Almost two decades ago, The Pirate Bay supported the “OscarTorrents” project, which aimed to be a pirates’ counterweight to Hollywood’s annual awards show.

At the time, mass movie piracy was still a relative fringe activity, with no instant streaming options available. Nonetheless, more than 100,000 people voted for their own movie favorites.

While the OscarTorrents project was a clear display of defiance, the outcome of the voting was rather mainstream. The Departed was crowned ‘Best Picture’ in the official Oscars ceremony, as well as in the pirate equivalent, and many of the other winners were also identical.

2025 Oscars

Fast-forward to the present day, and pirates continue to be aligned with the mainstream public, perhaps more than ever. Whenever a movie or TV show is in the news, interest typically surges through both legal and illegal channels.

Winning an Oscar is arguably the best thing that can happen to a movie from a PR-perspective. This undoubtedly results in more legal sales and streams, a trend that’s mimicked on pirate sites.

This phenomenon was confirmed once again following the 97th Academy Awards eight days ago. With five Oscars, including the main ‘Best Picture’ award, Sean Baker’s comedy drama Anora was the undisputed winner.

Anora Piracy Surge

High-quality pirated copies of the film had already been available online since mid-December, and while there was some interest in Anora, that paled in comparison to the download surge that took place after the awards.

Based on a sample of torrent activity tracked by IKnow, we can report that pirated downloads of Anora more than quadrupled this week. The chart below shows the daily estimated downloads for three Oscar nominees that were widely available on pirate sites. Anora’s numbers clearly stand out here.

The fact that Anora is one of the lowest grossing best picture winners in recent history, likely plays a part in this surge in demand. Many people, including pirates, hadn’t seen the film yet.

Limited Oscars Impact

The Substance, which won an Oscar for ‘Best Makeup and Hairstyling’ also saw a small bump in downloads, but that paled in comparison to Anora.

Wicked, which won Oscars for ‘Best Production Design’ and ‘Best Costume’, saw no significant increase in interest. This confirms yet again that most attention goes out to the best picture winner.

All in all, it’s safe to say that after 97 years, the Academy Awards ceremony is as relevant today as it has ever been. While people now have the freedom to watch what they want, whenever they want, their free choice continues to be directed by external forces.

As with all trends today, the initial piracy boosts didn’t last long. Downloads already started to drop off after a day. However, interest in Anora may remain elevated for a while.

—

Note: The data used in this article comes from Iknow, which tracks torrent downloads through DHT and PEX. While it may not be able to track all downloads, it’s a substantial sample. This sample only looks at torrent downloads. Views on streaming platforms, direct downloads, and other piracy sources can’t be measured directly. That said, we assume that the trend will be similar there.

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RIP Matrix | Farewell my friend  

Public pirate sites accessible by anyone with an internet browser have been under financial pressure for years.

Rightsholder-led campaigns urged mainstream advertisers to boycott the platforms to cut off their revenue streams. This was supposed to put sites out of business but in many cases that simply meant the deployment of lower quality ads from any entity still prepared to place them. Sites that used to be relatively safe quickly became relatively unsafe and, as the pressure increased, some became very unsafe indeed.

As reported last week, elaborate and lucrative schemes are able to counter limitations on advertiser choice. Unfortunately, these methods also provide an environment where scams and flat-out malicious activities thrive, before doing the kind of damage reported by Microsoft late last week.

Large-Scale Malvertising Campaign Began on Pirate Streaming Sites

Microsoft’s official report published last week is highly detailed and by its own accounting, a full 32-minute read. We’ll distill the key details here.

Early December 2024, Microsoft Threat Intelligence identified a large-scale malvertising campaign that it now believes infected almost one million devices for the purpose of stealing information.

Microsoft says that the attack stemmed from illegal streaming sites where embedded redirectors generated pay-per-view/pay-per-click revenue from malvertising platforms.

“These redirectors subsequently routed traffic through one or two additional malicious redirectors, ultimately leading to another website, such as a malware or tech support scam website,” Microsoft explains.

That was only the beginning.

First-Stage Payload

Those scam websites typically redirected users to GitHub where the attackers hosted the first-stage malware payloads. Often digitally signed with newly created certificates, Microsoft says this infection allowed the attackers to establish a dropper for additional payloads hosted elsewhere.

The GitHub repos have since been taken down. Microsoft says it also observed similar activity where Discord and Dropbox delivered the payload.

Second, Third, and Fourth-Stage Payloads

During the second stage the attackers engaged in system discovery, obtaining information about the host; memory size, GPU specs, screen resolution, operating system, and user paths, for example. The information was Base64-encoded before being exfiltrated to a remote IP address.

Microsoft says that activity in the Third Stage depended on the payload in the second-stage payload. “Executables and PowerShell scripts were dropped, initiating a chain of command execution, payload delivery, defense evasion, persistence, C2 communication, and data exfiltration,” the company writes.

The fourth-stage, documented in excruciating detail by Microsoft, saw multiple files dropped from various executables, carry out tasks including process injection, remote debugging, data exfiltration through various mechanisms. One file ensured persistence on the host by first dropping an AutoIT .scr file and a .js (JavaScript) with the same name.

“The purpose of the JavaScript file is to ensure persistence by creating a .url internet shortcut that points to the JavaScript file and is placed in the Startup folder, ensuring that the .scr file executes when the .js file executes (through Wscript.exe) upon user sign-in,” Microsoft reports.

Additional mechanisms were also available, including those that established network connections to Telegram and Let’s Encrypt, among others.

“The .scr file can initiate C2 connections, enable remote debugging on Chrome or Edge within a hidden desktop session, or create TCP listening sockets on ports 9220-9229.

“This functionality allows threat actors to monitor browsing activity and interact with an active browser instance. These files can also open sensitive data files, indicating their role in facilitating post-exploitation activities.”

Stealing Information

The multi-stage approach saw the attackers use various files and scripts to collect system and browser information. Information stealers including Lumma Stealer, which is known for targeting gamers with a penchant for mods, and the trojan Doenerium were “commonly deployed” according to Microsoft, alongside use of software already installed on victims’ machines.

“The threat actors incorporated use of living-off-the-land binaries and scripts (LOLBAS) like PowerShell.exe, MSBuild.exe, and RegAsm.exe for C2 and data exfiltration of user data and browser credentials,” the company adds.

Mitigation

Microsoft Defender Antivirus detects these attacks, but Microsoft recommends additional actions to more fully mitigate this type of threat. Windows users should enable tamper protection and network protection, use web browsers with Microsoft Defender SmartScreen, and use AppLocker to restrict prohibited software.

Many rightsholders would advise never visiting pirate sites as the best option for avoiding this type of attack. That would’ve worked here, but the same attack could’ve taken place elsewhere too, so a more proactive approach should also be considered as one of the options available.

Basics include keeping software updated, operating systems and browsers in particular, a good ad blocker turned up to 11, and use of an encrypted password manager in preference to a browser full of plain text credentials.

Backups need no explanation and if possible, a virtual machine should be used for browsing. This reduces the chances of an infection causing havoc on a main system, which should be using an OS downloaded from the official source, not some random pirate site.

Finally, clean bills of health for sites and apps reported on sites like VirusTotal can be misleading. That’s not because these services are useless, far from it. In many cases the upfront scores/detections just aren’t the right tool for the job.

Advice to look at detection scores for assurances that a site or a piece of software is guaranteed safe, should be given no weight, especially when more useful information is just a click away.

To fully appreciate the scale and scope of the scheme and the commitment of those behind it, it’s worth reading the full report.

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RIP Matrix | Farewell my friend  

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

The early online leaks were attributed to the infamous release group EVO, that was known for distributing copyrighted movies and TV shows, including pre-release content.

EVO was dismantled by the Portuguese authorities in late 2022, leading to multiple arrests. However, there is no evidence that EVO’s demise had anything to do with the Spider-Man leak.

The source of this highly unlikely breach also remained unknown, until this week, when the U.S. Department of Justice indicted the alleged wrongdoer.

U.S. Indicts Blu-ray Production Employee

Pre-release leaks generally attract the attention of law enforcement, and the Spider-Man leak was no exception. Following an in-depth investigation by the FBI, the authorities pinpointed the alleged source in Memphis, Tennessee.

In an indictment unsealed last week, now 37-year-old Steven Hale is accused of stealing several Blu-rays and DVDs from his former employee. The defendant worked at a disc manufacturing and distribution company in Memphis between 2021 and 2022, which provided him with access to pre-release discs.

Hale allegedly stole numerous pre-release discs of popular films including Spider-Man: No Way Home, F9: The Fast Saga, Venom: Let There Be Carnage, Godzilla v. Kong, Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings, Dune, and Black Widow.

The indictment charges Hale with two counts of criminal copyright infringement and one count of interstate transportation of stolen goods. If found guilty, maximum penalties for these crimes include up to 20 years of imprisonment.

From eBay to Pirate Sites?

In a press release, the Department of Justice alleges that Hale sold the DVDs and Blu-rays through e-commerce platforms. This is interesting because we previously observed that Spider-Man Blu-rays were sold on eBay before being leaked online.

Below is one of the eBay listings that was online at the time, but there may have been more. Whether these are connected to the defendant is unknown.

U.S. authorities suggest that one of the sold physical copies was ripped, presumably by a third party, and subsequently released online. This may have been how EVO eventually got their hands on the movie.

“At least one pre-release Blu-ray that Hale allegedly stole and sold, ‘Spider-Man: No Way Home,’ was ‘ripped’ — that is, extracted from the Blu-ray by bypassing the encryption that prevents unauthorized copying — and copied,” the DoJ writes.

“That digital copy was then illegally made available over the internet more than a month before the Blu-ray’s official scheduled release date. Copies of ‘Spider-Man: No Way Home’ were downloaded tens of millions of times, with an estimated loss to the copyright owner of tens of millions of dollars.”

Spider-Man No Way Home.2022.1080p.Bluray.DTS-HD.MA.5.1.X264-EVO

Unanswered Questions

The indictment doesn’t mention the name of the company where Hale worked, the only reference is to “victim 1”. However, there are not many large disc manufacturing and distribution companies in Memphis, so it’s not difficult to make an educated guess.

The e-commerce platforms also go unnamed in the indictment. The FBI investigation appears to be ongoing, so it’s likely that additional details will emerge in future filings, as the case progresses.

This may also shed more light on the sales of these stolen pre-release DVDs and Blu-rays, and who ripped and shared “Spider-Man: No Way Home” copy that was eventually posted online through EVO and others.

For now, Hale is presumed innocent, as is the case for all criminal defendants. On Thursday, the Tennessee federal court determined that he was unable to pay for a lawyer to represent him, so a public defender was appointed instead.

—

A copy of the indictment, dated February 13 and unsealed law week at the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Tennessee, is available here (pdf)

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RIP Matrix | Farewell my friend  

 Tranco publishes an updated ranking list of a million domains every day.

In today’s report the usual suspects dominate the top slots – google.com, microsoft.com, mail.ru and facebook.com. After scrolling through a 22mb .cvs, monosurveys.com eventually completes the million.

Zonatmo.com can be found at #1576 but, until this week, the domain had yet to appear on our radar. During a brief visit to the site lasting less than 20 seconds, there were two attempts to redirect us to well-known malicious IP addresses registered to a host in the UK. That raises immediate questions over the domain’s insane level of traffic and why millions of visitors just keep going back.

Piracy Juggernaut

According to research conducted by DeepSee.io CEO Rocky Moss, Zonatmo.com is no ordinary domain. First and foremost it presents as a manga piracy site, and a very successful one too. In November 2024, Zonatmo and affiliated sites together generated a cool one billion views, all the more impressive for a domain that made its debut just 90 days earlier.

Moss says that Zonatmo is the latest new domain for a platform called Tu Manga Online, a manga content directory aimed at the Spanish-speaking market. Before Zonatmo.com, the site reportedly used Visortmo.com, lectormanga.com, and before that, lectortmo.com. Other domains are involved too.

Traffic Laundering

“When we talk about piracy that’s supported by programmatic display / videos ads, we’re often talking about traffic laundering. In a laundering scheme, there are two classes of domains involved,” Moss explains.

• Directories: when you type in something like ‘watch free movies,’ or ‘read manga online,’ chances are you’ll be taken to a directory. These are sites that connect you to the pirated content you’d like to consume. They are often easy to find using search (by necessity; they have to change domain names often)

• Laundering fronts: These appear as ‘clean’ when you visit them directly, but are usually actively managed by the folks behind the directories. They have hidden behaviors that only present themselves if you visit via some prescribed source (the directory). These sites are often able, for at least a short time, to monetize using CPM based ad products [advertisers pay a fixed rate per thousand impressions] such as display / video / audio ads.”

Moss says this scheme has been running for years and over that time, 112 domains have been used to launder site traffic, typically with one or two dozen active at a time.

Unusually Open

To show that these domains are all linked to the same business, Moss says that a key signal is when domains share 100% of their ads.txt files with each other; in this case, those files have around 15K lines. Further support of collaboration can sometimes be found in joined privacy policies.

That’s where another unusual feature becomes evident; there appears to be little or no effort to obscure the name of the company or people involved. Moss describes Nakamas Web SL as a Spanish company responsible for both the main manga site and the ‘clean’ front sites.

“Clearly Nakamas Web has found a roster of managers / sales houses / resellers who don’t look too closely at the quality of the inventory they bring to buyers, and thus they’ve had luck laundering their traffic for years,” he notes.

