Publishers Ramp Up Pressure vs. Anna’s Archive, Sci-Hub, Z-Library & Libgen
In a world where many things seem vulnerable to change at a moment’s notice, the same world viewed from a more distant vantage point hardly seems to change at all. Whether for recreation or education, demand for published content in various formats continues to thrive. Yet a closer view reveals bricks and mortar book stores and traditional libraries in decline, and licensed digital libraries invisibly replacing both online. Not from a...
MPA Shares Pirate Site Blocking ‘Best Practices’ at WIPO Meeting
U.S. Rep. Zoe Lofgren introduced a new site blocking bill in the House last week, titled: Foreign Anti-Digital Piracy Act (FADPA). Should the proposal become law, FADPA would enable rightsholders to restrict access to verified pirate sites, run by foreign operators. Site blocking orders would apply to both Internet providers and public DNS resolvers. The introduction of a new site blocking bill was only a matter of time. But time it...
Top 10 Most Pirated Movies of The Week – 02/03/2025
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 three newcomers on the list. “Moana 2” is the most shared title. The most torrented...
Russia VPN Crackdown Revelation – VPN Sites Hide Their IP Addresses
Reports concerning the Russian government’s growing intolerance of VPNs, often refer to the technology or associated services as “banned” or otherwise outlawed. While technically inaccurate, amendments to local law effectively place VPN services into two groups. The first group contains the VPN providers officially registered with the authorities. The second group contains the illegal services, whose owners haven’t yet agreed to...
Anna’s Archive Urges AI Copyright Overhaul to Protect National Security
The Artificial Intelligence boom promises unparalleled progress which, in theory, can change the fabric of society. As startups and established tech giants explore their options, data has become the new oil in the race to develop AI. Archives of text, in particular, are key to training Large Language Models (LLMs). Early on, many tech giants used shadow libraries to train their models. Rightsholders objected to this unauthorized use...
FADPA: MPA’s Export-Only Site-Blocking Primed For Full Strength U.S. Launch
When U.S. site-blocking proposals died alongside SOPA in 2012, major Hollywood studios and their music industry counterparts, switched up their plans a little. A SOPA victory would’ve sent a powerful message that site-blocking is a reasonable response to infringement, and that U.S. partners overseas should follow the example. Yet even with no victory to celebrate, for more than a decade the MPA promoted site-blocking measures to any...
