Tv-links.co.uk shut down

[Brody]

The arrest and the closure of the site - www.tv-links.co.uk - came during an operation by officers from Gloucestershire County Council trading standards in conjunction with investigators from Fact and Gloucestershire Police.

Fact claims that tv-links.co.uk was providing links to illegal film content that had been camcorder recorded from cinemas and then uploaded to the internet. The site also provided links to TV shows that were being illegally distributed.

Visitors to the site could get access to major feature films, sometimes within days of their initial cinema release. Recent links took users to illegal versions of the Disney/Pixar animation sensation Ratatouille as well as to most of this summer's blockbusters.

"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.

The group's director general Kieron Sharp said TV Links was the first major target in a campaign to crackdown on web piracy.

"The theft and distribution of films harms the livelihoods of those working in the UK film industry and in ancillary industries, as well as damaging the economy," he said.

Roger Marles, from Trading Standards said sites such as TV Links allowed people to break UK copyright law.

"The 'users' are potentially evading licence fees, subscription fees to digital services or the cost of purchase or admittance to cinemas to view the films," he added.
The British Video Association estimates that at least £459m was lost to the video, film and TV industries due to piracy in 2006.


rip tv-links

[Energizer]

**** !

[Fifteen]

omg! that site was excellent.

[VPSwow]

:( i loved that site

[Brody]

omg! that site was excellent.


init:(

[Matt.]

:O, thanks for posting this. I was trying to get on the site today but it wouldn't work. Have to find another site now :(.

[Brody]

i reccomend

www.alluc.org (http://www.alluc.org)
or
www.mmovp.net

[Jordan,]

nooooooooooo I hope they dont shut down www.onlinecinema.org

[Lycan]

:O, thanks for posting this. I was trying to get on the site today but it wouldn't work. Have to find another site now :(.

Ditto, :( was watching some last night as well

Now where am i meant to get my comedy fix

[Nemo]

argh RIP Tv-links :[ Great site aswell.

[--ss--]

*cries* :(
Does anyone know that site that most of the videos were actually hosted on?
I can't think of the name :(
It wasn't megavideo or veoh it was something else :(

[=gamemaster=]

BURGERRR!!!!!!!1

[Nemo]

*cries* :(
Does anyone know that site that most of the videos were actually hosted on?
I can't think of the name :(
It wasn't megavideo or veoh it was something else :(Theres still peekvid.com and veoh.com but veoh doesnt really show shows.

[mat64]

That sucks, Such a good site :(.

[Pat McGroin]

**** =/

[Virgin Mary]

*cries* :(
Does anyone know that site that most of the videos were actually hosted on?
I can't think of the name :(
It wasn't megavideo or veoh it was something else :(
Stage6?

[N!ck]

Use BitTorrent. Much better way of getting your fix of Films and TV programs.

[--ss--]

Stage6?
Nope that wasn't it :(
I'm so sad I want to watch DragonballGT :'(

[today]

Nope that wasn't it :(
I'm so sad I want to watch DragonballGT :'(
EWWWW! lool (:

[Virgin Mary]

Nope that wasn't it :(
I'm so sad I want to watch DragonballGT :'(
They're all on youtube, googlevideo & myspace.

[:Liam]

Oh crap now were will I watch ellen at good quality. The only Ellen Vids that are left are YOUTUBE and thats really bad quality :( RIP Tv-Links. I loved that site.

[today]

anuva site will come and take over tbh

dont
rapidlinks.co.uk have some?

[adidas™]

damn, gd site n all.

[jesus]

gutted ere

[Method]

i dnt care i only used it to wacth hereos

and i use diff sites for it now (:

[Jamieb]

Noooooooooooo DONT DO IT :(

[Technologic]

:l. Where am i suppposed to watch family guy from now on?

[jesus]

:l. Where am i suppposed to watch family guy from now on?dvdz .

[Sammeth.]

:l. Where am i suppposed to watch family guy from now on?
TV? :S

[Naruto!]

I can't believe he's been arrested

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. Indeed, as everyone knows, they actually host plenty of illegal content on their own video site, YouTube, which has a UK operation.

Is the message that it's less criminal to host illegal content on YouTube than it is to to link to it from a site such as TV Links? Or is it just that FACT (Federation Against Copyright Theft) and the police won't tackle anybody with enough high-powered lawyers to fight back? Is The New Freedom blog correct in saying: "They just have so much money that they have become above the law."

Of course, there is a difference between building a site around links to content that could be presumed to lack copyright clearance and linking unintentionally from a site set up for a different purpose. However, I'm not a lawyer so I don't know how significant this is. (Is shoplifting OK if you have a proper job but criminal if you're unemployed and starving?)

It will be interesting to see who FACT picks on next. There are plenty of newspaper journalists who nowadays, as part of their proper jobs, link to YouTube videos and other internet content. It would be amazing if every single bit of material -- some of it "repurposed" -- had full and correct copyright clearance.

In future, do I risk being thrown in the slammer for linking directly to a YouTube video? What if I just say "go to Google and search for [YouTube xxx yyy]" or whatever? Oh dear, I forgot, Google's illegal so that will have to be closed down.

Perhaps I am already breaking the law by linking to Google, YouTube, TV Links, Pirate Bay and other sites that link to illegal content because this must also count as contributing to "the facilitation of copyright infringement on the internet" -- and, by the way, I expect you are breaking the law if you link to or even read this story.

