Publishing Pirate Site-Blocking Orders is a Good Start, But It’s Not Transparency
A little over a week ago, Rep. Zoe Lofgren introduced the Foreign Anti-Digital Piracy Act (FADPA). Should it become law, FADPA would allow rightsholders to obtain site blocking orders in the United States aimed at piracy sites believed to be operated from overseas. The no-fault injunctions envisioned by the bill would require local ISPs and public DNS providers to prevent their users from accessing these illicit foreign platforms,...
Rightsholders Target VPN Providers in French Court to Block Piracy
In recent years, French rightsholders have expanded their domestic site blocking efforts through the courts. Traditional blocking measures have been in place for years. They require ISPs to block subscribers’ access to popular pirate sites. The aim is to deter piracy by making sites more difficult to find, but these measures are only partially effective. In response to blocking orders, many ‘pirates’ resort to workarounds; third-party...
‘Meta Torrented over 81 TB of Data Through Anna’s Archive, Despite Few Seeders’
Last weekend, shadow library Anna’s Archive argued that, for AI companies, access to ‘pirated’ books may be a matter of national security. The reasoning behind this controversial take concerns the legal implications faced by U.S. companies if they train AI models using data obtained from shadow libraries. Other countries, however, have fewer reservations, which could give foreign companies a technological edge. American tech companies...
KickAssAnime Flagged for ‘Suspected Phishing’ by Cloudflare
With hundreds of millions of annual visits, KickAssAnime (KAA) is one of the larger anime pirate sites. The streaming portal, which relies on third-party hosted videos, is particularly popular in the United States. Over the years, rightsholders have attempted to pinpoint the site’s operators, presumably to shut it down. Just last summer, the Alliance for Creativity and Entertainment (ACE) obtained a DMCA subpoena, requiring Cloudflare...
Piracy Victories for Hollywood & Premier League Spark Progress Concerns
Years before it happened, the MPA predicted that improved internet connectivity in Vietnam would likely lead to piracy problems down the line. The MPA’s prediction was fairly detailed and turned out to be extremely accurate. That the country would quickly become one of the safest places in the world to run a pirate site, led to real-world examples of how quickly sites can grow in an environment lacking credible enforcement. Yet, in...
LaLiga: Cloudflare, Google and X Are Essential Piracy Facilitators
Every year, the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative asks copyright holders to share input for its Special 301 Report. Based on these recommendations, which center around copyright and piracy problems, the USTR compiles an annual list of countries that deserve extra attention. By definition, the overview aims to identify foreign companies and policies that may hurt U.S. businesses. However, that doesn’t stop foreign entities from...