“At a high level, it appears the site operators have had to adapt every few months, or every year at least, in order to find a new roster of sellers who don’t know/care about the way their traffic is sourced.”

A Lucrative Scheme

Moss goes into considerable detail on the various players involved and specifics relevant to the advertising market. Those details include whether various rules may have been skirted or ignored, and how certain scenarios may have helped the scheme to last for so long.

Links to the research, an explanatory video, and a fairly hefty spreadsheet, can be found below. That leaves the big question; is a scheme like this profitable and if so, what’s the best estimate?

In broad terms, the formula takes the billion views generated in November across all sites, and factors in a 50% ad-blocking rate. Based on two ad units per a page and an industry hunch here and there, Moss emerges with a conservative estimate of $200,000 per month revenue. He does concede, however, that it could be ten times that amount.

“[We could be] talking tens of millions, certainly some of that goes to server costs and they have to, you know, always be rotating their demands. It’s not trivial to do this but clearly the juice is worth the squeeze,” he adds.

“It’s been going for years and it has not been stopped so what is it with this ‘Open Secret’ and why is allowed to thrive? My projection is that by the end of the year, it will not.”

The research is available here and the spreadsheet here.

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RIP Matrix | Farewell my friend  

 1fichier.com burst onto the scene around 2009 when file-hosting/sharing platforms were thriving.

In the years that followed, many competitors collapsed under the pressure of copyright complaints, but 1Fichier and French parent company DSTORAGE SAS stood tall.

The file-hosting platform faced its fair share of copyright complaints, including a long-running legal dispute with Nintendo which began in 2018, sparked by 1Fichier’s failure to respond to several takedown notices.

Nintendo sued the file hosting company and won, both in the first instance and on appeal. 1fichier was ordered to pay the gaming giant hundreds of thousands of euros in damages. It refused to go quietly, and eventually took the matter all the way to the French Supreme Court.

Supreme Court Denies 1Fichier’s Appeal

In an order published last week, the Supreme Court (Cour de Cassation), France’s highest court for civil and criminal matters, reviewed the arguments from both parties before upholding the lower court’s judgment.

The battle with Nintendo largely revolved around interpretation of France’s Law on Confidence in the Digital Economy (LCEN), which outlines the responsibilities of online platforms regarding pirated content. A key point of contention was the required level of detail in takedown notices before platforms are obligated to act.

1Fichier argued that Nintendo’s takedown notices were insufficient because they failed to provide information on the persons who originally pirated the content, which may have taken place outside their platform. The company argued that identifying the original pirate (“publisher”/”author”) is a mandatory requirement for a valid takedown notice under French law.

In its ruling, the Supreme Court rejects this interpretation, clarifying that the 1Fichier uploader is considered to be the “author” or “publisher” in this context.

“It follows from these provisions that the concepts of ‘author’ or ‘publisher’ of the disputed information or activities […] must be understood as designating the persons who have stored the illegal data and, therefore, as recipients of the online public communication or storage services,” the ruling reads.

In simple terms, this means that Nintendo doesn’t have to identify the persons who originally published the pirated content (outside 1Fichier). The people who anonymously uploaded the files to the hosting platform are seen as ‘publishers’. That requires the platform to act in response to takedown notices.

Monitoring Obligation?

Another crucial point of contention was 1Fichier’s claim that the lower court ordered the service to remove or block access to infringing content. The company argued that this imposed a general monitoring obligation, which is prohibited under French and European law.

The Supreme Court rejected the argument, ruling that takedown notices merely result in “targeted and temporary surveillance activity.”

“The Court of Appeal was right to hold that the measure ordered, consisting of the removal of the DStorage company’s website ‘1fichier’ or the blocking of access to content constituting copies of the aforementioned video games […], only imposed on this company a targeted surveillance activity on very specific and temporary content.”

In layman terms, the ruling clarifies that while service providers cannot be compelled to proactively monitor all content, they can be required to take specific actions in response to valid takedown notices.

1Fichier
 

After rejecting these and other counterarguments, the Supreme Court dismissed the appeal while ordering 1Fichier to pay the costs. This means that the lower court’s ruling, including the previously ordered damages of hundreds of thousands of euros, also remains intact.

Nintendo Declares Victory

Nintendo says that it’s pleased with the outcome. In a statement shared with Nintendo Everything, it sees the ruling as a victory for the broader games industry.

“Nintendo is pleased with the Court’s finding of liability against DSTORAGE and believes that it is significant not only for Nintendo, but for the entire games industry,” the statement reads.

“It will prevent sharehosters like 1fichier.com from claiming like it did during the proceedings on the merits that a prior decision from a court is needed before pirated content must be taken down, and it confirms the rights that holders have to give notice of when claiming that notified content infringes copyright or trademark rights.”

Interestingly, Nintendo also mentions a ruling released by the Supreme Court earlier this year, where it confirmed that banks can terminate accounts of services that don’t properly address piracy. 1Fichier was also the appealing party in that case.

“[T]he French Supreme Court leaves no doubt that sharehosting providers like 1fichier.com are not a safe haven for storing and sharing illegal content,” Nintendo writes, highlighting the combined effect of these rulings.

Game Over?

While the Supreme Court defeat is yet another setback for 1Fichier and parent company DSTORAGE, the ruling doesn’t necessarily mean the end of the legal battle. In theory, there’s still an appeal option at the highest European Court.

Previously, 1Fichier already indicated that it will take the termination of its account at the French bank Société Générale to the EU authorities for further clarification.

Even if the EU takes the case on, it would likely take years before any decision was handed down. Meanwhile, 1Fichier remains operational and Nintendo will undoubtedly keep a close eye on any pirated files that appear on the site.

1Fichier informed us that they plan to release a statement on the Supreme Court ruling next week, which we will cover then.

—

A copy of the translated Supreme Court ruling delivered by President Mrs. Champalaune, sourced by TorrentFreak, is available here (pdf)

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RIP Matrix | Farewell my friend  

 Under pressure from widespread IPTV piracy freeloading on the league’s live matches, LaLiga chief Javier Tebas warned that he would do whatever was necessary to protect the sport.

Whether Tebas’ intent was taken as seriously as it should’ve been is difficult to weigh. A reputation for being fearless and uncompromising can be an asset in top tier football, but would it boost asymmetric blocking warfare against mostly anonymous pirates?

It didn’t need to, and the warning signs had been visible for months.

Like other major rightsholders around Europe, LaLiga’s reliance on disruption through site-blocking measures found a natural opponent in an internet company dedicated to connectivity. Central to Cloudflare’s mission is shielding internet users from online attacks and, by extension, helping the internet become more resilient.

Frustrated that LaLiga couldn’t effectively block pirate sites behind Cloudflare, the focus shifted from pirate sites to the companies accused of helping them stay online. Details of private negotiations may never emerge, but a warning from LaLiga that it would block Cloudflare if necessary, wasn’t just rhetoric.

Roughly a month ago, LaLiga started doing just that and hasn’t stopped since, affecting thousands of innocent websites and internet users unwittingly dragged into someone else’s dispute. Cloudflare said LaLiga understood the risks, but blocked Cloudflare anyway.

Cloudflare then took the matter to court, the outcome is yet to be determined. LaLiga says it has judicial backing for the blockade, so Cloudflare must take the blame for the collateral damage.

RootedCON Decides That Enough is Enough

The RootedCON 2025 event should be getting underway right now in Madrid. Running from March 6th to 8th, RootedCON describes itself as one of the flagship cybersecurity events in the Spanish-speaking world, a meeting point for “professionals, organizations, experts, and innovators in the field of cybersecurity, ethical hacking, and technology.”

“The goal of RootedCON is to create a space where professionals and enthusiasts can share experiences, discuss the latest developments in the cybersecurity sector, and address the main current vulnerabilities,” the organizers explain.

Credit: RootedCON

Few vulnerabilities are able to cause the type of persistent disruption being experienced in Spain right now and, like Cloudflare, RootedCON want it to stop.

Blocking Order “Obtained Through Legal Tricks”

During the last couple of weeks, RootedCON has been gathering evidence from those negatively affected by the blocking of Cloudflare; people having difficulty reaching legal websites, people who run legal websites whose visitors face disruptions, and anyone in between.

Posting to X this week, RootedCON published its own assessment of the scale of the disruption.

/RootedCon/X

The evidence supports an application filed by RootedCON at Commercial Court number 6 of Barcelona. A decision handed down by the court in December 2024 reportedly authorizes LaLiga to instruct local ISPs to block pirate IPTV providers. It’s further claimed that at LaLiga’s discretion, ‘facilitating’ services such as Cloudflare may also be blocked, should that become necessary. The court signed off on the request, noting that uninvolved third parties would suffer no harm.

“In a context in which digital freedoms are threatened, RootedCON now informs that it has filed an incident of nullity in the Commercial Court number 6 of Barcelona, against judgment no. 310/2024, dated December 18, 2024, obtained through legal tricks, which is used by La Liga to force operators to block and restrict access to the Internet in its fight against “piracy” at the request of the football company,” a RootedCON announcement reads.

“This ruling, and the way in which it is being used, violates fundamental rights and limits free access to information, a right that we consider non-negotiable.”

“RootedCON, along with other affected companies, believes that the conflict that is the cause of this ruling has been used to justify actions that limit access to content on the Internet. At RootedCON, we believe that this constitutes a manifest injustice against freedom of expression and information in the digital age that should not be subject to judicial protection,” the statement continues.

“We are firmly committed to defending a free, open and uncensored Internet, in which innovation and free communication are essential values, and, in compliance with our duties, our fundamental rights recognized by the Constitution are respected.”

With reports circulating that customers of Telefonica-owned Movistar have been blocked from accessing the websites of LaLiga football teams – due to LaLiga-authorized blocking, sounds like a commercial disaster.

That the block was executed by Telefonica-owned Movistar against Cloudflare, but then negatively impacted their own customers, may be unprecedented. The fact that a Telefonica division sponsors the RootedCON event underway right now, should make for a couple of interesting days on the booth.

A site-blocking crisis that boiled over a month ago and still hasn’t run out of steam, now appears to be heading towards further escalation.

Posting to X, RootedCON say that their lawyer (who specializes in internet matters) has come under attack for representing famous Spain-based streaming site, RojaDirecta. There’s more to it than just that, details here for those interested.

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 Late September 2024, the developer of Switch emulator Ryujinx announced an end to the project. Launched by ‘gdkchan’ in 2017, Ryujinx enjoyed years of success only to succumb to the same pressure that had claimed another emulator, Yuzu, just a few months earlier.

Within a seemingly flawless design that could’ve been crafted by Shigeru Miyamoto himself, Nintendo filed an arguably perfect lawsuit against Yuzu on February 26, 2024. A previously unknown business entity behind Yuzu quickly acknowledged its veracity, and a settlement was formally announced to the court exactly a week later, March 4, 2024.

Specific conduct detailed in the lawsuit laid the foundations for Yuzu’s swift demise and provided a blueprint for similar Nintendo victories moving forward. With the market leader defeated so easily, it seemed that only the brave or very rich would gamble on a different outcome.

In September, just months after the filing of the original lawsuit against Yuzu on February 26, Nintendo “offered an agreement” to gdkchan. Once accepted, that ended his involvement in the Ryujinx project.

During November 2024, domains including ryujinx.org and ryujinx.blog were transferred to Nintendo ownership. They join other domains previously secured by Nintendo for permanent safekeeping, including jailbreakmyswitch.com and donkeykong.porn.

One-Year Anniversary

A pair of Nintendo DMCA notices sent to GitHub last week coincided with the one-year anniversary of the Yuzu lawsuit. Dated February 26, they contained requests to remove repos that had been helping to keep the open source Ryujinx emulator alive. Before taking action, GitHub contacted the nine repositories listed in the first notice and gave their owners an opportunity to make changes to avoid being taken down.

Ultimately, deletion couldn’t be avoided, not for the nine repos named in the notice, or for more than 4,200 others in the same network.

 “Because the reported network that contained the allegedly infringing content was larger than one hundred (100) repositories, and the submitter alleged that all or most of the forks were infringing to the same extent as the parent repository, GitHub processed the takedown notice against the entire network of 4,238 repositories, inclusive of the parent repository,” GitHub reports.

The second Nintendo notice also targeted Ryujinx repos; just three this time, but once again the notice punched above its weight. After giving repo owners a chance to address Nintendo’s complaint, GitHub processed the notice against a network of 113 repositories.

Removing so many repos at once would’ve likely been less straightforward a year ago. The law today stands completely unchanged but the effect of the Yuzu lawsuit and settlement suggests that if perceptions have shifted, any change strongly favors Nintendo.

Technical Measures and Circumvention

Nintendo “owns or exclusively controls” numerous copyrights in games that are protected from unlawful access and copying by so-called ‘technological protection measures’ (TPM). For example, Switch games are encrypted, so before they can be played, decryption takes place using Nintendo keys, also known as ‘prod keys’.

Circumventing TPMs that “effectively control access” to copyrighted works is outlawed under the DMCA. In this context, anyone doing so without obtaining permission from Nintendo commits an offense under the DMCA’s anti-circumvention provisions.

Yuzu lawsuit allegations distilled in a takedown notice

The text of the Nintendo notice notes that the Ryujinx emulator is primarily designed to play illegal copies of Nintendo Switch games and does so by illegally circumventing Nintendo’s TPMs. Since that can only be achieved through use of unauthorized copies of Nintendo prod keys, that means Ryujinx is primarily designed to unlawfully circumvent a technological measure that effectively controls access to a work protected under the DMCA.

