DoodStream: Hollywood, Netflix, Amazon & Apple Sue “Rogue Cyberlocker”
The Motion Picture Association’s interest in file-hosting platform DoodStream first came to light in a submission to the USTR in October 2022. The MPA described DoodStream as a video hosting service offering free storage and premium services including priority encoding and an ad-free experience. Videos uploaded to the platform were embedded on many other streaming sites, the MPA reported, and as a result, traffic was booming. The MPA...
AGCOM Admits ‘Piracy Shield’ Blunder, Cloudflare Urges Users to Complain
In a little over a week’s time, Italy’s Piracy Shield system will have been fully operational for two whole months. Claims that IPTV piracy would be eliminated almost overnight helped to convince lawmakers that without Piracy Shield and the legislation that underpins it, Italian football could die. In reality, the system was never capable of eliminating piracy and football in Italy was never on life support; the big question now is...
EU Commission Encourages Use of New Anti-Piracy Toolbox
Most anti-piracy tools and mechanisms, whether dedicated online platforms or legislation crafted to achieve a particular goal, have issues that affect their performance. No matter how tough, legislation could be of date when finally implemented, or reveal itself to be unwieldy in practice, too costly, or simply ineffective. Technical solutions may face compliance and regulatory issues, while pirate adversaries remain light on their...
Music Industry Threatens ‘Deepfake AI Music’ Service With Legal Action
Over the past year, new artificial intelligence tools and services have been surfacing everywhere. The same can be said for AI-related lawsuits and complaints, which have been piling up by the dozen. In the UK, music industry group BPI has enetered the mix, targeting AI-generated voice models and cover tracks. This technology, which partly relies on copyrighted recordings, has been controversial for a while. Voicify Faces Legal...
ISP’s Landmark Piracy Liability Case Doesn’t Get a Do-Over in Appeals Court
Late 2019, Internet provider Cox Communications lost its legal battle against a group of major record labels, including Sony and Universal. Following a two-week trial, a Virginia jury held Cox liable for its pirating subscribers. The ISP failed to disconnect repeat infringers and was ordered to pay $1 billion in damages. That wasn’t the end of it. Following the initial verdict Cox launched several challenges, including an appeal that...
16-Year-Old Pirate Site Prosecution Resurrected Despite Four Acquittals
In 2007, Netflix shifted from distributing optical media via the mail to streaming content online. Apple released the first iPhone in the same year, but neither were quite ready to start squeezing the modern equivalent of the silver screen onto a 320×480 LCD panel. From a standing start alongside these innovative products in 2007, within a year SeriesYonkis would establish itself as one of Spain’s most-visited sites. Soon after, as...
