Website blocking has become the go-to anti-piracy measure for the entertainment industries when tackling pirate sites on the internet.

The practice has been around for well over 15 years and has gradually expanded to more than forty countries around the world.

Thus far, pirate site blocking is notably absent in the United States. However, American-funded forces are active elsewhere in the world to forge new blocking initiatives, through voluntary agreements or the courts.

Philippine Blocking Measures

The resulting blocking measures are immediately noticeable to the public at large but there’s also quite a bit of information sharing and discussion taking place behind closed doors. In this regard, a recent letter from the Intellectual Property Office of the Philippines (IPOPHL) is particularly noteworthy.

IPOPHL is the main facilitator of a new site-blocking regime established under a memorandum of understanding (MOU). As part of the agreement, set to come into effect later this month, Internet providers agreed to voluntarily block access to known pirate sites.

The Philippine Government is determined to tackle online piracy, a goal reiterated in a recent IPOPHL letter to the U.S. Trade Representative which contained additional background information.

MPA and ACE Guide Blocking Efforts

It transpires that the blocking measures were made possible thanks to assistance from the Motion Picture Association and ACE, its affiliated anti-piracy arm. Among other things, the movie industry group provided technical expertise.

“This [site blocking] mechanism was realized with the support of the Motion Picture Association through the Alliance for Creativity and Entertainment (ACE) who worked with IPOPHL in providing information on similar mechanisms and best practices in other jurisdictions,” the letter reads.

“ACE also conducted a training on site-blocking to equip the IPOPHL’s IEO personnel with technical knowledge on site-blocking mechanisms.”

It’s no secret that the MPA is heavily involved in rolling out site-blocking initiatives around the world. What we hadn’t heard until recently is that the industry group also brings stakeholders together in an ‘Annual Global Site Blocking Strategy Conference’.

MPA Recognizes ‘Innovations’ at Site Blocking Conference

The conference, which took place last month, came up in IPOPHL’s letter mentioning the MPA’s recognition of the Philippines’ site-blocking progress.

“At the [MPA’s] Annual Global Site Blocking Strategy (GSS) Conference held in Amsterdam on October 3, 2023, the Philippines (through IPOPHL) was a recipient of one of the awards this year, for pushing for site blocking legislation and for the coordination and roll out of the voluntary site blocking MoU.

“Every year, the MPA hands out a few awards to those countries or counsels which have excelled in the field of site blocking,” the letter adds.

The conference and the accolades were not reported publicly, but the MPA confirmed to us that the Asian country was indeed praised for its achievements. Aiming to avoid confusion with the annual MPA awards , the group stressed that the award isn’t official.

An MPA EMEA spokesperson notes that the Philippines agreement shows that voluntary collaboration between the MPA, governments, and Internet providers can have the desired effect.

“The voluntary siteblocking MOU, made possible thanks to the leadership and support of the Philippines Intellectual Property Office is yet another example of the MPA, authorities and ISPs working together in the fight against piracy.

“Siteblocking has proven to be an effective tool against large scale content theft and we applaud the Philippines for taking action to support creativity,” MPA’s spokesperson adds.

In addition to the Philippines, countries including France and Italy were also ‘recognized’ for their innovations in site blocking, but more specific details are not available.

Overall, it’s clear that MPA is determined to help countries around the world roll out effective site-blocking measures. Whether it will be able to use this wealth of knowledge in the United States anytime soon is unknown. But that’s nothing new .

—

A copy of the letter sent by the Intellectual Property Office of the Philippines (IPOPHL) to the U.S. Trade Representative is available here (pdf)

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

With more than a billion impressions per month and over 30,000 active advertisers, PropellerAds is a serious player in the online advertising industry.

The Cyprus-based company works with advertisers and publishers from all over the world and while many are legitimate companies, Hollywood believes there are some bad apples too.

MPA’s List of Notorious Markets

Last month, the Motion Picture Association (MPA) nominated PropellerAds for inclusion on the US Trade Representative ‘s annual list of “notorious markets”. In the overview, the advertising outfit is flanked by traditional pirate sites such as The Pirate Bay, Fmovies, and YTS.

