The data for our weekly download chart is estimated by TorrentFreak, and is for informational and educational reference only.

Downloading content without permission is copyright infringement. These torrent download statistics are only meant to provide further insight into piracy trends. All data are gathered from public resources.

This week we have two newcomers on the list. “The Fantastic Four: First Steps” is the most shared title.

The most torrented movies for the week ending on September 29 are:

Note: We also publish an updating archive of all the list of weekly most torrented movies lists.

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Posted Tuesday 30 September 2025 at 4:02 am AEST (my time).

News posts... 2023: 5,800+ | 2024: 5,700+ | 2025 (till end of August): 4,048

RIP Matrix

When studying law in Taiwan back in 2019, Kevin Lin learned that law firms were doing good business in the anti-piracy space. After he graduated, he aimed to do the same.

Around June 2022, reports emerged that Lin was a suspect in what was described locally as a “copyright cockroach” case.

After teaming up with a like-minded former classmate who happened to be a lawyer, Lin founded Truth Intellectual Property Consulting Co, a company that would soon begin to sue hundreds of people for illegally downloading and sharing movies on BitTorrent. The scenario is not especially unusual but the background certainly is.

Download, Seed, Sue

In order to gather evidence to support the upcoming campaign, Truth Intellectual Property signed a monitoring deal with a technology company. Through that deal, Lin was introduced to lawyer Zheng Yuanxiang, who reportedly drafted the complaints against the alleged downloaders and negotiated the settlements. The difference in this case was the nature of the content the users downloaded.

After obtaining the exclusive rights to several movies from Vie Vision Pictures Co. and Applause Entertainment Ltd, men working for Lin uploaded the movies to BitTorrent and waited for pirates to take the bait.

Unwitting pirates had their IP addresses captured and once identified were targeted with demands for cash settlements. The rightsholders agreed to a 20% cut, with Lin’s operation taking the remaining 80%, part of which covered the costs with the remainder taken as profit.

The End of the Settlement Dream

After launching the operation in August 2021, Lin’s company filed 937 lawsuits for copyright infringement. Just 25 cases resulted in a cash settlement, netting a grand total equivalent to less than US$30,000.

The authorities had received a number of complaints, but it appears that the litigation strategy had also overwhelmed several police departments and prosecutors’ offices.

Lin and the other men were indicted, with the Taipei District Court eventually finding them guilty of engaging in “corporate-style litigation” in violation of the Lawyers Act among other offenses.

Lin received a 10-month prison sentence, commutable to a fine equivalent to US$10,000. His co-defendants, including a company registration manager, two employees, and a legal officer, were also sentenced to prison terms of 6 to 8 months, commutable to fines.

For the crime of handling litigation cases with intent to profit, lawyer Zheng Yuanxiang was also sentenced to prison. All defendants – and the prosecution – appealed the District Court’s verdict.

Taiwan High Court

At the Taiwan High Court, the prosecution argued that Kevin Lin (also known as Lin Yijie), along with the other defendants, had engaged in a scheme in which they intended to profit from copyright infringement.

The prosecution said that the defendants used their legal connections to lure internet users into downloading pirated content with the intent of pressurizing them into settling their dispute.

The defense countered with claims that the prosecution’s case was based on flawed evidence that failed to establish intent. Kevin Lin was simply a mediator between various parties involved in the scheme, the defense argued, noting that he had not directly profited from it. And besides, in similar cases defendants had been found not guilty, the defense added.

All Defendants Acquitted

On September 25, 2025, the Taiwan High Court acquitted all defendants, reversing the verdict of the lower court. The Court agreed that the prosecution’s evidence was insufficient to link the men to the scheme and criticized the Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office for an investigation with inconsistent findings.

The Court found that the exclusive licensing deal between Truth Intellectual Property and Vie Vision and Applause Entertainment, wasn’t illegal but did stray close to the line. The Court found no evidence of collusion; legal action was conducted in the Truth company’s name so it wasn’t litigating on behalf of others.

The Court further found that the conditions for offenses under Article 157 of the Criminal Code and Article 127 of the Lawyers Act, which forbids unlicensed lawyers conducting litigation for profit, had not been met. The Court also noted that those who collected the evidence for use in legal action could not be held responsible for the actions of others.

Allegations that the defendants profited from the scheme reportedly failed to establish intent. Rather than a reliance on evidence, the Court found that the prosecution relied on speculation and ultimately failed to meet the burden of proof.

Lin Comments on Social Media

In a post on social media, Lin celebrated the win but avoided any comment on the details. An elusive detail concerns the claim that the defendants uploaded the same content they later sued people for downloading.

The Taipei Times is very specific about how the content was obtained and then seeded. Yet, far as we know, that aspect wasn’t a key part of the case.

Regardless, Lin seems very pleased with the outcome.

After three and a half years of highly publicized judicial proceedings, the High Court panel has officially ruled not guilty!

 

During this long and agonizing period, I have endured baseless accusations and unjust treatment. This just verdict from the High Court is not only a belated vindication, but also proves that my actions were always legal and not in the best light as accused.

 

From my student days at Taipei Physical Education Institute and National Chung Cheng University, to my later studies at the Graduate School of Law at National Chengchi University and the Executive MBA program at the College of Management at National Taiwan University, I have always believed in education, law, and justice.

 

This ruling also demonstrates the power of the judiciary to restore order.

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Posted Tuesday 30 September 2025 at 3:43 am AEST (my time).

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RIP Matrix

Authorities in the United States have seized many domain names over the years, including those associated with online piracy.

In some cases, domains are seized as part of a criminal prosecution. Megaupload.com, for example, was taken down thirteen years ago and remains under the control of the United States which renews its registration annually.

Not all seizures are treated equally, however. In some cases, domains are simply let back into the system after they expire, allowing anyone with an interest in the brand to pick them up relatively cheaply. Domain squatters pick up some, while others simply end up in the hands of ‘pirates’ once again.

U.S. Seized Streameast Domains

Earlier in September, there was much ado about the takedown of what was reportedly the largest pirate sports streaming network. The Streameast operation did not involve the U.S. government, nor was it targeted at the original Streameast, but it was a massive victory nonetheless.

The original Streameast has not been spared legal trouble either. In fact, its domain names were seized by U.S. authorities last year. While the site swiftly moved to new domains, the old ones were pointing to a seizure banner.

“It is unlawful to reproduce or distribute copyrighted material including sporting events, television shows, movies, music, software, or games without authorization. Individuals who do so risk criminal prosecution under Title 18,” the banner explained.

Seized

The seizures were backed up by a warrant obtained in August 2024 at a Louisiana federal court, targeting Thestreameast.to, Streameast.io, Streameast.live, Streameast.xyz, Thestreameast.io, and Thestreameast.xyz.

Streameast ‘Reclaims’ Streameast.xyz

Today, some of these seized domains continue to point to the original warning banner but it appears that the U.S. authorities no longer control all of them.

While researching both old and newly-seized Streameast domains recently, we noticed that Streameast.xyz expired earlier this year. Apparently, it was not renewed by those who controlled it, as the seizure banner was gone.

Instead, the domain appeared to have been reclaimed by the original Streameast team. While it is not listed as an official mirror site, Streameast.xyz points to content from the original site once again. And indeed, the original Streameast team confirms that the domain is theirs.

Streameast.xyz
 

It is not clear why the U.S. authorities lost control of the domain or whether it was intentional. Other domain names covered by the same seizure warrant were renewed recently, including Streameast.io.

The Streameast team might view this as a significant symbolic victory. After all, they effectively reclaimed a federally seized domain name without having to mount a legal challenge.

In the grander scheme, one domain name is not going to make a massive difference. However, the U.S. government went through the trouble to obtain a federal warrant, so it’s ironic to see it controlled by pirates once again.

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Posted Monday 29 September 2025 at 4:27 am AEST (my time).

News posts... 2023: 5,800+ | 2024: 5,700+ | 2025 (till end of August): 4,048

RIP Matrix

Nearly a quarter of a century after its debut, internet users stocking up on the latest multi-GB Linux distros can still do so with help from the BitTorrent protocol.

Able to download chunks of even the largest files, distributed among other users who could be anywhere on the planet, BitTorrent’s file transfer skills are two decades old yet never fail to impress.

For those yet to sample the magic of magnet links, the whole process begins with a humble .torrent file. These relatively small files contain metadata relating to the large file the user wants to download, including the location of one or more ‘trackers’, the central online servers that facilitate communication between users’ torrent clients.

Yet the real magic lies in BitTorrent’s resilience; it has a secret weapon that can find those chunks of data, wherever they may be, even when central trackers are blocked or shut down. It’s called DHT – Distributed Hash Table – and it’s one of the key reasons BitTorrent still performs so well on the global stage, even today.

Trackers Are Useful But Disposable

A central server known as a tracker communicates with torrent clients to coordinate transfers of files between them. When a client requests a piece of a file the tracker knows is available, the tracker tells the client which other clients have it and from there, transfers take place peer-to-peer. Periodically, clients update the tracker with new information about the network, and so the cycle continues.

DHT, on the other hand, empowers torrent clients with the ability to receive and impart information directly with other clients. By creating distributed network knowledge, there’s no absolute need for a tracker, eliminating a potential central point of failure.

Peers knowledge of other peers is boosted by Peer Exchange or PEX, a system through which a client that’s connected to another client, shares the IP addresses of peers it already knows. This increases the recipient client’s pool of connectivity opportunities and, if all goes well, speeds up downloads.

When new clients join the DHT, other torrent clients share content locations with the newcomer and, given time, the client returns the favor by passing information to other clients following similar requests.

The process is boosted locally using PEX, but the aim is the same – discovery of other clients/peers to create a more robust network with more effective file transfers.

In short, DHT makes every client a node in a vast decentralized network, with each sharing their growing knowledge of the network with other clients, that in turn have knowledge they’ll automatically share with others.

No single client knows the location of everything and even the pooled knowledge of thousands is unlikely to produce a full network map. However, most clients know enough to point out the location of at least something useful, and with PEX, they’ll provide the locations of other clients which helps to strengthen the overall network.

To many people the sharing of content is the most visible aspect of BitTorrent, but its real strength lies in the sharing of information that maintains the underlying network. The network that underlies that obviously plays a massive role too.

Tens of Millions of Peers But Hard to Measure

In the bigger picture, the loss of few clients from public DHT is a non-event. Indeed, the sudden shut down of a major residential internet provider somewhere in the world may not be especially disruptive either, given the scale of the network. Yet putting an exact figure on the size of the network has to date proven elusive.

The lowest estimates always start in the millions of peers, with some researchers previously reporting anything from 20 to 30 million, sometimes a few million more, other times a few million less.

Researchers behind BoonTorrent, a now seven-year-old project to create a real-time monitoring tool for BitTorrent DHT traffic, reported that “BitTorrent traffic is abundant, but difficult to analyze. To capture enough data for significant analysis, a large distributed solution is needed.”

Their solution included a heatmap visualization of the previous two minutes of traffic, with two examples shown below.

BoonTorrent DHT Heatmap 1

BoonTorrent DHT Heatmap 2

Depending on the circumstances, we know that the number of peers can vary by at least 10 million, possibly more at times, or less.

That being said, these images suggest that Southeast Asia and Russia had quite the presence on BitTorrent’s DHT seven years ago. That’s a long time in internet years and everything is subject to change.

Some ISPs Play Big Roles Supporting DHT Worldwide

As far as we’re aware, there are no large, recent studies on BitTorrent’s DHT so the overall numbers remain as elusive as ever. However, when using the tools available at IPinfo.io, something unexpected appeared; tracking data for BitTorrent’s DHT and some estimates based on IPinfo’s visibility of the network.

The data displayed as of today concerns the number of IP addresses and their corresponding ASNs observed on the Mainline DHT in the past 30 days. The data obtained by TF from IPinfo.io just a few days ago is broadly the same.

When drilling down into the details, the data provides an overview of the ISPs with the greatest number of allocated IP addresses observed on the DHT network.

Top ISPs With a Strong Customer DHT Presence

With 3,152,801 IP addresses observed on the DHT during the previous 30 days, Russian ISP PJSC Rostelecom comfortably takes the top spot. Lagging two million IP addresses behind, Korea Telecom takes second place (1,143,168 IPs) with CHINANET-BACKBONE narrowly behind with 1,131,734 observed IPs.