Distribution of Ryujinx, therefore, constitutes unlawful trafficking in a technology that is primarily designed or produced for the purpose of circumventing a technological measure, contrary to 17 U.S.C. § 1201(a)(1) and (2).

Nintendo goes on to reference the final judgment in Nintendo of America Inc. v. Tropic Haze LLC, highlighting the finding that “the distribution of software which primarily decrypts Nintendo Switch games without authorization, violates the DMCA’s anti-trafficking provisions.”

Anti-Circumvention Notices

GitHub’s ‘developer first’ policy takes DMCA takedown notices seriously while arguably fixing a potential avenue of abuse. DMCA anti-circumvention notices differ from regular notices due to the absence of a mechanism to dispute the claim via a counternotice. By granting a right of reply, GitHub ensures that bogus claims can’t be used for censorship purposes. Google also makes best efforts to weed out potential abuse but in general, URLs targeted by anti-circumvention notices are unlikely to see the light of day again.

Having reviewed many recent Nintendo anti-circumvention notices (1,2), there are no signs of any questionable takedowns. Most use a format historically used to remove URLs offering SX OS, SX Pro, SX Core and SX Lite devices, with Nintendo using exactly the same terms to describe these obvious piracy devices as it does to describe the emulators.

The URLs listed below promote, offer for sale directly or direct visitors to resellers of, circumvention software and devices called the SX OS, SX Pro, SX Core and SX Lite, among others. The SX OS, SX Pro, SX Core and SX Lite are designed to bypass technological protection measures in the Nintendo Switch video game system and allows users to play unauthorized copies of Nintendo’s video game files that are offered unlawfully via the Internet. circumvention mechanism: Nintendo’s technological protection measures (“TPMs”) ensure that only official copies of its game software can be played on Nintendo’s video game systems. The circumvention devices, products or components offered at the reported links bypass Nintendo’s TPMs so that users can play unauthorized copies of Nintendo’s game files that are offered unlawfully via the Internet.

Nintendo now uses the same format to target SX devices, prod keys, sig patches and emulators in the same notice (1).

Essentially, the Yuzu lawsuit didn’t change a thing under law but may have succeeded in shaping perceptions of the emulation landscape. Whether that will reduce Switch 2 piracy will remain to be seen.

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 The Internet is littered with cheap IPTV services that offer access to a lot of content, for very little money.

These deals often seem too good to be true and in most cases they are; at least for those who prefer to stay on the right side of the law.

Yesterday, members of the Alliance for Creativity and Entertainment (ACE) filed two lawsuits against alleged operators of pirate IPTV services in the United States. Amazon, Netflix, Disney, Paramount, and other major Hollywood studios, accuse the defendants of widespread copyright infringement.

Lawsuit 1: Shrugs and Zing

The first case was filed at a federal court in Pennsylvania, listing Mechanicsburg resident Brandon Weibley as the alleged operator of several commercial IPTV services that offered pirated streams.

Hollywood vs. Weibley
 

The complaint notes that Weibley has a long history of illegally profiting from pirated content and engaging in mass copyright infringement. This activity goes back to 2017, when he registered the domain beastmodebuilds.com and began selling subscriptions to infringing streaming services.

In the years that followed, the defendant was linked to various IPTV brands, such as Beast Mode Live, BTV, Viking Media, and GreenWing Media. These sold subscriptions, offering access to hundreds of pirated TV channels including international content and live sports events.

Cease and Desist

While the defendant made efforts to conceal his identity, investigators followed a digital trail that led to his personal email address. This address was listed in the source code of the invoices sent to subscribers via Cashapp.

In December 2023, the movie studios eventually confronted Weibley, demanding that he cease the copyright infringing activities. However, this advance warning didn’t lead to the desired result.

The defendant allegedly switched the operation to a different domain name, vonwik.com, and continued to offer thousands of TV channels through the pirate IPTV services, which were rebranded to ‘Shrugs’ and ‘Zing’.

“Weibley now provides subscribers to the Current Infringing Services with access to more than 9,000 pirated channels, featuring Plaintiffs’ television series and movies, as well as international content and live sports events. This is infringement of Plaintiffs’ copyrighted works on a massive scale,” Plaintiffs write.

Shrugs and Zing

These pirate IPTV services continue to harm the movie industry, plaintiffs allege, and they hope that the lawsuit will help to bring an end to it. In addition to an injunction, requiring the IPTV services to shut down, the rightsholders also demand damages.

The legal paperwork lists examples of more than 50 copyrighted works, including The Boys, The Witcher, Forrest Gump, Moana, Back to the Future, and Wonder Woman. With a maximum of $150,000 per infringed work, the potential damages could easily reach millions of dollars.

Lawsuit 2: Outer Limits IPTV

Meanwhile, on the opposite coast, a second lawsuit was filed in a California federal court yesterday. This case is again managed by ACE, acting on behalf of several Hollywood players. In this case, Apple also makes an appearance as one of the plaintiffs.

The plaintiffs allege that Murrieta resident Zachary DeBarr is the owner of Outer Limits IPTV. This ‘pirate’ service offered access to over 4,000 live channels and a VOD library of more than 13,000 movie titles and over 3,000 TV series.

Hollywood vs. DeBarr
 

The defendant has allegedly been involved in reselling pirate IPTV services and tools since 2017. DeBarr purportedly sold modified Fire TV Stick devices, as well as subscriptions to the pirate streaming services Nitro TV and Glitch TV.

Plaintiffs allege that, in 2020, the defendant started his own IPTV service under the Outer Limits IPTV brand. These subscriptions were sold for $20 per month to $200 per year.

iTrustStream YouTube channel

The complaint further notes that DeBarr owns the iTrustStream YouTube channel, which has over 100,000 subscribers. In the past, he allegedly used the YouTube audience to publicly promote his Outer Limits IPTV service.

“DeBarr regularly posted video content and engaged with listeners during live-chat discussions on YouTube. Several of the videos uploaded to the iTrustStream YouTube channel from 2020 feature DeBarr promoting Outer Limits,” the complaint reads.

The YouTube video highlighted in the complaint, linking to the Outer Limits IPTV service, is still online at the time of writing.

From the complaint
 

Before filing the lawsuit, the movie companies, presumably through ACE, repeatedly tried to get in contact with the defendant to resolve the matter out of court. All attempts to contact DeBarr in-person, over the phone, and via email were ultimately unsuccessful.

“DeBarr has not responded to any of Plaintiffs’ communications, thus forcing Plaintiffs to file this lawsuit so they can protect their rights and prevent DeBarr’s ongoing infringement,” the complaint reads.

Similar to the Weibley case, DeBarr is accused of copyright infringement on a massive scale. The movie companies request an injunction to stop this activity, as well as statutory damages, which can potentially run into the millions of dollars.

MPA and ACE Take the Lead

The lawsuits filed yesterday are similar but unrelated. This is also stressed in a press release by the Motion Picture Association’s anti-piracy arm ACE, which appears to manage the legal effort.

“These lawsuits demonstrate ACE’s unwavering commitment to protecting the creative industry from digital piracy from coast to coast and around the world,” says MPA’s Senior Executive Vice President, Karyn Temple, commenting on the action.

“Illegal IPTV services not only harm creators and legitimate streaming platforms but also expose consumers to potential security and fraud risks. We will continue to take decisive legal action to shut down these operations and hold infringers accountable,” Temple adds.

—

A copy of the complaint against Brandon Weibley, filed in the filed in the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Pennsylvania, is available here (pdf). The complaint against Zachary DeBarr, filed in the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California can be found here (pdf).

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 In January, the UK’s digital markets competition regime went into effect.

This procedure allows the Government’s Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) to regulate dominant tech firms, ensuring fair competition and consumer protection.

Soon after, CMA launched its first investigation, targeting Google’s search services. The goal of the investigation is to establish whether Google has strategic market status in the search and search advertising markets that potentially harms consumers and competition.

As part of the investigation, the Government requested input from stakeholders on Google’s search dominance and its effects, both positive and negative. This prompted a wide range of responses, including a submission by local media companies BBC and Sky, as well as the Premier League (EPL), who took the opportunity to demand tougher anti-piracy action.

Google Search & Pirates

In a letter sent to the Competition and Markets Authority, the organizations don’t complain directly about Google’s dominance in search. Instead, they point out that, in their view, the tech company can and should do more to address online piracy.

Google already employs some of the more elaborate anti-piracy tools among search engines. For example, it demotes pirate sites that receive a high volume of takedown requests and removes pirate site domains from local indexes if they’re subject to ISP blocking under existing court orders.

BBC, Premier League, and Sky recognize Google’s anti-piracy work, but they argue that the company still falls short. Pirates can still use search and Google advertisements to drive traffic and, without additional regulation, this is unlikely to change, they say.

“Google has taken some measures to address misuse of their search services, but copyright-infringing services remain easily accessible in both search and search advertising results,” the letter reads.

“The size and reach of Google’s search platform means that pirate services are widely propagated and legitimized, and rights owners do not have the ability, absent regulation, to compel Google to deliver controls that would be more effective.”

From the letter

Conduct Requirements

The rightsholders want Google to remove pirate sites from its index without the need to obtain “expensive and time-consuming” court orders. They say that Google’s current demotion policy has only a limited effect.

BBC, Premier League, and Sky see the digital markets competition regime as an opportunity to improve their position. Ideally, they would like the UK Government to present specific conduct requirements to address piracy challenges.

“This response makes recommendations for narrowly tailored Conduct Requirements (CRs) relating to the way in which those services facilitate piracy. We believe that the CRs we propose will help ensure the continued growth of the UK’s creative industries and their contribution to the wider economy,” the letter reads.

Interestingly, however, the proposed conduct requirements are not related to Google’s demotion process or the delisting of pirate domain names from search indexes. Instead, the rightsholders focus on Google search advertisements.

KYC and Repeat Infringers

The letter emphasizes that Google’s organic and paid search results lead consumers directly and indirectly to pirate content and services. While Google already limits advertising abuse, the rightsholders recommend two measures to tackle repeat offenders.

“Although Google has introduced some verification controls for users of search advertising services, repeated and prominent advertising of pirate services from the same ad accounts remains commonplace,” they write.

To address this, Google should be required to implement a robust Know-Your-Customer (KYC) policy. This means that all advertisers would be properly verified and identified, in case they break the rules.

The KYC requirement sets the stage for the second measure: a transparent repeat infringer policy requiring Google to terminate accounts of users who consistently violate its policies by advertising copyright-infringing services.

Proposed Conduct Requirements
 

The letter notes that these measures, if implemented, would help UK rightsholders tto combat online piracy and mitigate related losses.

“We urge the CMA to seize the opportunity to use the tools provided by the DMCC to combat digital piracy in the UK by implementing focussed Conduct Requirements. Doing so will help ensure fair dealing, open choices, and trust and transparency..,” BBC, Premier League, and Sky conclude.

—

A copy of the BBC, Premier League, and Sky letter published by the CMA, is available here (pdf)

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 LaLiga is following through on its promise to go after large tech companies that allegedly make piracy easier or more difficult to stop.

In recent weeks and with repeat performances over the weekend, LaLiga continued to block Cloudflare IP addresses to prevent IPTV piracy.

LaLiga says it enjoys judicial support to do what is necessary. Cloudflare believes that at bare minimum it should’ve been given the opportunity to be heard in the case. Since the company wasn’t invited, Cloudflare believes the injunction should be declared invalid.

As controversy over site blocking embroils Cloudflare, LaLiga is now fighting tech giants on at least two fronts. In a criminal case centered on an alleged piracy app, LaLiga accuses Google and Huawei of profiting from infringements allegedly carried out through it.

NewPlay: LaLiga Targets ‘Profit-Making Participants’

In a 2022 submission to the European Commission’s Counterfeiting and Piracy Watch List (pdf, translated), LaLiga said the NewPlay IPTV application had been downloaded from Google Play 900,000 times in 2021, in Spain alone.

The league claimed that through the app, users were able to access M3U playlists. These files carry no infringing content themselves, but effectively point to locations where pirated audiovisual content (such as sports, TV channels, TV series, and movies) can be found.

The public text of LaLiga’s referral to the EC identified the entity ITECH SLU as NewPlay’s developer. LaLiga added that NewPlay was “under judicial investigation” but there was no mention of a lawsuit underway since 2020. Allegations of profiting from piracy through advertising and premium subscriptions were also destined for more distant parties.

In April 2022, local media reported that a judge had ruled in favor of LaLiga but the specifics and what that meant for the NewPlay developer was unclear. The focus instead shifted to LaLiga and an order obtained from the Court of First Instance and Instruction No. 1 of Cieza (Juzgado de. Instrucción Nº 1 de Cieza).

NewPlay was previously available for download from app stores operated by Google, Apple, and Huawei. The order obtained by LaLiga instructed the companies to cease all payments due to NewPlay for sales of its premium ‘ad-free’ product, and then end NewPlay’s operations once and for all.

Partial Compliance, LaLiga Demands More

Under the court’s instructions, Google, Apple, and Huawei reportedly removed NewPlay from their respective app stores. The removals had no immediate effect on users who already had NewPlay installed on their devices but LaLiga had already prepared for that. The court order required Google, Apple, and Huawei to disable or delete NewPlay to prevent future use on users’ mobile devices. That apparently didn’t happen.

