The group that leaked Quentin Tarantino's new movie has suddenly stopped - and pirates are panicking
It was "released" by a piracy group going by the name Hive-CM8, who promised to have 40 of the best films of 2015 in their possession, to be released over the coming weeks.
But Hive-CM8 has since fallen silent - prompting downloaders to worry that the group has changed its mind.
When the group released "The Hateful Eight," it said it had 40 films to release. "DVDScreener 1 of 40, will do them all one after each other, started with the hottest title of this year, the rest will follow," the group announced.
Hive-CM8 has been releasing "screeeners." These are the copies of movies sent out to judges for awards ceremonies like the Oscars and the BAFTAs (sometimes even before their theatrical release): Every year, some inevitably find their way online.
Of course, these "screener" files have technical measures in place to try and stop illegal sharing, like watermarks that uniquely identify each file. Piracy groups will try to detect and remove these, but don't always succeed. "The Hateful Eight" has been tracked back to Hollywood executive Andrew Koseve, for example. (Although there's no evidence that Koseve himself leaked it.)
So far, Hive-CM8 has released less than half of the promised movies. As well as "The Hateful Eight," these include James Bond movie "Spectre," "Legend," "Steve Jobs," "Creed," and "Bridge of Spies."
But the group appears to have stopped its releases, as previously reported by Forbes, after potentially identifying information was posted about one of its members. The information - which Business Insider has not seen - was apparently shared on torrent site Kickass Torrents, as well as IPTorrents, where Hive-CM8 has been releasing their files.
A thread on Kickass Torrents is abuzz with discussion about the future of the group. One users claims that "these guys have all gone undercover. There will be no more screener releases for now from CM8. Thought I should share. I was told they will rise again."
One pirate bemoaned that "I was only waiting for 2 other screeners and now the chances of those getting upload are not in my favor.... great."
"So many other good titles to get released but now chances of them surfacing are very little...." said another.
A user who identified themselves as an "uploader" (someone who uploads pirated material to the internet), said: "I don't blame cm8 one bit for no longer wanting to upload anymore, the group is probably destroying ALL of their equipment as we speak to prevent another extrajudicial Kim Dotcom raid."
Business Insider hasn't seen proof that Hive-CM8 has stopped - and the group could still prove its saddened fans wrong. But right now, pirates haven't got the Christmas present they were hoping for.