Positioned between ISPs from China and Morocco, Comcast Cable Communications takes 9th place with 377,976 observed IP addresses, with the UK’s British Telecommunications PLC edging out competition from Egypt and Turkey with 218,365 IP addresses. Given the site-blocking measures in place at BT, that’s a considerable number of subscribers sharing content openly, with no apparent need for a VPN.

The full list is available below, with a bonus column of most popular content downloaded by users in each country, tracked by IKnowWhatYouDownloaded on the DHT itself. Ultimately, the data provides a clear snapshot of BitTorrent’s modern landscape and the international telecom giants its users connect from.

It’s worth noting that a) this view of the DHT may not be complete and b) countries without a dominant national ISP may have many smaller ISPs not covered in the report. Even with that caveat, pushing Russia from the top spot overall seems unlikely since it already appears three times in the same table.

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Posted Sunday 28 September 2025 at 2:08 am AEST (my time).

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RIP Matrix

Four years ago, Bungie filed a complaint at a federal court in Seattle, accusing Destiny 2 cheat seller AimJunkies.com of copyright and trademark infringement, among other things.

The same accusations were also leveled against Phoenix Digital Group, several people connected to the company, and a third-party developer.

Bungie Wins Landmark Jury Trial

After years of legal back-and-forth, in May 2024 the case became the first of its kind to go before a jury. In court, AimJunkies emphasized that it had never accessed or modified any of Destiny 2’s copyrighted game code. Bungie, on the other hand, argued that AimJunkies’ copyright-infringing activities were blatant and obvious.

At the end of the trial, the Seattle jury ruled in favor of the video game company, finding all defendants liable for direct, vicarious, and contributory copyright infringement. Phoenix Digital Group and all individual defendants were ordered to pay damages equivalent to the actual profits they earned, a total of $63,210.

The jury verdict was a clear victory for Bungie, but it didn’t mark the end of the legal battle. AimJunkies challenged the verdict and several related orders at the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals.

Cease-Fire as Settlement Looms?

In December 2024, the parties began discussing a settlement. However, the follow-up did not go as smoothly as planned, and by August 2025, there were doubts that a final agreement was imminent.

“Although Appellants have diligently sought to settle this case since late last year, Bungie, Inc.’s lack of responsiveness and constant claims of its counsel that Bungie needed to be consulted for even the most routine questions have kept this from happening,” AimJunkies’ attorney informed the court in August.

Because the attorney was facing health issues himself, AimJunkies filed a request to postpone his opening brief until September 19, 2025. However, that brief never came, as both parties eventually agreed to dismiss the appeal at the last minute, which effectively ended the legal battle.

AimJunkies Throws in the Towel

On Monday, the AimJunkies defendants and Bungie informed the court of their decision. The brief doesn’t mention a settlement of any kind but notes that each party will bear its own costs and fees.

Dismissal
 

The dismissal means that the jury verdict will stand. As such, the AimJunkies team is required to pay the damages award of $63,210. In addition, Bungie was previously awarded almost $4.4 million in damages and fees in a separate arbitration proceeding, which also remains intact.

Bungie has not commented publicly on the outcome of the legal battle, but we received a message, purportedly from an AimJunkies representative, informing us that the appeal had been dropped with AimJunkies aaccepting full responsibility.

“[W]e dropped the last appeal related to our dispute with Bungie related to the creation, development, advertising, sale, and distribution of the Destiny 2 cheat software previously sold on AimJunkies.com and related websites,” the email begins.

“We acknowledge and admit that the cheat software infringed Bungie’s registered copyrights in Destiny 2 in violation of United States copyright law, circumvented Bungie’s technological protection measures in violation of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, violated Bungie’s Limited Software License Agreement (‘LSLA’), and caused the users of the cheat software to violate their respective LSLAs with Bungie, among other violations of law.

“We apologize to Bungie and the many Destiny 2 players impacted and harmed by our actions,” the email concludes.

Unverified statement
 

The message above was sent before the dismissal was communicated to the court and arrived from an unknown email address. Follow-up attempts to verify its authenticity, including questions sent to AimJunkies’ attorney, remain unanswered. The same applies to our inquiries sent to Bungie’s legal team.

At the time of writing, the official AimJunkies website is offline, so it appears that the company may have given up on the entire operation, including cheats for other games that have nothing to do with Bungie.

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Posted Friday 26 September 2025 at 6:01 pm AEST (my time).

News posts... 2023: 5,800+ | 2024: 5,700+ | 2025 (till end of August): 4,048

RIP Matrix

The Supreme Court case between several major record labels and Internet provider Cox Communications is a landmark legal battle.

The outcome will determine how Internet providers should deal with pirating subscribers on their networks.

Should alleged pirates be disconnected from the Internet after repeated third-party allegations of copyright infringement? Or does that go too far?

As previously reported, the case revolves around contributory copyright infringement and has the potential for broader implications for other online services. The eventual verdict is destined to shape the future of U.S. copyright law, and major tech companies, including Amazon, Google, and Microsoft, have already spoken out in favor of Cox.

Yet the most powerful support comes from the U.S. government itself, which has now taken an additional step to make its position clear.

From Written Briefs to Oral Arguments

The Office of the Solicitor General advised the Supreme Court to take on the case earlier this year. And after Cox submitted its opening brief last month, the U.S. filed an amicus brief openly supporting Cox’s position.

The government’s brief argued that the Fourth Circuit’s decision wrongly applied U.S. copyright law. By doing so, many people may be at risk of losing internet access, while companies such as Cox face broad copyright liability rulings.

An amicus brief from the U.S. Government carries significant weight, and it doesn’t stop there either. This week, Solicitor General D. John Sauer formally requested to be heard during the upcoming oral arguments, which are scheduled to take place this fall.

In a motion filed on Monday, the Solicitor General asks for ten minutes of speaking time, which will be used to argue in favor of Cox. The ISP was granted thirty minutes, but it agreed to cede ten minutes of its time to the United States.

Ten minutes
 

Oral arguments are a key part of a Supreme Court case, as they allow the parties to clarify complex issues. The Solicitor General is expected to argue against broad Internet disconnections, as the amicus brief revealed.

In this week’s motion, the U.S. clarifies that, while copyright protection is important for the country, public access to critical communication tools such as the Internet is vital too.

“The United States has a substantial interest in the effective protection of intellectual property, which represents a significant portion of the nation’s economy,” the solicitor general writes.

“At the same time, the United States has a substantial interest in fostering technological developments and beneficial uses of digital technologies and in ensuring the broad availability of critical communications services like the internet.”

The motion, which has yet to be granted, is a powerful signal to the Supreme Court that the executive branch has concerns over the potential negative consequences of holding ISPs broadly liable for user infringement. It shows that this case is more than a simple dispute between an ISP and record labels.

The Billion Dollar Question(s)

The lower court’s ruling under appeal effectively requires ISPs to take action against repeat infringers, which can include terminating the Internet connections of entire households. It is not difficult to see how that could inhibit key communication channels, including access to Government information.

The Supreme Court now has to decide if an internet service provider can be held contributorily liable for piracy carried out by its subscribers after the ISP has been notified of the infringing activity. Additionally, the Court will clarify whether that liability qualifies as “willful” even when the ISP believes its own conduct is lawful.

Questions presented
 

For Cox, however, the case is about much more than their subscribers well-being or the correct interpretation of copyright law. The internet provider was previously ordered to pay $1 billion in damages to the record labels, so the financial consequences could be severe.

—

A copy of the motion of the U.S. to participate in the oral argument as amicus curiae, signed by Solicitor General D. John Sauer, is available here (pdf)

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Posted Thursday 25 September 2025 at 6:10 pm AEST (my time).

News posts... 2023: 5,800+ | 2024: 5,700+ | 2025 (till end of August): 4,048

RIP Matrix

Following its launch early 2024, Italy’s Piracy Shield blocking system was rarely out of the headlines for long.

Promoted as the ultimate solution to online piracy, hype and excitement soon gave way to the practical realities of a notoriously difficult working environment.

Despite a series of legal tweaks somehow managing to worsen already strained relationships with the country’s ISPs, the platform’s early demise proved as elusive as the end of piracy itself.

With seemingly little progress to report in the face of highly credible reports of collateral damage, fresh legal amendments in the summer signaled an expansion of Piracy Shield and new content to protect.

Not Just Football, All Live Events Become Eligible

Since the launch of the platform, blocking has mainly concerned the protection of Serie A football matches. However, there was always a plan for Piracy Shield to do more and at the end of July, amendments to expand availability of dynamic blocking injunctions to rightsholders of all live events were finally given the green light.

“With these measures, it will be possible to disable access to illegally disseminated content, during the first thirty minutes of the transmission of live content and premieres of cinematographic and audiovisual works or entertainment programs, as well as similar audio works,” AGCOM confirmed.

A big movie premiere seemed a likely candidate to get this new phase of blocking underway. However, among a trio of live blocking applications from broadcaster Sky, is a call to protect a live family TV show known all around the world.

Sky Hopes Piracy Shield Has the X Factor

The application seeking Piracy Shield protection for ‘X Factor 2025’ was filed September 12. According to AGCOM, Sky highlighted a serious, ongoing, and systematic violation of its rights due to illicit broadcasting of its Sky Uno channel. The focus was on the high-value X Factor franchise, to which Sky owns the exclusive broadcasting rights.

The systematic and illegitimate provision of the Sky Uno channel (EPG no. 108), published by Sky Italia srl, was detected at the internet addresses/URLs of the reported pirate service. From 11 September 2025 until 4 December 2025, Sky will broadcast the entertainment programme “X Factor 2025” on this channel for the first time […].

 

There is therefore a threat of imminent, serious and irreparable harm to Sky Italia srl, the exclusive owner of the rights to the programme in question.

 

Furthermore, given the timeframe for making the work available and the need to safeguard the economic value associated with these rights (which would inevitably be jeopardized in the absence of intervention to protect the first event from competition), the Authority is asked to order, as a precautionary measure, the cessation of the illegitimate conduct.

As always, AGCOM carried out an investigation of its own. The service’s domain (dtsinc.cc) was registered with US-based NameCheap but the registrant reportedly remains anonymous. The service uses Cloudflare as a reverse proxy but according to AGCOM, no information about hosting services is available.

In parallel, however, a separate live blocking application to protect Sky’s rights concerning the US Open tennis tournament, targeted the same pirate domain with a different sub-domain. In that case, Cloudflare provided details that identified Romania-based hosting company NexonHost Srl.

AGCOM Issues Precautionary Blocking Order

After considering the circumstances of the complaint and satisfying itself that the IPTV provider in question is in breach of Italian law, AGCOM granted Sky’s blocking application, including Sky’s request for a dynamic injunction.

“The applicant has also requested that the recipients of this provision proceed, through subsequent reports, to block any future domain names, subdomains, or IP addresses, including variations of the name or simple declination or extension, attributable to the same content and through which the violations occur,” AGCOM noted as it gave the request the green light.

The fact that the X Factor TV series is broadcast live receives several mentions in AGCOM’s decision. Sky’s argument that the bulk of the value lies in the live broadcast is just as compelling as the arguments made to protect football. When combined with the rest of the evidence, which showed that infringement goes far beyond a single TV series, obtaining an injunction was just a formality.

“The Directorate believes that the requirements for initiating the precautionary procedure pursuant to Article 10 of the Regulation are met. Specifically, regarding the periculum in mora (danger in delay), this is proven by the economic value of the infringed rights, whose value lies precisely in the first broadcast of the audiovisual content,” AGCOM’s order reads.

Scope of the Order

A blocking order against a single IPTV provider to protect one TV series seems somewhat inadequate given the limited lifetime of an X Factor series and the prevalence of alternative pirate suppliers. However, in common with similar blocking orders granted in Italy, there’s no attempt to specify narrow blocking windows to protect only the content specified in the application.

As a result, the injunction likely means persistent 24/7 blocking of an entire pirate IPTV service that will continue for as long as it takes, regardless of new domains, IP addresses or fresh identities it subsequently adopts. A liberal interpretation of the phrase “the same content” could mean authorization for blocking beyond a single service and most likely does, given the absence of follow-up requests in similar cases previously.

If Sky is able to keep up, and there’s every reason to believe that it will, blocking seems likely to continue until AGCOM removes the blocked domains and IP addresses from the master list. Unless absolutely necessary, that’s unlikely to happen anytime soon.

AGCOM’s blocking order is available here (pdf, Italian)

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Posted Thursday 25 September 2025 at 3:47 am AEST (my time).

