Over the last quarter-century the piracy landscape has regularly received major blows from which many believed it could never recover.

While in most cases the doomsday scenario never materialized, not all niches are created equally. Those that require a very specific set of skills usually face more complex challenges.

When Nintendo sued the company and ultimately the developers of the Yuzu emulator in February, that was a significant event. When the team settled the lawsuit just a week later, that was not just unexpected.

The speed of the settlement seemed to suggest some type of vulnerability beyond the paperwork, and real enough – whatever it was – for Yuzu’s developers to submit. Comebacks aren’t unheard of or impossible, but coding an emulator is an entirely different proposition than running a website or uploading movies; there’s certainly not much of a crowd to hide in either.

The Big Clean-Up

The law didn’t change overnight when Yuzu was sued but Nintendo’s messaging since then strongly suggests that the company’s tolerance of infringers has shifted. Nintendo started its post-Yuzu clean-up operation in March, targeting numerous projects that until recently had operated mostly without fear of serious disruption.

Then last week, Nintendo made its intentions clearer still when targeting Nintendo-themed addons for Garry’s Mod , potentially a couple of decades worth, according to the team. That fairly turbulent event has just been followed by perhaps the most efficient takedown filed anywhere on the internet in recent years.

A single DMCA notice filed at GitHub triggered a chain reaction that took out over 8,535 Yuzu repos, all in the time it took to send an email.

Had the lawsuit against Yuzu not been filed and settled so quickly, and Nintendo hadn’t articulated its legal position with such clarity, GitHub’s approach to the takedown may have been more difficult. In the event the platform says it contacted the owners of the affected repos to give them an opportunity to make changes, and provided information on DMCA counter notices and availability of legal resources.

Weeding out every last repo will clearly take much more time but given the diminishing returns, that may not be of particular interest to Nintendo. Resources directed towards emerging threats may be considered a more effective strategy, however.

Mig Switch / Mig Dumper Suppression

Last December, rumors began to circulate about an upcoming product, a flashcart for the Nintendo Switch billed as a backup and development device. Branded Mig Switch, it was claimed the device would have enough memory to store several ROMs and would allow users to select which ‘backup’ to play, no soldering required. Mig Dumper, a tool for backing up original games, would appear separately.

Videos and reviews of Mig Switch have been appearing online and while prospective buyers will need a Switch console to use it, in common with Yuzu the plan is unlikely to involve the purchase of games.

As a result, Nintendo is already attempting to remove Mig Switch and Mig Dumper reseller websites from Google search, including those whose screenshots are shown below, along with Nintendo’s takedown text.

At the time of writing, pages on around 75 domains have been targeted for deindexing. Nintendo used DMCA anti-circumvention notices which unlike regular DMCA notices, have no counter notice process available.

Meanwhile, Mig Switch reportedly faces competition from UnlockSwitch, a not dissimilar device with the same functionality that may (or may not) be a clone of Mig Switch, which in turn may (or may not) be a clone of UnlockSwitch.

The people behind Mig Switch alleged that UnlockSwitch is a pre-order scam and their review units are actually Mig Switch devices underneath. Which side to believe, if any, is a personal choice; there’s unlikely to be a patent or registered mark to clear up the dispute.

Things rarely stand still in the Nintendo piracy scene; its ability to recover seems inextricably linked to the size of Nintendo’s user base and the opportunity to generate revenue with the right product. As a result, it’s unlikely that Nintendo’s hardened approach will deliver a terminal body blow at this end of the market anytime soon.

As for the future of the Switch emulation scene, there’s no denying it looks more precarious now than it did in January.

From: TF , for the latest news on copyright battles, piracy and more.

The United Kingdom is no stranger to website blocking.

The High Court granted permission for a blockade against Newzbin2 in 2011 ; The Pirate Bay and numerous other targets were blocked soon after.

A rough inventory carried out by TorrentFreak recently revealed that blocked domains, including subdomains, now exceed 10,000 separate targets. That’s a conservative estimate.

While people can still access pirate sites in the UK, it’s not as easy as it once was. The blocking efforts mainly make it harder for casual pirates to find content. To keep things this way, rightsholders have found an atypical ally in Google.

Google-Amplified Site Blocking

As covered previously, the search engine voluntarily removes pirate sites from its search results when rightsholders forward applicable site-blocking orders. As a result, domains such as ThePirateBay.org are no longer findable in the UK, France, and other countries .

Google’s compliance initially came as a surprise . After all, the tech giant previously opposed whole-site removals arguing that these would be counterproductive and jeopardize the free flow of information on the Internet.

Times have changed, however; Google has switched to a more cooperative policy which continues quietly today. New removal requests for torrent, download, and streaming piracy sites arrive regularly. Google has also removed thousands of YouTube-ripper domains after music group BPI alerted it to relevant court orders.

IPTV: Not Found

This week, we stumbled upon a new category to add to the list. After obtaining an IPTV-related blocking order last year, Sky asked Google to remove various domain names linked to IPTV providers.

In a recent notice, dated April 23 , Sky reports geniptv.net, iptvmain.store, iptvmain.tv and iptvmain.uk as infringing domains. These are all linked to IPTV services subject to a High Court injunction issued in 2023.

