‘Smart IPTV’ App Blocked By ISPs, Despite it Carrying Zero Illegal Streams
In a world where users can have their own ChatGPT-like AI instances up and running on their own PCs, in just a handful of minutes, for zero spend and completely legally, the app experience on smart TVs rarely fails to disappoint. Yet when smart TV users somehow manage to clunk their way through, say, LG’s menus, and then avoid the avalanche of distractions that exist purely to break their will, only disappointment lies ahead for the...
Filmmakers Expand Piracy Liability Lawsuit, Add Dozens of Millions in Potential Damages
Under U.S. copyright law, Internet providers must terminate the accounts of repeat infringers “in appropriate circumstances.” Many ISPs have been reluctant to take such drastic measures, which triggered a wave of copyright infringement lawsuits in recent years with WideOpenWest (WOW!) as one of the targets. The Colorado-based Internet provider was sued by a group of movie companies including Millennium Media and Voltage Pictures. The...
Operator of ‘Bitcoin Invested’ Pirate Site Movie2K Charged After More Than a Decade
At the start of the 2010s, Movie2K was one of the most visited sites on the web. The site was an early adopter of pirate streaming and at its peak, secured a spot among the twenty most-visited websites in Germany, beating Twitter and Amazon. Movie2K’s success generated a healthy revenue stream which its operators converted to a new and exciting ‘currency’ called Bitcoin. It’s assumed that the goal was to keep the haul hidden from...
Ex-Mangamura Owner Must Pay $11m to Publishers; He Says He Won’t
From a standing start in 2016, manga piracy site Mangamura (Manga Village) took just two years to become the largest site of its type and the single largest online piracy threat Japanese publishers had ever encountered. Publishers including Shogakukan, Kadokawa, and Shueisha, and their anti-piracy partner CODA, estimated that in its relatively brief time online, Mangamura had caused a staggering $2.91 billion in losses. In April 2018,...
Uptobox Was Shut Down in 2023; A Court Will Decide Whether to Resurrect It
Founded back in 2011, Uptobox rapidly gained popularity by making it easy for users to upload, store, and share files with others online. In April 2023, Uptobox received 34 million visits from users all over the world, around a third of those from France. At several points in its dozen or so years online, Uptobox faced adversity, mostly due to copyright issues. Last May, the site was blocked by French ISPs but determined to stay...
Despite 155 Piracy Incidents in Cinemas, Pirates Suffer Worst Year Since 2012
After almost two decades reporting on the piracy landscape, speaking with hundreds of people involved in all aspects of piracy on the way, those who dodge cinema security to camcord the latest movies are still the most puzzling. As a deterrent, the possibility of a lengthy prison sentence seems to mean almost nothing. The prospect of sitting quietly for two to three hours, knowing that they’re already being monitored along with the...