News posts... 2023: 5,800+ | 2024: 5,700+ | 2025 (till end of August): 4,048

RIP Matrix

In the spring of 2012, Google formally launched its Copyright Transparency Report, sharing details on all copyright-related removal requests, including the targeted links and their senders.

In the years that followed, the number of reported URLs increased significantly. The company processed its five billionth DMCA takedown notice almost a decade later in 2021.

At the time, it appeared that the upward trends had reversed, with the number of takedown requests starting to decline substantially. However, that turned out to be the calm before the storm.

Google Search Transparency Resumes

In April this year, we reported that Google’s transparency reporting had stalled, freezing all public data since mid-April 2025. This unexplained hiatus happened at a time when DMCA notices were rising rapidly, with hundreds of millions of URLs being flagged every week.

The lack of updates was a significant departure from the multiple-times-a-week schedule that had been in place for over a decade. These updates were at the center of much of our takedown reporting, including the 10 billion milestone reached less than a year ago.

Google Search resumed the public updates in its transparency report a few days ago. While it’s too early to tell whether the old updating schedule will be resumed, the newly shared figures indicate that there is no slowdown in the takedown volume at all.

5 Billion Reported URLs in a Year

As shown below, as of September 18, 2025, the company has received reports for 14,529,174,949 allegedly infringing URLs. This means that more than 2 billion were added over the past few months.

From the updated report
 

These are staggering numbers, especially when put into context. Over the past year, rightsholders asked Google to remove five billion URLs from search results, while it previously took nearly ten years to reach the same milestone.

At the current rate, assuming takedowns continue 24/7, an average of roughly half a million ‘pirate’ URLs are flagged every hour.

Publishers, Publishers, Publishers

A closer look at the data shows that the key players and targets remain largely the same. Dutch anti-piracy outfit Link-Busters continues to be a dominant force, sending a massive volume of requests on behalf of major book publishers.

Link-Busters alone is good for roughly three of the five billion URLs that were reported to Google over the past year. The same company, and the publishers it works for, are now responsible for more than 30% of all DMCA reports Google Search has received since 2012.

These notices are sent by Link-Busters on behalf of publishing giants including Penguin Random House, HarperCollins Publishers, and Hachette, making up the majority of all takedown efforts.

DMCA Requests per Rightsholder
 

As shown above, Penguin Random House has taken the number one spot as the most active DMCA sender in the rightsholder category, taking over from the adult entertainment outfit MG Premium. Meanwhile, HarperCollins has secured the third place in this ranking, taking over from music industry group BPI.

All in all, the return of Google’s transparency report is a welcome development. It helps to paint a clearer picture of modern anti-piracy takedown efforts, a relentless, high-volume battle that shows no signs of slowing down, for now.

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Posted Wednesday 24 September 2025 at 5:13 am AEST (my time).

News posts... 2023: 5,800+ | 2024: 5,700+ | 2025 (till end of August): 4,048

RIP Matrix

The data for our weekly download chart is estimated by TorrentFreak, and is for informational and educational reference only.

Downloading content without permission is copyright infringement. These torrent download statistics are only meant to provide further insight into piracy trends. All data are gathered from public resources.

This week we two three newcomers on the list. “Weapons” is the most shared title.

The most torrented movies for the week ending on September 22 are:

Note: We also publish an updating archive of all the list of weekly most torrented movies lists.

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Posted Tuesday 23 September 2025 at 4:20 am AEST (my time).

News posts... 2023: 5,800+ | 2024: 5,700+ | 2025 (till end of August): 4,048

RIP Matrix

For top-tier football clubs around Europe, the start of a new season means the resumption of match-day anti-piracy measures and a prime opportunity to remind errant fans that piracy isn’t risk-free. Warnings usually appear in the media, often timed to coincide with real-life examples of why piracy should be avoided.

In Ireland, reports claimed that Sky and FACT had begun targeting retailers for selling pirate set-top boxes, a first according to FACT. Those reports coincided with an announcement from ACE revealing the closure of Streameast, a very large live sports streaming network that hijacked the branding of the original to gain traffic.

LaLiga’s Issues Piracy Warning But Leaves One Piracy Threat Out

Spain’s LaLiga opted for a campaign highlighting the dangers of piracy, warning that “You Get Pirated Football, They Get You.”

This is a reference to identity theft, financial fraud, malware, and privacy risks. Unfortunately, an illustrative screenshot is not available below due to YouTube’s tightening response to VPN use.

Yet, as Spaniards are by now well aware, the effects of LaLiga’s fight against piracy are not just real, but visibly so when match blocking takes place several times each week.

Under the authority of an order issued by a judge, LaLiga continues to block IP addresses belonging to companies including Cloudflare, on the basis they’re used by pirate sites. However, the same IP addresses are also shared with entirely legal websites which, through no fault of their own, also find themselves blocked.

LaLiga’s has a difficult choice when IP addresses are shared; it can block pirate sites and risk blocking any number of innocent sites at the same time, or protect innocent sites by walking away, having blocked no pirate sites at all. Having decided that the law protects its position, the league points towards Cloudflare as the source of the problem, while insisting that nothing of value gets blocked anyway.

Overblocking Returns But Meets a Trail of Evidence

LaLiga says that if anyone falls victim to over-blocking, they are free to file a complaint. Since it has received no complaints thus far, that’s interpreted as a clear sign that over-blocking doesn’t exist. In practical terms, however, attributing a website failure to over-blocking is extremely difficult for anyone other than the tech-savvy; proving it in the face of an insistence that over-blocking doesn’t even exist, is all but impossible without expensive, expert help.

Yet, if a new service lives up to its claims, that might be about to change. Operating from estalapagas.com (translated: ‘You Pay For This’) the Immutable Domain Monitor claims to offer a domain monitoring system. The system will monitor domains registered by users, check for any ISP blocking that affects those domains and, if any is detected, begin logging evidence. According to a notice on its front page, demand appears to be brisk.

“We are a community of net lovers documenting every attack on online freedom,” text on the site notes. “Who gave La Liga the right to make their content worth more than yours? Why can they trample on your freedom every weekend? The internet belongs to everyone and we all defend it.”

According to the team behind the service, match days are automatically certified and immutable logs (that cannot be modified or deleted) are cryptographically linked and stored on the blockchain, signed in BTC and ETH.

“With blockchain we leave an eternal record: no court, company, or power can erase the evidence. Each record is signed in time with OpenTimestamps and OriginStamp, ensuring its validity and authenticity. What we document today will still be there tomorrow, and a hundred years from now too,” the team add.

There’s no doubt that to have any chance of success, a challenge to the status quo must be supported by robust evidence. In that respect, using the blockchain makes perfect sense. Ensuring that the evidence is validated before entry is vital.

That might mean verifying the existence of an IP address block with a third party, input from Cloudflare, for example. In any event, a time-stamped notification to Cloudflare advising that blocking is underway might prove useful.

The system as described has the potential to play a very important role, but the team may also face additional issues, sooner rather than later, that aren’t directly addressed on the site.

Anonymous Team and Other Potential Pitfalls

On the service’s website, Immutable Domain Monitor describes itself as a “community of web lovers made up of developers, users, and activists committed to internet freedom.”

They state they are not a commercial company, but a “community initiative that uses blockchain technology as a tool for documentation and transparency.” The team’s mission is outlined in a series of bullet points.

We document attacks on digital freedom because we believe in:

 

Digital Equality: All domains deserve the same protection
Transparency: Blocks must be public, clear, and without harming third parties
Due Process: We reject arbitrary blocks and demand analysis and justification
Right to Information: Free access to legal content

From a community perspective the team clearly understands the critical issues. Yet total anonymity for the developers is both prudent on one hand, and a potential problem on the other.

If nobody is obviously accountable, the quality of the evidence could be vulnerable to a determined attack. Whether a mechanism exists to preserve anonymity, especially in the event that data needs to be presented in court, isn’t clear. A known and trusted “middle man” may be useful to confirm authenticity, build up trust in the media, also to protect the interests of the people intending to sign up.

One issue briefly raised by the team itself is the GDPR which may need to be addressed quite quickly. If there’s one thing that large corporations are mostly good at it’s compliance with regulations; noncompliance by a legal rival is likely to be spotted very quickly and could develop into an unwanted distraction.

Overall it’s good to see any initiative that genuinely aims to solve a really serious problem that isn’t getting the attention, or indeed the support, that it very obviously deserves.

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Posted Tuesday 23 September 2025 at 4:01 am AEST (my time).

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RIP Matrix

In April 2011, a modest Russian‑language news portal, ‘bal‑con.ru’, ran an interview with two young entrepreneurs. The men were quietly working to solve a problem, identified by both as a barrier to book consumption in Russia.

“We found it strange that existing book websites on the Russian internet had plateaued at the level of the mid-20th century. They were incredibly inconvenient to use, requiring users to wade through vast lists of categories and authors,” the men complained.

“And yet, it was so tempting to just type the book you wanted into a search engine and download it immediately.”

The Pieces Move Into Position

In early January 2010, ideas of how to fix these problems began to take shape. Suitable technology to conveniently search for books, especially in large expanding libraries, had yet to arrive. Then in the mid-2000s, convenient e-readers began to gain traction.

“Our country loves to read, and so the demand for such devices was quite substantial,” the entrepreneurs recalled.

In parallel, another important development was underway: mass digitization of all types of books and, crucially, improving availability online.

“Our old book websites weren’t ready for this. The information on the pages was so cluttered that finding the book you were looking for became quite problematic. Moreover, people were gradually becoming accustomed to the minimalist and user-friendly interfaces of popular search engines.

“So why not create a similar search engine, but for books? After all, users value their time above all else; they value results, not sifting through tables of contents and author lists.”

I Came, I Typed, I Downloaded

The solutions to these problems, and others that would in time prove highly controversial, were built by the men and presented in a site known locally as Букфи. It had a simple but compelling USP.

“We will save the user from an unnecessary waste of time, giving him only what he wants – a link to the book,” the men recalled.

Who came up with the slogan “Пришел, набрал, скачал” (loosely – I Came, I Typed, I Downloaded) still isn’t clear but for those in search of books, Букфи did its best to provide the answers.

In the West, the answers were supplied in English on BookFinder (Bukfi), a site operating from a URL that will likely feel familiar to millions of modern-day book pirates even today. With Bookfi.org, the men would soon have an international hit on their hands.

Living The Dream

“Bookfi.org is a free electronic library. We believe that books are the property of society, their access should not be limited,” the interviewer at bal‑con.ru was informed.

“We want to create the largest library, both artistic and scientific, reference, and technical literature. To begin with, our library must be the largest in the Runet. Subsequently, we plan to expand and become the largest library on the Internet.”

After the men embarked on their quest, tracking developments became less straightforward.

Representing one half of the entrepreneurial duo, the fate of Vladislav Chikhira isn’t clear. But for his partner in crime – quite literally according to rapidly changing attitudes to piracy in the West – the impossible dream certainly wasn’t impossible, nor was it a typical dream. At times, in fact, it looked more like a nightmare.

As Bookfi developed and morphed this way and that, site variants including B-OK.org also made their mark on the growing and increasingly global ‘shadow library’ scene.

The impact of the variant known as Z-Library was huge; it would see the other half of the Bukfi duo, St. Petersburg resident Anton Napolsky, transformed from an eBook search problem-solver a decade or so earlier, into the prime target of an international manhunt led by the FBI.

Z-Library: The End of the Beginning

The law enforcement operation against Z-Library, carried out by the Postal Inspection Service, in collaboration with the U.S. Department of Justice, is well documented, at least up to a point. Around November 4, 2022, a wave of suspensions targeted Z-Library’s domains, including the prominent z-lib.org, b-ok.org, and 3lib.net.

Within days the scale of the operation became more clear. Over 130 domains with links to Z-Library had been disabled; in time, the running total would exceed 350.

Meanwhile, news began to emerge of a lawsuit in the United States, which accused two Russian nationals – Anton Napolsky and his partner Valeriia Ermakova – of criminal copyright infringement, wire fraud, and money laundering.

As previously reported, the alleged operators of Z-Library had already been arrested in Argentina, from where authorities in the United States planned to extradite them, ostensibly to stand trial in the criminal prosecution of Z-Library.

From Little Acorns Mighty Disputes Grow

Even during the interview on April 4, 2011, signs of Bukfi’s upward trajectory were difficult to ignore. In the previous month alone, almost 19,000 additional titles were uploaded to the site. Official site stats reported 880,419 books, written by 124,539 authors, all available for free download.