As far as we know, none of the mentioned domains host any content directly. Instead, these sites are used to sell IPTV subscriptions that provide access to unauthorized live broadcasts, including sports, plus on-demand films and series.

The IPTVmain.store website notes that this is all above board. “IPTV Main operates within legal boundaries, providing legitimate streaming services to our users,” its FAQ reads. However, Sky believes otherwise and the High Court agrees.

More IPTV Sites Removed

The High Court injunction allows for dynamic and time-sensitive IP address annd URL blocking. In addition, it requires local ISPs to implement static domain name blockades for the IPTV sites in question. Google followed suit, removing the infringing domains.

The latest notice isn’t the first of its kind. While thrawling through the Lumen database we spotted a few other notices where Sky urged the search engine to take action. These include other IPTVmain and GenIPTV domains, as well as CatIPTV, BunnyStream, EnigmaStreams and GoTVMix, all targets in the High Court injunction.

The effectiveness of these search engine removals is unknown, but it certainly won’t hurt Sky’s attempts to make IPTV services less accessible. Whether Google is open to follow-up actions, such as DNS blocking, or even more direct Chrome browser blocks, remains to be seen.

From: TF , for the latest news on copyright battles, piracy and more.

In February 2023, Brazil’s Ministry of Justice and Public Security revealed an extension to Operation 404, an ongoing anti-piracy operation to disrupt websites and apps involved in online piracy.

The purpose of 404-offshoot Operation Anime was to “suppress crimes committed against intellectual property” with a specific focus on piracy of Japanese cartoons, better known as anime. Several sites were shut down including goyabu.com and animeyabu.com.

Close to a year later, the Ministry of Justice has confirmed a new phase of Operation Anime with a new partner appearing for the first time in 2024.

Operation Anime Phase 2: Japan Joined By Korea

The announcement confirms that the goal of Operation Anime Phase 2 remains unchanged for 2024 and Japan-based anti-piracy group Content Overseas Distribution Association ( CODA ) still features prominently.

A change comes in the form of a new partner, South Korea-based Copyright Overseas Promotion Association ( COA ), which aims to suppress piracy of animated content, known locally as webtoons, on behalf of companies such as Kakao, Webtoon, and many others .

In the latest operation, authorities in Brazil report that police in five regions – Alagoas, Ceará, Minas Gerais, Rio Grande do Sul, and São Paulo – executed 11 home search and seizure warrants this week. The objective was to seize computer equipment containing evidence to show involvement in intellectual property crimes.

The Ministry of Justice reports that two websites were “blocked and/or suspended” but didn’t officially name either. Based on information obtained from other sources, at this point, we feel confident enough to name one as definitely shut down

Animetvonline.cx

The search and seizure warrants covering Ceará were coordinated by the Cybercrime Repression Police Station (DRCC), with support from the Operational Center of the Specialized Judiciary Police Department (DPJE) and the Crateús Regional Police Station.

The target was a 26-year-old man, alleged to be the operator of a pirate site receiving around 1.2 million visitors per month. At the man’s home in Planalto Crateús, police seized cell phones, computers, hard drives, and other IT equipment.

As data from SimilarWeb shows, Animetvonline.cx had around 1.2m visits per month. In Google search, the site is now listed as “closed due to copyright infringement” and if one clicks through, a seizure banner hosted on CODA’s website confirms it ran into terminal trouble.

With animetvonline.cx as a starting point, other domains start to show up that also appear to have been seized. They include animetvonline.xyz (zero traffic), animesbr.cc (3.4m), animesone.cc (60K), and animesonline.one (zero). These have links to animetvonline.cx but exactly when they were seized isn’t clear.

Other information points to the shutdown of anime.vision and potentially a handful of others, but there’s not enough solid evidence to show anything beyond coincidental downtime.

The action was coordinated by the Directorate of Integrated Operations and Intelligence (Diopi), through the Cyber ​​Operations Laboratory (Ciberlab), of the Ministry of Justice and Public Security (MJSP).

CODA and COA signed a memorandum of understanding in December 2017 and have been working together ever since to protect content overseas, including in Brazil.

From: TF , for the latest news on copyright battles, piracy and more.

In the summer of 2009, hackers from all over the world gathered at an outdoor conference near Vierhouten in the Netherlands.

The event was mostly a meetup of like-minded geeks, but one person stood out a mile; Tim Kuik, director of anti-piracy group BREIN .

Kuik joined a panel discussion where he calmly explained why his organization helped rightsholders to shut down pirate sites. The group was winning its lawsuit against Mininova at the time and had just booked a victory against the founders of The Pirate Bay just a few weeks earlier.

As the panel was opening up for questions, a stereotypical neck-beard sporting hacker stepped forward, questioning Kuik on comments he made about The Pirate Bay’s revenues. It was none other than Pirate Bay founder Anakata, easily identifiable thanks to his Pirate Bay t-shirt.

The two opposites engaged in a brief tete-a-tete of which the contents are irrelevant at this point. However, Kuik’s presence there, on that day, is exemplary of his tendency not to shy away from conversation, no matter the audience. The friendly photo both men took afterward is a testament to that.

Anti-Piracy Veteran Retires

Earlier this month, Tim Kuik informed TorrentFreak that he’s retiring, passing on the baton to BREIN’s new director Bastiaan van Ramshorst. While people retire every day, Kuik’s departure deserves a special mention; he’s an anti-piracy icon that formed a common thread throughout our reporting over the past 19 years.

