Livehd7 Sports Piracy Network Shut Down By ACE, But Not For the First Time
Since its inception in 2017, the Alliance for Creativity and Entertainment has built a reputation for targeting online piracy operations regardless of scale and no matter where they operate. Obtaining pirated content, whether movies, TV shows, or live streams of broadcast TV, has been a global consumer phenomenon for years. Yet despite significant civil lawsuits, arrests, and criminal prosecutions, a well-financed and centralized...
Tech Companies Flag Piracy Blocking as Threat to the Open Internet & Digital Trade
Every year the office of the United States Trade Representative (USTR) publishes the National Trade Estimate Report on Foreign Trade Barriers. The report is compiled based on input from key industry players. This includes submissions from copyright industry groups, such as the MPA, that frequently highlight piracy challenges. Most rightsholders would like foreign countries to strengthen their online piracy efforts and policies, by...
Shueisha Hunts Manga Pirates But Needs Google, PayPal & VISA to Assist
Identifying the anonymous operators of pirate sites and then locating them, wherever they are in the world, is rarely a straightforward matter. Even when that is achieved, filing copyright lawsuits and then winning those cases could take years rather than months to complete. Japan-based publishing giant Shueisha often utilizes courts in the United States to obtain information on mostly anonymous pirate site operators. These...
Mysterious “Theater” Rips Cause Excitement in Piracy Circles
Movie piracy continues to present problems for Hollywood. When films are released on streaming platforms, they are copied and shared online almost immediately. There’s one type of piracy that’s particularly concerning, however. That’s when a film leaks online before it’s widely available through commercial channels. The problem isn’t new. Since the early 2000s, leaked copies of Oscar ‘screeners’ would circulate on pirate sites at the...
BeStreamWise: Police, BBC, & DAZN Quietly Added to IPTV Piracy Campaign
The exact launch date of the ‘BeStreamWise’ anti-piracy campaign is difficult to pin down. Often subject to intense planning and strict media embargoes, we simply stumbled across the live campaign website early October 2023. The purpose of BeStreamWise is to raise awareness of risk associated with illicit streaming platforms. Specifically, when people subscribe to these types of services they risk fueling organized crime, quite...
MPA is Concerned About Plans to ‘Outlaw’ Password Sharing Restrictions
Over the past few years, Brazil has worked hard to combat the online piracy problem from various angles. The “Operation 404” campaigns, in particular, have led to numerous takedowns and arrests, with the most recent wave completed last month. The seventh installment of the Government-backed anti-piracy sweep, details of which were released in September, took down 675 pirate sites, 14 apps, and led to nine arrests. Meanwhile, Brazilian...