While still a large collection, it was no match for the 12 million titles eventually boasted by Z-Library, the site born from Bukfi’s DNA. There’s no doubt the scale aggravated increasingly frustrated rightsholders, and fuelled the criminal prosecution in 2022, but perhaps surprisingly, relationships hadn’t always been so frosty.

In 2011, Chikhira and Napolsky revealed that their site was hosted in Amsterdam, with a nod towards the favorable legal environment of the day. Yet, copyright disputes were nearly always settled in favor of copyright holders, in part due to communication that aimed to solve their differences.

“With several publishers and rights owners, we have established friendly relations, which allows us to put popular books on the site to share. We always try to negotiate with the copyright holders and come to a compromise – most often it succeeds,” they said.

It would be naïve to conclude that friendly negotiations were ever on the table in 2022. Or that in 2011 the men were oblivious to the risks of dominating the publishing space with one of the world’s largest repositories of pirated books.

Law, Politics, and Mystery

In reality, Napolsky and partner Ermakova could’ve eliminated most of the risks by remaining inside Russia. After visiting around 100 countries without any major issues, their luck eventually ran out in Argentina. At least for a while.

In their battle to avoid extradition, the pair experienced some positives and some negatives. As reported here in more detail, a judge’s decision to extradite was obviously one of the negatives. The decision to place the Russian nationals under house arrest, ultimately served to balance things out.

During a visit to monitor compliance with the terms of their house arrest, the group Patronato del Liberado found nobody at home. No public announcements have indicated the whereabouts of Napolsky and Ermakova since their disappearance in May 2024.

Meanwhile, Z-Library has continued to operate without major incident since their initial arrest and right up to the present day.

High-Level Intrigue

Aside from the peculiarities of the failed extradition procedure, another unusual matter has repeatedly raised its head. Official Argentinian reports, in the context of Russian citizens present or with links to the country, also mention the alleged operators of Z-Library by name.

Two weeks before the pair were arrested on November 3, 2022, there was excitement on X concerning an allegedly suspicious aircraft that had reportedly passed through Argentinian airspace a few weeks earlier. It’s a two-minute, highly controversial read, and important for context.

An unusual itinerary and supposed links to Russia triggered questions for the government, with answers provided by Argentinian officials. The details are documented in at least two official reports (1,2,large pdfs).

A report published in Uruguay indicated that the same plane – a Bombardier Canadair CL-600 (M-OLOT) – flew from Leeds in the UK and via Argentina, eventually landed at an airport in Carrasco, Uruguay.

What became of these investigations is unknown and the conclusions, in the event any were drawn, seem unlikely to be reported quite as publicly as they initially were.

The contrast between the interview in 2011 and the events of 2022 could hardly be more striking. From attempting to make books more discoverable to being prosecuted by the United States government a decade later couldn’t have been part of the plan, or indeed, accounted for in the planning.

Consider the events in Argentina as part of the overall mix and the story becomes surreal; in the context of eBooks, barely believable.

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Posted Monday 22 September 2025 at 2:13 am AEST (my time).

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RIP Matrix

Pirate streaming apps and unauthorized IPTV services have become increasingly popular globally in recent years.

Latin America is no exception to this trend, with MagisTV establishing itself as one of the top piracy brands.

Earlier this year, the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative added MagisTV to its latest list of notorious piracy markets. Soon after, MagisTV rebranded as FlujoTV and both names remain widely used today.

In response to widespread piracy, rightsholders and local authorities have taken countermeasures. This resulted in several referrals that reportedly resulted in criminal investigations in Argentina, Colombia, Ecuador, and Venezuela.

Top Spanish football league LaLiga notably helped to take down numerous operations linked to MagisTV during the summer. While this hasn’t resulted in a complete shutdown of the popular brand, more actions appear to be in the pipeline.

Pirates with Google IP Addresses

This week, LaLiga requested a DMCA subpoena at a federal court in California, through which it aims to compel Google to identify users associated with three IP-addresses: 34.8.45.110, 34.86.157.139, and 35.199.21.67.

The addresses are assigned to unnamed Google services and were allegedly used to stream a football match on FlujoTV without permission. Through its law firm, LaLiga notified Google of this activity on Tuesday.

“Google’s system and network is used to transmit LALIGA’s copyrighted works without authorization on the FlujoTV streaming service, an example being LALIGA’s broadcast of the football match between Atlético de Madrid and Villarreal that aired on September 13, 2025,” the notice explained.

The Notice (in part)
 

Through the DMCA subpoena, LaLiga hopes that Google can disclose sufficient information to identify the alleged infringer. That could possibly serve as evidence for a future enforcement action.

LaLiga Targets App Operator

If a court clerk signs the legal paperwork, which has yet to happen, Google will be compelled to hand over information linked to the users of these IP addresses. That could include names, physical addresses, access logs, phone numbers, email addresses, payment information, and more.

Information shared by LaLiga’s attorneys suggests that the IP addresses are linked to an Android app (com.android.mgandroid) associated with FlujoTV.

Proposed Subpoena & Pirate Stream Evidence
 

The IP addresses appear to be linked to googleusercontent.com, which is used for user-generated content on various Google services. In this case, it was presumably used to stream copyright-infringing content, which raises an important issue.

DMCA Subpoenas Have their Limitations

Last month, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit confirmed that DMCA subpoenas are not unlimited in scope. They are not intended to compel service providers to identify copyright infringers based on an IP address if the service provider doesn’t store the infringing material.

The appeals court case concerned the identification of alleged BitTorrent pirates. The court concluded that Cox Communications is not required to share the personal details connected to these IP addresses. Instead of using a DMCA subpoena, rightsholders can request a standard subpoena by filing a regular lawsuit in federal court.

Whether Google is a mere conduit provider in the LaLiga case or if it also hosted content is not immediately clear. However, in theory, this nuance could complicate the football league’s enforcement efforts.

At the time of writing, the DMCA subpoena has yet to be signed by the court clerk. A copy of the request can be found here (pdf) and the letter sent to Google, including the evidence, is available here (pdf).

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Posted Sunday 21 September 2025 at 3:25 am AEST (my time).

News posts... 2023: 5,800+ | 2024: 5,700+ | 2025 (till end of August): 4,048

RIP Matrix

Up until a few years ago, rightsholders complained that cable operators in the Dominican Republic broadcast their content without permission.

After HBO repeatedly pointed this out to the U.S. Government, the Dominican authorities eventually stepped in and put an end to the unauthorized activity.

However, as in many countries around the world, Dominicans had plenty of other options to access pirate streams. With the boom of illicit IPTV services more recently, this became easier than ever, at a fraction of the price of legal alternatives.

Authorities Arrest IPTV Operators, Helped by ACE

This week, authorities in the Dominican Republic cracked down on what they believe to be one of the larger pirate IPTV operations. In a major international anti-piracy operation, dubbed “Operation Domo,” authorities targeted six suspects and arrested four.

The operation was triggered by a criminal referral from the Alliance for Creativity and Entertainment (ACE), which mentions “IPTV66” as the target. A team of 30 prosecutors and various police units conducted over a dozen raids in the country, seizing electronic equipment, documents, and vehicles.

The raid locations include a ten-story office building in Santo Domingo, exclusively used by the operators, as well as a large ranch outside the city. This real estate was allegedly acquired using illegal proceeds.

The amounts are significant; ACE reports that in four years the operation was able to generate $10 million in cryptocurrency revenue.

In addition to ACE and local enforcement authorities, the anti-piracy sting received support from the U.S. Department of Justice and Homeland Security Investigations.

Previously Convicted

A key detail, not mentioned by ACE, was shared by the Dominican Office of the Attorney General. The government body reveals that four of the arrested suspects were “previously convicted” in the United States for similar piracy offenses.

The authorities mention that the case concluded in 2017, without sharing further detail. We were unable to pinpoint the exact case. While convictions typically refer to criminal prosecutions, it could’ve been a civil lawsuit.

From the Attorney General’s press release
 

There are no public references to a case involving IPTV66 in the United States. It is possible, however, that the suspects were running an operation under a different name at the time. Interestingly, IPTV66 was mentioned in a Canadian lawsuit (pdf) filed by rightsholders against IPTV providers in 2016. However, most documents in this case are not public.

IPTV66 Shutdown?

The Attorney General’s office mentions that the IPTV operation was dismantled. However, ACE does not use any language suggesting that the operation was shut down. Neither does it mention which “IPTV66” operation was targeted.

At the time of writing, the well-known IPTV66.com domain name remains online. Based on an OSINT analysis, this domain is linked to a person from the Dominican Republic, who also owns various other IPTV66 domains.

If this is indeed the IPTV66 operation that was targeted, the four arrests have not resulted in a full takedown of the platform.

IPTV66.com
 

For now, the investigation remains ongoing, and the Public Ministry has formally requested four arrested individuals to be placed in preventive detention while the case proceeds. They are accused of copyright infringement (Law 65-00), high-tech crimes (Law 53-07), and money laundering (Law 155-17).

As is often the case with these types of ongoing investigations, only minimal details have been released.

Local news outlet CDN was present at the court on Wednesday evening when the prosecution filed the necessary paperwork for a restraining order. While the report confirmed many of the public details from the steps of the courthouse, no new details on the operation emerged.

CDN reporting live

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Posted Saturday 20 September 2025 at 3:04 am AEST (my time).

News posts... 2023: 5,800+ | 2024: 5,700+ | 2025 (till end of August): 4,048

RIP Matrix

Private torrent sites, or private trackers as they are commonly known, have a special place in the piracy ecosystem.

These sites tend to be more community-oriented than public torrent and streaming sites, which most people simply visit with a hit-and-run mentality.

Many private trackers have come and gone over the years, but some have been going for decades. With most anti-piracy enforcement focused on public platforms, predominantly streaming sites, private trackers generally operate beyond the limelight. Or so it seemed.

Private Trackers Targeted

Given this backdrop, it’s interesting to see a recent DMCA subpoena issued through a California federal court targeting several private torrent trackers: passthepopcorn.me, broadcasthe.net, karagarga.in, beyond-hd.me, hdbits.org, and bibliotik.me.

Despite their comparatively low public profiles, these platforms are well known and have been established for many years.

Karagarga (KG), for example, has been around since 2005 and offers access to a wealth of film obscurities. The site focuses on archiving rare classic and cult movies. Blockbusters and other popular Hollywood releases can’t be found on the site, as uploading them is strictly forbidden.

HDbits was launched around the same time, with no restrictions on popular film titles, while PassThePorpcorn and BroadcasTheNet both came onto the scene a few years later. Despite early DDoS attempts, these Gazelle-based trackers have been going strong for more than 15 years.

Filmmaker Wants Cloudflare to Unmask the Operators

The subpoena was obtained by filmmaker Matthew Schneider, who stated that he owns the rights to several movies. The titles include Do Us Part, Split: A Film Anthology, and Orlando Gloom – Always the Same. These are linked to the Canadian company Dirtbag Films, which has not been very active recently.

As shown below, the filmmaker listed the URLs through which his works are allegedly shared on these sites. These URLs are not public, so Schneider or someone he works with presumably has access to these elusive trackers.

Infringing URLs

Schneider represented himself in court, but an attached takedown notification sent to Cloudflare in late August was signed by his attorney, David Bernstein.

The attorney asked Cloudflare to “immediately and permanently disable access to the infringing material” and to enforce its repeat infringer policy. Whether Cloudflare took any action in response to this notice is unknown, but it serves as the basis of the legal request.

Names, emails, IP addresses, payment details, and more

On September 8, a court clerk issued the DMCA subpoena, compelling Cloudflare to hand over all usable information it has on the associated users. This includes basic contact information such as names, physical addresses, email addresses, and phone numbers.

Cloudflare must also disclose all relevant billing information from credit cards, bank accounts, or other payment systems. In addition, it has to hand over historical logs of IP addresses and information related to hosting companies and servers that are used by these torrent trackers.

Subpoenaed information

These types of DMCA subpoenas are not uncommon. Anti-piracy group ACE, for example, has used these dozens of times in attempts to gather intelligence on popular piracy sites. However, this is the first time that we have seen a small independent filmmaker target such prominent private trackers.

Whether this attempt to gather information will result in any usable intelligence will depend on how much effort the operators have put into shielding their identities. Generally speaking, this is a key priority.

