Anna’s Archive Scraped WorldCat to Help Preserve ‘All’ Books in the World
A few years ago, book piracy was considered a fringe activity that rarely made the news, but times have changed. Last year, the U.S. Department of Justice targeted popular shadow library Z-Library, accusing it of mass copyright infringement. Two of the site’s alleged operators were arrested and their prosecution is still pending. In recent months, shadow libraries have also been named in other lawsuits. Publishers sued Libgen over...
BeStreamWise: New IPTV Anti-Piracy Campaign Begins With Fake Site ‘Scam’
Dozens of large anti-piracy awareness campaigns have come and gone over the years and while approaches have differed, there’s no confusion when it comes to their common goal. With serious heavyweight backing, the new ‘BeStreamWise’ anti-piracy campaign aims to deter the use of pirate IPTV services in the UK. It deploys familiar techniques to shape public perception but right off the bat there’s an elephant in the room. At least as far...
“Mission Impossible” Leak with Chinese Connection Floods Pirate Sites
Tom Cruise’s “Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One” hasn’t had the easiest path to the silver screen. The film’s production started right before the COVID-19 pandemic hit and the planned theatrical release was pushed back several times, to eventually premiere in June 2023. With well over half a billion dollars in global box office revenues, the film has been quite a success. The mission is not complete though, as the digital...
Weak IP Address Evidence Collapses ‘Non-Responsive Movie Pirates’ Lawsuit
Voltage Holdings is one of many mostly American movie companies that have attempted to turn piracy into profit over the last 15 years. A lawsuit the company filed in Canada is broadly the same as others filed elsewhere but the same cannot be said about the outcome. Background In 2017, piracy monitoring company Maverickeye collected IP addresses of BitTorrent users sharing the Voltage-owned sci-fi movie ‘Revolt’. Canada operates a...
Jake Paul Fight Lasted 119 Seconds, H3 Podcast Copyright Battle Hits 124 Weeks
In our brave new world where millions of ordinary people are copyright holders of snaps they publish to social media or videos they upload to YouTube, awareness of copyright law is at an all-time high. Evidence is easily found on Reddit, where users of /r/copyright and similar subs answer questions including: “Can I print t-shirts with Batman on the front if I only do a few and give them away?” and “Is it copyright if nobody knows I...
Philippines Pirate Site Blocking Scheme Comes to Fruition
This month, the Philippines celebrates its creative industries by dedicating a special month to their work. On top of that, the Government presented a long-awaited ‘gift’. The Intellectual Property Office of the Philippines (IPOPHL) announced that local site-blocking plans are about to come to fruition. IPOPHL Director General Rowel Barba signed a memorandum that will go into effect in late November. As part of the agreement, Internet...
