​As the movie and music industries continue to bemoan internet piracy -- and push for internet-censoring laws like SOPA, PIPA, and the TPP to curb illegal file sharing -- a new academic study has come out that debunks a major belief about piracy and profit loss.

In "Reel Piracy: The Effect of Online Film Piracy on International Box Office Sales," researchers from Wellesley College and the University of Minnesota came to some not-so-starling conclusions (h/t TorrentFreak.)

The researchers decided that the introduction of BitTorrent in 2003 has, in fact, impacted box office sales abroad -- by at least 7 percent -- but that piracy has actually been prompted by distributers' own manipulation of the movie markets.

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​When the cops busted Megaupload founder Kim Dotcom on Jan. 18, who was brought into custody with the help of an anti-terror squad, police said the takedown was going to thwart online piracy.

Indeed, in the immediate aftermath, this seemed to be the case -- with DeepField Networks reporting a 3 percent drop in overall internet traffic "within an hour."

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​Late last night Anonymous tweeted that the Senate was trying to sneak in SOPA under a new name, writing: "Le sigh. US Senate Really wants to go another round with the Internet?"

The hacktivist group linked to an RT story detailing Sen. Harry Reid's still secretive plans to float an internet security bill.

Though mass protest -- including a voluntary "blackout" of the web -- prompted Congress to throw out SOPA and PIPA in January, reports suggest that Reid might try to work intellectual property clauses into a new cyber-security bill.

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​It's only Wednesday, but it has already been quite the week of ups and downs for the file-sharing world. On Monday, Runnin' Scared reported on BTjunkie, which voluntarily shut down amid legal action against similar sites MegaUpload and The Pirate Bay. And just yesterday, we blogged about Kim Dotcom's arrest saga -- which bizarrely includes anti-terror cops.

All this, of course, comes on the heels of intense follow-ups on the part of anti-intellectual property hacktivists, who continue to fight against anti-piracy measures. (Remember that Anonymous called to action web users against the Trans-Pacific Partnership, which threatens to take the place of SOPA and PIPA.)

Right now, though, scientists at Delft University of Technology keep working to refine a BitTorrent client that might be virtually shutdown-proof. (Note: when Runnin' Scared tried to access the Tribler website just now, we did have some problem connecting. Anyone else have this issue?)

TorrentFreak has a brief story on Delft's Tribler client and new changes to the system. Because there are no centralized servers -- it's entirely peer-to-peer -- it's almost impossible to regulate.

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​New reports reveal that Kim Dotcom, the model-loving mastermind behind file-sharing giant Megaupload, was busted by New Zealand's anti-terror squad, as well as other law enforcement officers, in a high-security shakedown.

According to TorrentFreak, Dotcom's mansion was swarmed last month by "dozens of police" who were "armed with assault rifles and sidearms" though he is accused of computer-based copyright infringement.

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TorrentFreak.com

​File-sharing fave BTjunkie has signed off the Web forever today, after its owners decided to pull the plug amid legal action against similar sites MegaUpload and The Pirate Bay, TorrentFreak reports.

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​And now for a very quick recap before Runnin' Scared signs off for the night: Anonymous has intercepted and leaked a call between the FBI and Scotland Yard, but it's hardly the only thing the group has been up to in its latest Fuck FBI Friday.

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​First came SOPA and PIPA, but now internet-liberty advocates -- such as hacktivist group Anonymous -- warn that a new measure, the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) could be the next affront to a free web.

The org tweeted this morning a rally to stop the TPP, which is currently being negotiated in Hollywood.

The free-trade agreement -- now discussed by nine nations including the U.S. -- is said to include rules on intellectual property that would make participating countries adopt "copyright measures far more restrictive than currently required by international treaties, including the controversial Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement," according to the Electric Frontier Foundation.

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​Just a few days after Obama's re-election campaign adopted the mobile payment system Square to help increase its fundraising efforts, the president is already taking further steps to cozy up to the tech industry.

Last night in his "virtual town hall" on Google+, President Obama addressed the SOPA/PIPA controversy that has internet denizens everywhere in a tizzy.

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​Twitter says that it's not censoring content even though it's clearly censoring content.

But let's back up a bit. Twitter CEO Dick Costolo said Monday night that the microblogging site -- which has a rep for spreading revolution, disobedience, and Brits' bad jokes -- can basically filter tweets in countries with restrictions on free speech, so that offending posts don't break these nations' (prickish) laws, according to PC Magazine.

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