The legal paperwork does not explain what Schneider intends to do with the information he receives, and our request for additional details remains unanswered. At the time of writing, all targeted domain names continue to use Cloudflare’s proxy services.

—

A copy of the DMCA subpoena issued by the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California is available here (pdf). The associated declaration can be found here (pdf). Whether Cloudflare has complied with this request is unknown.

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Posted Friday 19 September 2025 at 6:16 pm AEST (my time).

News posts... 2023: 5,800+ | 2024: 5,700+ | 2025 (till end of August): 4,048

RIP Matrix

Law enforcement operations against pirate IPTV networks are now a regular occurrence, particularly inside the EU. Yet those that manage to physically take down or seriously disrupt an entire supply chain are very rare indeed and in practical terms, increasingly unlikely to happen.

The fact that international law enforcement collaboration can be very effective is undisputed, with the caveat that success often extends only as far as borders and politics allow. One of the most obvious signs that shutting down sources remains a problem is the constant calls for site blocking measures; questionably effective, perhaps, but easier to control than sources in far-away lands.

Italy Punishes Those Closer to Home

With transparency still an obstacle, measuring the effect of Italy’s Piracy Shield blocking initiative is difficult. Increasing legal pressure on internet intermediaries and even its own citizens may suggest that alternatives are thin on the ground.

An announcement this week by the Guardia di Finanza, revealing a multi-location operation targeting a pirate IPTV network, is the latest in a series of similar operations over several years. Targeting those who can be reached on home soil, not necessarily the sources who supply them, is a common limitation of national borders; this time around, however, the dynamics of the game may be about to change.

It Began With a Pizza

Without reference to specific dates, on Wednesday the Provincial Command of the Guardia di Finanza of Cagliari reported a series of search and seizure operations in various Italian regions. The trigger was an inspection by the Guardia di Finanza’s 2nd Metropolitan Operations Unit of a “public establishment” in the Cagliari region; a pizzeria according to unofficial sources.

The pizzeria allegedly screened PPV events on-site via illegal set-top boxes, which didn’t go unnoticed by GdF investigators who took a keen interest in the IPTV network supplying the content.

“Preliminary investigations subsequently uncovered a complex network, identifying a series of actors involved along the piracy chain, including content providers, distribution networks, and servers,” the GdF said in a statement.

“Given that initial evidence suggests that the criminal organization operates on a transnational scale, investigative activities are now continuing to reconstruct the entire supply chain and acquire additional sources of evidence, with the involvement of the U.S. and Dutch authorities.”

Local Targets

With at least some international assistance, reports indicate that operations were launched in at least four regions of Italy; Sicily, Puglia, Sardinia, and Lombardy in the north. Unofficial sources claim that 10 people are now under investigation following the search and seizure operations.

A video released by GdF (below) shows officers in what appears to be a private home. At one point an officer stacks what appears to be IPTV-type set-top boxes onto a table, while another collects unidentified evidence from a shelf in another room. At face value this is most likely the home of a lower-tier reseller and if the network remains intact, he or she will be easily and quickly replaced.

Indeed, of the ten people said to be under investigation, reports suggest that as many as nine could be resellers. Traditionally that has led to the shrugging of customers’ shoulders and a few minutes spent finding a new supplier.

Busted Resellers Could Become Settlement Fuel

In this case, things may go a little differently. The Guardia di Finanza describes an initiative of “strategic importance” due to a new approach and new set of targets.

“This operation represents a crucial step in the fight against audiovisual piracy. The strong synergy between the Cagliari Public Prosecutor’s Office and the Guardia di Finanza allows us, on the one hand, to dismantle the criminal organizations operating in this sector and, on the other, to impose criminal and administrative sanctions on all potential buyers upon identification,” Wednesday’s statement reads.

Raids on resellers are now the means through which IPTV subscribers’ identities are obtained by the authorities, with one reseller’s records potentially exposing thousands of customers. Over 2,500 subscribers have been fined already this year, authorities say, but that may not be the end of the matter, or the financial consequences.

DAZN, SKY and Serie A and the Big PR Gamble

DAZN, SKY and Serie A recently announced that they have obtained the identities of those fined by the police from the prosecutor’s office. So, on top of a relatively small fine of roughly €150, rightsholders say they’re preparing legal action in which they will demand “thousands of euros” from each person as compensation for their losses.

How much of this claim is set in stone is unknown. It might be a strategic bluff, or it might not. It certainly has the potential to be a PR disaster, or depending on how things play out, it may not. Interestingly, commentary from regulator AGCOM appears to be absent, but when it comes to predicting the future, a comment wouldn’t help in any way.

Despite the success of the operation, the flow of pirate streams will most likely continue, many from overseas. The question is whether the appetite to consume them will continue in the wake of a promised assault by rightsholders’ on their prospective customers.

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Posted Friday 19 September 2025 at 4:47 am AEST (my time).

News posts... 2023: 5,800+ | 2024: 5,700+ | 2025 (till end of August): 4,048

RIP Matrix

When Italy passed new anti-piracy legislation in the summer of 2023, football fans were warned that anyone involved in the supply, sale or consumption of illicit IPTV streams should consider themselves a target for enforcement.

IPSOS research had previously estimated that around 25% of the adult population consume pirate streams in Italy. On one hand, that means there are millions of potential targets for fines starting at around €150, and increasing depending on the severity of the alleged offense.

On the other, a large pool of potential targets still meets the finite resources available to the authorities, and the reality that they can’t fine them all. Inevitably, some pirates would’ve noted the odds, rolled the dice, and carried on pirating regardless.

Lack of Action and Clarity

From the perspective of the general public, a series of warnings claiming that fines were ‘imminent’ began in the summer of 2023 and continued for almost two years.

A seemingly credible announcement in September 2024 indicated that when fines arrived they would be part of an automated system. Unfortunately, a March 2024 announcement previously claimed that people could also be fined for downloading apps from legal marketplaces operated by Google, Apple, and Amazon.

2,282 Alleged IPTV Pirates Fined

Whether the series of delays, lack of clarity, diminishing credibility, or general public apathy had any effect on behavior is hard to say. What became crystal clear in May 2025 is that fines were already being issued, and the initial batch had targeted 2,282 alleged IPTV pirates spread across the country.

In line with earlier predictions, the targets were subscribers of a service shut down in an October 2024 law enforcement operation in Lecce.

Since administration of an IPTV business is not dissimilar to running any other with thousands of customers, it appears that documents seized by the authorities made the investigation somewhat easier. That led to the positive identification of over two thousand subscribers who subsequently received a fine in the mail.

Surprisingly Reasonable Fines With a Surprisingly Bitter Aftertaste

Receiving a fine in the mail for a subscription terminated in October 2024 would’ve been a double blow for any pirates who paid up front. However, many received a fine of just €154, right at the very bottom of the scale, which may have helped to soften the blow.

While mostly still unwelcome, €154 represents a mere drop in the ocean compared to the expense of defending a rightsholder-led copyright lawsuit, which may not have even crossed the minds of those who paid up to put the episode behind them.

Yet, in an unlikely, maybe even unprecedented development, rightsholders DAZN, SKY, and Serie A, appear to have spotted an opportunity to further punish pirates; specifically, those whose pirate IPTV transgressions led to them being fined by the Italian state.

Two Bites of the Same Cherries

A local report referencing the action in Lecce in 2024, reveals that the subscribers of the shuttered pirate IPTV service were traced through a detailed analysis of their personal information, banking details, and geographic data.

From the beginning of 2025 to date, nearly 2,500 pirate IPTV subscribers have been fined by the authorities, a figure in line with earlier reports. An even larger number of subscribers, over 3,000 according to the report, are currently in the process of being identified and presumably yet to face fines.

The details of those previously identified and subsequently fined are reportedly in the hands of the rightsholders. A request filed at the Prosecutor’s Office for access to the data collected as part of a criminal investigation, led to it being handed over to the rightsholders for use in civil action and the pursuit of damages.

It’s Not Smart. It’s Not Free. It’s Not Without Consequences

DAZN, SKY and Serie A showed zero sympathy for the plight of those about to be double-tapped for the same offense. Having issued several warnings in the past, it’s now time for them to deliver.

“Watching content illegally puts those who do it at risk and strikes at the very foundations of sport. It’s not smart. It’s not free. It’s not without consequences,” said Stefano Azzi, CEO of DAZN Italy.

“A compensation claim, which can amount to several thousand euros, is equivalent to about ten years of legal season tickets. Cheering legally from the stadium or from home is a safe option for those who watch and the only way to keep the spectacle we love alive. A heartfelt thanks to law enforcement and all the institutions for their work.”

Andrea Duilio, CEO of Sky Italia, warned that fighting piracy means targeting both suppliers and consumers, noting that only greater awareness can change attitudes that have become ingrained in Italian society.

“The fight against piracy isn’t just about those who manage illegal platforms: those who choose to use them must also be aware that they’re committing actual theft, with real consequences,” Duilio said. “These illicit behaviors not only harm rights holders, but also undermine entire economic sectors and put the jobs of many people at risk. Only greater awareness can contribute to a cultural shift that is now essential.”

Fines and Compensation

Never one to shy away from saying whatever he believes needs to be said, Luigi De Siervo, CEO of Serie A, removed any doubt over what will come next.

“What we’ve always said is coming true: whoever makes a mistake pays. From today, in fact, anyone who chooses to watch pirated content, in addition to being prosecuted and fined by the Guardia di Finanza, will also have to compensate the licensees for the rights they have unlawfully exploited,” De Siervo said.

“The era of impunity is finally coming to an end: the net around digital pirates is tightening month by month, marking a decisive step forward in the fight against piracy.”

“Positive Shift in Pirates’ Attitudes”

Gen. B. Crescenzo Sciaraffa is Commander of the Guardia di Finanza’s Nucleo Speciale Beni e Servizi, a unit tackling everything from ticket scalping and counterfeiting, to the seizure of 365 tons of low-quality foreign honey to prevent disruption of the local market.

In contrast to the position adopted by the rightsholders, Sciaraffa says his unit has observed how fines delivered directly to people’s homes can have a positive effect on their attitudes towards piracy. So much so that some spontaneously began cooperating with the police.

“It’s worth noting a positive effect the Corps has observed during the home delivery of fines,” Gen. Sciaraffa said.

“It shows the willingness of those fined to cooperate. In some cases, in addition to regularizing the payment of the fine to the Treasury, they have responsibly communicated new data and information to the Guardia di Finanza regarding the organizers of the illicit activities, allowing them to update their piracy investigations.”

Whether the shift in behavior continued after those who willingly paid fines were informed of the rightsholders’ plans, isn’t made clear.

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Posted Thursday 18 September 2025 at 4:35 am AEST (my time).

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RIP Matrix

The Internet Archive (IA) is widely known for its Wayback Machine, which preserves copies of the web for future generations.

These archiving efforts, which started decades ago, will become more valuable over time. The same could apply to IA’s other projects, including the digitization of old books and records.

Six years ago, the Archive began archiving the sounds of long obsolete 78 rpm gramophone records. In addition to capturing their unique audio, including all ‘crackles and hisses’, the Archive aimed to preserve these recordings for future generations before their vinyl or shellac disintegrates.

$693m in Potential Damages

The ‘Great 78 Project‘ received praise from curators, historians, and music fans, but elements of the recording industry viewed the project quite differently. Major record labels, including Sony and UMG, sued the Internet Archive for copyright infringement in federal court in 2023.

In 2024, IA responded to these allegations with a motion to dismiss. According to the Archive, many of the claims were simply too late as the infringements had occurred over three years earlier. However, this request to end the case early was denied by California District Court Judge Maxine Chesney.

The case moved forward and in March of this year, the music labels filed a second amended complaint that would significantly raise the stakes. The updated version covered 4,624 works that were allegedly infringed by the Great 78 Project, as opposed to the 2,749 recordings listed in the original complaint.

The music companies requested maximum statutory damages of $150,000 per work for each of these recordings, increasing potential damages to an astronomical $693 million.

Settlement Reached

With a massively increased damages award hanging in the air, the parties worked towards an early resolution of their dispute. In April, they informed the court that they had entered into settlement discussions, and after a few extensions, a deal has now been signed.

Yesterday, September 15, the record label plaintiffs and the Internet Archive informed the federal court that agreement had been reached. A few hours later, Judge Chesney formally dismissed the lawsuit.

