Cloudflare Tells U.S. Govt That Foreign Site Blocking Efforts Are Digital Trade Barriers
Every year, the office of the United States Trade Representative (USTR) publishes the National Trade Estimate Report on Foreign Trade Barriers. The report is compiled based on input from key industry players. This includes submissions from copyright industry groups that frequently highlight piracy challenges that in their view act as barriers to trade. In previous years, for example, the MPA and others have called for more...
Pirate IPTV Empire Goes Dark in Brazil, Marketing the Common Denominator
The action in Argentina two months ago was announced with a reasonable level of detail. Targeting dozens of IPTV services with an estimated eight million global subscribers, Spanish football league LaLiga described the operation as “historic” and as the dust settled, its importance wasn’t in doubt. Targeting a Network with Eight Million Subscribers Following an investigation by the Cybercrime Prosecutor’s Office of San Isidro (UFEIC),...
Google Removed 749 Million Anna’s Archive URLs from its Search Results
Anna’s Archive is a meta-search engine for shadow libraries that allows users to find pirated books and other related sources. The site launched in the fall of 2022, just days after Z-Library was targeted in a U.S. criminal crackdown, to ensure continued availability of ‘free’ books and articles to the broader public. In the three years since then, Anna’s Archive has built up quite the track record. The site has been blocked in...
Warner Bros. Discovery & TNT Sports Target UK Piracy Blocking Injunction
The major Hollywood studios of the MPA, which in recent years now includes Netflix and Amazon, are well known for obtaining site blocking injunctions at the High Court in London. While blocking of new domains continues at a considerable pace, applications for all-new injunctions are relatively rare. Since they tend to operate in groups while adopting familiar branding, the most persistent pirate sites are identified quite quickly, and...
Some Pirates Use Religion as an Excuse, For Others It’s a Moral Barrier
“Thou shalt not steal” is one of the Ten Commandments that many Christians hold in high regard, and other religions similarly condemn theft as a practice incompatible with religious teachings. In general, the public doesn’t view piracy as outright stealing or morally wrong. In fact, many people see ‘unauthorized copying’ as morally justified, even if it costs rightsholders billions. There are also religious people who pirate music,...
U.S. Pirate IPTV Operator Faces $9 Million in Damages After Ghosting Hollywood Lawsuit
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. The operators of these services often remain in the shadows, but anti-piracy groups are actively trying to pin them down. For example, members of the Alliance for Creativity and...
