EU Research Links Youth Unemployment and Income Inequality to More Piracy
The European Union Intellectual Property Office (EUIPO) regularly conducts studies to see how piracy develops over time. These studies help the public to understand local piracy trends and can be used as input for future policy decisions. This week, EUIPO released another in-depth piracy report titled “Online Copyright Infringement in the European Union.” The research is part of a recurring series which has tracked European piracy...
Dramacool Shuts Down Pirate Operation Following Legal Pressure
Founded over a decade ago, Dramacool became a go-to destination for pirated copies of Asian dramas and related content. The site was originally started by a group of ‘students’ who wanted to share their passion for this entertainment niche. But what started as a hobby, eventually became a multi-site streaming operation with tens of millions of users. Most recently, Dramacool operated Asianc, Watchasia, Dramanice, and Runasian. The...
€3bn Pirate IPTV Network Serving 22m Users “Dismantled” in Massive Operation
Law enforcement operations targeting pirate sites and services are often enthusiastically described as ‘large-scale’ or ‘major’. If reports emerging from authorities in Italy hold true, describing the international operation that culminated early this morning as massive, wouldn’t be an exaggeration. Operation Takendown is said to have targeted what may be the largest pirate IPTV network serving Europe, authorities say, and the numbers...
Court Rejects Appeal of Youtube-dl Hosting Provider ‘Uberspace’
In 2020, the RIAA infuriated many players in the open source community by targeting YouTube-ripping tool youtube-dl. The RIAA sent a takedown notice to GitHub, alleging that the software bypassed technological protection measures, in violation of the DMCA. GitHub initially complied but later changed course. After consulting legal experts, including those at the EFF, it restored the youtube-dl repository. GitHub also launched a...
Kim Dotcom Suffers “Serious Stroke” and “Cannot Communicate Effectively”
After Donald Trump was elected the 47th president of the United States earlier this month, the world’s largest democracy confirmed a big win over Kamala Harris and a second term in the White House for the Republican. Over in New Zealand, Megaupload founder Kim Dotcom had spent much of November 5/6 posting to his account on X. Despite never having set foot in the United States, the outcome of the election had become increasingly...
Supreme Court Seeks U.S. Govt’s View on ‘Repeat Infringer’ Piracy Cases
In 2019, Internet provider Cox Communications lost its legal battle against a group of dozens of record labels, including Sony and Universal. Following a two-week trial, a Virginia jury held Cox liable for its pirating subscribers. The ISP failed to disconnect repeat infringers and was ordered to pay $1 billion in damages. This case is one of many. Other ISPs have been accused of being similarly lax in their stance against alleged...
