Google Opposes Site Blocking in Europe as U.S. Piracy Blocking Plans Gain Momentum
Google rarely addresses pirate site blocking in public, but it is a significant concern now that these measures directly impact the company’s own infrastructure. The American tech company has been ordered to block access to pirate domain names through its DNS resolver in France, Belgium, Italy and Portugal, for example. In a recent submission to the European Commission’s call for evidence on the review of the Copyright Directive,...
Pearson’s Anti-Piracy Vendor Takes Down Best-Selling Author’s Own GitHub Repo
Paul Deitel is a best-selling programming textbook author whose books, published by Pearson Education, are used by students and developers worldwide. The author’s personal GitHub account includes a widely referenced repository that hosts the official example code for titles including Java SE 8 for Programmers, C++ How to Program, and Python for Programmers. These code examples are a key reference, but for a few weeks they have been...
Pirate Site Blocking Is Legally Impossible in Bulgaria, Supreme Court Ruled
Bulgaria was one of the first countries in the world to consider pirate site blocking nearly two decades ago. As part of a crackdown on local torrent trackers, the government ordered ISPs to block access to the ArenaBG tracker in 2007. The blocking actions resulted in public outrage and street protests. Some Internet providers pushed back as well, questioning the legality of the requested measures, and the blocking instructions were...
‘Tonga’ Suspends Popular Pirate Site Domains Following Indian Court Order
Last December, the High Court in New Delhi, India, granted a broad pirate site blocking order in favor of American movie industry giants, including Apple, Warner, Netflix, Disney and Crunchyroll. In addition to targeting residential ISPs, the order also lists global domain name registrars and registries as defendants, compelling them to suspend domains. By January, several registrars had indeed taken action. Domains linked to the...
Alleged Operators of HiAnime Piracy Ring Arrested in Vietnam with U.S. Support
With more than 150 million monthly visits, HiAnime was one of the most popular piracy portals to ever exist. The site, which was a prime destination for many anime pirates, surprisingly shut down in March without offering an explanation for the sudden move. HiAnime has been a major target for rightsholders for years. The operators were believed to reside in Vietnam, which was highlighted in the U.S. Trade Representative’s (USTR)...
Top 10 Most Pirated Movies of The Week – 07/06/2026
The data for our weekly download chart is estimated by TorrentFreak, and is for informational and educational reference only. Downloading content without permission is copyright infringement. These torrent download statistics are only meant to provide further insight into piracy trends. All data are gathered from public resources. This week we have two newcomers on the list. “Obesession” is the most shared title. The most torrented...