Unlike others operating in a similar position, Kuik never dodged questions. Not everyone shares BREIN’s goals but the organization is transparent whenever that’s possible. The group also differs from many of its counterparts in its pragmatic approach. Instead of going for ‘headline’ convictions, BREIN focuses on the main goal; stopping pirates.

Kuik started his professional career at CIC Video International , shortly after he graduated from law school 42 years ago. In 1992 he became anti-piracy director at the Motion Picture Association’s European branch, moving on to a role as MPA’s global anti-piracy boss soon after.

When a new anti-piracy group was formed in the Netherlands, just before the turn of the millennium, Kuik changed positions again, albeit for the last time.

E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial

Needless to say, a lot has changed since Kuik started working in the anti-piracy field. In the early 80s, bootleg VHS tapes were just getting popular, while the World Wide Web had yet to be invented.

Speaking with TorrentFreak, Kuik recalls that the home video market was just opening up. Initially, movie studios saw videotapes as a threat, but they soon realized that they could market official movies to consumers as well, which proved to be a new source of revenue.

The downside was that pirates would create bootleg copies. This wasn’t unexpected, but it posed a major problem. When E.T. came out in the early 80s, director Steven Spielberg was particularly upset and Kuik, working for CIC Video, was called in to solve the problem.

“When ‘E.T. The Extraterrestrial’ was released theatrically by Universal, Spielberg was very upset about the video piracy because he envisaged the movie as theatrical only and didn’t want it on TV screens,” Kuik says.

“So, I was tasked to collect evidence against video rental shops that carried illegal copies of it. The shops were full of illegal titles and we realized we had to band together instead of chasing individual titles.”

This realization that ‘cooperation’ between studios was wise, paved the way for future anti-piracy initiatives. CIC Video was a joint venture of Paramount and Universal, both members of the Motion Picture Association, which became a key anti-piracy force in the following decades.

Kuik helped to bundle the powers of the major Hollywood studios, first at CIC Video, and later at the MPA. In that role, he helped to establish more than thirty local anti-piracy programs. Eventually, he moved to Los Angeles to become head of MPA’s global anti-piracy program.

At the end of the nineties, he moved back to his home country, the Netherlands, to manage BREIN. This was the start of a 25-year adventure that left a mark on the industry in many ways.

Threats

Kuik served as BREIN’s first director, which was initially a temporary role that he planned to fill for a few years. However, years turned into decades. While the role was rewarding, it also came at a cost. As the public face of an anti-piracy group, Kuik was often scolded by supporters of his opponents.

Most of this critique came from keyboard warriors, but there were escalations. At some point in the early 2000s, the threats got so out of hand that BREIN’s office needed strict physical security. There was a constant barrage of hate aimed at the group, with Kuik often the prime target.

In a recent interview with a Dutch film magazine , Kuik mentioned that BREIN received hydrochloric acid in the mail at some point, adding that police complaints were filed on various occasions.

These threats have faded in recent years. In part, perhaps, because BREIN often found the law on its side in courts. The group can be credited for shutting down thousands of sites and services, including Mininova, the largest torrent site at the time.

Accomplishments

BREIN also went after The Pirate Bay. While it never managed to take the site offline, it did book many victories in court that greatly helped international anti-piracy efforts. This includes a ruling from Europe’s highest court , which allowed The Pirate Bay to be blocked.

The court ruling laid the groundwork for other European pirate site blockades and, in the Netherlands, led to the first site blocking order after a legal battle of more than ten years.

“The best [achievement] is the CJEU ruling that The Pirate Bay is a copyright-infringing service. Although that did not close down the site, it set EU case law and, for us in the Netherlands, it made blocking possible, leading to a covenant with access providers about blocking illegal services,” Kuik notes.

Site blocking is an essential tool, Kuik says, as it’s often the only way to act against anonymous site operators who do all they can not to get caught.

Various other court rulings, where online intermediaries such as hosting platforms and payment providers were held accountable, also proved to be important. This helped takedown efforts and investigative work; to track down site operators, whenever possible.

While BREIN won most of the lawsuits it initiated, not all succeeded. The greatest defeat came in a Usenet-related lawsuit, where the court ultimately ruled that the provider was not violating copyright law.

The provider, NSE, had already shut down years before that final ruling came in but ended up with a moral victory.

After a legal battle of 14 years, the Dutch Supreme Court concluded that NSE itself was not liable for copyright infringement. The fact that NSE had a takedown procedure and no apparent knowledge of infringement, weighed in its favor and BREIN was ordered to pay €65,000 in legal fees.

Kuik sees the NSE verdict as the worst legal outcome in his career and still believes that the court reached the wrong conclusion. Despite the loss, he stresses that BREIN can and does hold usenet services accountable today, as they are required to take down infringing content while taking additional measures.

Piracy Remains a Problem

Despite all the hard work over the past 42 years, the piracy problem hasn’t been solved. While the industry has more tools to tackle copyright infringement today, new forms of piracy continue to show up. This includes emerging technologies including artificial intelligence.

“Currently, illegal IPTV is the main threat to TV, film, series, and live sports. In addition, there are illegal sites that serve as large repositories for generative AI, which forms a threat to man-made creative content of any kind,” Kuik notes.

