3 Count: South Korean Malware

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1: South Korean ISP ‘Infected’ Torrenting Subscribers with Malware

First off today, Ernesto Van der Sar at TorrentFreak reports that the South Korean Internet Service Provider KT is being investigated by police for allegedly infecting some 600,000 of their subscribers with malware.

In South Korea, BitTorrent file sharing remains popular. However, many pirates use “Webhard” services that seed torrents for easier downloading. According to users, KT installed malware on some Webhard services, infecting some 600,000 of KT’s 15 million subscribers.

This was part of KT’s larger effort to reduce piracy, which included throttling connections to such services and blocking access to them. According to internal discussions at KT, the goal wasn’t to protect copyright but to reduce congestion on their network. It is unclear what the malware was intended to do.

2: Google Greenlights Online Copyright Regulation for Türkiye

Next up today, the Hürriyet Daily News reports that Google has agreed to hold talks with authorities in Türkiye about enacting new legislation requiring search engines to license news content in the country.

Google has historically resisted such efforts, including similar ones in Canada and the European Union. However, with Türkiye, Google has said that they will follow any legislation passed so long as there is a commission to oversee the process.

Previously, Google had resisted such calls to pay for journalism used in search results. This led to the company disabling Google News and removing news sites from search results.

3: MPA Hires Top-Ranking FBI Official to Lead Fight Against Piracy

Finally today, Tony Maglio at IndieWire reports that the Motion Picture Association (MPA) has hired Larissa Knapp as its new chief content protection officer.

According to the MPA, Knapp was the fourth-highest-ranking official at the FBI. This included a 27-year stint with the organization, most recently heading its National Security Branch.

However, now Knapp will be heading the MPA’s anti-piracy efforts. In a statement, the MPA said that they hope this will grow their anti-piracy efforts in “stature and impact” over the coming years.

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