Japanese Anime Companies Shut Down Another 15 Pirate Sites in Brazil
Anime and manga producers in Japan are pressing ahead with work that aims to disrupt or render inaccessible pirate sites operated by individuals based overseas. These enforcement efforts are spearheaded by the Content Overseas Distribution Association (CODA), an anti-piracy group which counts major local rightsholders and international groups including the Motion Picture Association (MPA) among its members. As MPA member Sony attracts...
Canada’s First Pirate Site Blocking Order Quietly Expires
In 2018, Canada’s Federal Court approved the country’s first pirate site-blocking order. Following a complaint from major media companies Rogers, Bell and TVA, the Court ordered several major ISPs to block access to the domains and IP-addresses of pirate IPTV service GoldTV. Site Blocking Appeals There was little opposition from Internet providers, except for TekSavvy, which quickly announced an appeal. According to the ISP, the...
Cox to Appeals Court: DMCA Subpoenas Don’t Apply to Us, Period
Under U.S. law, rightsholders have an option to identify alleged copyright infringers, without directly having to file a lawsuit. Instead, they can request a DMCA subpoena. These documents are typically signed by a court clerk and don’t require any judicial oversight. Specifically, they allow rightsholders to obtain the personal details of anonymous alleged infringers through third-party internet services where the infringing material...
French Piracy Blocking Order Goes Global, DNS Service Quad9 Vows to Fight
In May, the Paris Judicial Court ordered Google, Cloudflare, and Cisco to block access to several pirate websites by poisoning their DNS. The order compelled the tech giants to prevent users from accessing unauthorized streams of Champions League and Premier League matches. Applicant Canal+ argued that the alternative DNS resolvers allowed people to bypass the “regular” blocking measures implemented by internet providers. In their...
Piracy Shield Blacks Out Tech News Site by Blocking Another CDN IP
After a series of completely avoidable incidents that have seen countless innocent sites blocked by Italy’s Piracy Shield blocking system, at this point is it appropriate to keep calling them ‘blunders’? Continuing to do so might suggest acceptance that incompetence is always to blame. In reality, recent legal amendments addressed the issue of overblocking by dramatically weakening what little protection innocent sites had against...
TorrentGalaxy’s Troubles Silence Popular Upload Bots
Founded in 2018, TorrentGalaxy has grown to become a leading player in the torrent ecosystem. The site was launched by former members of ExtraTorrent, a popular torrent site that had just shut down at the time. The founders aimed to provide a home for ExtraTorrent ‘refugees’ but, over time, it transformed into much more than that. TorrentGalaxy Downtime In recent months, TorrentGalaxy has faced considerable downtime. The original team...