If Kuik could dictate the law, he would make it mandatory for online services to verify who their customers are. Such “know your customer” policies could help to identify operators of pirate sites and services more easily, so they could be held accountable.

“In general, intermediaries should verify who their customers are and should be willing to share this with parties that are injured by such customers,” Kuik says.

“Currently, such an obligation is based on case law and the principle of it is often denied by intermediaries, even though it exists for example for VAT purposes and for online marketplaces.”

Rightsholders are already lobbying for these types of policies, which are high on anti-piracy wishlists around the globe.

Piracy Positives?

For Kuik, the active anti-piracy work ends here. When asked whether there is anything positive about piracy at all, he’s willing to entertain the idea that unauthorized use, in some cases, has shown the way for legal business models.

For example, one can argue that Napster led to the first legal digital music store, and that services such as Netflix and Spotify were positioned as piracy alternatives when they first hit the market. Kuik recognizes this, at least in part.

“You could indeed argue that there are instances where illegal (unauthorized) exploitation showed the way forward before licensed models were established,” Kuik tells us

While piracy may lead the way, Kuik stresses that it’s certainly not sustainable. Without proper enforcement, it’s hard for legal services to compete and their revenues are vital for creating the new content consumers demand.

“Enforcement is one of the conditions to get rightsholders to enter a market and make legitimate businesses thrive. And that, in turn. secures structural employment in content creation and distribution. Which is what the customer wants. Piracy does not provide that,” Kuik concludes.

Back in 2009, when Kuik and Pirate Bay founder Anakata went head-to-head, the situation was no different, and both men agreed to disagree. However, battling The Pirate Bay indirectly brought BREIN its key site blocking victory several years later.

While Kuik moves on, his legacy remains. The same is true for a ‘copy’ of the iconic Pirate Bay t-shirt Anakata was wearing at the hacker conference, which is one of the many relics still on display in BREIN’s office.

—

The Kuik / Anakata photo was taken by and is credited to Reinoud Van Leeuwen

From: TF , for the latest news on copyright battles, piracy and more.

In a world where there’s always someone telling people what to do, Garry’s Mod is a breath of fresh air. Launched in 2006, the sandbox game has no goals; just hand over $9.99 to Steam, jump in, and do whatever you like.

With the benefit of hindsight, some fans may have taken that a little too literally. At the time of writing, Garry’s Mod workshop content uploaded by users over many years, is being systematically taken down in response to takedown notices filed by Nintendo.

“This is an ongoing process, as we have 20 years of uploads to go through. If you want to help us by deleting your Nintendo related uploads and never uploading them again, that would help us a lot,” the Facepunch Studios announcement reads.

The team don’t seem especially upset and are taking everything in their stride. Nintendo has a reputation for taking action against content featuring its characters and artwork so removing it now is the right thing to do.

“Honestly, this is fair enough. This is Nintendo’s content and what they allow and don’t allow is up to them. They don’t want you playing with that stuff in Garry’s Mod – that’s their decision, we have to respect that and take down as much as we can,” the announcement adds.

DMCA Notices Aren’t Real, or Even Sent By Nintendo, Some Claim

Normal service will be restored shortly, but some fans may still need convincing regarding recent events. They believe that some type of scammer, probably not even connected to Nintendo, has been using bogus notices to take content down for quite some time.

Mindful that Garry and the team needed to be aware of that, so that nothing gets taken offline unnecessarily, attracting their attention became a priority this week.

As the image from X shows, a few hours after being alerted, investigations ended with the conclusion that the takedowns were legitimate. Yet for some, that still wasn’t good enough. Over the past few months there have been reports of bogus DMCA notices claiming to have been sent by Nintendo, containing allegedly similar fictitious claims. Many were resurrected this week after more than three years, contributing to the chaos.

In some cases, users simply expressed sadness or sympathy for Garry and the team. In many, many others, passions and frustrations proved too much. Instead of the usual blanket bitterness towards Nintendo, Garry’s X account filled up with demands for evidence, rock-solid proof that Nintendo really was to blame. Some even fired off accusations that no work had been done to get to the bottom of the crisis.

In a post to X, Garry addressed the “ it’s fake ” guys by posing five questions, all of them related to a domain name referenced in one or more of the takedown notices. The skeptics believe that the domain mm-nintendo.com is fake; Nintendo ‘always’ use a different domain, and domain details here are different to those used elsewhere, etc.

We’ve seen more than our fair share of bogus notices in the past but since these notices don’t appear to have been shared in public, determining whether they’re real or fake simply isn’t possible.

Since Garry is on record saying that they’re real, there’s no obvious reason to question that. It shouldn’t come as a big surprise that developers can become quite attached to their projects and the communities that support them; removing content for no reason isn’t something they do lightly. So whether real or fake, voluntarily or under duress, a decision has clearly been made to say goodbye to content that, in real terms, amounts to a liability.

That being said, let’s squeeze the domain mm-nintendo.com and see what comes out.

Genuine or a Big Fat Phoney?

Finding takedown notices featuring the domain mm-nintendo.com wasn’t difficult. The pair shown below seem fairly typical; they both use notice@ in their email addresses and were sent to ISPs asking for content to be taken down.

