Russians Pirate Premier League, Add Their Own Graphics & Commentators
The global popularity of the English Premier League signals huge potential for growth, at least when local complications can be overcome. The Premier League has a reputation for tackling challenges head on but, after breaking into the Russia market and signing a TV rights deal worth £43 million, a full-blown invasion of Ukraine was unlikely to have been part of the plan. The Premier League condemned the violence and announced it would...
U.S. Calls Out EU Member States For Piracy Failings in Trade Barriers Report
The U.S. Foreign Trade Barriers Report is an annual publication by the Office of the United States Trade Representative (USTR). The report aims to draw attention to matters that represent “significant foreign barriers” to U.S. exports, investment, and commerce. These barriers typically revolve around copyright infringement and other intellectual property matters, data privacy, and handling of trade secrets, but there’s no shortage of...
Publisher Reinforces Paywall With Sci-Hub Blockade in Germany
There are thousands of pirate sites on the Internet but only a few will receive a permanent entry in the history books. Sci-Hub will certainly be among them. Founded by Kazakhstani computer programmer Alexandria Elbakyan, Sci-Hub provides free access to millions of academic publications. As such, it’s an essential tool for less privileged students and researchers worldwide. There is no denying that Sci-Hub facilitates access to...
Piracy Shield: Influential Consumer Union Attempts to Break AGCOM’s Silence
To say that Italy’s much-heralded pirate IPTV blocking scheme got off to a controversial start would significantly underplay events of the past two months. And yet pretty much everyone knew it was coming. A TorrentFreak source familiar with the scheme’s development, introduction, and current operations, warned us in 2023 that the system and the ideas that underpin it are fundamentally flawed. We were even shown how the system could be...
Court Denies ISP’s Request to Dismiss Music and Movie Piracy Liability Claims
Online piracy continues to present massive challenges for the entertainment industries. It’s a global issue that’s hard to contain, but the major U.S. record labels and several movie companies believe that Internet providers can offer a helping hand. For roughly a quarter-century, rightsholders have sent copyright infringement notices to ISPs, informing them about alleged copyright infringements carried out by subscribers. While many...
The Pirate Bay’s Oldest Torrent is Now 20 Years Old
When The Pirate Bay first came online, in the second half of 2003, the ‘internet’ looked nothing like it does today. A Harvard student had yet to start writing the first lines of code on a new idea, called “TheFacebook”. YouTube wasn’t around yet either, and the same was true for the smartphones that dominate people’s lives today. At the time, all popular entertainment was consumed offline. People interested in watching a movie could...