Case dismissed
 

Dismissal without prejudice is a temporary procedural step while the settlement is finalized; the parties expect to file for a permanent dismissal within 45 days.

None of the filings provide any details on the conditions of the settlement. It’s not clear whether any compensation will be paid, as all details remain confidential.

“The parties have reached a confidential resolution of all claims and will have no further public comment on this matter,” Internet Archive’s Chris Freeland wrote in a short statement on the case.

The lawsuit definitely had a major impact on the Great 78 Project. Since the start of the lawsuit, many thousands of digitized recordings, including many Elvis Presley albums, have reportedly been removed.

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Posted Wednesday 17 September 2025 at 5:27 pm AEST (my time).

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RIP Matrix

After riding a wave of popularity, fame and fortune, in 2012 Kim Dotcom’s file-storage empire, with Megaupload as the centerpiece, was dismantled in a high-profile law enforcement operation.

Coordinated action in North America, Europe, Asia, and Oceania was unprecedented in a copyright case. The extent of the collaboration between the United States and New Zealand authorities was always controversial, with some aspects of the local investigation subsequently declared illegal.

Yet despite years of legal wrangling and the inevitable appeal against every adverse ruling, nothing could completely derail the case against Dotcom, or prevent New Zealand’s Supreme Court giving extradition the green light in 2020.

Minister of Justice Authorizes Extradition

Four years after the Supreme Court rendered its decision, in August 2024 New Zealand’s Minister of Justice authorized Dotcom’s surrender to the United States.

What followed was an inevitable appeal by Dotcom, in this case an application for judicial review of the Minister of Justice’s decision. Dotcom claimed the decision was tainted by bias and bad faith, and further complicated by the favorable treatment of his former co-defendants.

Application for Judicial Review

Until 2023, Megaupload coders Mathias Ortmann and Bram van der Kolk were also fighting extradition. After striking a deal with the New Zealand authorities, they admitted crimes attracting comparatively lighter sentences than those they would’ve faced in the U.S. Importantly, the deal eliminated extradition altogether.

Dotcom’s request for judicial review described the disparity between U.S. and New Zealand sentencing as intrinsically “grossly disproportionate”.

However, had Dotcom also been prosecuted in New Zealand, he believes he would’ve still been treated more harshly and received a far stiffer sentence than the 2.5 year prison terms handed to Ortmann and van der Kolk. He had previously asked the authorities to charge him in New Zealand but the police refused to do so.

Six Causes of Action as Detailed in the Request For Judicial Review

Dotcom’s request raised seven causes of action; the seventh was dismissed leaving six for the consideration of the High Court. They appear here heavily summarized with additional detail available in the 59-page High Court decision linked below.

1. Mandatory restrictions (error of law): Justice Minister Paul Goldsmith’s “surrender decision” violated a statutory mandatory restriction. The Minister erred in failing to find that the offenses for which his extradition is sought are of a political character.

Dotcom further claimed that the aim of the extradition decision was to appease U.S. copyright holders, affect interpretation of the DMCA, while depriving him of safe harbor protections under New Zealand law to ensure a disproportionate sentence. Due to a civil forfeiture order in the United States, Dotcom will not be able to fund his defense there, his submission added. The largest criminal copyright case in history would be required to rely on the under-resourced public defense service, the Court was informed.

2. Discretionary restriction (error of law): The Minister misapplied the discretionary powers granted to him. The United States prosecution was not brought in good faith or in the interests of justice, but was politically motivated. Being on bail for 12 years amounts to an undue delay in the extradition process and Dotcom’s deteriorating health makes surrender unjust and oppressive.

3. Unreasonableness: The surrender decision was unreasonable due to the disparity in treatment of Dotcom and that of his former colleagues. They ultimately spent less than a year in prison, Dotcom faces up to life in prison in the United States.

4. and 5. BOTH ABANDONED After discovery requests against the Minister of Justice and Commissioner were denied, both causes were abandoned. Both concerned the charges and plea agreements of Dotcom’s former colleagues and were rejected due to the privilege attached to their plea agreements. Other components were deemed a “fishing exercise”. Claims that local charges were denied to appease the United States lacked “evidentiary foundation.”

6. Refusal to charge and prosecute in New Zealand: The Police Commissioner’s refusal to charge Dotcom under New Zealand law amounts to unlawful discrimination. Ortmann and van der Kolk were granted a domestic prosecution for the same conduct as Dotcom, but Dotcom’s request was denied. This is disproportionate treatment under a decision made for an improper purpose.

Decision of the High Court

A High Court ruling by Justice Christine Grice dated September 10 roundly rejects Dotcom’s allegations.

The Minister did not disregard any mandatory restrictions under s 7 of the Extradition Act in reaching his Surrender Decision. There is no evidence to support Mr Dotcom’s allegation that the United States prosecution was politically motivated or carried out for any other improper purpose.

The Court found no evidence of any conduct amounting to a breach of the Extradition Treaty, bad faith, or an abuse of process.

The Minister did not fail to take into account any discretionary restrictions under s 8 of the Extradition Act. Mr Dotcom’s contention that he will face grossly disproportionate treatment, thus making his surrender unjust and oppressive, is not made out

If convicted, Dotcom’s sentence in the United States is likely to be substantially higher than a sentence for similar offenses in New Zealand. The Court acknowledges that but indicates that the assumed severity is not enough to affect the decision to extradite.

While Mr Dotcom’s likely sentence if convicted in the United States is substantially higher than what he would expect to receive in New Zealand, this is not such that it would “shock the conscience” of properly informed New Zealanders, nor does the likely United States sentence amount to an “irreducible life sentence”, so as to constitute a grossly disproportionate punishment.

The Court further found that the disparity between the sentences received by Dotcom’s former colleagues and his likely sentence in the U.S. is not a relevant factor. The Court also found that there has been no undue delay in the extradition process, and that the surrender decision itself was not unreasonable.

In relation to the Commissioner’s decision to charge Messrs Ortmann and van der Kolk in New Zealand, but not Mr Dotcom, that decision was a proper exercise of the Police’s discretion.

 

There were differences in circumstances between Messrs Ortmann and van der Kolk and Mr Dotcom which entitled the Police to reach different conclusions with respect to the alleged co-offenders.

 

There is no evidentiary basis for Mr Dotcom’s allegations of bias or unreasonableness. It is not appropriate for this Court to engage in what effectively amounts to a merits review of the Police’s prosecution decision.

What happens next has not been disclosed, but options at this stage are much more limited than they were. The exhaustion of every available option seems the most likely outcome but on what timeline is even more difficult to predict.

DOTCOM v MINISTER OF JUSTICE [2025] NZHC 2634 / CIV-2024-485-583 (pdf)

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Posted Tuesday 16 September 2025 at 6:40 pm AEST (my time).

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RIP Matrix

The data for our weekly download chart is estimated by TorrentFreak, and is for informational and educational reference only.

Downloading content without permission is copyright infringement. These torrent download statistics are only meant to provide further insight into piracy trends. All data are gathered from public resources.

This week we have three newcomers on the list. “Weapons” is the most shared title.

The most torrented movies for the week ending on September 15 are:

Note: We also publish an updating archive of all the list of weekly most torrented movies lists.

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Posted Tuesday 16 September 2025 at 3:07 am AEST (my time).

News posts... 2023: 5,800+ | 2024: 5,700+ | 2025 (till end of August): 4,048

RIP Matrix

ReVanced is a massively popular tool that allows users to add a range of new features and customizations for third-party Android apps including YouTube, Reddit, Instagram, and Spotify.

The project gained significant traction as the spiritual successor to YouTube Vanced, a similar project that was discontinued in 2022 after receiving a cease and desist letter from Google.

ReVanced has not been without controversy either. The project has been targeted by DMCA notices in the past, but its flagship patches have remained accessible for years, seemingly without pushback from the large tech companies. That’s no longer the case following pushback from Spotify.

Spotify Targets ReVanced

A few days ago, Spotify sent a takedown notice (pdf) to GitHub asking it to take down ReVanced’s “Unlock Premium” patch that it believes to be infringing.

“Spotify contends that the files identified […] are made via unauthorized copying of Spotify’s Copyrights and/or are unauthorized derivative works of Spotify’s Copyrights, and directly infringe Spotify’s Copyrights,” Spotify wrote.

From the takedown notice
 

The full takedown notice has not yet been published on GitHub, but the ReVanced team published a copy through its website. In addition to informing users about the enforcement action, the developers say they are seeking legal assistance to better understand their position.

ReVanced Disagrees but Complies

ReVanced disagrees with the claim that it copied Spotify’s code and stresses that all music tracks accessible through the patched app are also available on the free version of Spotify. The premium features ReVanced provides access to mostly affect convenience.

ReVanced’s notice
 

The developers believe the core question in this dispute appears to be whether ReVanced’s attestation bypass, which essentially bypasses Spotify’s tampering protection, is a violation of the DMCA’s anti-circumvention provision.

Interestingly, based on our reading of the notice, that argument is not clearly made in the takedown request, where Spotify cites unauthorized copying and derivative works based on its copyrights.

Speaking with TorrentFreak this weekend, the ReVanced team said that while it believes that the notice might be invalid, it is a clear warning from Spotify that could spell further trouble. Therefore, they have complied with the request for now.

“If we counter notice, they could drag all this to court if they got actual reasons for the patch being illegal. So we comply, do legal counsel, and reinstate if possible,” Ohan from ReVanced said.

Legal Help & GitHub’s Position

ReVanced’s public request for assistance from legal experts hasn’t resulted in any signed defense deals, but the team says that it has managed to get some informal legal counsel.

The goal now is to get a clear picture of their rights and the potential risks involved. Ideally, the developers would like to reinstate the code and fight back, but that’s only an option if they can make a strong case that their patches are legal.

The ReVanced team plans to engage with GitHub on the matter once they have a clearer legal strategy. The company is known to protect developers from DMCA overreach, but its views are on this particular situation are unclear.

GitHub previously launched a $1 million developer defense fund, which was established to help projects fight unwarranted DMCA claims. Whether this case will be eligible for support is unknown, but the ReVanced team notes that this could be useful.

If ReVanced decides to fight back, it will likely issue a counter-notice to get the code restored. That will open the door to a lawsuit from Spotify, so the team will take the time to properly deliberate all options before taking that step.

While that process takes its course, ReVanced’s official Spotify patch will remain unavailable.

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Posted Tuesday 16 September 2025 at 2:37 am AEST (my time).

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RIP Matrix

The sheer number of piracy studies conducted over the past three decades is a testament to the complexity and allure of the puzzle.

By any reasonable means available today, piracy has proven itself unsolvable. Yet there’s one inescapable constant that holds true across all products, in every single market.

If a product is unavailable to buy legally, piracy will create a market that didn’t previously exist and then become its only supplier. That’s the inevitable outcome when content owners refuse to compete, but when the same happens to an existing legitimate market under extreme circumstances, it certainly isn’t pretty.

Licensed Market Transformed into 100% Piracy

Following the invasion of Ukraine, Hollywood, Netflix and most Western movie and TV show companies pulled out of Russia, as the following excerpt from an IIPA report to the U.S. Government briefly explains.

Since the withdrawal from the market, regular movie releases enjoyed in the West have had no corresponding official release in Russia. Yet movies have been playing regularly both in cinemas and online, in breach of Russian law and in violation of the studios’ intellectual property rights.

In short, the content that fueled the largest share of Russia’s cinema sector was licensed one minute, and 100% pirated the next.

Study: Piracy Traffic and Profits Take a Hit

The findings of new study reported by Kommersant on Wednesday, suggest that making money from pirate sites isn’t as easy as it once was. That’s an interesting premise.

Since the most popular content in Russia is unavailable to view on legal platforms, at least in theory it has no competition either. Under these conditions piracy usually thrives but according to the study, it’s a bit of a struggle.

Cybersecurity company F6 (formerly known as Group-IB) claims that advertising revenue in the first half of 2025 fell by 14.5% when compared to the same period last year, and 26.5% when compared to 2023. The F6 chart below shows pirate site ad revenue in dollars, with total revenue expressed as the size of the market (translations by TF)

Kommersant’s report provides no further context, such as which sites or services generate the revenue. F6’s report doesn’t provide specific detail on that front either, but does offer two reasons why revenue is falling.