Similar notices dated 2016 , 2017 , and 2018 , fail to raise any obvious red flags and since the first and last were processed by GitHub, people can be confident they received considerable scrutiny.

A similar notice sent to GitHub in 2020 took content down using the DMCA. In other parts of the notice, takedowns were requested under trademark law .

At this point, it’s worth highlighting something that all of these notices have in common: not a single one targets pirated copies of Nintendo games. Instead, they all target audiovisual works, images, and fictional character depictions, to which Nintendo owns the rights. It’s a trend that runs through all similar notices.

A 2019 takedown notice sent to itch.io , also featuring the email address notice@mm-nintendo.com, displays the same features as another sent to Sankakucomplex in 2019 . No games piracy in sight, only alleged infringement in characters, artwork, and audiovisual works.

It doesn’t seem unreasonable to raise a theory at this point; is it possible that Nintendo uses the mm-nintendo.com domain when takedown notices target characters, artwork, and audiovisual works, in cases where specific expertise is necessary?

MarkMonitor (MM for short?)

There’s no direct evidence to show that the MM in mm-nintendo.com stands for MarkMonitor. However, there’s plenty of evidence to show MarkMonitor has connections to Nintendo. The domain was registered through MarkMonitor in September 2016 and then updated somewhat coincidentally this Wednesday when the Garry’s Mod controversy began.

The most obvious change is the prominence of the email address brandprotection@mm-nintendo.com before the update. MarkMonitor doesn’t manage all 6,431 domain names currently listed under Nintendo of America, but it has provided brand protection services for some of the biggest names in business.

When Apple worked with MarkMonitor back in 2013, records show the company operated the domain mm-apple.com. While that domain has long since expired, mm-microsoft.com is very much alive and just like mm-nintendo.com, redirects to its owner’s main domain.

Other domains registered through MarkMonitor and used for brand protection over the years, probably behaved in much the same way; mm-velcro.com, mm-walmart.com, mm-loreal.com, and mm-nissan.com, for example.

So Real or Fake?

There seems no doubt that the domain mm-nintendo.com a) actually exists b) is used for brand protection purposes and c) isn’t used often or even at all for regular DMCA takedown work. That leads to the final item, d) the domain is different because it has a specific purpose.

It’s possible that brand protection matters are handled by a dedicated Nintendo department and/or MarkMonitor itself, which also has an office in the UK. Perhaps the image below, uploaded on Thursday, offers a few more clues. Just don’t venture too close to the edge.

Whether the DMCA or similar takedown notices sent to Garry and the team are legitimate is best judged by those who have seen them. Based on the above, however, his claim – that the notices are official – should really be the last word on the matter.

As for the other ‘fake’ notices previously sent that also mention the mm-nintendo.com domain, only a close review of each could determine whether they’re genuine and/or accurate. When everything is said and done, however, perhaps the most important question is whether they target obviously Nintendo-like characters or imagery.

From what we’ve seen, most seem to do just that.

From: TF , for the latest news on copyright battles, piracy and more.

England is widely regarded as the ‘home of football’ and the Premier League is its top competition, drawing hundreds of millions of viewers from all over the world.

Aside from the sportive stakes, the Premier League also has a vested interest in selling broadcast rights. These rights generate billions of pounds in revenue per year; a staggering amount unmatched by any other football league.

Broadcasters who secure these rights typically recoup their investment through the public, often in the form of subscriptions. However, not all football fans are willing to play this game and some seek out free or cheaper alternatives in the form of pirate streaming platforms.

In recent years, the Premier League has tried several legal avenues to tackle the piracy problem. In addition to obtaining blocking orders in multiple countries, the organization has been a driving force behind several lawsuits, some of which resulted in prison sentences .

Shutting down a pirate operation is always the preferred outcome for rightsholders, but it’s more easily said than done. Operators of streaming sites and services are typically aware of the risks and do their best to remain anonymous.

Premier League Takes Aim at GoDaddy Customers

In an attempt to lift this veil, the football organization went to a California federal court this week, hoping to discover the identities of operators connected to more than two dozen domain names.

The legal request isn’t targeted at the streaming sites directly. Instead, the Premier League requests a DMCA subpoena to compel domain registrar GoDaddy to hand over all information it holds on the operators. This doesn’t have to but might result in useful intel.

Domain names mentioned in the request (full list below) include live-kooora.com, 30.tv, live4.kooora-gooal.com, fctvlive.com, and soccertv4k.com. Some of these have a few hundred domain names, while others have several millions of monthly visits.

In addition, the Premier League requests information on several backend domains connected to the popular pirate streaming services EVPad and SVI Cloud. These two platforms are particularly popular in South East Asia and were previously called out as “notorious markets.”

EVPad, for example, was described as an “ extremely sophisticated ” pirate streaming service.

“A product purchased on behalf of the Premier League was found to provide access to over 1,700 channels, including 75 offering live sports broadcasts. The operators have been very careful to hide their location and identities, Premier League links them to Hong Kong and China.”

Identifying Pirates and More?

Through the requested DMCA subpoena, the Premier League hopes to gather more information on the people behind the sites and services.

Among other things, the football league asks GoDaddy for information that can identify people connected to the domains. This includes names, addresses, telephone numbers, and email addresses, payment information, and other account details.

