{"id":73510,"date":"2023-06-06T09:02:32","date_gmt":"2023-06-06T09:02:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.cryptocabaret.com\/?p=73510"},"modified":"2023-06-06T09:02:32","modified_gmt":"2023-06-06T09:02:32","slug":"japans-largest-manga-piracy-site-shuts-down-following-cloudflare-probe","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.cryptocabaret.com\/?p=73510","title":{"rendered":"Japan\u2019s Largest Manga Piracy Site Shuts Down Following Cloudflare Probe"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.cryptocabaret.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/manga-anime-fakku.jpg\" alt=\"bad 13dl\" width=\"300\" height=\"230\" class=\"alignright size-full wp-image-212809\">Manga comics are popular around the globe in a content category that has seen <a href=\"https:\/\/torrentfreak.com\/pirate-site-traffic-surges-with-help-from-manga-boom-220503\/\">piracy grow significantly<\/a> in recent years. <\/p>\n<p>This popularity is also apparent in manga\u2019s home country Japan, where several dedicated pirate sites are active. <\/p>\n<p>Publishers are working hard to counter this trend and last month they turned to a U.S. court for help. Working with the Japanese anti-piracy group CODA, manga publisher Shueisha <a href=\"https:\/\/torrentfreak.com\/manga-publisher-wants-cloudflare-to-expose-operators-of-popular-piracy-sites-230516\/\">obtained a DMCA subpoena<\/a> that required Cloudflare to uncover the identities of several pirate site operators. <\/p>\n<h2>13DL.to Folds<\/h2>\n<p>This legal strategy doesn\u2019t always pay off as some site operators use strawmen and fake data, but in this case, the publisher struck gold. Soon after the subpoena was issued, Japan\u2019s largest manga piracy site 13DL.to stopped releasing new content.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n<p><center><strong>13DL.to<\/strong><\/center><br \/><center><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.cryptocabaret.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/13dl-down.jpg\" alt=\"13DL\" width=\"600\" height=\"423\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-235977\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.cryptocabaret.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/13dl-down.jpg 1309w, https:\/\/torrentfreak.com\/images\/13dl-down-300x212.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 600px) 100vw, 600px\"><\/center><\/p>\n<p>New uploads stopped appearing three days after the DMCA subpoena to Cloudflare was issued and the site\u2019s operator later confirmed that the site has shut down for good. At the time of writing, it\u2019s no longer operational.<\/p>\n<p>This is a major win for the publishers as 13DL.to had an estimated 25 million monthly visits, mostly from Japan. The site listed links to fresh manga releases which were distributed through external file-hosting platforms such as RapidGator, TakeFile, Novafile, WupFile, and HexUpload. <\/p>\n<h2>Cyberlocker Targets<\/h2>\n<p>Several of these hosting sites were also targeted in the DMCA subpoena obtained by the publisher, after they were first targeted in a regular DMCA notice, listed below. <\/p>\n<\/p>\n<p><center><strong>Original DMCA Notice to Cloudflare<\/strong><\/center><br \/><center><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.cryptocabaret.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/shueisha-cloud.jpg\" alt=\"shueisha takedown\" width=\"600\" height=\"370\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-235082\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.cryptocabaret.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/shueisha-cloud.jpg 1589w, https:\/\/torrentfreak.com\/images\/shueisha-cloud-300x185.jpg 300w, https:\/\/torrentfreak.com\/images\/shueisha-cloud-1536x946.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 600px) 100vw, 600px\"><\/center><\/p>\n<p>According to CODA, the operator of 13DL was responsible for uploading the pirated comics to these third-party sites. This provided a source of revenue through the affiliate payments these cyberlockers offer.<\/p>\n<p>CODA notes that Cloudflare has yet to respond to the DMCA subpoena but is expected to do so this month. In addition to information on 13DL, platforms including takefile.link, novafile.org, wupfile.com, hexupload.net, and manga-zip.is are also part of the legal request. <\/p>\n<h2>\u2018Final Present\u2019<\/h2>\n<p>In addition to the Cloudflare probe, CODA is also working with the publishers and \u2018ethical hackers\u2019 to explore other options to uncover the identity of 13DL\u2019s operator. This includes going after one of the aforementioned cyberlockers, which is presumably operated from Scandinavia. <\/p>\n<p>The latter action was prompted by a \u2018final present\u2019 the operator shared with users. The gift is a file containing download links to 180,000 pirated manga works that was shared after the site announced its shutdown.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cCODA, in cooperation with the rights holders, attorney Nakajima, and ethical hackers, is currently requesting procedures from a local law firm in Scandinavia, where the cyberocker is believed to operate, in order to promptly file a sender information disclosure request regarding the distribution of the \u2018final present\u2019. <\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe will use every means at our disposal to identify the operator,\u201d CODA <a href=\"https:\/\/coda-cj.jp\/en\/news\/319\/\">notes<\/a> in its press release.<\/p>\n<p>Following 13DL\u2019s demise several copycat sites appeared, using the 13DL brand in an attempt to fill the void. According to CODA, people should stay away from these sources, for their own safety. <\/p>\n<p>\u201c[These sites are] operated by criminals, and you may be infected with malicious malware by clicking on ads or downloading infringing material. Please be careful not to access these sites,\u201d the group warns.<\/p>\n<p>From: <a href=\"https:\/\/torrentfreak.com\/\">TF<\/a>, for the latest news on copyright battles, piracy and more.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wpematico_credit\"><small>Powered by <a href=\"http:\/\/www.wpematico.com\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">WPeMatico<\/a><\/small><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Manga comics are popular around the globe in a content category that has seen piracy grow significantly in recent years. This popularity is also apparent in manga\u2019s home country Japan, where several dedicated pirate sites are active. Publishers are working hard to counter this trend and last month they turned to a U.S. court for [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":73511,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[308],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-73510","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-torrent"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cryptocabaret.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/73510","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cryptocabaret.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cryptocabaret.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cryptocabaret.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cryptocabaret.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=73510"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.cryptocabaret.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/73510\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cryptocabaret.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/73511"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cryptocabaret.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=73510"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cryptocabaret.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=73510"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cryptocabaret.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=73510"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}