Unhappy with the lack of compliance, in 2024 LaLiga called on the investigating judge to punish the tech companies’ directors. LaLiga says that the installed NewPlay apps still haven’t been remotely disabled but given the precedent that may set, LaLiga seems unlikely to let the matter go without a fight.

With support from Telefónica, Mediapro and rights group EGEDA, LaLiga wants to hold Google and Huawei responsible for pirated content reportedly made available via the NewPlay app.

An order handed down by a court in Cieza (Murcia) now requires executives from Google Ireland LTD and Google Commerce Limited to testify on their business with NewPlay, including how profits were generated and at what scale. Huawei is also required to appear, but no mention is made of Apple in the latest announcement.

An anonymous LaLiga source told ConfiLegal that the development is significant. It could set a very “important precedent, because the judge in a case against a pirate application considers that Google can participate, for profit, in the profits obtained.”

Then and Now

In the specific form it was made available for download on various app stores, NewPlay didn’t appear to contain pre-loaded playlists or links to copyrighted content, at least at the point of delivery.

That position was underlined by NewPlay’s legal team in a two stage defense. While acknowledging NewPlay’s ability to consume M3U playlists in a manner not unlike VLC, for example, they argued that NewPlay played no part creating the playlists or the media to which they linked. As a result, the developer couldn’t be held liable for users’ infringing conduct.

NewPlay’s second line of defense was based in EU law. In their own right, football matches and similar sporting events do not qualify for copyright protection since they lack various aspects of creativity required under law.

The exact details of NewPlay’s approach are unknown to us but in practical terms, a lack of copyright protection is easily overcome by ensuring other elements that do receive protection (graphics, logos etc) are an integral part of sports broadcasts.

LaLiga’s submission to the EC dated February 14, 2022, made no mention of the case or where it was heading.

Reports this week suggest that the NewPlay case began in 2021 when police located the app’s developer in Murcia, but that raises questions about the 2020 lawsuit, and the submission to the EC two years later.

And there are bigger questions in plain view.

NewPlay Still in Operation Alongside Similar Apps?

LaLiga told the EC that NewPlay operated from the website newplay.site. That domain doesn’t load correctly right now, but it appears it was working just fine at the end of January, if only for a short time. Despite its appearance today, the site may exist to support a mobile app and surprisingly seems to offer a NewPlay Android app for direct download, as search engines point out.

Other puzzling aspects include an entity branded as ITECH SLU appearing at the top of search results, linking to a page on Google Play with not one but three apps for download.

One of those apps already has 100K+ downloads but whether it functions similarly to NewPlay, or whether it’s even made by the same developer, is hard to say with any certainty, and harder still without a live test; which is not going to happen.

Today’s piracy world is awash with imposters bearing fake apps, so that possibility can’t be ruled in or out, here or anywhere else. Sometimes it’s easier and safer to just walk away.

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 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. “The Gorge” is the most shared title.

The most torrented movies for the week ending on March 03 are:

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

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 Internet infrastructure company Cloudflare provides a range of connectivity and security services to customers around the globe.

As a result of its growing impact, the American company increasingly finds itself at the center of copyright complaints and pirate site blocking disputes.

In Spain, for example, this resulted in court-sanctioned blockades of Cloudflare’s infrastructure, without it being actively involved in the legal process. These broad blockades, that also affected legitimate customers, are legally challenged by Cloudflare which believes that they go too far.

This doesn’t mean that the company has not taken any action. If Cloudflare is involved as a party in legal proceedings, it has shown to comply with court orders. The company previously blocked domains of its pass-through service customers in Japan and Italy, for example. And these blocking measures continue to be expanded.

402 Blocked Domains in France

Cloudflare’s latest Transparency Report, published last week, shows that the company geo-blocked 402 domain names in France in 2024, based on 9 different court orders. These apply to customers of its pass-through (CDN) service and all are linked to sports streaming piracy.

The domain names in question are geo-blocked, which means that they remain available outside France. Cloudflare took a similar approach in Italy last year, where a court ordered it to block 30 pirate site domains.

Geoblocking Pirates
 

While Cloudflare cooperates in these cases, it doesn’t see itself as the most logical candidate to enforce anti-piracy measures and continues to defend itself against these blocking requests.

“Because Cloudflare cannot remove content it does not host, other service providers are better positioned to address these issues,” the company notes.

“Among other things, any blocking by Cloudflare is of limited effectiveness, as a website will be accessible if it stops using Cloudflare’s network. Cloudflare therefore regularly pushes back against attempts to seek blocking orders.”

1.1.1.1 Blocking?

When it comes to blocking, Cloudflare makes a clear distinction between pass-through services and its publicly available DNS resolver 1.1.1.1. The latter can be used by people from anywhere in the world and due to the technical setup, geo-blocking isn’t straightforward.

Cloudflare therefore treats these DNS blocking efforts as requests to block content globally, even outside the jurisdiction of the originating courts and governments. This means that recent French and Italian court orders to block pirate sites through Cloudflare’s DNS could be noticed worldwide.

Despite these orders, Cloudflare says that, to date, it hasn’t blocked any content through the 1.1.1.1 DNS resolver. The company’s explanation is short on detail, but says that it found “alternate mechanisms” to comply with these court orders.

“Given the extraterritorial effect as well as the different global approaches to DNS-based blocking, Cloudflare has pursued legal remedies before complying with requests to block access to domains or content through the 1.1.1.1 Public DNS Resolver or identified alternate mechanisms to comply with relevant court orders.

“To date, Cloudflare has not blocked content through the 1.1.1.1 Public DNS Resolver,” Cloudflare adds.

Not Blocked

U.S. Site Blocking Impact

Cloudflare didn’t reply to our request for additional context and detail on these “alternate” blocking mechanisms. However, the Transparency Report does note that the company sometimes geoblocks domains on its pass-through service, in response to DNS blocking orders

“Cloudflare has sometimes taken action to geoblock access to websites through Cloudflare’s pass-through CDN and security services, in response to orders directing Cloudflare to block through its public DNS resolver.”

However, if the targeted website does not use Cloudflare’s services, this approach cannot be implemented. What the company does in these instances is unclear.

Cloudflare’s stance is particularly relevant in the light of new legislative developments in the United States, where a site blocking bill was introduced late January. This bill specifically mentions DNS resolvers as potential blocking enforcers.

Based on comments in the latest Transparency Report, Cloudflare clearly objects to this role, and it will likely protest the proposal when it’s considered in more detail by lawmakers.

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 On a Saturday afternoon when everything runs to plan, the referee blows his whistle and for the next 105 minutes, nothing matters more than this game in this magnificent stadium.

Yet, viewed from almost any other vantage point, top tier professional football faces problems in every direction.

At the Financial Times’ Business of Football Summit on Wednesday, DAZN’s head of global rights Tom Burrows spoke of the sports rights industry “getting to the stage where it’s almost a crisis.” Coming from a company that has already spent billions on TV rights and plans to spend billions more, “crisis” takes a different shape when considering the £8.7 billion deficit in DAZN’s latest set of accounts.

Broadcasting rights are necessary but, as costs cascade from rightsholders to broadcasters and ultimately down to the fans, prohibitively high prices eliminate loyal fans from the top-tier football business equation. At a time of “almost crisis” when the majority of clubs continue to report losses, ideally fans should be traveling in the other direction.

Unsustainable business models have a direct effect on fans’ ability to financially support the game. At clubs around Europe, the cause of today’s crisis is clear, and something on which they all agree: the root of the industry’s woes is rampant online piracy.

What caused piracy to run rampant in the first place is rarely discussed. Fans, on the other hand, consistently cite the same motivations to pirate, year in and year out.

Piracy is Illegal and Simply Has to Stop

Expecting fans to comply with the law is not unreasonable but, since prevention is better than cure, shaping public perceptions in advance is also an option for rightsholders.

In Italy, public awareness campaigns are a legal requirement but, with so many moving parts, whether these efforts make much difference is up for debate. Even if an awareness campaign moved an entire nation to tears, a couple of 30-second videos are no basis for the scale and persistence of change the situation demands.

According to the FT report, the piracy situation in the UK is “not believed to be as bad” as those faced in Spain, Italy, France, and Germany. Sky Group COO Nick Herm nevertheless spoke this week of a “never-ending battle”, while initially declining to put a figure on the cost to the business.

When asked to estimate how much piracy costs the business, Herm said it was difficult to quantify as very few people are willing to admit accessing pirated content. He nevertheless added that “hundreds of millions of dollars” go ‘missing’ from the company’s revenue streams due to piracy.

An estimate in the low hundreds seems to fit the bigger picture. Determining the nature of this ‘gray’ audience would help to separate potential lost sales from the folly of chasing lost causes.

Making Piracy Attractive

From any UK vantage point outside a Premier League stadium mid-Saturday afternoon, matches are unavailable to view live, at any price. The ‘3pm blackout’ is regularly cited as a prime reason for fans turning to illegal streams.

When the Premier League broadcasts 3pm games and every other game in countries including Canada, the prices are significantly lower than those available to fans in the UK, for a more restricted content offering. UK fans clearly have an issue with that, but the bigger question is whether the policy contributes to overall piracy.

When the Premier League denies access to live broadcasts of some of the most significant games, that creates demand for a highly desirable product that doesn’t exist in the UK. This not only acts as an incentive to supply pirated content to an underserved market, but also provides the conditions for profit.

People have spent time in prison in the UK for fulfilling that demand. And since pirate IPTV packages aren’t only available for use on Saturdays, those who ‘beat the blackout’ have zero incentive to maintain any legal package for viewing during the week.

Adjusting Customer Attitudes to Match Terms of Supply

Crafting an awareness campaign to mitigate the Canadian example above would face obvious hurdles, yet with decades of experience, probably not impossible for a company like Sky. The BeStreamWise anti-piracy campaign involving Sky, Premier League, BBC, ITV, DAZN, and others, launched in September 2023.

The campaign’s focus on malware provided no specific advice. With no security vendors on board to add credibility to its claims, any awareness raised seemed limited to the claims, not the underlying threats. None of the threats were publicly named for awareness or avoidance purposes, but it didn’t take long for an innocent sore thumb to stand out as a possible scapegoat.

Throwing the Baby Out With the Bathwater

Amazon’s Fire TV Stick hit the market in 2014 and was soon recognized as the cheapest way to transform an existing dumb TV into something smarter. Amazon was happy to see its competitors’ products competing alongside its own on Fire TV. Streaming market leader Netflix went head-to-head with Prime Video, while Spotify jostled for business against Amazon Music, for example.

Reportedly sold close to cost to maximize sales, Fire TV Sticks lowered the barrier to entry for legal consumption of movies, TV shows, music, and apps.

Yet, in common with most Android-based devices on the market, Fire Sticks were capable of a much more. Since they were comparatively cheap, well-made and in constant supply, Fire Sticks became the go-to device for pirates and non-pirates alike.

At a time when Amazon held the rights to show a limited number of live Premier League matches, and was gifting them to Prime customers for no additional cost, the demonization of ‘firesticks’ stepped up a gear. With plenty of assistance from elements of the UK tabloid media, an entirely legal Amazon product found itself elevated to pirate boogeyman status.

DANGER: LEGAL STREAMING

In what would become a recurring theme, public warnings concerning piracy found themselves coupled with serious but non-specific malware threats. Then by coincidence or design, references to Fire TV Stick-based devices and even Amazon itself became embroiled in the ongoing controversy.

The Importance of Branding

That Amazon’s valuable brand had become synonymous with piracy was countered in some articles with a note that “‘firesticks’ aren’t illegal in their own right” and only jailbreaking is illegal. There has never been a requirement to jailbreak Fire TV Sticks. Sideloading apps from repositories outside Amazon’s ecosystem was always straightforward via a toggle in the device’s menu. And herein lies the problem.

TF became aware of a potential mismatch between rightsholders expectations and Amazon’s right to run its own business over a year ago. In general terms, it was felt that the success of the Fire TV Stick meant that Amazon should consider the positive impact of taking some type of action. A logical assumption might see sideloading prevented, for example, but that would be easily fixed and might also prevent legal use of legal apps.

At the Business of Football Summit on Wednesday, details emerged of why a legal device is considered such a threat, and details of the measures requested and subsequently denied by Amazon.

#1 Threat: Amazon Doesn’t Help, Fans Think Its Funny

Sky Group COO Nick Herm revealed that ‘jailbroken Fire Sticks’ represent the #1 piracy threat in the UK, with Amazon branding playing a leading role.

“The Amazon FireStick is a big problem here,” Herm said. “We think it accounts for about half of the piracy in the UK. People think that because it’s a legitimate brand, it must be OK. So they give their credit card details to criminal gangs. Amazon is not engaging with us as much as we’d like.”

Rightsholders reportedly asked Amazon to prevent sideloading of third party apps or impose restrictions on functionality for software originating from outside its ecosystem. Other problems include customers buying firesticks in bulk, with rightsholders arguing in favor of restrictions on sales.

Other issues may have drawn inspiration from Sky’s anti-piracy awareness and enforcement campaigns in Ireland.

“There are football fans who literally have shirts printed out that say Fire Sticks on them,” Herm said.

Biting the hand that feeds

With fans apparently turning up at games dressed in shirts like these, and even getting snapped on TV, websites appear to be cashing in too.

Perhaps one shouldn’t take these things so seriously, but this is Ireland’s national team strip. The team is sponsored by Sky but clearly its logo has been replaced here for comic effect with limited shelf life. Genuine shirts are available from Sky for just €91, confirming that this is one big joke that isn’t funny at all.

