Putlocker

Last updated

Putlocker
Putlockers.png
Putlockers.ch homepage, 3 November 2016.png
Screenshot of Putlocker's homepage, 2016
Type of site
File hosting index (or cyberlocker) [1]
Available inEnglish
Country of origin United Kingdom
United States
Revenue Advertisements
RegistrationNone
Current statusOffline (clones and copy sites available)

Putlocker is a file hosting index website used for streaming entertainment media, particularly films and television series, for free. The initial website originated in the United Kingdom in 2011, and grew to receive millions of daily visitors after the shutdown of Megaupload. In May 2016, the website was blocked in the UK by a High Court order, [2] and at its peak prior to a temporary closure in late 2016, Alexa Internet listed Putlocker as ranking among the top 250 most-visited websites worldwide. [3] Putlocker has been reported by the Motion Picture Association (MPA) as a major piracy threat. [4]

Contents

Putlocker's domain address has changed multiple times throughout its history, with a number of URLs bearing the Putlocker name being suspended or seized. It is not publicly known whether an official Putlocker website maintained by the original team remains available online, but at least fifty mirror or proxy websites, many of which use the Putlocker name, have been identified.

History

Launch and popularity

Putlocker originated in the United Kingdom under the URL putlocker.com. In early January 2012, the website received about 800,000 visitors a day, but after the website Megaupload was shut down due to copyright infringement, Putlocker began receiving approximately 1.6 million visitors a day. [5] The website's operations officer, Adrian Petroff, found Megaupload's closure worrying, stating "who needs SOPA when a studio exec can make a wish/hit list and sites 'voluntarily' shut down?" [6]

In March 2012, Putlocker was identified by Alfred Perry, vice president for worldwide content protection at Paramount Pictures, as one of the "top 5 rogue cyberlocker services". [7] The website's URL was changed to putlocker.bz, an address which was seized by the Police Intellectual Property Crime Unit of the UK in June 2014, and was subsequently changed to putlocker.is, a domain located in Iceland. [8] In India, Putlocker and its clones have been blocked since the website first gained prominence in 2011, this followed from a court injunction in a case filed by Reliance BIG Pictures, ordering the blocking of file sharing websites which hosted copyrighted content. [9]

In 2014, "Putlocker" was reported as being one of the top trending search queries on Google Search in Canada for that year. [10]

2016–present

From around early October 2016, the putlocker.is address displayed an error stating that the website's host service was inaccessible. [11] Around this time, the Motion Picture Association (MPA) reported Putlocker to the Office of the United States Trade Representative as a piracy threat. The MPAA revealed that Putlocker operated from Vietnam, and that its servers were hosted by the Swiss company Private Layer. [4]

Prior to its closure, putlocker.is was listed among the 250 top websites globally and the top 150 in the United States, according to Alexa data. [3] A mirror site under the address putlocker.today appeared shortly after the assumed termination of putlocker.is, and on October 17, 2016, an address under the name putlocker9.com was reported to be available. [3]

On 2 November 2016, the putlocker.is address became active again, redirecting its users to the updated URL putlockers.ch. [12] On 27 February 2017, the putlockers.ch address was suspended after a ruling by a Tribunal d'arrondissement of Luxembourg in favour of the Belgian Entertainment Association, and the URL transferred ownership to EuroDNS. [13] [14] The chief legal officer of EuroDNS, Luc Seufer, stated that EuroDNS is required to "prevent any 'reactivation' of this domain name [putlockers.ch] until its expiration date". Following the seizure of the putlockers.ch address, the previously used putlocker.is domain was made functional again. [13]

In March 2017, it was reported that Ted Osius, then United States Ambassador to Vietnam, held a meeting with Truong Minh Tuan, Vietnam's Minister of Information and Communications, during which Osius urged for the criminal prosecution of Putlocker, along with the websites 123Movies and KissCartoon, for copyright infringement. [15] [16]

Not long after, putlocker.is, which changed to putlockertv.is and subsequently putlockers.cc, was reported to redirect visitors to a scamming site. [17] In May 2017, at least three working sites bearing the Putlocker name were known to be available: putlocker.rs, with a Serbian top-level domain (TLD), putlockertv.ist, with an Istanbulite TLD, and putlockerhd.is, with an Icelandic one. [18]

