The Day Kickass Torrents 'Died'
"Hmm...we may not be watching the latest Game of Thrones episode tonight, dear." Strictly out of [ ahem ] professional curiosity, I have covered official efforts to crack down on torrent s…
Showing posts with the label Underground Economy
Propaganda Time: PRC Campaigns Against Fakeries
Counterfeiting crime in China doesn't pay...or at least that's what they'd like to portray. Chinese officialdom's reaction to the PRC's image as a manufacturer of copycat products…
China Gangstas II: Smuggling Cash Out of the PRC
Any which way but lose [ sic ]: Time to get the @#$% out of Dalian. Here's another no-win situation China confronts: Until a few years ago, people used to try and evade the PRC's capital con…
China Gangstas I: Cigarettes & Hong Kong Syndicates
Hong Kong's roaring trade in illicit cigarettes is largely of its own making. As far as I can remember, the violent, crime-ridden mean streets of Hong Kong portrayed in Bruce Lee movies (or even …
If ISIS is a 'State', Do Gas Sales Make It an 'NOC'?
Like selling relics, ISIS funds itself by selling energy supplies. Here's another terminology-stretching exercise for you to contemplate: Despite virtually no nation-state recognizing the so-call…
How the Pirate Bay Was Dismembered
The Pirate Bay folks go to jail; the site went to the big cloud server in the sky. In the interest of, ahem , academic research, I've noticed that what was once one of the world's largest to…
.so Appropriate: Kickass Torrents Takes Somalia Domain
Psst...got the latest episode of Doctor Who ? One of the more curious things that software copyright holders have to deal with is the global public's willingness to "steal" intellectua…
Counting Illicit Outflows from Brazil, 1960-2012
A Reuters news article points us to a new study from Global Financial Integrity (GFI) on the level of illicit outflows from Brazil. GFI has produced reports for several other developing countries,…
Pity the Children: 'War on Drugs' Fuels Asylum Seekers
This train of pain begins and ends in the United States. I am not sure if there is a moral to recent events, but the number of children seeking asylum in the United States from gang warfare-torn coun…
Sympathy for the Pirate? Gulf of Aden Overfishing
Give a man no fish to catch...and he grabs an AK-47 & boards a skiff? Fisheries management does not top the list of attention-grabbing international studies topics, but maybe we should pay more a…
'Applecoin' Has Potential, Not Necessarily Bitcoin
...or is that iCoin? Referring to a post I made earlier on all you wanted to know about Bitcoin, I did not believe it could not come into widespread usage for two reasons. First, Bitcoin did not hav…
What Comes After Failed Global War on Drugs?
"Our insatiable demand for illegal drugs fuels the drug trade...[c]learly, what we have been doing has not worked and it is unfair for our incapacity...to be creating a situation" - Hilla…
UKR-RUS Collateral Damage: Rutracker.org is Down
Even the mightiest go down sometimes. Longtime readers will know I have an interest in torrent sites as examples of the vast possibilities for intellectual property violation in the Internet age. Uns…
Are Stolen Passports Really That Common?
[ On a personal note, dear readers, rest assured that our thoughts and prayers are with those affected by the lost Malaysia Airlines flight. Alike the missing Boeing 777, the airline has a sterling s…
West Makes Afghanistan Safe...for Growing Opium
Say what you will about the original premise that the 2002 invasion of Afghanistan was to force Osama bin Laden out of hiding from his Taliban protectors, but the aftermath of all that has not been v…
Did US Ask Philippines to Kill KAT.ph?
News site Torrent Freak, "[t]he place where breaking news, BitTorrent and copyright collide" believes so, at least. Coming from the Philippines, I've always wondered whether to be proud…
TorrentWorld: How LED TV Makers Co-Opt Piracy
Pssst...is that a 720p or a 1080p? Here's one last story whose implications run in the billions and billions that involves home entertainment as we come to the end of the holiday season. (Oh, th…