The Finale: Did the Campaign Work and Is Piracy On the Wane?

The answer to both questions is the same: we don’t know.

Mentions of an “almost crisis” and calling out Amazon in public suggest that not enough progress has been made on the piracy front. Whether the BeStreamWise campaign was a success or not, seems to depend on its purpose. If the main goal was to reduce consumption of pirated content, we don’t know.

If the point was to raise awareness, we can’t say for certain either way. The Google Trends chart below shows the popularity of searches for “firesticks” and “malware” during the course of the campaign. While unlikely to provide much insight, these entirely separate searches may offer a surprise. When searches for “firesticks” peak, searches for “malware” have a tendency to reduce at exactly the same time.

Another unexpected outcome is outlined below. Lack of information to support the claims in the BeStreamWise campaign motivated us to find out more about the intersection of piracy and malware. Scores of hours were subsequently spent tearing apart popular and unpopular pirate streaming apps, mostly on Android but some on iOS, to find out if the bare claims made in the campaign are substantially true.

Worse Than Expected

While some apps may be completely benign, nearly all apps randomly tested generated money from ads, and not necessarily good ones. Many apps were wide open to specific exploits so glaring, the question of intent seems more pressing than one of incompetence. Permissions appear to be an area of real concern; broad requests for permission to access deep into user devices should be denied by default, not willingly accepted without a second thought as appears to be the case here.

Other ‘useful’ features discovered include the ability to silently turn on cameras and microphones without alerting the user, while extracting photo albums to servers linked to facial recognition services.

A baked-in capability to do almost anything with users’ devices, wherever and whenever that’s required, may not directly evoke the church scene in Kingsman, but as an awareness campaign, money in the bank.

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 Every year, the entertainment industry celebrates its stars in various award ceremonies.

From the Oscars, through the Grammys, to the Emmys, there’s no shortage of spotlights for the finest performers.

Hollywood is abuzz this week leading up to the Oscars ceremony on Sunday. At the same time, the leading movie industry group, the MPA, announced its own annual awards. These celebrate creative achievement too, but mostly IP-related legislative and enforcement efforts.

The MPA and its flagship anti-piracy arm ACE represent the major Hollywood studios, Amazon, and Netflix. The organization has a global presence and helped to orchestrate site blocking measures around the world, paired with high-profile enforcement actions such as the Fmovies takedown.

The MPA Awards Go to…

This year’s annual awards have a strong national focus, however. This includes the Creator Award, which goes out to “Wicked” director Jon M. Chu, who notably missed out on an Oscar nomination for best directing.

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences can rest assured, as the MPA’s Awards are no competition for the Oscars. In fact, Chu is the only filmmaker to receive an award, as the rest of the accolades go out to lawmakers and enforcement partners, who help the movie industry majors protect their copyrights.

The Creative Protector Award, for example, goes to Ivan Arvelo, director of the U.S. Government’s Intellectual Property Rights Coordination Center (IPR Center). The IPR Center works closely with the MPA to combat online piracy.

IPR Center has also been instrumental in various domain seizure efforts. This included the sports streaming piracy seizures that were carried out earlier this week.

Recent Seizure Banner
 

MPA says that the IPR Center has been vital to combating online piracy and, in turn, Arvelo stresses that anti-piracy efforts are a top priority for the U.S. Government organization.

“We are proud to stand with the MPA to safeguard intellectual property, and we are grateful to the association for recognizing the important work we do to protect this vital American industry,” Arvelo commented on receiving the Creative Protector Award.

Lauded Senate Leader

It is no surprise that the MPA awards those who, directly or indirectly, further their interests. This applies to the enforcement side but also to the lawmaking process, where members of the United States Congress help steer future legislation.

This year, the MPA commended three veteran politicians for their efforts to protect the movie industry. They include John Thune, Senate Majority Leader for the Republican Party. This is a pivotal position, which enables significant influence over the legislative process.

Senator Thune will receive an Industry Champion Award for his work on policies that encourage innovation and competitive choice for customers. We’re not aware of any pioneering copyright policy the Senate leader was involved in, but he did extensively advocate for consumer freedom, including the Filter Bubble Transparency Act.

The MPA hasn’t mentioned Thune in any communications on its website before, aside from the fact that MPA’s Senior Vice President of Federal Government Affairs worked for him previously. That said, the award shows that the movie industry group values his work and achievements.

Sen. Coons and Rep. Issa

The two other lawmakers who received an Industry Champion Award are more directly linked to anti-piracy work. Democratic Senator Chris Coons introduced the PROTECT IP Act in 2011, and later sponsored the Protecting Lawful Streaming Act in 2020, which criminalized pirate streaming services.

Coons also teamed up with other lawmakers, urging domain name registry Verisign to help copyright holders tackle online piracy. And as Chairman of the Senate’s Intellectual Property Subcommittee, he further helped protect rightsholders.

“Coons understands the cultural power and economic value of the film and television industry in the U.S. and across the globe, and he has worked to protect copyright from piracy as the top Democrat on the Senate Judiciary subcommittee on Intellectual Property,” MPA writes.

Sen. John Thune, Sen. Chris Coons and Rep. Darrell Issa (left to right)
 

The final Industry Champion Award goes to Republican House Representative Darrell Issa, who has proven to be a reliable ally for copyright holders over the years. Similar to Coons, he also sponsored the Protecting Lawful Streaming Act, which opened the door to criminal prosecutions of streaming services

Issa has a prominent position as the Chairman of the House Judiciary Subcommittee on Courts, Intellectual Property, Artificial Intelligence and the Internet. In this capacity, he chaired a prominent hearing on digital piracy, where site blocking was presented as a key solution to this problem.

When Congresswoman Zoe Lofgren introduced her FADPA bill late January, the MPA thanked her, while mentioning Rep. Issa in the same sentence. It later emerged that Rep. Issa is working on his own version of a pirate site-blocking bill.

“The MPA thanks Rep. Lofgren for introducing FADPA and for her commitment to work with Chairman Issa to enact legislation this Congress to ensure America’s creators have effective enforcement tools to combat offshore piracy targeting the U.S. market,” MPA CEO Charles Rivkin said at the time.

Surprise

The award recipients have all earned their stripes over the years. And it doesn’t come as a surprise that the MPA awards those who have its best interests in mind. That these people are in key positions ensures that enforcement priorities stay on track and favorable legislation is passed into law, fits the overall picture.

The most surprising part, perhaps, is that Rep. Lofgren did not receive an award for introducing a site blocking bill. After all, this was not a decision that was made lightly, since the failed SOPA bill left serious scars on the Hill.

There might be logical reasons for this decision, and perhaps the award for Rep. Lofgren will come one day. These are politics, after all, so some things are kept behind closed doors, likely for good reasons.

The MPA Awards Ceremony is scheduled to take place later this year and all honorees are expected to attend.

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RIP Matrix | Farewell my friend  

 Earlier this month, U.S. authorities quietly initiated a new round of domain name seizures, targeting dozens of pirate sports streaming sites.

The timing of the law enforcement actions coincided with the Super Bowl, presumably to establish maximum impact. Additional domain seizures were carried out in the days after, and then continued this week.

These actions did not focus on a specific pirate streaming site but targeted popular pirate brands instead. Those targeted included Acestream, Buffstream, Crackedstreams, Methstreams, StreamEast, and Totalsportek. In total, more than 200 domain names were taken down across various TLDs

To our knowledge, the authorities are yet to issue a public statement on this enforcement action. There has been no mention from rightsholders either, so it’s unclear whether domain registrars, domain registries, or both were asked to cooperate. A new round of seizures this week has clear links to Google Registry, but doesn’t offer conclusive evidence.

Google Registry / Porkbun

Google Registry manages the domains for several top-level domains (TLDs) including .ADS, .APP, DEV, and MOV. As an American company, it is logical to assume that the registry would comply with valid legal requests from national authorities regarding these domains.

Earlier this month, we observed close to a hundred .APP sports streaming domains being pointed towards seizedservers.com’s DNS servers, a clear sign of U.S. Government involvement.

Targeted .APP Domains
 

That all of these domains changed their DNS entries at the same time, just days after the initial seizures began, suggests that the action was carried out by a single entity. In this case, Google Registry would be the likely candidate, but there might be another explanation.

All seized .APP domains happen to be registered through the American company Porkbun. That means that these domains may have been registered by a single account holder, potentially as backups, which would be another valid reason why they all went down at once.

Whether Google Registry or Porkbun took action doesn’t change the outcome in any way; the domain names are definitely seized.

Target: .Dev Domains

This week, the sports streaming domain seizures continued, again without public fanfare. This latest move targeted many .DEV domains which are also managed by Google Registry. Again, these domains were registered though Porkbun.

The targets include methstream.dev, markkystreams.dev, gostreameast.dev, formula1stream.dev, footybites.dev and dozens of others. Like previous seizures, domain nameservers were switched to those of seizedservers.com, but the domains don’t necessarily display the well-known seizure banner.

Targeted .DEV Domains
 

Instead, many domains return an SSL certificate error, as we’ve also seen with the .APP domains. This is likely a result of how these seizures were technically processed. While ownership of the domains has changed, SSL certificates are not necessarily updated, triggering an error.

New Owner: The IPR Center

The changed ownership of the .APP and .DEV domain names is undisputed. The Whois information for the seized domains now list the National Intellectual Property Rights Coordination Center (IPR Center) as registrant, with Virginia as the registered state.

Registrant: IPR Center
 

The IPR Center has experience with these types of enforcement actions and is also listed on the seizure banner of other seized domain names. Earlier this month, the organization announced the seizure of counterfeit sports goods ahead of the Super Bowl, but there was no mention of domain seizures.

As these seizures are ongoing, more domains may be added in the future. It’s difficult to compile a full list of all affected domains, but based on our research, complemented by Mat’s excellent domain seizure resource, we have compiled the non-exhaustive and unverified list below.

—

1stream.app 1stream.dev 1streams.app 1streams.dev 1streams.xyz 720pstream.app 720pstream.dev 720pstreams.app 720pstreams.xyz acesports.dev acestream.app acestreams.app acestreams.xyz bilasports.app bilasports.dev boxingbite.dev boxingbite.xyz boxingstream.app boxingstream.dev boxingstream.info boxingstreams.buzz boxingstreams.dev buffstream.buzz buffstream.dev buffstreamer.app buffstreamer.xyz buffstreams.dev buffstreams.pro buffstreamshd.app cfbstreams.app cfbstreams.biz cfbstreams.dev cfbstreams.info cfbstreamshd.app cfbstreamshd.com cfbstreamshd.xyz crackedstream.app crackedstreams.app cracks.stream crackstream.buzz crackstreamer.app crackstreamer.xyz crackstreamss.app crackstreamss.biz dudestream.app dudestream.xyz f1bite.dev f1bite.info f1streams.biz f1streams.dev footybite.dev footybitehd.com footybitehd.dev footybitehd.xyz footybites.app footybites.dev formula1stream.app formula1stream.dev formula1stream.xyz givemeredditstreams.app givemeredditstreams.dev gostreameast.app gostreameast.biz gostreameast.club gostreameast.dev gostreameast.info gostreameast.live gostreameast.my gostreameast.net gostreameast.one gostreameast.org gostreameast.pro gostreameast.vip gototalsportek.app gototalsportek.com markkystreams.app markkystreams.dev meths.stream methstream.dev methstream.pro methstreamer.app methstreamer.xyz methstreams.buzz methstreams.dev mlb66.app mlb66.biz mlb66.dev mlbstreams100.app mlbstreams100.xyz mlbwebcast.app mlbwebcast.xyz mma-streams.app mma-streams.dev mmabite.dev mmahunter.app mmahunter.dev mmastream.app mmastream.dev mmastreams.club mmastreams.dev mmastreams100.app mmastreams100.xyz mmawebcast.app mmawebcast.xyz motostreams.app motostreams.dev motostreams.xyz mycrackstreams.app mycrackstreams.com mycrackstreams.org mycrackstreams.xyz mystreameast.app mystreameast.biz mystreameast.cc mystreameast.club mystreameast.co mystreameast.dev mystreameast.info mystreameast.live mystreameast.my mystreameast.net mystreameast.one mystreameast.org mystreameast.pro mystreameast.vip nba66.app nba66.biz nba66.dev nbabite.biz nbabite.dev nbabites.app nbabites.xyz nbahunter.app nbahunter.xyz nbastreamlinks.app nbastreamlinks.biz nbastreamlinks.dev nbastreams.blog nbastreams.dev nbastreams100.app nbastreams100.dev nbastreams100.xyz nbastreamslink.app nbastreamslink.xyz ncaastreams.app ncaastreams.dev nfl66.app nfl66.dev nflbite.dev nflbites.app nflbites.xyz nflhunter.app nflhunter.dev nflhunter.xyz nflstreamlinks.app nflstreamlinks.xyz nflstreams.blog nflstreams.dev nflstreams.pro nflstreams100.app nflstreams100.xyz nflwebcast.app nflwebcast.dev nflwebcast.xyz nhl66.biz nhl66.dev nhlbite.app nhlbite.biz nhlbite.dev nhlbite.info nhlstreamshd.app nhlstreamshd.xyz papahd.app papahd.biz papahdstreams.app papahdstreams.xyz rcrackstreams.app rcrackstreams.xyz redditboxingstreams.app redditboxingstreams.dev redditboxingstreams.xyz redditf1.app redditf1.xyz redditf1streams.app redditf1streams.xyz redditmlbstreams.app redditmlbstreams.xyz redditmmastreams.app redditmmastreams.xyz redditnbastream.app redditnbastream.xyz redditnbastreams.app redditnbastreams.dev redditnbastreams.xyz redditnfl.app redditnfl.dev redditnflstreams.app redditnflstreams.dev redditnhlstreams.app redditnhlstreams.dev redditnhlstreams.xyz redditsoccerstreams.dev redditsports.app redditsports.xyz redditstreams.app redditstreams.dev redditufcstreams.app redditufcstreams.com redditufcstreams.xyz redditwwestreams.app redditwwestreams.com redditwwestreams.xyz redsports.dev redsports.xyz ronaldo7.app ronaldo7streams.app ronaldo7streams.xyz soccerjumbo.xyz soccerlive.biz soccerstreams.dev soccerstreamsreddit.app soccerstreamsreddit.com soccerstreamsreddit.xyz sportcasthd.app sportcasthd.dev sportcasthd.xyz sportek.xyz sportlemon.app sportlemon.dev sportlemons.app sportlemons.dev sportscast.dev sportscasthd.app sportscasthd.dev sportshubhd.app sportshubhd.xyz sportshubs.app sportshubs.xyz sportshubz.app sportshubz.com stream2watch.dev stream2watchhd.com stream2watchhd.xyz streameast.co streameast.sh streamergate.app streamergate.xyz streamgate.biz streamgate.dev streamonsports.app streamonsports.dev streams2watch.app streams2watch.xyz streamsgate.app streamsgate.xyz thestreameast.cc thestreameast.live thestreameast.me thestreameast.net thestreameast.org topstreams.app topstreams.dev topstreamshd.app topstreamshd.com topstreamshd.dev topstreamshd.xyz totalsportek.dev totalsporteks.app totalsporteks.biz totalsporteks.dev totalsporteks.xyz totalsportk.app totalsportk.xyz ufcwebcast.app ufcwebcast.xyz vipboxs.app vipboxs.stream vipboxstreams.app vipboxtv.biz vipleague.dev vipleaguehd.app vipleaguehd.com vivosoccer.app wnbastreams.app wnbastreams.dev wnbastreams.xyz wwestreams.app wwestreams.xyz

