TV-Links website closes – piracy gets the blame

Dave Walker Web 2.0
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One of the world’s most-used film and TV links site has closed – and links to illegal versions of big-name movies is to blame.

The site is TV-Links, which is the first major UK-based video site to be raided and closed by the anti-piracy group Federation Against Copyright Theft (Fact). One man is currently helping the police with enquiries (as they say). The site was targeted because it was providing links to illegal film content, some of which had been camcorder-recorded from cinemas and then uploaded to the internet. In addition, it also provided and promoted links to TV shows that were being illegally distributed.

“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 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.”

FACT (Via The Guardian)

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Dave Walker
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7 comments

  • It will be a while to see how this plays out in court, but I think there is a good chance we will see them again once this is all over. In the mean time, check out OVGuide.com for some alternate sites.

  • Why waste time getting rid of the good harmless stuff. and spend more time cracking down on the sex trade and F.ing drugs!!! you guyz have no idia whats wrong in this world!

  • It is a crying shame that this site has gone down…. I never used the film section due to it’s very poor quality, but the TV shows were simply awesome. Heck, some didn’t work, or were just previews, but who has the right to take away our ADVERT FREE TV? I for one have forgone buying a tv and tv licence simply because of the fact that I absolutely hate ads…
    I totally agree with the above statements, and nothing in our British law actually states that it is illegal to link ANYTHING, as usually it helps find the REAL culprates… Moreover, linking to tv shows that have become extinct on TV, or are rarely shown on any channel, should have a strategy simmilar to games involved. Once over 5 years old, or a sensible amount of time to sell dvd’s etc, they should become like abandonware. Free, as once a intelectual property has been viewed by enough people, isn’t it now those people’s property too? Since they have memories of watching it… Copyright is a load of shyte, and is just part of the money grabbing whore’s grip on our pockets…
    Skrew copy rights…
    And yeah, that is an oppinion, if you want to take it personally, sodd off will you??
    Goddamn police

  • Yikes. Just yikes.

    The international film community has a massive hard-on for killing great sites. Not only that, but sites that don’t violate international laws of any kind. Categorizing and indexing illegal content isn’t against the law; hell, like Chris said, the authorities should have turned the site to their advantage. They should have taken the code, looked at the hosted web address for the content, then gone after those guys.

    I have one small question, though: ABC, NBC, CBS, and all them other major television networks can broadcast their shows 24/7 through the Internet… yet if you watch it through a third party it’s illegal? Aren’t these people just asking to get their shows and stuff taken from them, what-with the screen-capturing techology being the way that it is? Something that can be viewed freely on the Internet should be freely viewed — no matter the medium — on the Internet period.

    Which brings me to my next point. TV-Links was coded and executed very well. Matter of fact, that website was done a lot better than most professional websites. There’s really nothing more to say about that.

    However, it’s a total crock that TV-Links profited from anything. Banner ads don’t generate *that* much money. Otherwise why would SOME websites have a grand total of about twenty on any given page? TV-Links did nothing illegal, and actually helped authorities in ways that obviously their dumb selves could not see, thus the site should be allowed back on the Internet for our viewing pleasure… Seriously, who does it hurt if I watch Star Trek: The Next Generation when it doesn’t appear on SPIKE?

  • I don’t want to seem a bit crazy but, tv-links never hosted any of the content, and simply hyper-linking embed codes in my honest opinion is no means to shut down such a site, rather actualy a good thing to have such a site operating it is the ‘most up to date index’ of tv piracy and therefor can be used in support to shutting down the offending hosts accounts therefor working to their advantage.

    Fools for closing somthing that made it easier for them to track piracy!

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