There was some news earlier this week how one of the largest piracy/torrent sharing websites, KickAss Torrents, was closed down by the FBI. Now the most interesting part of this was actually how they were able to figure out who the owner was, and all signs are starting to point towards Apple giving up the users location and name.
“Vaulin is charged with running today’s most visited illegal file-sharing website, responsible for unlawfully distributing well over $1 billion of copyrighted materials. In an effort to evade law enforcement, Vaulin allegedly relied on servers located in countries around the world and moved his domains due to repeated seizures and civil lawsuits. His arrest in Poland, however, demonstrates again that cybercriminals can run, but they cannot hide from justice.”
[Source: Justice.gov Press Release]
But the main point of this post is this part of the press release.
“Records provided by Apple showed that tirm@me.com conducted an iTunes transaction using IP Address 109.86.226.203 on or about July 31, 2015,” reads the complaint. “The same IP Address was used on the same day to login into the KAT Facebook.”
That would be an Apple email address up there, what? No Tim Cook standing up for users privacy? Is this because any piracy actually hurts Apple’s bottom line since people don’t use iTunes? Looks like it’s a one way street, when Apple’s finances are effected Apple won’t stand up for your privacy, but when it will make an excellent PR case, they will, Apple Tells Feds It Won’t Unlock Shooter’s Phone.