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RIP Matrix | Farewell my friend  

 Founded in 2018, TorrentGalaxy has grown to become a leading player in the torrent ecosystem.

Update late February: : It looks that the site still has issues. But at this point, these problems are no longer news. If more information becomes available in the coming days we will follow it up.

However, the past few months have been far from smooth sailing and last Thursday, TorrentGalaxy become entirely unreachable once again.

Attempts to access the popular torrent site stopped short of their intended destination. With one exception (torrentgalaxy.mx which points to 127.0.0.1) the site’s domain names are working just fine, but the route to the site’s servers clearly isn’t.

This site can’t be reached
 

As usual, there is no word from TorrentGalaxy’s operators. The site’s regular staff and administrators are also left in the dark, which means that it’s not clear if or when the site will return.

Site Down, Bots Up

Occasional downtime is not unusual for these types of sites and TorrentGalaxy has had more than its fair share since new owners took over the site last year. The prolonged downtime is newsworthy, however, as the site is one of the largest torrent communities in existence today.

The site is also important as a key content supplier to other torrent sites though its upload bots. Interestingly, those bots are still operational, unlike during previous downtime periods.

TGx Uploads Elsewhere
 

While these troubles are a concern for pirates, copyright holders will be pleased to see the site gone. Last month, the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) flagged TorrentGalaxy among the most notorious pirate sites. According to the report, the site was one of the main beneficiaries of RARBG’s shutdown in 2023.

Money, Ukraine & Anti-Pirates

Whether recent ‘technical’ troubles are the result of targeted enforcement action isn’t clear, however. The site appears to be hosted, or more likely proxied, though the Ukrainian company Virtual Systems LLC, which has a reputation for providing connectivity and staying out of third party disputes.

As a result, Virtual Systems was also branded a “notorious piracy market” by the USTR, for allegedly offering “DMCA Ignored” hosting services.

Interestingly, a few weeks ago, TorrentGalaxy claimed that it had trouble paying the bills. When the operators asked users to chip in, hundreds of dollars were donated in Bitcoin.

While some might connect the current troubles to a lack of funds, there’s no evidence for that either. If the site shut down voluntarily, it would likely put up a message one way or another, which isn’t all that hard. In fact, TGx has quite a bit of experience with spooky messages by now.

Update February 18: the site appears to be back.

Update late February: : It looks that the site still has issues. But at this point, technical problems are not longer news.

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RIP Matrix | Farewell my friend  

Over 12 years in the making, the Foreign Anti-Digital Piracy Act was introduced by Rep. Zoe Lofgren (D-CA) late last month.

Carefully crafted to avoid the controversies of the failed SOPA bill in 2012, FADPA’s central aim is to provide a framework to facilitate mass site-blocking measures in the United States, targeting foreign pirate sites. Importantly, FADPA seeks legal amendments to shield subjected ISPs from liability.

After rightsholders in Italy and more recently France obtained injunctions against DNS resolvers operated by Cloudflare, Google, and OpenDNS, the FADPA bill seeks similar measures right from the start. DNS resolvers operated by companies with less than $100m in annual revenue are excluded, however.

FADPA Opposition?

The self-imposed restrictions on DNS resolvers cited in the FADPA bill, do not mean that the resulting measures are limited in scope. The so-called ‘dynamic’ injunctions envisioned by FADPA cannot exist within an inflexible legal framework, meaning that space for adjustment will become evident as the process moves forward.

The current climate may offer the best opportunity in years to push FADPA over the line. Google’s traditional opposition to blocking proposals is well known, but activity in more recent years suggests a non-front line position for the search giant, that’s if there’s any opposition at all.

The potential for a change in dynamics becomes more interesting on the back of news that FADPA will soon find itself joined by another bill with similar site-blocking aims. After waiting 12 years for a new bill to arrive, the prospect of weighing two bills against each other comes at a time when rightsholders are already showing signs of support for both.

Incoming: American Copyright Protection Act

Less specific in its title but just as focused as its FADPA rival in tackling foreign pirate sites, details of the American Copyright Protection Act emerged in The Ankler.

The publication introduces ACPA architect U.S. Rep. Darrell Issa (R) as “New Hollywood Friend.” Considering the congressman’s focus in ACPA is “judicial blocking” of foreign sites, this will further amplify the need for action.

During a roundtable meeting late January at the Millennium Biltmore in Los Angeles, key supporters of FADPA were in attendance to discuss ACPA and the threat posed by overseas pirate sites. Whether site blocking (‘judicial blocking’ in ACPA parlance) can effectively deal with surging levels of piracy will have been answered affirmatively by at least three of the companies in attendance.

As members of the MPA, a driving force behind many of the site blocking schemes operating in the world today, Amazon, Disney, and Paramount are proponents of site blocking by default. In practical terms, the United States represents the final frontier, or at least the last major site blocking hurdle.

Other Participants’ Positions Less Clear

Also in attendance during the off-the-record meeting were executives from Google and YouTube. Under common ownership, any official position on site-blocking measures hasn’t been raised in public for years. Traditionally an opponent of blocking, Google directly or indirectly played a key role in the failure of the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) bill in 2012.

To a background of increased business scrutiny in both the United States and Europe, signs that Google may be less entrenched includes the deindexing of pirate sites from search results. Google only removes sites previously deemed infringing by competent courts, but no longer requires to be a named party itself. A copy of a court order and a list of sites is now enough for Google to take voluntary action, in Europe, Brazil, India, Australia and beyond.

YouTube’s position on foreign pirate sites and site-blocking in general, most likely aligns with that of Google. Given the staggering volume of traffic they account for worldwide, available for free at the point of consumption, describing pirate sites as competitors might not be too much of a stretch.

Of more interest is the presence of a major ISP at the meeting last month.

Verizon and Hundreds of Others

When FADPA was introduced in January, the MPA and affiliated groups voiced support for the bill in no uncertain terms. Yet without the support and cooperation of other key players, a coordinated site blocking program in the U.S. would never reach its full potential and may even struggle to get off the ground.

For reasons that are still unclear, to our knowledge no major ISPs in the United States have even acknowledged the existence of the bill, let alone stated their official positions.

Regardless of who put them in place, when site blocking schemes irritate or confuse the public, ISPs become the logical focus of consumer complaints. Attitudes to blocking in Europe have softened over time but in the United States, brand image risk could increase along with customer churn. Yet despite being responsible for the blocks, rightsholders remain distant throughout.

As far as we’re able to determine, Verizon was the sole telecoms company at the roundtable meeting, but its official position on site-blocking in this context is unknown. Like most major ISPs, Verizon may conclude that less piracy will have a positive effect on its own bottom line, mostly thanks to improved sales of Fios TV subscriptions.

Matter of Public Interest?

Who represents the interests of consumers and the wider public in these discussions is unknown. Ultimately they’ll have to deal with any consequences and also pick up the bill, so perhaps a little more transparency will be considered later in the year.

The Consumer Technology Association did participate in the roundtable. The trade group says it acts as “a voice that defends your business from harmful legislation”. To what degree that applies here may differ from member to member.

The group’s non-exhaustive member list below includes Amazon, Disney, Google, Verizon, and a few other familiar names, many of which are currently engaged in site-blocking in other parts of the world, either directly or through subsidiaries.

Netflix, Nvidia, Adobe, Dell, AMD, Discovery, Qualcomm Inc, Alphabet (Google LLC), DISH Network, Amazon, Facebook, Fox Corp, Apple, AT&T, General Motors, Best Buy, HP, Walmart, Comcast, IBM, Intel, Disney, JP Morgan

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RIP Matrix | Farewell my friend  

 With roughly a billion active monthly users, Telegram is one of the most used messaging services.

The communication platform connects people worldwide and with optional end-to-end encryption, provides enhanced security compared to some other market players.

Telegram can also be an excellent medium to broadcast messages to a wider audience. Through dedicated one-way channels, people can share news, status updates, and emergency alerts, for example.

Piracy Complaints

While most messages shared on the platform are perfectly legal, Telegram has also been used by pirates and pirate sites. This has been a major concern for rightholders, who repeatedly complained that Telegram did little to address the problem seriously.

A few months ago, the Association of American Publishers (AAP) flagged Telegram as a notorious piracy market. The publishers acknowledged that Telegram accepted takedowns, but stressed that it lacked a comprehensive approach to deal with rampant and growing piracy.

“Notorious piracy networks (such as Z-Library) have established Telegram bots and channels to distribute copyrighted content or provide links to piracy sites hosting and disseminating pirated materials,” AAP wrote.

Following the arrest of Telegram founder Pavel Durov in France last summer, some positive changes were reported. The criminal probe is not centered on piracy, but Telegram appeared more responsive. Some reported that the speed at which takedown requests were processed, went from more than 24 hours to less than 20 minutes, for example.

In addition, Telegram updated its terms of service and privacy policy to clarify that, going forward, personal details of alleged infringers, including their IP addresses, would be handed over in response to valid legal requests.

“We won’t let bad actors jeopardize the integrity of our platform of almost a billion users,” Durov said at the time.

Z-Library Bot and Channel “Unavailable”

This stricter policy was evident to outsiders as well. Telegram removed accounts of piracy associated websites and services, after initially leaving these untouched for years. That included the official Z-Library channel, which had more than half a million subscribers at its peak.

Although Z-Library’s communication channel didn’t directly link to pirated books, it served as a key information hub, providing updates on new features and access methods. That was enough to warrant a permanent suspension last month.

The Telegram ban was a setback for Z-Library, but the shadow library wasted no time creating a new account and regaining tens of thousands of subscribers. Progress ground to a halt last weekend when the ‘new’ @zlibrary_news account was also suspended for copyright infringement.

“The channel is unavailable due to copyright infringement,” Telegram reports.

In addition to the main communication channel, one of the most used Z-Library download bots on Telegram was also taken offline. The @1lib account had more than 20,000 monthly users, who presumably used it as a handy tool to download books for free.

According to a Z-Library representative posting on X, Telegram took action in response to complaints from a major publisher. Many other ‘personal’ bots are unaffected and remain online for the time being.

Z-Library on X

Legal & Information Battles

The fact that Z-Library posted their explanation on X shows that the site is yet to be banned from there. We assume that publishers will attempt to suspend other communication channels used by the site.

These actions are part of an access and information battle the publishers are waging against shadow libraries. This complements site blocking efforts and countless Google takedowns. At this point, it is not clear where this will end.

Meanwhile, Z-Library remains at the center of a criminal prosecution in the United States. In 2022, two alleged operators of the site were arrested in Argentina and their extradition to the United States was approved last year.

However, according to the most recent information we have, the defendants escaped house arrest and disappeared. No further information has been released and the docket at the New York federal court has not been updated since late 2023.

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RIP Matrix | Farewell my friend  

 Copyright holders see pirate site blocking as an effective and proportional tool to combat widespread online piracy.

Over the years, courts and lawmakers in dozens of countries have agreed, resulting in a patchwork of blocking regimes around the globe.

Initially, these efforts focused on residential ISPs as the key intermediaries. While these companies were not blamed directly, they were the go-to parties to implement blocking. That proved insufficient, however.

More recently, DNS resolvers have been targeted with blocking orders. Since services such as Cloudflare, Google and OpenDNS, can be used to bypass ISP blocking efforts, courts in Germany and France have determined that DNS resolvers should take responsibility too.

