Piracy Shield: New Technical & Operational Requirements For 2025
The official launch of Piracy Shield on Saturday February 1, 2024, played out more quietly than many had predicted. The next five days saw the blocking of just 11 IP addresses, adding weight to the theory that the system still wasn’t quite ready. After several months the volume of IP addresses and FQDNs (fully qualified domain names) dramatically increased but not before overblocking entered the equation. When mounting criticism found...
Piracy Liability Lawsuit Against WOW! Survives Dismissal Attempt
In 2021, Colorado-based Internet provider Wide Open West (WOW!) was sued by a group of movie companies including Millennium Media and Voltage Pictures. The filmmakers accused the ISP of failing to terminate the accounts of subscribers who were repeatedly flagged for sharing copyrighted material. These types of lawsuits resulted in multi-million dollar judgments against Cox and Grande; a fate WOW hopes to avoid. The ISP challenged the...
“Secret Pirate Site Raids” Set for 20:15 & 21:15 Sunday, Invited Journalists Report
From short-tempered exchanges to full-blown public displays of anger, Europe’s top football leagues and their broadcasting partners seem to be less than satisfied with site blocking as a piracy suppressant. One of the most aggressive site-blocking systems available anywhere on the planet was launched in Italy in 2024. The balance in favor of rightsholders was obvious from day one yet despite having more tools than rightsholders...
Top 10 Most Pirated Movies of The Week – 03/17/2025
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. “Captain America: Brave New World” is the most shared title....
Movie, Music and Sports Industries Urge EU to Keep Geo-Blocking in Place
The Internet made all areas of the globe accessible with a keystroke. But that doesn’t mean artificial barriers no longer exist. The entertainment industries, in particular, rely heavily on the territorial lines that were once drawn on a map. Movies and TV shows are not typically offered globally, but sold instead based on geographical licenses. This allows rightsholders to get the best possible price for their content in each region...
How Spotify’s Premium Piracy Panic Played Out & What Pirates Did Next
Reports last week that Spotify had suddenly gone down worldwide were a little overblown. The ‘outage’ may have felt that big to those affected, and it may have been of some comfort if everyone had the same problem; after all, nobody likes to suffer alone. That doesn’t mean the perceived outage was insignificant or had limited geographical reach. Spotify has neither confirmed nor denied anything, it’s possible it never will. But...