Aside from the subpoena request, the Premier League sent a letter directly to GoDaddy, asking the domain registrar to remove or disable access to the infringing content. If not, it is expected that these sites will continue to broadcast similar pirate streams throughout the rest of the season.

At the time of writing, many of the domains and services listed in the application remain online. GoDaddy typically doesn’t take domains offline without a court order, so that doesn’t come as a surprise.

That said, if the DMCA subpoena is granted, GoDaddy will hand over the requested account holder information. These types of subpoenas only require a signature from a court clerk, so this will likely move forward.

Whether any of the information is usable to the Premier League is another question. Many pirate site owners use ‘inaccurate’ domain registration data and, since GoDaddy accepts cryptocurrency payments, the financial trail might run dead as well.

Update: The subpoena was signed by a court clerk.

—

The subpoena request and the associated paperwork, filed at a California federal court, is available here ( 1 , 2 , 3 , 4 ).

A full list of all the domains mentioned can be found below. The request below includes several subdomains.

Websites

– live-kooora.com
– 5koora.live-kooora.com
– mpm24hd.com
– fctvlive.com
– koora-live.io
– yalla-shoot-as.com (redirects to yyallashoot.live)
– tarjetarojatvenvivo.net
– yalla–live.net
– kooora4lives.io (redirects to koora4live.ai)
– futbollibretv.me (redirects to futbollibretvhd.me)
– doomovie-hd.com (redirects to doomovie-hd.pro)
– streamlive7.com (redirects to match.fctvhd.com)
– live4.kooora-gooal.com
– 30.tv
– koooralive-tv.com (redirects to kooralive-tv.io)
– dooball2you.com
– dooballx.com
– soccertv4k.com
– futebolgratis.net
– baadooball.com
– dooballfree24hr.com
– herodooball.com
– kora-live-new.com
– kora-livee.com
– koora–live.com
– bein–match.com (redirects to tv.bein-match.pro)

SVI Cloud

– broker.6868a.cc
– 6868b.cc
– vpic.6868c.cc
– playback.f666666.xyz

EVPad

– appindex.google10sv.com
– v10js.google144.com
– sx.dl1717.com
– dlt.6868nbtc.com
– findpic.00005555.cc
– tm1.hdtvvip.com
– cdn_pic.0168861.com

From: TF , for the latest news on copyright battles, piracy and more.

In a world where users can have their own ChatGPT-like AI instances up and running on their own PCs, in just a handful of minutes, for zero spend and completely legally, the app experience on smart TVs rarely fails to disappoint.

Yet when smart TV users somehow manage to clunk their way through, say, LG’s menus, and then avoid the avalanche of distractions that exist purely to break their will, only disappointment lies ahead for the IPTV-curious.

If, against all odds, they find an app that resembles the thing they actually searched for, the high probability of being presented with the app “Smart IPTV” is something thousands before them will attest to.

More Disappointment

It’s not that Smart IPTV is a poor product, it’s not. The fact that most of the time people have to pay to use it isn’t to blame either. The problem is the expectations of those who bought the software in the belief it contains illegal streams. It doesn’t, and that can be very disappointing.

Most likely due to the number of complaints from misinformed buyers, listings for the app on the LG, Samsung, and Google Play stores are now very clear: Smart IPTV does not provide access to playlists or streams, so don’t even ask.

The reason for the confusion among prospective buyers isn’t immediately clear. Smart IPTV seems like it’s been around forever and at no point has anything stuck out as being especially misleading or offering any suggestion that more might be on offer.

Yet now, even those who purchased Smart IPTV in full knowledge it offered no content, are being disappointed too.

Smart IPTV Website Blocked in Spain

During the past few days, reports have surfaced indicating that the official website of Smart IPTV has been blocked by Spanish ISPs. Visitors to siptv.app are instead redirected to an alternative page displaying the following text:

“Contenido bloqueado por requerimiento de la Autoridad Competente, comunicado a esta Operadora”

When translated to English, the message reads: “Content blocked at the request of the Competent Authority, communicated to this Operator.

In common with many countries around the world, particularly in Europe, Spain has a site-blocking system that restricts access to sites and services deemed to infringe copyright. Some prominent cases receive publicity as they travel through the legal system, most notably when top tier football league LaLiga and its broadcasting partners obtain injunctions to block pirate IPTV services.

While Spain does put together a report every few months to show the extent of blocking in the country, its usefulness is limited to a review of blocking already in place. As a tool to explain what is happening now, much less why a site or service was deemed infringing, the report is effectively useless.

As a result, which company declared the Smart IPTV app as copyright-infringing is unknown. What we can do, if only as a thought exercise, is use existing information to establish the most likely candidate based on motivation and past statements.

LaLiga – Who Else?

When it comes to blocking measures, especially those related to pirate IPTV, no rightsholders anywhere in the world are more aggressive than those behind the most popular football leagues.

The Premier League (England), Serie A (Italy) and LaLiga (Spain) are widely considered to be the leading proponents of blocking measures. Through a basic process of elimination, LaLiga is the only entity from the three likely to have targeted Smart IPTV in Spain, but there are more compelling reasons than simply being an aggressive blocking proponent in a specific geographic area.