VPN Blocking

DNS resolvers are also key players in the U.S. site-blocking bill, suggesting that more countries may seek to expand their blocking powers. Over in France, rightsholders are already gearing up for the next step, by going after VPN providers.

Earlier this month, sports rightsholders Canal+ and LFP requested blocking injunctions that would require popular VPNs to start blocking pirate sites and services. The full requests are not public, but the details available show that Cyberghost, ExpressVPN, NordVPN, ProtonVPN, and Surfshark are listed as respondents.

The aim is to prevent circumvention of existing blocking measures put in place to reduce widespread copyright infringement. However, VPN providers believe that they play no role in this matter. They serve legitimate privacy and security purposes and actively distance themselves from piracy.

Despite being neutral intermediaries, services can be ordered to block. Internet providers and DNS resolvers are not piracy tools either, but the French court compelled these companies to block piracy nonetheless.

Exit France?

The blocking request has yet to be approved and several of the targeted VPN providers have reserved detailed commentary, for now. That said, the VPN Trust Initiative (VTI), which includes ExpressVPN, NordVPN and Surfshark as members, has been vocal in its opposition.

VTI is part of the i2Coalition and while it doesn’t speak directly for any of the members, the coalition’s Executive Director Christian Dawson has been in regular discussions with VPN providers. From this, it became clear that VPN providers face difficult decisions.

If VPN providers are ordered to block pirate sites, some are considering whether to follow in the footsteps of Cisco, which discontinued its OpenDNS service in the country, to avoid meddling with its DNS resolver.

Speaking with TorrentFreak, VTI’s Dawson says that VPNs have previously left markets like India and Pakistan in response to restrictive requirements. This typically happens when privacy or security principles are at risk, or if the technical implementation of blocking measures is infeasible.

VTI does not rule out that some members may choose to exit France for similar reasons, if required to comply with blocking measures.

“We’ve seen this before in markets like India and Pakistan, where regulatory requirements forced some VPN services to withdraw rather than compromise on encryption standards or log-keeping policies,” Dawson says.

“France’s potential move to force VPN providers to block content could put companies in a similar position — where they either comply with measures that contradict their purpose or leave the market altogether.”

Dangerous Precedent

VTI notes that the French request isn’t the first time that VPN services have faced external interference. China, Russia, and Iran, have imposed VPN regulations in the past for varying reasons.

“This case in France is part of a broader global trend of regulatory overreach, where governments attempt to control encrypted services under the guise of content regulation. We’ve already seen how China, Russia, Myanmar, and Iran have imposed VPN restrictions as part of broader censorship efforts.”

In Malaysia, South Korea, and Australia, IP-filtering and blocking efforts involving VPNs have also resulted in overblocking, Dawson notes. This is a slippery slope and normalizing these measures opens the door to more mistakes and further restrictions on privacy and security tools.

Whether VPN providers will leave France or not, potential blocking restrictions will be noticed. One prime concern of the VPN providers is that users will flock from ‘blocked’ to ‘unrestricted’ VPNs; those could possibly include insecure VPNs.

Next Steps

Currently, there are no blocking requirements as the injunction request has yet to be approved. A hearing scheduled for next month will give both rightsholders and the VPN companies a chance to have their say.

Even if the injunction is granted, the legal battle will be far from over. ProtonVPN previously said that it is prepared to take this case all the way to Europe’s highest court, and it will likely find other VPNs on its side.

VTI also believes that there are better solutions than outright blocking, which potentially disrupts the open Internet. That includes tacking pirate sites and services at the source, instead of indirectly.

“The best path forward is for policymakers to focus on targeted enforcement measures that don’t undermine Internet security or create a precedent for global Internet fragmentation. “As seen in other cases, blanket blocking measures do not effectively combat piracy but instead create far-reaching consequences that disrupt the open Internet,” Dawson concludes.

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 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 four newcomers on the list. “The Gorge” is the most shared title.

The most torrented movies for the week ending on February 24 are:

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

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 To outsiders they may have appeared chaotic but for players in the early 1980s, jammed-to-capacity videogame arcades provided escape from the chaos of the outside world. A single coin in the slot and then total inner silence: 1UP.

Even for the privileged few who later installed a cocktail Galaxian in their own garage, the idea that an entire arcade could be squeezed inside a TV set was ridiculous. That almost every arcade game ever made would eventually make it onto a storage device smaller than a finger nail, in ‘arcade perfect’ quality? Nothing short of preposterous.

Impossible Breaks Free of the Shadows

For gamers immersed in today’s wildly popular emulation scene, that has been reality for some time. Tens of thousands of games, carefully sourced from ancient arcade machines and games consoles – the devices famously responsible for the former’s death – are playable on today’s computers, phones, and everything in between. Everything is possible, and today’s gamers always want more, and usually get it.

For the most invested emulation enthusiasts, crafting a custom gaming library supported by high-quality artwork and metadata can be more important than playing games.

For those without hundreds of spare hours, who simply want to play games, companies like Anbernic offer a range of handheld consoles compatible with most popular emulators.

Anbernic consoles are generally well-made and for the price they are capable devices. Buying direct from China can save a few bucks but for those disinterested in the thrill of whether orders will actually arrive, buying locally is remarkably easy.

A closer look at online listings usually indicates that thousands of games are preinstalled, which of course runs counter to the law in North America, Europe, and most places where these consoles are sold outside China.

Whether there are any plans to supply consoles without games in future is unknown, but a firmware update made available late last week effectively renders preinstallation obsolete.

First spotted by Retro Handhelds, the update to the stock OS enables RixelHK, a portal to a whole new world where games are selected from a Netflix-style menu and installed to the user’s console at the press of a button.

Users will obviously need a Wi-Fi capable console since the games are downloaded from the internet. Given the size of most retro games, that should take no longer than simply browsing to the page, however.

Giving Gamers What They Want

Hardcore emulator aficionados boasting 200GB+ curated collections with supporting artwork and meticulous metadata, may dismiss the new feature as unnecessary. Yet, make no mistake, they’ll still make time to give it a spin.

For the masses who can do without the aggravation of finding ROM sets or even learning what a ROM set actually is, a feature like this baked into a console by default is significant.

The image above is a still from what appears to be a promotional video on YouTube. Whether the video being in Chinese made a difference is unclear, but other videos uploaded to YouTube over the weekend were swiftly taken down.

No rightsholder names were attributed to the action, at least that we’re aware of. Instead, YouTube indicated violations of its community guidelines, which forbid instructional videos for activities the company deems illegal.

Competing For Time

In the knowledge that Anbernic consoles have been supplied with thousands of games for several years, some might argue that in general terms, not much has changed on the software front. Yet, as an emulator fan pointed out over the weekend, companies like Nintendo don’t just compete with other gaming companies; all are in constant competition for the precious time gamers make available for gaming.

In that light, it’s not difficult to imagine the draw of a relatively cheap device, no setup required, with an effectively infinite supply of games. Whether there will be any public response is unknown, but emulation always faces pressure at times when capability tests the limits of acceptability.

With a focus on current games, even some yet to be released, modern emulators have revitalized the scene. This excited a whole new generation and attracted much unwanted attention. While little can be done about the massive proliferation of retro game ROMs, when emulators like Yuzu made current Switch games easily playable for free on a PC, this dual software/hardware threat elicited a strong, ongoing response from Nintendo.

Innovation made emulation what it is today but pushing things too far is not without risk for those in the West, albeit limited risk for those responsible for exporting it there.

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 With the prospect of future piracy taking place within encrypted networks designed for connectivity and enhanced privacy, the current concept of blocking may have limited shelf life.

Yet, the commitment to blocking shows no sign of retreat. Blocking requests are now so common that even the courts have grown accustomed to their frequency. Given the often harmonious outcome, some courts allow plaintiffs and defendants to solve their own problems, rather than get unnecessarily involved in the mechanics of the solution.

The Relentless Drive to Keep On Blocking

At a time when momentum is building in favor of administrative site-blocking schemes, with either limited or no judicial oversight at all, less optimal levels of scrutiny may be arriving at an inopportune time.

A year of controversy in 2024, concerning Italy’s Piracy Shield, is now overshadowed by hostilities in Spain. After Cloudflare was deliberately blocked by LaLiga/Telefonica despite multiple warnings of collateral damage, the push towards unsupervised private sector site-blocking is back under the spotlight.

Yet, the shift from court-ordered blocking towards (semi-)privately administered systems is already well underway. But a plan detailing what happens when it all goes wrong, or who might have any authority to slam on the brakes – and when, is yet to emerge.

Such a framework seems unlikely to surface voluntarily; full blocking transparency isn’t required anywhere it takes place.

Tried, tested, and effective: Dynamic Injunctions

So for the sake of curiosity, how does one go about blocking a pirate site in Spain? Or more likely, 100 pirate sites that may shut down, deploy mirrors, change their names and/or locations, or otherwise become evasive at the first sign of trouble?

For rightsholders with resources, a dynamic injunction may help. By anticipating pirate site countermeasures in advance, dynamic injunctions aim to spend more time blocking than requesting new permissions in court. Having become increasingly flexible over time, dynamic injunctions are now edging towards previously unthinkable capabilities.

Showing common ownership or direction of pirate sites is mostly a thing of the past. If a site disappears and a similar one appears, that’s often enough to justify blocking without further involvement of the court. If content offered on a pirate site is similar to content offered by a site previously blocked, in Italy that seems to be more than enough. Since no judge needs to conduct a review in Italy’s administrative process, blocking can also happen immediately.

While Spain has a similar administrative blocking system, dynamic injunctions obtained separately are sanctioned by the judiciary. Obtained by rightsholders with a specific need for more immediate and flexible blocking, a dynamic injunction was recently used by LaLiga to block Cloudflare, hoping to put pirate sites using Cloudflare’s services out of action at the same time.

Targeting potentially shared IP addresses with such measures is both rare and controversial. In a statement published Thursday, LaLiga defended the action.

“The blocking of certain IP addresses by Internet service providers (ISP) is the result of strictly executing a final court ruling, issued after a due assessment and evaluation of the multi-million dollar damages that audiovisual fraud and digital fraud cause to the legitimate owners of the rights and to the economy,” the statement reads.

“Consequently, blocking is implemented by Internet service providers. Regarding certain IP addresses that provide shelter to sites and web resources from which crimes are committed, the basis can be found in a firm judicial resolution.”

Article 138. Injunctions and Urgent Precautionary Measures

The basis for similar injunctions can be found in Spain’s Intellectual Property Act (Ley de Propiedad Intelectua) (pdf/page40)

In its first paragraph, Article 138 explains that a rightsholder can apply for an injunction to restrain the unlawful activity of an infringer. In practical terms, however, if the infringer happens to be a pirate site operator with a track record of ignoring all communications, a restraining order could prove toothless.

However, in line with established tradition, if a direct copyright infringer proves elusive, targeting other entities remains an option. Pirate sites have hosting companies, so it may be possible to throw some threats in that direction, but the preference in Spain is to sue easier targets. Consumer-focused ISPs tend to have subscribers who consume content from the pirate sites. To end that infringement and satisfy the case against them, all the ISPs have to do is block the pirate sites.

As the text reveals, the ISPs’ activities as intermediaries are not in themselves infringing. The direct infringers can be found elsewhere, but since the ISPs can block their sites, that can give the impression that a pirate site is offline, which may be good enough to deter use.

ISPs Haven’t Always Cooperated, They Do Now

Blocking a few pirate sites is unlikely to lead to much hardship and pirate operators aren’t especially likely to suddenly sue, at least not anymore. The ISPs weren’t being asked to block a legitimate business like Cloudflare either. Well, at least not in the beginning and besides, permission would never be granted to do that, surely?

Concerns not unlike these featured in early site-blocking cases in Australia, the UK, mainland Europe and elsewhere. In many cases, ISPs initially refused to block and were only compelled to do so following extended hearings. ISPs also fought hard to ensure no liability was incurred by them, and any associated costs wouldn’t leave them drastically out of pocket.

Today’s considerations are at once more complex and more straightforward. They’ll eventually be heard in the United States as part of the FADPA bill, but in what form remains to be seen. There’s no universal framework, but total agreement between rightsholders and service providers can produce the best results, although not necessarily for everyone.

Suing Friends and Family

When LaLiga applies for a dynamic injunction, it sometimes does so jointly with Telefonica. Known for its telecoms interests as an ISP, Telefonica recently bought the rights to broadcast LaLiga matches in Spain for 1.2 billion euros.

As rightsholders, LaLiga and Telefonica sue local ISPs, including several owned by Telefonica. They are asked to block pirate sites that illegally broadcast LaLiga matches, to protect the legal broadcasts of Telefonica-owned Movistar+. A court in Barcelona summed up the arrangement in a 2022 dynamic injunction decision.

Given that several of the ISPs are owned by Telefonica and also provide legal access to LaLiga matches, it’s no surprise that defendants in these ‘lawsuits’ prefer not to fight. Indeed, the ISPs accept the allegations in the complaint and then agree to whatever terms the plaintiffs demand.

Indeed, the plaintiffs and defendants settle their differences so well, the court signs off on the blocking order “without further formalities.” An adversarial process this is not.

The Miracle of Cooperation

As evidenced by recent events, the absence of conflict and total agreement between the parties in court, doesn’t necessarily eliminate controversy when blocking gets underway.