According to the MPA, PropellerAds is used by many pirate sites to generate millions of dollars in revenue.

“Although primarily based in Cyprus, Propeller Ads is an ad network operated by Russian individuals that has subsidiary offices in the Czech Republic, the Isle of Man, and the United Arab Emirates. The company is a significant ad provider to streaming cyberlockers,” MPA wrote.

The movie industry group added weight to its claim by referencing reports from the Digital Citizens Alliance ( DCA ), which show that illicit actors use pirate sites to display dubious or even harmful ads.

“According to DCA, Propeller Ads is among the biggest facilitators of malvertising on piracy sites, accounting for a quarter of their malvertising. Propeller Ads has been offering its services to dozens of illegal and infringing sites such as French-Stream.gg, Supervideo.tv, Vidlox.me, and Filmpertutti.lat, helping those sites generate significant revenues through advertising,” MPA writes.

This isn’t the first time that PropellerAds has been nominated for an appearance in the “notorious markets” overview; the MPA previously submitted almost identical recommendations to the USTR. These claims are a thorn in the side of the advertising company which has just responded with a scathing rebuttal in which it openly criticizes the MPA.

PropellerAds Responds

In a letter to the USTR, PropellerAds, represented by Boston Law Group’s Val Gurvits, describes the MPA’s characterization as baseless and libelous.

“In short, there is no basis to claim that Propeller Ads can be or should be alleged to be taking part in piracy. The assertions by the MPA that Propeller Ads is willfully funding piracy websites are not only factually wrong, but also legally baseless and libelous,” the letter reads.

The advertising company sees itself as an intermediary between advertisers and publishers, who use its platform to show billions of ads. It has no control over what’s offered on its clients’ websites, nor does it endorse or support any of the content.

In this intermediary role, the company believes that it’s not responsible for potentially problematic content. That’s in line with how courts in the US have ruled on this matter, the response notes, citing various legal precedents.

“In stark contrast to the MPA’s suggestion that advertising services somehow make Propeller Ads complicit in copyright piracy occurring on certain Internet websites, United States courts have explicitly found that an advertising network like Propeller Ads is not responsible for the infringing activities of its publishers.”

Reckless, Baseless, Inaccurate, and Misleading

As the rebuttal continues, the wording gets stronger. PropellerAds openly discredits the DCA research the MPA relies on, describing it as “reckless, baseless, inaccurate, and misleading.”

“The DCA Report not only fails to include Propeller Ads, but it does not even allege that any online advertisers or ad networks, in general, are responsible for illicit acts of piracy, credit card fraud, malware nor for any other potential risk to the health and safety to American consumers,” PropellerAds insists.

The MPA’s reliance on the DCA research to back up their “attacks” is “reprehensible and self-interested,” the advertising company notes. It stresses that there are close ties and financial links between the film industry and DCA, as previously reported by Vox .

PropellerAds indirectly suggests that DCA’s reports are used as ammunition for lobbying efforts. For example, the research is often referenced in legislative and policy commentary, without proper attribution and unbiased data.

“Indeed, all evidence demonstrates that the DCA created the DCA Report simply by relying on the unsubstantiated allegations of self-interested parties without conducting any reasonable independent research, with the clear intention of reaching a predetermined conclusion, defaming Propeller Ads,” the company adds.

“The DCA Report and all information therein about Propeller Ads is based on unconfirmed, farfetched, and false allegations without any actual evidence or justification whatsoever.

“The DCA Report provides no statistics or other real evidence proving that advertising intermediaries are in any way responsible for these bad actors. Therefore, all declarations, data, and numbers in the DCA Report as it relates to Propeller Ads are nothing more than mere speculations, expressions of malevolent opinions, and invalid assumptions.”

Harassment and Defamation

Propeller Ads says the MPA uses the USTR process to put pressure on third-party intermediaries, which can be seen as harassment and defamation.

“While the MPA holds itself out as a party eager to combat illegal activities on the internet, in reality, the MPA is using its platform and influence to baselessly harass and defame Propeller Ads and other major industry participants.”