In July 2017, the International Business Times reported that "15% of internet users in the UK are either infringing copyright through streaming or illegal downloads, with pirated TV material primarily accessed through Kodi (16%) or Putlocker (17%)". [19] In August 2017, Justice John Nicholas of the Federal Court of Australia ordered Australian internet service providers to block access to 42 piracy sites in a case brought by Village Roadshow, with Putlocker, KissCartoon, and GoMovies being among those ordered to be blocked. [20]

In June 2018, Trevon Maurice Franklin of Fresno, California pleaded guilty to violating federal copyright law back in February 2016, when he downloaded the superhero film Deadpool from Putlocker and then uploaded it to Facebook eight days after the film was released theatrically in the United States. [21] [22] As a result, the film was viewed over 6 million times for free, with the total retail value of the copies being estimated at around $2,500. [23] Franklin was sentenced for the federal class-A misdemeanor in October to 24 days in federal detention followed by a year of supervised release, including 20 hours of community service per week. [24]

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">The Pirate Bay</span> Website providing torrent files and magnet links

The Pirate Bay is an online index of digital content of entertainment media and software. Founded in 2003 by Swedish think tank Piratbyrån, The Pirate Bay allows visitors to search, download, and contribute magnet links and torrent files, which facilitate peer-to-peer, file sharing among users of the BitTorrent protocol.

This is a timeline of events in the history of networked file sharing.

Megaupload Ltd was a Hong Kong–based online company established in 2005 that operated from 2005 to 2012 providing online services related to file storage and viewing.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">TorrentFreak</span> Blog on file sharing, copyright infringement, and digital rights

TorrentFreak (TF) is a blog dedicated to reporting the latest news and trends on the BitTorrent protocol and file sharing, as well as on copyright infringement and digital rights.

RedTube is a pornographic video-sharing site, which in September 2009 held an Alexa ranking within the world's top 100 sites. It is one of several pornographic websites owned by Aylo. In June 2010 it had fallen out of the top 100, but it made a return in mid-2012. As of mid September 2020 its Alexa ranking was 520. Its popularity has been ascribed to its non-sexual name, which is a reference to the non-pornographic video sharing website YouTube. The website is based in Houston, Texas, and has servers in San Francisco, New Orleans and Montreal.

RapidShare was an online file hosting service that opened in 2002. In 2009, it was among the Internet's 20 most visited websites and claimed to have 10 petabytes of files uploaded by users with the ability to handle up to three million users simultaneously. Following the takedown of similar service Megaupload in 2012, RapidShare changed its business model to deter the use of its services for distribution of files to large numbers of anonymous users and to focus on personal subscription-only cloud-based file storage. Its popularity fell sharply as a result and, by the end of March 2015, RapidShare ceased to operate and it is defunct. As of 2017, Rapidshare AG was acquired by Kingsley Global.

File sharing in the United Kingdom relates to the distribution of digital media in that country. In 2010, there were over 18.3 million households connected to the Internet in the United Kingdom, with 63% of these having a broadband connection. There are also many public Internet access points such as public libraries and Internet cafes.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">KickassTorrents</span> Defunct file-sharing website

KickassTorrents was a website that provided a directory for torrent files and magnet links to facilitate peer-to-peer file sharing using the BitTorrent protocol. It was founded in 2008 and by November 2014, KAT became the most visited BitTorrent directory in the world, overtaking The Pirate Bay, according to the site's Alexa ranking. KAT went offline on 20 July 2016 when the domain was seized by the U.S. government. The site's proxy servers were shut down by its staff at the same time.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Popcorn Time</span> BitTorrent client and media player software

Popcorn Time is a multi-platform, free software BitTorrent client that includes an integrated media player. The application provides a piracy-based alternative to subscription-based video streaming services such as Netflix. Popcorn Time uses sequential downloading to stream video listed by several torrent websites, and third-party trackers can also be added manually. The legality of the software depends on the jurisdiction.

