Anti-Piracy Company Makes Social Media Blunder

There are a significant number of anti-piracy outlets whose role is to protect rightholder’s copyrighted content. However, often their activities are conducted in an overbearing manner and can impact on the internet’s freedom. London-based MUSO is responsible for piracy tracking and makes a huge number of DMCA takedowns. Despite the company’s huge cash injection of £250,000 from the UK Government’s Technology Strategy Board, their flagging system is extremely flawed. Only a few days ago, the company sent out a tweet which reads:

#TheWalk closes the week as the most uploaded film #TheWalkMovie #digital #piracy #film

— MUSO (@MUSOdotcom) October 16, 2015

However, an investigation conducted by TorrentFreak shows the filter searches for any filename containing “The Walk”. As a result, all The Walking Dead traffic was included and makes the results completely inaccurate. This rookie mistake is staggering given the government funding and support from leading rightsholders. On another note, some of the DMCA claims by MUSO have been found to be incorrect and raises questions about their monitoring software.

While these companies exist to reduce piracy and apply pressure on internet service providers, nothing will change and it seems like a complete waste of tax payer’s money. ISPs were lobbied into blocking various torrent sites, but this can easily be circumvented via a proxy or VPN. Trying to control the internet isn’t democratic and cannot be achieved. However, companies will desperately try to deter people from engaging in illegal downloads.