Mass Pirate Site Domain Suspensions Aim to Slay the Streaming Hydra
The Motion Picture Association’s (MPA) submission to the USTR’s 2025 review of notorious pirate markets identifies a “rapidly expanding” category of pirate sites. Calling out the likes of Vidsrc, HydraHD, and Cineby, the MPA spoke of “one-stop piracy sites offering content somewhat comparable to IPTV services, but without the need for subscriptions or dedicated devices.” The MPA’s use of the term ‘hydra’ appears to acknowledge that...
Internet Archive Ordered to Block Books in Belgium After Talks With Publishers Fail
Back in July, the Brussels Business Court issued a sweeping ex parte site-blocking order targeting several “shadow libraries” including Anna’s Archive, Libgen, and Z-Library. Unusually, the order also included the Internet Archive’s Open Library, a project operated by the well-known U.S. non-profit organization Internet Archive. The order was granted based on a request from publishers and authors who claimed, among other things, that...