The Police Intellectual Property Crime Unit (PIPCU) is a unit of the City of London Police, the national lead force for fraud. It was established in 2013 with the responsibility to investigate and deter serious and organised intellectual property crime in the United Kingdom.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sci-Hub</span> Scientific research paper file sharing website

Sci-Hub is a shadow library website that provides free access to millions of research papers, regardless of copyright, by bypassing publishers' paywalls in various ways. Unlike Library Genesis, it does not provide access to books. Sci-Hub was founded in Kazakhstan by Alexandra Elbakyan in 2011, in response to the high cost of research papers behind paywalls. The site is extensively used worldwide. In September 2019, the site's operator(s) said that it served approximately 400,000 requests per day. In addition to its intensive use, Sci-Hub stands out among other shadow libraries because of its easy use/reliability and because of the enormous size of its collection: a 2018 study estimated that Sci-Hub provided access to 95% of all scholarly publications with issued DOI numbers, and on 15 July 2022 Sci-Hub reported that its collection comprises 88,343,822 files.

Tamil Rockers is a torrent website based in India which facilitates the distribution of copyrighted material, including television shows, movies, music and videos. The site allows visitors to search for and download copyrighted material with the help of magnet links and torrent files, which facilitate peer-to-peer file sharing. It also operates multiple Telegram channels and groups with thousands of subscribers. Tamil Rockers is the tenth most popular torrent site in TorrentFreak's Top 10 Most Popular Torrent Sites of 2020 list.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Alliance for Creativity and Entertainment</span> Global content coalition

Alliance for Creativity and Entertainment (ACE) is a coalition of over 30 major global entertainment companies and film studios aimed at protecting profits from copyrighted material. ACE was launched on June 13, 2017.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">YIFY</span> Peer-to-peer movies release group

YIFY Torrents or YTS was a peer-to-peer release group known for distributing large numbers of movies as free downloads through BitTorrent. YIFY releases were characterised through their small file size, which attracted many downloaders.

123Movies, GoMovies, GoStream, MeMovies or 123movieshub was a network of file streaming websites operating from Vietnam which allowed users to watch films for free. It was called the world's "most popular illegal site" by the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) in March 2018, before being shut down a few weeks later on foot of a criminal investigation by the Vietnamese authorities. As of February 2024, websites imitating the brand remain active.

FMovies is a series of file streaming websites that host links and embedded videos, allowing users to stream or download movies for free. The sites have been subject to legal action in various jurisdictions on grounds of copyright infringement and piracy.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">KissAnime</span> Anime-focused piracy file streaming site

KissAnime was an anime-focused file streaming website that hosted links and embedded videos, allowing users to stream or download movies and TV shows illegally for free. It was a sister site to a related manga viewing website, KissManga. KissAnime was described as "one of the world’s biggest streaming anime websites". TorrentFreak reported that the sites had audiences of millions and that for a time, KissAnime was "the most visited pirate site in the world".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Z-Library</span> File-sharing site for journal articles, books, and magazines

Z-Library is a shadow library project for file-sharing access to scholarly journal articles, academic texts and general-interest books. It began as a mirror of Library Genesis, but has since expanded dramatically.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Openload</span> File-sharing website

Openload was a file-sharing website shut down in 2019 after legal action by the Alliance for Creativity and Entertainment. The site was highly-used before its shutdown, making most of its money from advertising and cryptojacking. The site was designated as a notorious market and often used for copyright infringement.

