Researchers Hunt Telegram Pirates with AI Tool, Flag Hundreds of Channels
Like many other public communication services, Telegram can be abused to facilitate illegal activities. While much of this occurs beyond the company’s purview, pirates appear to be drawn to the platform, sharing links to pirated movies, TV-shows and other content in dedicated channels. Despite this reputation, the platform’s piracy ecosystem has rarely been mapped in any detail. A new academic paper sets out to fill that gap, while...
Court Rejects Fair Use Claim, Orders YouTube to Unmask Anime Recap Channels
Japanese publishing giant KADOKAWA is known for responding aggressively to copyright infringers, including creators who share narrated recaps of its content on YouTube. These channels are highly popular and generate many millions of views. While they only use clips from anime shows, often with narration and commentary, the publisher equates it to piracy. In January, KADOKAWA tried to unmask three YouTubers, each with hundreds of...
Hollywood’s UK “Omnibus” Pirate Site Blocking Order Surfaces Through Cloudflare
When the Motion Picture Association (MPA) described its new UK blocking order to WIPO in May, it was presented as a key step in the fight against online piracy. The “omnibus” order would make it easier and quicker to block new domain names and pirate site brands that pop up in response to blocking efforts. According to the MPA, it allows Hollywood studios to seek blocking of any “structurally infringing audiovisual piracy services...
Paris Court Kicks Off New Football Season with Multi-Intermediary Piracy Blocking Orders
While site blocking efforts were a novelty in France a few years ago, they have since transformed into a streamlined annual ritual. Ahead of each new football season, broadcaster Canal+ goes to the Paris Judicial Court, requesting site blocking orders to stop pirate streaming sites and services. Over several years, these blocking requests have grown from simple ISP blocks to cover DNS resolvers, CDN providers, VPN services, and search...
EU Study: Block Live Sports Piracy in 30 Minutes, Across DNS Resolvers, VPNs and CDNs
For years, rightsholders have demanded urgent and decisive action from the European Commission, to tackle live-streaming piracy of live sports and events. The EU heard these calls and in 2023 it published a targeted recommendation, “encouraging” member states to introduce measures to facilitate prompt takedowns of live streams. This advice was largely seen as a disappointment by rightsholders, since it was not binding. While some EU...
Japanese Police Arrest NYAA ‘First Uploader,’ But Not by Watching the Swarm
For many years, NYAA has been heralded as one of the top sources for anime content, serving an audience of millions of users. The site was launched more than two decades ago and the brand is still going strong today, as it’s traditionally one of the most visited torrent sites. NYAA’s popularity hasn’t gone unnoticed by rightsholders. The MPA previously targeted the site’s GitHub repo, although that was later restored. Additionally,...
