Homebrew Transparency Portal Reveals Needlessly Blocked ‘Pirate’ Sites
Copyright holders and anti-piracy groups repeatedly argue that pirate site blocking is an effective and proportional measure. This message is highlighted more frequently now that the U.S. is seriously considering blocking measures again. Effective and Proportional? On the effectiveness-side, blocking proponents are helped by academic research, which concluded that blocking measures can be effective. The proportionality argument is...
Will Piracy Kill Football in Italy? Not if Football Damages the Internet First
Despite warnings from internet experts, the government passed a law in 2023 aimed at combating illegal IPTV services. However, the legislation has failed to achieve its intended outcomes. What followed wasn’t a meeting of minds with all stakeholders involved, but a steely determination to make the system work for the rightsholders. For a framework that had measures in place to punish internet companies for failing to block, but...
Apple Removes ‘Parasitic’ Streaming App ‘Musi’ Following Persistent Complaints
App stores are littered with apps that promise free access to music, but only a few live up to expectations. Musi is one of them. The music app first made headlines in 2016 when its founders, who were teenagers at the time, presented their brainchild in an episode of the Canadian edition of Dragons’ Den. The software itself works relatively simply. Musi can stream music, sourced from YouTube, and allows users to create and share...
U.S. Court Orders LibGen to Pay $30m to Publishers, Issues Broad Injunction
Library Genesis, often shortened to LibGen, is one of the longest-running shadow libraries online. It provides free access to a vast collection of millions of books and academic papers that typically require payment. In recent years, rightsholders have made several attempts to shut the site down. Court orders have led to LibGen being blocked in several countries, but completely eliminating the threat has been extremely difficult. This...
LaLiga Will “File Criminal Complaints Against Google” Over Pirate IPTV
An unprecedented order handed down by a judge in Argentina mid-September was music to the ears of LaLiga President Javier Tebas. Alongside orders for local ISPs to block 69 domains linked to pirate IPTV service Magis TV, Judge Esteban Rossignoli at Court 4 of San Isidro reportedly instructed Google to “adopt the necessary technical means” to immediately uninstall the MagisTV app from all Android devices operating with an Argentinian...
“Anne Frank” Copyright Dispute Triggers VPN and Geoblocking Questions at EU’s Highest Court
The Diary of Anne Frank is one of the best known literary works in history, written by a young girl hiding from the Nazis in Amsterdam during World War II. Anne Frank died in 1945, but her legacy lives on though her words, which are a powerful testament to the resilience of the human spirit and a reminder of the horrors of the Holocaust. Anne never saw her diary in printed form, as the first copies were published by her father Otto...