References

  1. ↑ Scaria 2014, p. 33.
  2. ↑ Bolton, Doug (26 May 2016). "Putlocker blocked in the UK by internet service providers after High Court order". The Independent . Archived from the original on 31 August 2017. Retrieved 17 October 2016.
  3. 1 2 3 Ibe, Gerald (17 October 2016). "Putlocker New Site Appears After Putlocker.is Taken Down; Is It Safe?". TechPlz. Archived from the original on 17 January 2018. Retrieved 17 October 2016.
  4. 1 2 Prabhu, Vijay (17 October 2016). "Yet Another Video Streaming Service Bites The Dust, Putlocker Shuts Down". TechWorm. Archived from the original on 19 October 2016. Retrieved 17 October 2016.
  5. ↑ Tung, Liam (5 April 2012). "Hollywood bloodlust cripples another filelocker". IT News. Archived from the original on 18 October 2016. Retrieved 17 October 2016.
  6. ↑ Enigmax (3 April 2012). "We're No Rogue Site: PutLocker Responds To Hollywood". Torrent Freak. Archived from the original on 22 July 2016. Retrieved 17 October 2016.
  7. ↑ Sandoval, Greg (31 March 2012). "MPAA wants more criminal cases brought against 'rogue' sites". CNET . Archived from the original on 9 March 2018. Retrieved 17 October 2016.
  8. ↑ Harblson, Cammy (4 June 2014). "Is Putlocker.bz Down Or Not Working? Domain Seized But Free Movie Streaming Site Lives Under New Domain Name". iDigitalTimes. Archived from the original on 18 October 2016. Retrieved 17 October 2016.
  9. ↑ "India starts blocking file storage websites in a move against piracy". ZDNET . Archived from the original on 10 February 2013. Retrieved 1 September 2022.
  10. ↑ Morin, Chris (17 December 2014). "Top Google searches in 2014". The Leader-Post . Regina, Saskatchewan, Canada. p. 1. Archived from the original on 1 September 2021. Retrieved 31 August 2021.
  11. ↑ Toledo, Michael Jay (17 October 2016). "Putlocker Alternative: Free Movies 2016 Still Available? No URL Ban?". The BitBag. Archived from the original on 17 October 2016. Retrieved 17 October 2016.
  12. ↑ "Putlocker.is Up And Running Again!". Everyday Electronics. 2 November 2016. Retrieved 3 November 2016.
  13. 1 2 Ernesto (28 February 2017). "'Putlocker' Loses Domain Name Following Court Order". TorrentFreak. Archived from the original on 17 January 2023. Retrieved 2 March 2017.
  14. ↑ Kavita Iyer (1 March 2017). "Movie streaming website Putlocker loses its 'Putlockers.ch' domain name following court order". TechWorm. Archived from the original on 24 April 2019. Retrieved 2 March 2017.
  15. ↑ Ngọc Tuyên (22 March 2017). "Việt - Mỹ hợp tác chặn nội dung xấu trên YouTube, Facebook" [Vietnam - US cooperation to block bad content on YouTube, Facebook]. VnExpress (in Vietnamese). Archived from the original on 24 March 2017. Retrieved 25 March 2017.
  16. ↑ Ernesto (23 March 2017). "US Ambassador Asks Vietnam to Target 123movies, Putlocker and Kisscartoon". TorrentFreak. Archived from the original on 14 July 2019. Retrieved 25 March 2017.
  17. ↑ "Is Putlocker Dead? Streaming Site Directs Users to 'Scammy' Videos". TorrentFreak. 6 April 2017. Archived from the original on 23 April 2017. Retrieved 30 April 2017.
  18. ↑ TDW (2017). "Putlocker-Watch Free Movies, TV on These Putlockers and Alternatives". Thedigitalworm.com. Archived from the original on 5 September 2018. Retrieved 26 June 2017.
  19. ↑ Oliver Cragg (7 July 2017). "How Kodi boxes, Putlocker and YouTube rips are destroying official anti-piracy efforts". International Business Times . Archived from the original on 12 July 2017. Retrieved 25 July 2017.
  20. ↑ Michaela Whitbourn (17 August 2017). "Film studios and Foxtel win orders blocking 59 pirate websites". The Sydney Morning Herald . Archived from the original on 28 June 2018. Retrieved 28 June 2018.
  21. ↑ "Man, 22, pleads guilty to illegally uploading 'Deadpool' movie to Facebook". Los Angeles Daily News . 14 June 2018. Archived from the original on 28 June 2018. Retrieved 28 June 2018.
  22. ↑ "Man arrested for uploading 'Deadpool' to his Facebook page". New York Post. Associated Press. 14 June 2017. Archived from the original on 14 January 2022. Retrieved 17 January 2022.
  23. ↑ Veronica Rocha (13 June 2017). "Man arrested by feds after 5 million people watched illegal 'Deadpool' upload on his Facebook". Los Angeles Times . Archived from the original on 28 June 2018. Retrieved 28 June 2018.
  24. ↑ "Man gets three-week sentence for uploading 'Deadpool' to Facebook". Los Angeles Daily News. 4 October 2018. Archived from the original on 8 January 2019. Retrieved 7 January 2019.

Sources

This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.