DNS Provider Quad9 Sees Piracy Blocking Orders as “Existential Threat”
In May 2024, the Paris Judicial Court ordered Google, Cloudflare, and Cisco to block access to several pirate sports streaming sites. The move was a major enforcement escalation by French rightsholders, but in hindsight it was only the beginning. In the months that followed, additional rightsholders such as DAZN and beIN joined in on the action with similar requests, while more DNS providers were added as targets, including Quad9 and...
TorrentGalaxy.to ‘Returns’ as a Dubious Memecoin Promo Page
At the start of the year, TorrentGalaxy was one of the most-visited torrent sites, welcoming millions of users every day. Launched by former members of ExtraTorrent which had shut down in 2018, TorrentGalaxy soon established itself as one of the most stable torrent sites. TorrentGalaxy’s Mystery Shutdown In the summer of 2014, things changed when the original founders sold the site to a new, undisclosed party. The handover was...
Movie Theaters Can Compete With Piracy, But Not By Cutting Prices, Study Finds
There’s a common belief that people pirate content to save money, whether on another streaming subscription or a pricey box office ticket. That said, movie theaters still draw millions of visitors, many of whom may also turn to pirate sites occasionally. Since piracy isn’t going away, understanding what drives a person to choose the theater over a ‘free’ pirate option, and vice versa, is crucial for the industry. A new paper aims to...
Judge Eviscerates Motions For ISPs to Unmask 2,400 Alleged Hellboy Pirates
Filing lawsuits against internet users who allegedly shared copyrighted content online without permission, has led to countless cash settlements over the years and for some, a lucrative business model in its own right. There’s also no shortage of cases going wrong for all kinds of reasons . A recent case in Canada, seeking “extraordinary equitable relief” upon which cases like this either live or die, collapsed in dramatic fashion at...
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),...
