUCKING FACT THAT S WHY PEOPLE MAKE FUCKING SITES LIKE TV LINKS CAUSE THEY DO SHIT LIKE THIS.THE ONLY REASON I WATCHED TV LINKS CAUSE IT HAD SHOWS THAT I WILL NEVER SEE AGAIN LIKE YU GI OH CAUSE THEY STOPPED SHOWING IT FUCKING HELL.IF THE FUCKING FACT HAVE A PROBLEM WITH THAT THEY CAN FUCKING COME OVER AND TO MY PLACE AND WE CAN HAVE A LITTLE TALK.FACT ARE NO MORE THAN PIRATES THIEVING PIRATES
December 26th, 2007 at 8:39 am
The FACT is google should have been in as much trouble as these guys. The hipocracy is sickening. F.A.C.T SUCKS. This is like the war on drugs. The monster is too big now. Leave it alone. And if you are not going to, at least arrest all of the people involved.
December 27th, 2007 at 10:34 am
it is a real shame ,the poor man can not even see the old clasics for free, like i was able to on tv -links, but there always has to be some stupid government that has to take that right of free choice away,from the viewers, yes i enjoyed seeing the clasics for free i’m on disability and can not pay for pay sites now they have taken away what enjoyment i had left , now i oly see junk mail again ,as a american citizen born and raised that upsets me to no ends if there is a petition going around i will endorse it bring this site back thanks for what i was able to see
December 29th, 2007 at 12:23 am
Someone say tv links is returned. Now it call www.tv-links.cc
I have checked it out. That’s true.
December 29th, 2007 at 12:25 am
yes! Thank you very much! www.tv-links.cc is better than it before.
January 5th, 2008 at 3:02 am
The guy who did this SHOULD be arrested. He OBVIOUSLY knew that it wasnt legal to put work that is not his for FREE under his site, thats why he didnt actually have it, he linked it. So he knew it was wrong, if not he would have had just saved it.
Second point: Its like NOT arresting the accountant of a drug dealer who has gotten rich from taking care of his boss drug dealing. Or NOT arresting Saddam because he didnt actually kill hundreds of people. He just told people to. Just like the owner of TV-Links, he didnt actually steal these videos, he just TOLD THEM TO! He promoted other sites.
January 7th, 2008 at 1:01 am
tvlink is back now call http://tv-links.cc/
January 19th, 2008 at 12:49 am
This is bullshit, fucking pigs got nothing better to do. i bet they were also using the site while their sitting in their little copper car and pretending there doing somethng.
espo
January 27th, 2008 at 1:38 am
i am outraged as well. not only because i liked that website, which i liked allot, but because it was not that man who had illegally uploaded the videos. he did not even host them, all he did was link to videos across the internet to make it much easier to find what was already there. now I’m not saying we should arrest everybody who works at a video-hosting website, but to arrest a man who did nothing wrong is terrible.
February 4th, 2008 at 10:35 pm
Keep us updated! ;)
February 11th, 2008 at 6:15 pm
whyyy !! f*** @#$%#%!!!! .. i loved tv-links it was the best .. when im bored i watch my favourite movies and shows !! FREEDOM FOR THE OWNER !!!! thanx
February 14th, 2008 at 4:57 pm
[…] This hearkens back to the TV-Links.co.uk arrests in the UK this October. That was the UK, however. This is ‘meeerrica, fuck yeah! Here, the issue is still up in the air. We have the freedom to link, but Grokster was ruled as illegal by the Supreme Court. This seems to fall somewhere in between, as his service does let people ’share files’, but it doesn’t provide the actual protocol by which to do so. […]
February 23rd, 2008 at 7:51 am
What is the world coming to with terrorism and people being put on trial because they baptised a teddy bear!!!! this should be the least of the polices worries… free this man - with prison overcrouding in England its useless. Why can an american do this but an english one can’t its the World wide web for a reason….. its world wide durrr!!! so there shoud be world wide rules. This ball!”£$%
Cheers
James.x
February 25th, 2008 at 4:02 pm
HE DID NOTHING WRONG IF HE IS HELD RESPONSIBLE SO SHOULD GOOGLE YOU TUBE ETC
February 29th, 2008 at 2:31 am
How about http://www.videolala.com - a tv shows and movies search engine ? Is linking to tv linking sites is illegal ?
March 3rd, 2008 at 4:07 am
It’s back!
http://zatoedeloezie.wordpress.com/2008/03/03/tv-links-is-terug/
March 9th, 2008 at 11:08 am
Fuck yeah tv-links was so cool.
March 9th, 2008 at 8:49 pm
i love tv-links, shame that they closed it down. internet is freedom and i dont know much about laws in other countries but here in the philippines, everything goes. when i graduate i’ll establish a site much like theirs, i dont think what they did is illegal cause, man its just linking!!!!
March 11th, 2008 at 1:57 am
[…] http://www.thenewfreedom.net/wp/2007/10/19/tv-linkscouk-raided-owner-arrested/ Thats the link there people, read it for yourself. A person that LINKED to another site, namely youtube etc, was ARRESTED and has been told he will be charged with an offence with Copywrite! Have a look for yourself! […]
March 20th, 2008 at 12:46 pm
http://www.chooseandwatch.com/ is the best
April 8th, 2008 at 1:30 pm
TV-LINKS is back as TV-LINKS.EU!
The biggest movie database on the internet. Movies, tv shows, cartoons, anime, documentaries. No flashy ads, no money, no pop-ups, just clean entertainment. Give us a good rating, ‘cauz we deserve it!
April 28th, 2008 at 10:27 am
Seems like the Industry that is pursuing this, is guilty of Pirating their self hosted movies and shows.
April 28th, 2008 at 10:31 am
he needs to Sue Google for that amount, for providing the linked content… he can also bring that up in court that hes suing the linked content providers…. It’ll make a mokery out of FACT’s biased situation.
May 10th, 2008 at 6:54 pm
This is so wong becaues tv-links is nothing more than just LINK how can you get arrested for just links that send you to videos that you can watch thats B.S. TV-Links was a great site to go to to find links to some of the older shows that i ues to watch along time ago.
May 31st, 2008 at 7:16 am
thanks for sharing this article
June 11th, 2008 at 5:44 pm
This is a big issue, i’m glad you are publishing it. Thank you.
June 28th, 2008 at 4:24 pm
special thanks!
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