Indeed, if linking is illegal, we might as well shut down the Internet, because there is no practical way anybody can guarantee the legality of what's on the end of any link. Even if you could guarantee it at the time of linking, there's no guarantee it would still be legal less than a second later, or for the rest of time.

[Nemo]

*cries* :(
Does anyone know that site that most of the videos were actually hosted on?
I can't think of the name :(
It wasn't megavideo or veoh it was something else :(

http://www15.alluc.org/alluc/ FANTASTIC SITE!!

[Johno]

So thats where it went, Was looking for it today :P

http://www.marcofolio.net/video/throw_out_your_tv_and_watch_your_favorite_programs _and_movies_online.html

This site has a big list of sites like TV Links ;D

Woo! I can watch heroes again!

.:; Johno

[jesus]

a lot of them were uploaded on 'veoh video network'

[Naruto!]

So thats where it went, Was looking for it today :P

http://www.marcofolio.net/video/throw_out_your_tv_and_watch_your_favorite_programs _and_movies_online.html

This site has a big list of sites like TV Links ;D

Woo! I can watch heroes again!

.:; Johno

Blankanime shows Heroes. And you can find it on stuff like Veoh the day after it airs in America.

[Technologic]

http://www.stage6.divx.com

Download the cleint and watch lods of stuff

[jesus]

http://www.stage6.divx.com

Download the cleint and watch lods of stuffdivx doesnt like me :[

[Elliott$]

Got what they deserved then? Ripping? Is what I gathered from what you wrote at the bottom of your post

[jesus]

Got what they deserved then? Ripping? Is what I gathered from what you wrote at the bottom of your postnot rly, every1 loved that site

[Technologic]

not rly, every1 loved that site
Ahuh.

It saved me having to walk downstairs to the lounge

[:Liam]

alot were hosted on www.dailymotion.com too.

[Barmi]

I can't believe he's been arrested

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. Indeed, as everyone knows, they actually host plenty of illegal content on their own video site, YouTube, which has a UK operation.

Is the message that it's less criminal to host illegal content on YouTube than it is to to link to it from a site such as TV Links? Or is it just that FACT (Federation Against Copyright Theft) and the police won't tackle anybody with enough high-powered lawyers to fight back? Is The New Freedom blog correct in saying: "They just have so much money that they have become above the law."

Of course, there is a difference between building a site around links to content that could be presumed to lack copyright clearance and linking unintentionally from a site set up for a different purpose. However, I'm not a lawyer so I don't know how significant this is. (Is shoplifting OK if you have a proper job but criminal if you're unemployed and starving?)

It will be interesting to see who FACT picks on next. There are plenty of newspaper journalists who nowadays, as part of their proper jobs, link to YouTube videos and other internet content. It would be amazing if every single bit of material -- some of it "repurposed" -- had full and correct copyright clearance.

In future, do I risk being thrown in the slammer for linking directly to a YouTube video? What if I just say "go to Google and search for [YouTube xxx yyy]" or whatever? Oh dear, I forgot, Google's illegal so that will have to be closed down.

Perhaps I am already breaking the law by linking to Google, YouTube, TV Links, Pirate Bay and other sites that link to illegal content because this must also count as contributing to "the facilitation of copyright infringement on the internet" -- and, by the way, I expect you are breaking the law if you link to or even read this story.

Indeed, if linking is illegal, we might as well shut down the Internet, because there is no practical way anybody can guarantee the legality of what's on the end of any link. Even if you could guarantee it at the time of linking, there's no guarantee it would still be legal less than a second later, or for the rest of time.
Slippery slope says "hi"... :rolleyes:

Continuing your flawed argument... let's assume I watched the first 14 episodes of Heroes on BBC2 but because it progressed only on a weekly basis, I felt encouraged to watch the rest of the first series on TV-links. Therefore we should just get rid of TV channels altogether because they encourage viewers to infringe upon copyright laws by using the freedom they possess to search for other episodes themselves. :rolleyes:

There is one thing which I agree on with you: TV-links should be of a lesser priority than the video hosting sites where all these "link libraries" hyperlink to, e.g. Google video, Veoh, Tuduo. If less time was spent prancing around to pick off the middle-man, I'm sure more time would be available to crack down on suppliers. (No, I'm not on about drugs.. although it sounds like many get addicted to these sites anyway.)

[Grindie]

R.I.P tv-links

all great things must come to an end =[

[Scuzzy]

I was noticing that most of the links were dead. R.I.P Tv-Links :(

[Chickenblob]

Oh noes. :( Now I'll have find another place to watch things.

[PriceTags]

Got what they deserved then? Ripping? Is what I gathered from what you wrote at the bottom of your post

He meant R.I.P.

[Neversoft]

I knew it would only be a matter of time before this happened. I'm supprised it actually survived for this long.

"The 'users' are potentially evading licence fees, subscription fees to digital services or the cost of purchase or admittance to cinemas to view the films," he added"
Lol @ this guy telling us we're breaking the law.

Guess I'll have to find another way to watch anime and films then. I'll probably stick with Veoh TV for now.


Nope that wasn't it :(
I'm so sad I want to watch DragonballGT :'(

It's your lucky day kiddo.

http://watchdragonball.blogspot.com/

[Sly]

Pfft i always used that site to watch smallville/scrubs/70s show/heroes/southpark :(