Dismantling a 22m User Pirate IPTV Service Led to Big Rise in ISP Blocking
For those who enjoy reading professional reports filled with statistics and detailed analysis, the piracy landscape has an endless supply. Many reports are highly informative and, regardless of underlying political aims, few get things completely wrong. Yet, even the most detailed studies and elaborate industry reports can at times leave the reader feeling puzzled. On the one hand, multi-billion dollar companies have more piracy data...
Suprnova’s Founder Speaks: 20 Years, Many Lessons, and a YouTube Empire
In the fall of 2002, Suprnova.org launched as one of the first sites dedicated to sharing ‘torrents’. At the time, Napster has just shut down, leaving a void in the file-sharing landscape. A Slovenian teenager named Andrej Preston has just discovered the new BitTorrent protocol at the time and decided to embrace it. Andrej, commonly known under the nickname ‘Sloncek’, started Suprnova out of personal interest, as he couldn’t watch...
Judges Acquit a Total of 23 Pirate IPTV Subscribers: Personal Use is Not a Crime
According to an infamous anti-piracy PSA that just recently celebrated its 20th birthday, downloading a copy of a movie is the same as stealing a physical disc from a regular store, stealing a handbag, or even stealing a car. These claims remain factually incorrect but at the time the PSA was released, rightsholders needed to drive a simple message home. While the act of stealing is instantly recognized by billions all over the world,...
Netflix and Hollywood Obtain Canadian Site Blocking Order Against Pirate ‘Brand’ Soap2Day
Last week, Canada’s original site blocking order against pirate IPTV provider GoldTV expired, after rightsholders decided not to ask for any further extensions. Overall interest in site blocking hasn’t waned, however. There are still several live-streaming orders in place, protecting sports content including football, hockey, and rugby. Soap2Day Lawsuit Meanwhile, Netflix, Bell, and several major Hollywood studios including Disney and...
LaLiga Isn’t ‘Fining’ IPTV Pirates For Viewing Streams, But For Providing Them
When mainstream rightsholders say they don’t want to sue end users for consuming their content illegally, most actually mean it. The recording industry famously tested the waters 20 years ago, learned from the experience, and never did it again. The major Hollywood studios have never done it and most likely never will. The risk of targeting an innocent person has never gone away but simply targeting the ‘wrong’ person has the...
The Pirate Bay’s Million-Dollar Bitcoin Donations: Hidden Goldmine or Spent Treasure?
It’s been three years since we last checked in on The Pirate Bay’s Bitcoin wallet. While the torrent site may not be raking in the digital dough like it used to, the donations keep trickling in. Back in 2021, we estimated that TPB was receiving around $10 per day in Bitcoin donations. Our latest analysis shows that this figure remains surprisingly consistent. Over the past three years, the site has added approximately 0.196 BTC to its...