In a 2022 submission to a then-upcoming edition of the European Commission’s Counterfeiting and Piracy Watchlist, LaLiga submitted a list of apps that, from a technical perspective, could play illegal streams of LaLiga football matches.

More accurately, the majority simply allowed the users of the apps to play content referenced in .M3U playlists that were not supplied with the apps themselves .

Terrifying Text Files From The 90s

Being able to play an .M3U playlist is a basic functionality offered by media players including VLC. For those sporting gray hair today, the same ‘technology’ was available in Winamp. Those who remember .M3U playlists starting to gain popularity in 1996 will be able to explain this incredible technology in a few words; it’s a text file containing locations where information can be found, on a hard drive (c:\playlists) or a network, mostly using a domain or IP address.

Instead of accusing the apps of infringement directly, LaLiga used broad strokes to paint a picture of infringing capability.

“It is important to note that all of these player applications allow the consumption of an innumerable amount of audiovisual contents such as sports, movies, series TV channels, etc. In other words, this problem affects the entire audiovisual and entertainment industry in general,” LaLiga added, carefully choosing its words.

As we highlighted at the time, LaLiga’s careful words were supported by carefully presented evidence, which in one case took an IPTV developer’s documentation and used it against them, after cropping the screenshot to disappear a line that began: “This app doesn’t contain any built-in channels…”

Again, we must reiterate that Spain’s blocking mechanism fails to offer enough transparency to identify who is behind the blocking of Smart IPTV. This means that we cannot say with any certainty that LaLiga is actually behind the blockade, but we can offer a generalized conclusion.

Any system that allows participants to mark their own homework in relative secrecy, can never be fit for purpose when other people’s basic rights begin to suffer. The fundamental right to conduct a legal business throughout the Union, for example.

Blocking Began Around April 12

To find out more about recent events, TorrentFreak spoke with the owner of Smart IPTV.

“The website domains siptv.app and siptv.eu have been blocked at some of Spain’s ISPs since approx. 04/12. Some ISPs still allow access to the website,” he explains.

“I have not received any correspondence from the officials or ISPs, I only started receiving messages from angry users from Spain that they couldn’t access the website. I conversed with a couple of them and it turned out the blocking is on the domain level, where ISPs are redirecting using 451 HTTP error, which also threw SSL certificate errors for those using HTTPS.”

With the blocking clearly causing access and security issues, Smart IPTV’s owner says that blocking can be avoided using a VPN but for him, it’s “not a very good solution.”

Instead, he’s having to make modifications to his apps to mitigate the problems.

“Since the App is operating on the same domains [as the website], the only way to work around this is to release updates of the appropriate Apps on devices, which I have already submitted and waiting for approval from Apps Stores (this can take a while),” he explains.

“A manual Android install is already operating normally, confirmed by Spanish users. The problem is that older devices that won’t get the app update (I am talking 10-year-old devices) will not be able to benefit from the app any longer.”

Of course, it’s likely that angry users who don’t understand the situation will blame the developer, then expect a new version of the app for free. But, as the MPA highlighted recently as it prepares its own proposals for blocking in the United States, blocking never, ever goes wrong.

As everyone else knows, that’s absolutely true, except for when it does.

From: TF , for the latest news on copyright battles, piracy and more.

After almost two decades reporting on the piracy landscape, speaking with hundreds of people involved in all aspects of piracy on the way, those who dodge cinema security to camcord the latest movies are still the most puzzling.

As a deterrent, the possibility of a lengthy prison sentence seems to mean almost nothing. The prospect of sitting quietly for two to three hours, knowing that they’re already being monitored along with the rest of the audience, is just part of the experience, not the nerve-shredding ordeal of those simply imagining it.

Yet, unless ‘cammers’ stop for personal reasons, those operating in the West eventually run up against the law. While they often regret it, some still find it difficult to explain what motivated them in the first place. With cinema workers in the UK being offered cash rewards of around £1,000 for a successful ‘camcorder’ intervention, the odds are stacked against cammers before they even begin. It doesn’t deter them.

FDA Yearbook 2024

The Film Distributors’ Association (FDA) represents the interests of film distributors in the UK and Ireland. The FDA’s website lists 38 members, including “the largest studios and numerous independent players” a sample of which can be seen below.

This week the FDA unveiled the FDA Yearbook 2024 at The Peninsula London, a £1,200 per night 5-star hotel within shouting distance of Buckingham Palace and Kensington Gardens.

With box office sales up again last year – 135,133,635 tickets in 2023 versus 127,794,382 in 2022 – generating over £1.06 billion, there was much to celebrate. Not least 9% of all sales attributable to Barbie, a film made in the UK and as a result, gifted just enough relief by the government to ensure no corporate taxes were payable in the UK.

Piracy – Film Content Protection Agency

After all the glitz and glamour, the FDA’s yearbook soon turns to piracy matters and a report from the Film Content Protection Agency (FCPA). The FDA-affiliated anti-piracy group shoulders the responsibility of preventing movies from being recorded on the UK’s big screens and then shared on the internet.

After an article we published last year , questioning the unlikely industry-wide claim that “90% of films pirated worldwide are sourced from cinemas,” FCPA begins its report with an adjusted claim that’s much more credible.

“Over 90% of pirated versions of newly released films are still sourced in cinemas globally by illegal activity involving the use of compact digital recording devices – mostly smartphones,” FCPA begins.