“Payments for displaying advertising are reduced. Last year, the cost of payments for advertising to visitors of pirated resources remained at about the same level, but in 2025 it began to decline again. In the first half of the year, the average CPM was $3.11 – 0.6% and 2.2% less than in the same period of 2024 and 2023, respectively,” F6 explain.

Search Query Traffic Down

The second factor is a reported reduction in search query traffic. In the first half of 2025, traffic was reportedly down 13.9% compared to the same period last year. We assume that most of the traffic usually originates from Yandex but again, details haven’t been made available so drawing an independent conclusion is much more difficult.

However, since site/URL blocking measures can indeed remove content from Yandex’s indexes, comments from F6 that pirated content is being detected more quickly, should in theory lead to faster blocking and deindexing. If that leads to lower quality search results, less search query traffic should be the end result. F6 reports that some pirates have even been using morse code to make their uploaded content harder to detect.

The prospect of Russian pirates routinely searching Yandex in morse code seems unlikely, but there seems to be more serious issues that aren’t directly addressed.

Hollywood Free-For-All?

Some time ago we were informed (unofficially) that blocking claims relating to Western movies weren’t being filed in Russia, therefore searches in local search engines have always returned useful results. Since nothing gets blocked, nothing is removed either, we were told.

Yet whatever the reasons, the bottom line right now is that Yandex and probably other search engines too, are awash with links to pirated Hollywood movies. Case in point, the recently released Naked Gun.

Sample search for ‘Naked Gun’, Small Sample of Results

Beyond blocking and deindexing, the F6 study cites another reason for the decrease in traffic to pirate sites.

“This is due to the growing number of users of legal streaming platforms,” the company notes.

The study doesn’t name those legal platforms, mention their traffic volumes, or indicate how much their presence has helped in the bigger picture. But as their presence on Russia’s version of YouTube reveals, competition is fierce right now.

RuTube: The One-Stop-Shop For Everything

Launched in 2006 and ultimately owned by Gazprom-Media, RuTube is effectively Russia’s domestic version of YouTube but on a much smaller scale. Users upload content, just as they do on YouTube, and apparently some moderation takes place to ensure certain content doesn’t appear on the platform.

Providing Information to the Authorities is a Requirement

Beyond the obvious, the criteria aren’t clear but visit RuTube while using a VPN, and the site makes it clear that there are benefits when VPNs are turned off. Since under certain conditions VPNs are illegal in Russia, compliance is a matter of personal choice. As will become clear later on, choosing to keep a VPN on can have consequences.

User Uploads vs. Legal Streaming Service Channels

Heading into the film section on RuTube reveals many channels dedicated to the latest movies from the United States. In many cases direct links to movies available on RuTube can be found when searching Yandex. Russia’s piracy blocklist shows no sign of removals but even if that was the case, between 10 and 20 links on most titles is a clear sign of ineffective measures.

Whether any takedown notices have been sent for these or any similar titles is unknown, but there’s no question that they’re extremely popular. The table below shows the viewing figures for a single copy/upload of each movie, the viewing figures for all copies of the same title would obviously be much bigger.

The legal streaming sites in Russia (known locally as ‘Online Cinemas) no longer offer big Western movies of any kind, so those listed above are completely off limits. Most online cinemas do have channels on RuTube, however.

A visit to their respective channels doesn’t provide access to movies, those appear to be exclusively available on their own independent platforms. The content they provide there appears to be advertised on RuTube via trailers etc.

Yet even a loose comparison of the viewing figures shows that the legal services simply cannot compete with the unlicensed Hollywood movie uploads, not on RuTube for free or via their own subscription-based platforms.

No Good Outcomes

Returning to the F6 study, it cites a reported collapse of piracy on social media and hosting sites, from 12.1% of all piracy in 2024 to just 1.6% of the total in 2025. The remaining 98.4% is allocated to pirate sites of various kinds.

This could mean that RuTube isn’t considered a social media site and may not be viewed as a pirate site either. The latter makes more sense given the nature of the platform, but there’s still a risk that at least dozens of millions of pirate movie views aren’t being counted.

Two other possibilities paint a much darker picture: 1) RuTube is indeed covered by the 1.6% meaning that the overall piracy rate is unfathomably massive, or 2) Hollywood movies no longer have standing and as such, piracy is simply ignored or not counted. The only plus we’re aware of is that the content on RuTube isn’t as readily accessible as it first seems.

For those who haven’t yet tried to view something on RuTube using a VPN, the screenshot below shows a translated version of the puzzling message that appears.

It seems to imply that a copyright holder might allow its movies to be shown on RuTube, provided the viewer’s location can be properly identified, presumably inside Russia.

It might also be just another attempt to see the user’s real IP address but for what reason, is harder to say. Since all movies have to go through a vetting process to ensure they meet traditional Russian family values, that raises questions over the legal standing of every movie, pirated or not. We’re yet to hear of any arrests, but that doesn’t mean nothing ever happens.

Unavoidable Conclusions

The bottom line conclusions seem unavoidable. Aside from the death and destruction caused by the invasion, moviemakers cannot participate in their own market and therefore generate nothing from it. Having won the race to the bottom and ended up on a tube site, any revenue generated will be almost as low as it gets. Any perceived added value built up over the years is long gone, effectively eliminating any chance of a financial return for local cinemas and every one else in the same chain.

Not only are Online Cinemas unable to compete with piracy using international content in their own market, free pirate viewing across the board on RuTube is bound to have an inmact on consumption of domestic cinema too. If nothing else, time is at a premium and few people have time to watch several movies each week, let alone find time to go the cinema on top.

A scenario where almost everyone loses is rare, yet apparently not impossible.

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Posted Monday 15 September 2025 at 4:21 am AEST (my time).

News posts... 2023: 5,800+ | 2024: 5,700+ | 2025 (till end of August): 4,048

RIP Matrix

Today, pirate site blocking is commonplace in dozens of countries. The United States has been noticeably absent from this list, but that could change soon.

With Block-BEARD and FADPA, two blocking bills are currently in the legislative process. These proposals aim to offer a streamlined option for rightsholders to have online service providers block access to infringing sites and services.

The last time U.S. lawmakers proposed blocking legislation was thirteen years ago, with the SOPA bill. This attempt stranded after massive public protests. However, times have changed, and major stakeholders have started to adapt to this new reality. While they still may be fundamentally opposed to IP- and DNS blocking, the focus is more on limiting potential damage and overblocking.

Internet Society: A Cautionary Policy Brief

The Internet Society also takes this cautionary approach. Founded in 1992 by internet pioneers including Vint Cerf and Bob Kahn, the organization represents over 70,000 individual members as well as major internet infrastructure companies including Amazon, ARIM, Cloudflare, Google, RIPE, and Verisign.

In a policy brief (pdf) released this month, Internet Society shares its perspective on site blocking. The organization makes it clear that it is still against these types of technical measures.

Policy brief
 

The policy brief stresses that blocking doesn’t remove the problematic content, which remains accessible at the source. Instead, blocking hides it while potentially making legitimate content unavailable as collateral damage.

“While content blocking may seem like a quick fix for preventing access to illegal material, it is often ineffective and frequently causes the blocking of legitimate services, impacting both users and businesses,” Internet Society writes.

“Further, DNS and IP blocking do not remove the content from the Internet, rendering the material still accessible to determined individuals. Attempts to circumvent blocking may put users’ privacy, security, and safety at risk.”

Italy’s Problems and other Threats

The Internet Society specifically mentions Italy as an example of how things can get out of hand. Last year, the country launched its elaborate ‘Piracy Shield‘ blocking scheme, granting broad powers to block piracy-related domain names and IP addresses within 30 minutes.

While many pirate sources have indeed been blocked, this policy also resulted in collateral damage, the policy report warns.

“[T]his policy repeatedly over-blocked legitimate services, including Google domains, Cloudflare-hosted sites, and Google Drive, causing widespread disruption for businesses, everyday Internet users, and cloud services.”

The policy brief also highlights that these measures can require substantial investment from service providers. Meanwhile, users who try to circumvent these and other blocking measures may end up using less secure VPNs and DNS resolvers, eroding public security.

Internet Society Issues Blocking Recommendations

Despite its continued opposition against IP and DNS blocking, the Internet Society realizes that blocking is now widespread. The brief doesn’t specifically mention the U.S. proposals, but the timing suggests that it is also intended to inform lawmakers on the Hill.

In this regard, it is noteworthy that the policy brief includes a list of guiding principles and recommendations for those who consider implementing blocking measures.

This list starts with forgoing the blocking plans altogether and focusing on taking down the source material, often pirate sites. If that doesn’t yield results, alternative approaches can be tried, including cooperation with service providers and national law enforcement authorities.

Before blocking…
 

If any blocking measures (or laws) are implemented, the Internet Society notes that these should be transparent, temporary, and limited in scope. In addition, stakeholders should be involved, users should be empowered, and due process should be respected.

Below is an abbreviated overview of the principles and recommnedations, intended to lessen the negative impact of blocking, as provided in the policy brief.

Internet Society’s Guiding Principles and Recommendations

The policy brief is yet another signal that not all stakeholders agree with the current and proposed blocking plans, but that this is a reality they have to deal with. If blocking is put in place, it is better to influence how it’s done rather than not being part of the discussions at all.

In the closing paragraphs, Internet Society stresses that it remains opposed to DNS and IP-based blocking, as this undermines its vision of how the Internet Way of Networking is supposed to work.

“These blocking methods disrupt the technical architecture that makes the Internet open, globally reachable, and resilient,” it concludes.

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Posted Sunday 14 September 2025 at 5:03 am AEST (my time).

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RIP Matrix

Three years ago, pirated Blu-ray copies of “Spider-Man: No Way Home” began circulating on pirate sites, weeks before their official release.

Such high-profile leaks are rare, and the source of the breach remained unknown until earlier this year.

In February, the U.S. Department of Justice indicted 37-year-old Steven Hale from Tennessee, a former employee of a disc manufacturing and distribution company in Memphis. While working at the unnamed company between 2021 and 2022, Hale allegedly stole numerous “pre-release” DVD and Blu-ray discs from his employer.

These stolen discs contained many high-profile movie titles including “Spider-Man: No Way Home”.

In addition to the copyright infringement charge, Hale was also indicted for a firearm offense. When raiding his premises, law enforcement found a gun in a car that was registered in his name, which, for a felon, is a separate criminal offense.

57 Month Prison Sentence

Hale was sentenced at a federal court in Memphis yesterday, where Chief Judge Sheryl H. Lipman handed down a 57-month prison term, exactly in line with the U.S. government’s recommendation.

Two separate sentences will be served concurrently. Hale received 21 months for the theft and distribution of hundreds of pre-release movie discs. A longer sentence of 57 months was handed down for the firearm charge, which ultimately defines the total prison term.

Judge Lipman also granted several requests by the defense. The court recommended that Hale be housed in a facility as close to Memphis as possible so he can be near his family. In addition, the defendant will be allowed to remain on bond and self-surrender to prison at a later date.

Minute order

Hale Pleaded Guilty

The 21-month sentence for the copyright infringement charge is substantially lower than the maximum of 60 months. This is in part the result of a guilty plea the defendant signed in May. After accepting responsibility, the prosecution agreed to drop other charges and recommend a sentence at the low end of the guideline range.

Hale entered his guilty plea to Count Two of the indictment. The charge relates to his distribution of ten or more copies of copyrighted works, including pre-release movies, for commercial advantage and private financial gain. This includes the pre-release ‘Spider-Man: No Way Home’ disc, which is likely the source of the public leak.

The other films covered by this count are ‘Jungle Cruise,’ ‘Venom: Let There Be Carnage,’ ‘Encanto,’ ‘Eternals,’ ‘The King’s Man,’ ‘Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings,’ ‘Resident Evil: Welcome to Raccoon City,’ ‘Marry Me,’ ‘Sing 2,’ and ‘The Matrix Resurrections.’

EVO

The “Spider-Man: No Way Home” leak is extra noteworthy, as it was one of the last films released online by the notorious piracy group EVO. This group was dismantled by the Portuguese authorities in late 2022, leading to multiple arrests.

There is no indication that Hale was in direct contact with EVO but, in the sentencing recommendation, the prosecution explicitly linked the Blu-ray theft to the copies that were leaked on pirate sites.

“At least one of the DVDs—that of ‘Spider Man: No Way Home,’ one of the most popular movies of all time—was ‘ripped’ and distributed tens of millions of times over the internet through pirate sites, causing the copyright owner tens of millions of dollars in damages,” the prosecution wrote.