Earlier this week, blocking targeting Cloudflare to protect Movistar+ broadcasts of LaLiga games to which Telefonica owns the rights. As a side effect, this also prevented Movistar/Telefonica customers from accessing legitimate sites using Cloudflare. After initially declining to address complaints fielded by their own customers, Telefonica and Movistar issued separate statements in one voice.

“[A]s an operator we comply with any type of court order received regarding illegal content.”

There’s no dispute that the companies are required to respect court orders and fulfill their requirements. In context, Telefonica and LaLiga enjoyed success as plaintiffs in an order containing their own terms, with which the ISPs – some owned by Telefonica – are now required to comply.

LaLiga, meanwhile, explained that the blocking measures are authorized by the court. A more nuanced reading is that when all parties agree on a way to settle a ‘dispute’, the court is inclined to issue a “favorable judgment” on the terms requested. Compliance may therefore amount to doing what was always intended.

Do the Ends Justify the Means?

The bottom line sees the court presiding over a dispute that in material terms doesn’t actually exist, but nevertheless seeks to tackle a genuine piracy problem using the preferred solution.

With approval from the court, these injunctions are unrivaled in both power and flexibility. What they appear to lack are explicit guardrails to prevent overblocking. LaLiga says it would prefer to work with Cloudflare rather than block it, and there’s no reason to doubt that.

Even if the means of obtaining the injunction sounds a little too cosy, local and EU law recognizes the companies’ right to defend against mass infringement, albeit after consideration of factors including proportionality and fundamental rights.

It’s said that with great power comes even greater responsibility. Who is responsible for moderating power within the confines of an infinite authorization loop isn’t clear. It should be.

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GitHub, home to hundreds of millions of code repositories, takes pride in being the largest and most advanced development platform in the world.

Like other platforms that host user-generated content, this massive code library occasionally runs into copyright infringement issues.

Pirate Troubles

One of the ‘pirate’ issues GitHub faces is a constant stream of scammy pirate advertisements posted to the site. These ads typically promise free access to the latest movies but, in reality, lure users into handing over credit card details or other personal information.

GitHub typically catches this type of spam before rightsholders notice, as no DMCA notice has yet mentioned them. Instead, rightsholders are more focused on developers whose projects are flagged for copied code or identified as pirate tools.

A few high-profile takedowns have grabbed headlines over the years, including the RIAA’s takedown of YouTube-DL, which was later reversed.

Other rightsholders were more successful, with GitHub removing a variety of piracy apps last year. Nintendo wass particularly active, wiping hundreds of repositories and forks, including the Rhythm Heaven remix tool, and Switch emulators including Suyu, Nuzu, Uzuy, Torzu, and Sudachi.

Also notable is the removal of several IPTV playlists by numerous rightsholders, as well as the removal of dedicated IPTV streaming apps such as VancedFlix, PikaShow, Castle and FlixFox.

31,151 Removed Repos

This week, GitHub updated its transparency report with the latest data, revealing the total number of notices received and projects affected. The report shows that the platform processed more than 2,000 takedown notices in 2024, which affected 31,151 repositories.

Of all notices received, just 41 were contested or retracted, and a total of 103 repositories remained online as a result.

The number of processed takedowns and retractions was similar to the previous year. There was a significant increase in the number of repositories removed, but that can likely be attributed to a handful of complaints against projects with many forks.

GitHub says that it will continue to take a developer-first approach to content moderation, minimizing the disruption of software projects while protecting developer privacy. These transparency reports and the publicly posted takedown notices are a means to that end.

Circumvention Claims

In addition to all DMCA takedown notices, GitHub specifically breaks down notices containing circumvention claims. These continued to rise, with 465 requests last year.

Processing circumvention notices is quite costly for the company as all requests are heavily scrutinized by in-house experts. This was in part triggered by the youtube-dl takedown saga, after which GitHub launched a million-dollar Developer Defense Fund for affected users.

When a circumvention complaint moves forward, GitHub always reaches out to developers before taking any action. This allows developers to address any issues, without taking their entire project offline.

“Where our experts determine that a claim is complete, legal, and technically legitimate, we will contact the repository owner and give them a chance to respond to the claim or make changes to the repo to avoid a takedown,” the company writes in its takedown policy.

All in all, it’s good to see that GitHub remains committed to takedown transparency, and we will keep monitoring these and other trends going forward.

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Pirate site blocking is a hot topic again, now that the U.S. is considering its own blocking regime.

This puts a spotlight on the practices of other countries, especially those where innocent websites are blocked, as we’ve recently seen in Spain and Italy.

In Greece, where the first domains were blocked in 2018, the situation has been relatively calm. Blocking requests are managed by the EDPPI, a special commission at the Greek Ministry of Culture and Sports that acts following complaints from rightsholders. While there is no direct court oversight, we have seen little to no backlash.

The lack of news does not mean that nothing is happening. During the first four years, EDPPI issued a total of 38 blocking orders. After that, the process sped up, with 62 decisions in 2022, and 89 a year later. In 2024, another milestone was reached, with EDPPI issuing 124 additional blocking decisions.

810 IP addresses & 49 Domains

According to public information, last year’s blockades targeted a total of 810 IP addresses and 49 domain names. The focus on IP addresses indicates that current blocking efforts are more likely to target streaming servers than traditional websites.

Indeed, according to a letter from the Hellenic Copyright Organization, which falls under the Ministry of Culture, the majority of the decisions targeted pirated broadcasts of sports events.

From the letter, sent to the USTR
 

These live-streaming blockades were made possible by an amendment to Greece’s copyright law that came into force three years ago. The amendment granted EDPPI the power to issue preemptive live blocking orders against domain names and IP addresses that provide access to pirated streams.

Internet providers are informed about these upcoming streams in advance and are required to take swift action. Otherwise, they risk a fine for each day of non-compliance.

Amendment to Fine Pirate Subscribers

The blocking amendment proved successful, with discussions already underway to encompass content besides live sports. At the same time, a new proposal seeks to go beyond blocking by directly penalizing pirate subscribers with fines.

In recent months, there have been mentions in the Greek press that a pirate IPTV user was sent to prison. While that may have been overblown, the proposal to fine users is real.

Earlier this week, the Athens News Agency reported that anti-piracy provisions had been added to the Greek fundraising bill under discussion in Parliament.

This provision reportedly makes it possible to issue an “administrative fine against those who illegally obtain access to audiovisual media” through paid subscriptions. Fines would be applicable to both subscribers and providers of illegal streaming software and equipment.

In the Parliament’s Cultural Affairs Committee, Minister of Culture Lina Mendoni stressed that these fines complement blocking efforts, by holding subscribers responsible for their alleged wrongdoing.

“The fine is graded according to the gravity and despicability of the violation and ranges from 750 euros in the case of home users, increasing to 1,500 euros in cases of public display and use and reaching 5,000 euros in cases where the violation is committed for the purpose of financial or commercial gain,” Mendoni said.

Lawmakers have reportedly greenlighted the bill, including the ‘fine’ amendment. The full text was published in the Official Gazette earlier today and mentions that the aforementioned fines will be doubled for repeat offenders.

In addition to potential penalties for suppliers and users of pirate IPTV services, the amendments also strengthen blocking powers. Among other things, it will be easier to dynamically block URLs, when appropriate.

Will it Work?

Based on the information available, the ‘piracy fine’ provision will ensure that subscribers of pirate IPTV services are indeed at risk; at least theoretically.

In practice, however, it might not be easy to find out who the subscribers of these services are. That typically requires assistance from a third party, such as an illegal IPTV provider itself or possibly a payment service, to hand over personal data of subscribers first.

Subscribe…
 

It’s not clear if there are any concrete plans to gather this type of data but, meanwhile, the risk of a fine may be enough of a threat to convert some pirates into paying subscribers.

Interestingly, this is also easier said than done. A recent study, which examined whether threats of a substantial fine would make people more likely to subscribe to legal streaming services, showed that this is not the case. Threats don’t increase people’s intent to subscribe.

The same study found that offering legal streaming services at substantial discounts would be more effective. Luckily, Greek sports streaming services already came to that realization themselves.

—

With thanks to Chris ‘xc8’, who brought this issue to our attention and pointed us to the official documents.

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 The background to events currently underway in Spain is detailed in our earlier reports but can be summarized as follows.

Through various court orders, top Spanish football league LaLiga may issue instructions for local ISPs to block pirate streaming sites and IPTV services.

Blocking is carried out by domain, URL, IP address, or meddling with DNS entries. Those actions are based on information supplied by LaLiga each week, no scrutiny from the court required.

LaLiga and Cloudflare Collide

In an effort to mitigate the effects of blocking or benefit from other features, pirate sites using Cloudflare are less easily taken offline. That caused tempers to boil over at LaLiga and then keep boiling throughout the current two to three week crisis.

LaLiga’s general position is that since Cloudflare is in a position to make LaLiga’s life easier by tackling piracy, it has an obligation to do so. Cloudflare says that LaLiga will be treated just like other rightsholders, and given access to the same tools.

Precisely what LaLiga demanded and on what basis, remains unclear, but when Cloudflare refused to cooperate, LaLiga told ISPs to block Cloudflare IP addresses. That blocked the pirate services, but it also restricted access to Cloudflare’s customers’ websites and prevented people from visiting them.

LaLiga says that, if people have website issues, they should blame Cloudflare – while also getting ready for more because it won’t be backing down anytime soon.

Cloudflare, in turn, has now responded with legal action that asks a court to rule that LaLiga’s blocking is illegal, and then on that basis, revoke LaLiga’s authority to issue blocking instructions previously authorized by the court.

Cloudflare Statement

As a long-time advocate for the open Internet, Cloudflare provides security and reliability services that protect millions of websites from cyberattacks and strengthen the Internet’s infrastructure.

 

In recent weeks, LaLiga and the Spanish ISPs have wrongly attempted to address the issue of illegal streaming, on the purported basis of a recently issued ruling that would order the blocking of shared IP addresses of Cloudflare and other cloud service providers, a clumsy and ineffective approach that has prevented millions of users from accessing thousands of websites unrelated to such activities.

 

LaLiga obtained this ruling without addressing the cloud service providers, thereby concealing from the Court the foreseeable harm to third parties and the public interest. LaLiga’s actions pose a clear threat to the open Internet.

 

Cloudflare has today filed a motion to annul the ruling, seeking to establish that LaLiga’s disproportionate blocking measures are illegal.

 

Cloudflare routinely works with rights holders to help resolve issues such as illegal streaming, but LaLiga has left Cloudflare with no choice but to pursue this legal avenue. Rather than addressing Spanish users’ concerns about over-blocking of content, LaLiga has attempted to divert attention by making unfounded accusations against Cloudflare, while stepping up its illegal blocking practices.

 

Cloudflare hopes this court action will help prevent future indiscriminate blocking measures and make clear that rights holders cannot put their commercial interests before the fundamental right of millions of consumers to access an open Internet.

(Courtesy of Bandaancha, translated from Spanish)

Cloudflare’s mention of a recent ruling is interesting for several reasons. On a fundamental level, not involving Cloudflare in a process that directly affects its ability to go about its business, was likely to cause friction sooner or later.

Second, it appears that the motivation for the ruling in question turns out to be quite unusual.

Targeting ECH

The judgment in question, dated December 18, 2024, was issued by Commercial Court No. 6 of Barcelona following legal action by LaLiga and Telefónica Audiovisual Digital (owner of broadcaster Movistar Plus+), which requested ISPs including Vodafone, MásOrange, Digi and Movistar, to block pirate sites/services.

The unusual feature of the complaint is the focus on Encrypted Client Hello, or ECH for short. As highlighted earlier, this can effectively be used to bypass site blocking.

A brief explanation of ECH and its benefits to internet users is available from Cloudflare but in short, whenever a user visits a website on Cloudflare that has ECH enabled, intermediaries (like ISPs) will be able to see the user is visiting a site using Cloudflare, but won’t be able to identify which one.

Both Cloudflare and Google are mentioned in the LaLiga/Telefonica complaint, with ECH acknowledged as a hindrance to the companies’ site-blocking measures, in a section of the decision cited below.

This protocol, initially designed as a solution to alleged breaches in the area of Internet users’ privacy, currently prevents the development of blocks by domains and URLs, as it allows traffic to be encrypted, and thus blocks can be made by domains and/or URLs, as Internet access service providers (ISPs) can no longer inspect the part relating to SNI5 necessary to apply blocks, according to reports on the application of the ECH protocol issued by LLCP and the anti-piracy department of [Telefonica].

 

The conclusion of the technical analysis is that the actual effectiveness of domain blocking (URLs/Domains) decreases as users use browsers (Google’s Chrome) that use ECH technology. A similar case occurs with Apple’s “Private Relay” feature, introduced as part of iCloud+, focused on web traffic.

According to Bandaancha, which published sections of the decision, the above issues were presented as justification for enhanced blocking measures against 119 entities, listed alongside their domain names, ports, IP addresses, and the hosting companies used.

LaLiga obtained permission to carry out dynamic blocking against new IP addresses, domains etc, in the event countermeasures were deployed by pirate sites.

Around 35 of the services are reportedly using Cloudflare and since the blocking measures requested were not considered “contrary to the law, public order or harmful to third parties,” the order was granted.

LaLiga used that authority to block the pirate sites, by blocking Cloudflare IP address and by extension, its users in Spain.

All in all, this case highlights the tension between copyright enforcement and intermediaries such as Cloudflare. The outcome could have significant implications for how these blocking issues are addressed in the future.

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RIP Matrix | Farewell my friend