“Hence the FDA’s Film Content Protection Agency’s over-arching objective is to prevent infringing (pirated) versions of films from being sourced in UK and Irish cinemas, ensuring that the theatrical release lifecycle is protected as far as possible.”

Cammer Arrest in 2022 Results in 2023 Conviction

As previously reported , in the summer of 2022 at least four high-quality cams were traced back to two cinemas in the UK. A 24-year-old man was convicted in 2023 for fraud and copyright offenses yet remarkably only received an 18-month community sentence.

“[T]he sentence was lighter than hoped for, as the defendant had no prior convictions, but the ruling was deemed to have a greater impact on his life than a custodial sentence,” FCPA reports.

FCPA offers no additional detail, but we understand that the extremely high-quality CAM copies of the movies leaked online were directly linked to the defendant’s skills and the career he hoped to pursue somewhere in the film or TV industry. A mere conviction probably ended that dream, regardless of the scale of the punishment.

‘High levels of Anti-Piracy Awareness and Vigilance’

Throughout 2023, it appears that would-be cammers or those who gave that impression at least, kept cinema staff in the UK and Ireland on their toes. FCPA reports that “high levels of anti-piracy awareness and vigilance” resulted in exhibitors reporting 155 security incidents in 2023, a 7% increase on incidents reported in 2022.

“The UK and Ireland’s record for in-cinema vigilance is exemplary with the territory continuing to be recognized as a leading light in the global fight against film piracy,” FCPA says.

“In 2023, successful staff in-cinema efforts to disrupt illegal recordings of films helped to directly protect many FDA member companies’ most high-profile theatrical releases including Avatar: The Way of Water, Barbie, Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse, Elemental, Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny, The Little Mermaid, Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One, Oppenheimer and The Super Mario Bros. Movie.”

As a result, FCPA handed awards to 25 cinema staff last October for their “good disruption work in preventing film piracy incidents.” How much they received is unclear but probably not enough for one night at The Peninsula London.

Given the implications of CAM copies on the multi-multi billion dollar box office revenues of the movies listed above, rewards five times bigger than they are now would still represent ridiculous value for money. As the results below show, the combined effort in 2023 produced the best anti-piracy performance for UK cinemas since 2012.

It doesn’t get any better than that.

From: TF , for the latest news on copyright battles, piracy and more.

Without doubt, Reddit is one of the most popular user-generated content sites that exists on the Internet today.

Last month, the community-driven news and discussion platform went public and, with a market cap of more than $6 billion, immediately became one of the larger tech players.

While publicly traded companies operate under a different ruleset than private ones, Reddit remains committed to its transparency efforts. A few hours ago, the company released its latest transparency report detailing the actions it took in the second half of 2023.

779,628 ‘Infringing’ Items Flagged

At TorrentFreak, we are mostly interested in copyright-related actions. In recent years, we have seen an increase in copyright takedown notices on Reddit, partly driven by the platform’s growth. In the first half of 2023, rightsholders requested the removal of nearly a million items, which was an all-time record.

During the second half of the year, this upward trend reversed. Reddit reports that rightsholders flagged 779,628 items between July and December, an 18% decrease compared to the first half of the year.

As shown above, not all of these takedown requests resulted in action. Reddit removed 69% of the reported items, which is the lowest removal percentage of the past two years. This logically means that little over half a million items were removed.

The high rejection rate might suggest that rightsholders’ takedown requests are too broad. However, most takedowns are rejected simply because the content has already been removed. In 29,143 cases, Reddit concluded that there was no infringement; other, less common reasons, include suspected fraud and fair use.

Copyright-Related User Bans

Thus far, there is nothing to show that Reddit’s decision to go public had a major impact on its copyright takedown policies. That said, the company does signal a significant increase in copyright-related user bans.

“From July to December of 2023, Reddit banned 792 users for repeat Copyright Policy violations, an increase of 258% compared to the first half of 2023. This large increase is a result of improvements to our detection methods and increased operational capacity,” Reddit writes.

These user bans are in part the result of legal obligations. Under the DMCA, Reddit is required to implement a reasonable policy to deal with repeat copyright infringers on its platform.

Improved detection methods and increased capacity suggest that Reddit takes repeat infringements seriously. However, if we go further back in time, we see that the number of banned users is far from a record. In the first half of 2022 , Reddit banned 3,859 users over repeat copyright infringements.

Subreddit and Counter-Notices

In addition to removing or banning posts, links, and users, Reddit also took action against entire subreddits. In the last half of 2023, the platform banned 452 subreddits, down 20% compared to the six months prior.

Finally, Reddit points out that users can always object to takedown notices by sending counter-notices. In the final half of last year, the discussion platform received 397 counter-notices, of which 216 were deemed valid.

The number of valid notices increased by 86% since the last report, which Reddit attributed to its increased operational capacity. As a result, 1,331 pieces of content were successfully restored.

While not specifically mentioned in the report, Reddit also continued to object to requests from a group of filmmakers to identify Reddit users. The company does typically respond to U.S. subpoenas, but in this case, it argued that the requests violated users’ constitutional right to anonymous speech.

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Reddit’s latest transparency report covering the last six months of 2023 is available here

From: TF , for the latest news on copyright battles, piracy and more.