The timing of the events also suggests that the leaked pirated copies may be linked to the stolen discs.

The EVO release of ‘Spider Man: No Way Home’ leaked online in early March 2022. A few days later, on or around March 14, the authorities searched Hale’s house and seized hundreds of pre-release discs that were still in his possession. The EVO group was eventually busted at the end of 2022.

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Posted Saturday 13 September 2025 at 3:14 am AEST (my time).

News posts... 2023: 5,800+ | 2024: 5,700+ | 2025 (till end of August): 4,048

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Earlier this year, accounting firm Grant Thornton published a report in partnership with the Live Content Coalition to evaluate the effectiveness of takedown notices.

One of the main conclusions was that, in 2024, only a small fraction of takedown notices sent by a group of select rightsholders resulted in suspensions of pirated live streams.

Of the 10.8 million notices recorded last year, only 19% resulted in suspensions of pirated live streams. Even when online services responded, it often took more time than rights holders would like. Only a small fraction of the reported live streams, 2.7%, were suspended within 30 minutes of a takedown notice being sent.

These findings were used by rightsholders to argue that current policy doesn’t work. They hoped that by sounding the alarm bell, things would change, but new data covering the first half of 2025 doesn’t provide any evidence that this is the case.

More Takedowns, Fewer Suspensions

In a new industry-backed report, Grant Thornton finds that the number of takedown notices sent to online intermediaries grew by more than 15 million in the first half of 2025, which is roughly triple the number of takedowns that were recorded in the two previous periods.

The bar chart below shows that in 2025, the majority of the notices were sent to “other” service providers, which includes Cloudflare. Dedicated service providers were good for 42% of the notices, while online platforms only received a tiny fraction.

The report regularly combines the 2025 findings with those from last year’s reports, noting that since January 2024, rightsholders have sent 26.2 million takedown notices for live streaming broadcasts. While the suspension rate was 19% in the second half of 2024, that figure decreased to just 5% in the first half of 2025.

The bar chart below displays the actions per intermediary, revealing that the low percentage of suspensions is largely driven by the popular “others” category. This category includes proxy services such as Cloudflare, which typically takes no action when the allegedly infringing content is not hosted by Cloudflare itself.

Based on the new findings, the report concludes that “online piracy continues to escalate, while progress in the effectiveness of mitigation efforts remains limited.” While this appears to be a logical conclusion, there are some important caveats.

Methodological Concerns

The report is based on data provided by ten rightsholders, who are either major sports leagues or broadcasters. This is an increase of two rightsholders over the eight featured in the previous report, which likely has an effect on the takedown notice volume, regardless of piracy developments.

These companies have direct control over how many notices they send and can, in theory, increase the volume while piracy rates are falling.

This means that the drastic increase in notices might mostly be a reflection of increased or improved enforcement efforts, rather than an unprecedented tripling of the number of available pirated live streams.

There’s also a clear bias risk. These rightsholders have a vested interest in showing that piracy is a large and worsening problem, to support their lobbying efforts for stricter regulations. The methodology does not account for this.

The inclusion of Cloudflare as a nonresponsive intermediary also raises questions. It is well known that Cloudflare does not take action against reported pirated content that it doesn’t host. The company believes that, under U.S. law, it is not legally required to do so for its proxy services.

By including an ever-increasing number of notices sent to services like Cloudflare, which they know will not result in a suspension for policy reasons, the report’s methodology effectively “bakes in” a lower success rate.

Although the data is not inaccurate, it’s less of a measure of the evolving piracy landscape than it is a reflection of the rightsholders’ enforcement strategy, particularly their decision to target Cloudflare and similar platforms, which are known for not taking action.

LaLiga Rethinks Its Headline

That the report leaves room for multiple explanations, or framing options, was illustrated by the Spanish football league LaLiga. On Tuesday, it initially pushed out a concerning press release mentioning that “piracy of live sports events soars”.

Original headline
 

That’s not completely accurate, however, as the research only looks at the volume of takedown notices. It appears that LaLiga understands this nuance, as the headline was changed a few hours later to: Piracy Detection in Sports and Other Live Events Hits Record Levels Thanks to Greater Investment in Resources and Technology

The updated LaLiga headline
 

This new headline suggests that the ‘escalation of online piracy’ reported by Grant Thornton, might be an escalation in anti-piracy detections, rather than an increase in piracy. That’s quite an important distinction, considering its intended goal.

EU Advocacy

The report was written specifically to address the impact of a recommendation by the EU Commission published two years ago. This policy document encouraged member states to introduce measures to facilitate prompt takedowns of live streams.

The recommendation, which doesn’t include any legislative requirements, also encouraged service providers and rightsholders to collaborate and tackle the challenge together.

In its report, which references the EU’s non-binding recommendation in its title, Grant Thornton indirectly suggests that it failed to curb the negative piracy trends.

“During the period of analysis, there has been a negative trend in key metrics, such as an increase in the number of notices issued and a decrease in the percentage of those resulting in suspension.

“This suggests that, despite the European Commission’s Recommendation, the issue of online piracy continues to escalate, while progress in the effectiveness of mitigation efforts remains limited,” the report concludes.

The report
 

This is an interesting conclusion, since LaLiga now cites the same takedown data to show that piracy detection hit record levels with help from investments in resources and technology. That means that piracy itself may not have worsened at all.

When the data is this flexible and open to interpretation, the cleanest and only truly verifiable conclusion is simple. In the first half of 2025, a small group of rightsholders sent a lot more takedown notices. Why? That depends on who you ask and what their goal is.

—

A copy of the latest progress report, titled “Two Years On: Online Piracy Trends Worsen Despite the European Commission’s Recommendation” is available here (pdf)

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Posted Friday 12 September 2025 at 2:45 am AEST (my time).

News posts... 2023: 5,800+ | 2024: 5,700+ | 2025 (till end of August): 4,048

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Major sports rightsholders and broadcasters are building momentum for what could be a crucial couple of years ahead.

The USTR has promised to focus on live sports in its Notorious Markets review before rightsholders’ eyes turn to the European Commission, hoping that their endless patience for measures to curtail live streaming leads to something substantial that justifies the wait.

In the meantime, enforcement operations continue. With the ink barely dry on last week’s Streameast announcement, developments reported this week will be seen as another plus for live sports.

Calcio: Italian For ‘Football’ and Italy’s #1 Pirate Sports Site

The Alliance for Creativity and Entertainment (ACE) and broadcaster DAZN, which is also a member of ACE, report that a coordinated investigation has led to the shutdown of Calcio, the most popular live sports piracy site in Italy.

According to ACE, Calcio received more than 123 million visits during the past 12 months, with Italians responsible for six million of those visits every month. For many, free access to premium Serie A football (‘calcio’ in Italian) would’ve been the main reason for visiting the site, together providing 80% of Calcio’s traffic.

Remaining traffic consisted of visitors from Spain, the United States, Germany, and France. Earlier action by DAZN to have the domains Calcio.ws and Calcio.la blocked in Italy were authorized (1,2) by telecoms regulator AGCOM in 2023. However, using a mountain of backup domains, Calcio remained stubbornly accessible.

Calcio Stockpiled Domains

ACE says that Calcio operated 134 domains but identified none in its press release. From our own limited research, domains now under MPA control appear to have a similar number of unique domain extensions. From calcio.autos to calcio.baby, through calcio.beauty, .best, .buzz and .hair, Calcio had many other domains besides, hoping to undermine any and all efforts to block it.

Based on records correct at the time of writing, a likely incomplete list of ‘calcio’ domains, showing the MPA as their new owner, appears in the first table below.

While ACE doesn’t specify an exact date when Calcio was reportedly shut down, WHOIS records suggest that the domain transfer process likely began around the third week of June and then continued through July and August.

The volume of domains acquired by Calcio’s operator indicates determination to keep the site online. With this many domains, it’s possible to evade regular blocking tactics and minimize the effects of a potential, although somewhat less likely, bulk domain seizure.

Yet, despite these preparations and considerable levels of traffic, Calcio appears to have disappeared off the radar, just like that.

Italy’s Favorite Sports Piracy Site, Run from Moldova

The circumstances of Calcio’s closure are completely absent from the press release. Indeed, the description seems unusually casual for such an important shutdown, to the extent that it immediately stands out.

The Moldova-based operator of the service agreed to cease operations after being approached.

While some kind of legal process can’t be completely ruled out, current copyright-related turbulence of various types could dampen enthusiasm. If nothing else, the timing isn’t great and probably won’t be for several years to come.

Even when all else fails, opportunities to send a deterrent message are considered valuable, and as such are rarely overlooked. In this case a clear messaging opportunity sails right by, drawing attention to another press release absentee; the customary ‘well done’ and ‘thank you’ to local authorities for their invaluable input.

A second oversight can’t be completely ruled out, but other explanations for not dwelling on the details seem more persuasive. When considering Moldova’s traditional lack of focus on piracy issues, and its future planning where the opposite is unavoidable, the backdrop to Calcio’s shutdown is interesting, whether it played a major role here or not.

EU Membership and the Future of Moldova

Following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, in March 2022 the Republic of Moldova applied for EU membership. With only a river separating Moldova from a breakaway state to its east, one with its own government, army, and a heavy Russian military presence, the former Soviet state had understandably seen enough.

After achieving candidate status in June 2022, Moldova set a target date of 2030 for EU Accession and negotiations officially began late June 2024. Even without consideration of guaranteed interference from Russia, Moldova has an extraordinary workload ahead; from democratic reforms to the alignment of national legislation with that of the bloc, everything is more easily said than done.

On the thorny issue of intellectual property rights, an area requiring work beyond the latest copyright amendment draft, Moldova has little room for maneuver. Collaboration with the EU Intellectual Property Office and EU member states is just one of the requirements and already underway.

Among many other examples, on 12 and 13 June 2025 representatives attended the International IP Enforcement Summit 2025 in Athens, Greece, which took place just two weeks before Calcio’s domains began transferring to ACE. That might be coincidence, not unlike two years ago when RARBG disappeared around the same time.

Yet, no matter how Calcio met its demise, cooperation with the EU and, interestingly, a non-EU partner thousands of miles away, is already embedded in Moldova’s future. The situation in Moldova is changing, making shutdowns like this even more likely in the future.

Moldova’s 2025 Work Plan

A document published by the State Agency for Intellectual Property (AGEPI) details Moldova’s action plan for 2025 (pdf). It contains commitments to implement provisions in international treaties and to collaborate with overseas governments and rightsholders in the private sector.

2.2. Ensuring cooperation with the associations of rights holders and other associations with responsibilities in the IP field abroad

 

2.3. Monitoring to ensure the implementation of the provisions of international treaties and agreements in the field of IP to which the Republic of Moldova is a party

 

2.4. Ensuring bilateral collaboration in the field of IP, with IP offices of EU Member States, EFTA [European Free Trade Association], and the United States

In the context of potential EU membership, it’s not hard to imagine Moldova reacting favorably following a request from the EU, or from DAZN via ACE/MPA, to see if a site like Calcio could be persuaded to shut down. In the context of full EU membership, something similar may be viewed as an obligation.

EU Membership or Not, The Piracy Wars Wait For Nobody

What these changes will mean for the many pirate sites currently hosted in Moldova, where DMCA takedown notices are routinely ignored to the frustration of rightsholders, will become clearer in time. Right now, DAZN and ACE will view this as a big win, and most likely it won’t be the last.

“Shutting down illegal operations like Calcio is vital for protecting fans, safeguarding jobs, and preserving the value and integrity of live sports,” says Ed McCarthy, COO of DAZN Group. “ACE and DAZN’s decisive action in removing this site has prevented further harm to the wellbeing of the sports ecosystem.”

“Piracy diminishes the commercial value of a live sports broadcast well before the final whistle blows, harming broadcasters, sports leagues, and fans alike,” says Larissa Knapp, Executive Vice President and Chief Content Protection Officer for the Motion Picture Association (MPA).

“With the start of the Italian football season, I commend the team for the timely takedown of this notorious operation.”

Update: Additional Table 2 below contains ‘calciostreaming’ domains, apparently seized over a period of months, the most recent this week. Connection to ‘Calcio’ domains currently unclear

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Hope you enjoyed this news post. Feedback welcome.

Posted Thursday 11 September 2025 at 1:57 am AEST (my time).

News posts... 2023: 5,800+ | 2024: 5,700+ | 2025 (till end of August): 4,048

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