Movie Companies Take DMCA Subpoena ‘Shortcut’ Dispute to Court of Appeals
Tracking BitTorrent pirates isn’t all that hard since IP addresses are openly broadcasted. With help from Internet providers, these addresses can then be linked to account holders. ISPs don’t hand over this data voluntarily; they typically require a subpoena or court order before taking action. In the United States, subpoenas are typically obtained by filing a copyright complaint in federal court against a “John Doe” who’s known only...
Eddy Grant Wins: Trump’s ‘Fair Use’ of ‘Electric Avenue’ Was Anything But
As Donald Trump used every available resource to ensure his tenancy at the most recognizable house in the United States was extended, some social media platforms had adopted an unorthodox approach to his accounts. Despite receiving a number of takedown notices alleging copyright infringement in Trump’s tweets, and in some cases removing content in response to apparently valid claims, the president’s account wasn’t suspended or...
Hackers Invited to Pirate IPTV Blocking Hackathon to Silence Illegal Devices
Android-based set-top devices have saturated the market in recent years, and it’s not uncommon for households to have several; downstairs, upstairs, and probably at least one in a drawer. These devices, including the ubiquitous Amazon Firestick, are mostly content agnostic and equally capable of streaming video from legal sources such as Netflix or BBC iPlayer, or from unlicensed IPTV platforms. The problem for rightsholders and...
Seized Uptobox Servers Won’t Be Returned, Requests Ruled Inadmissible
Next Thursday, September 19, 2024, will mark the one-year anniversary of the raids on French datacenters that brought down file-hosting platform Uptobox. Founded in 2011, Uptobox was a very popular site with over 34 million visits per month, a third of which were generated by French users. After being blocked by ISPs in mid-2023, enforcement action became more likely than not. Around 20 police officers participated in the raids on...
French Pirate Site Blocking Order Targets Expired and Seized Z-Library Domains
A few weeks before the U.S. Department of Justice announced the criminal prosecution of two alleged Z-Library operators in 2022, the French Publishers Union (SNE) had already targeted the site indirectly. In August that year, SNE obtained an order at a Paris Court, requiring French ISPs to block more than 200 domain names. By November 2022, the order was largely moot. U.S. authorities didn’t just call for the arrest of two people...
‘Parasitic’ IPTV Piracy is Killing Football, “It’s Them or Us” Says Serie A CEO
Supported by almost constant life-or-death messaging, one has to wonder whether Serie A’s seemingly endless financial problems really are insurmountable. Yet for reasons that aren’t easily understood, let alone explained, every week matches go ahead as planned. With decaying stadiums at some clubs and billions of euros in persistent overall debt, companies in other industries would’ve stopped spending beyond their means long ago, or...