If the MPA truly believes that PropellerAds is breaking the law it can take the matter to court; thus far, however, that’s yet to happen. While the MPA may not like some of the sites the company works with, that doesn’t make it liable.

For this reason, the USTR should not list the advertising company as a notorious market in its final report, the letter concludes.

“Propeller Ads respectfully cautions USTR to not adopt the MPA’s unfounded allegations and manufacture of evidence. The MPA’s cynical strategy is quite clear. The MPA is attempting to launder their own allegations through the USTR to advance the MPA’s own interest against Propeller Ads and other online advertisers.”

—

A copy of PropellerAds full response, submitted to the US Trade Representative, is available here (pdf)

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

For those trying to avoid identification by anti-piracy groups with considerable but nevertheless finite resources, staying out of reach is certainly possible.

Over the past six years, after unmasking at least dozens but potentially hundreds of site operators, the Alliance for Creativity and Entertainment has shown that the opposite is possible too.

Signs that ACE and the MPA are taking an interest in particular platforms appear in various forms, but few are as verifiably reliable as DMCA subpoena applications filed at U.S. courts. A new batch filed by the MPA contains familiar and less familiar names, so taking a closer look is always worthwhile.

Popular Android App VivaTV

The initial target in the first application is the Android-based movie and TV show streaming app, VivaTV. ACE identifies vivatv.io/download as the download URL for v1.6.2, but currently the site only serves v1.5.5 as standard. Nevertheless, ACE is absolutely right; a short roam around reveals the availability of several VivaTV versions, plus a bunch of other apps for download too.

Users of VivaTV and similar tools will be aware that videos listed in the app are stored on third-party hosting platforms. In the application, MPA/ACE cite VivaTV as an infringer of their members’ rights in the movie ‘Frozen’ before identifying where the movie was sourced. In this case the source is StreamTape.com, a platform with over a quarter billion visits every year.

The same method is applied to the movie Minions: Rise of Gru; while it plays inside VivaTV, hosting platform VidSrc.me is listed as the source.

Significant traffic has made StreamTape a prime target for MPA/ACE, as evidenced by referrals to watch lists maintained by the EU and United States on multiple occasions .

Other than that, fairly standard stuff as DMCA subpoenas go, at least until reports of a different nature catch the eye.

62 Security Vendors Say VivaTV is Not Malicious

There’s no shortage of blogs providing information on the latest ‘pirate’ apps, including up-to-date version data and even direct download links. Some even run Android APK files through services like VirusTotal before posting the results to show that apps under review are ‘safe’.

As the image below shows, someone has already tested VivaTV (three tests since August according to the file’s history) and the rows of green ticks are on full display.

In total, 62 security vendors waved the green flag , at least until VirusTotal (VT) users move away from the ‘DETECTION’ tab and start looking at other tabs, marked DETAILS, RELATIONS, BEHAVIOR, and COMMUNITY, where confidence takes a bit of a nose-dive.

Whether VivaTV is clean, malicious, or simply misunderstood, an analysis from VT in-house sandbox ‘ Zenbox ‘ provides examples of what it believes the app tries to do.

The question for those installing this app, or indeed any other app, is whether requests for access to device data like these are required and/or reasonable for the software in question to function.

The DMCA subpoena application is available here (pdf)

Summaries for Other DMCA Subpoenas

2:23-mc-00146 (MPA v Cloudflare, October 19, 2023)

Domains Targeted: tubeyworld.com (IPTV), tubeyrack.com (.M3U)
Content Infringed: Frozen, Top Gun: Maverick

Names, physical IP/email addresses, telephone numbers, payment & account histories

The DMCA subpoena application is available here (pdf)
___________

2:23-mc-00147 (MPA v Cloudflare, October 19, 2023)

Domains Targeted: watchtheofficetv.com, bluf.online, cuevana.biz, cuevana2espanol.net, cuevana8.com, pelisplushd.to, watchbatesmotelonline.com, watchbrooklynninenine.com, watchonceuponatimeonline.com, maxseries.in, ekinotv.pl
Content Infringed: The Office, Encanto, Bates Motel, Brooklyn Nine-Nine, Once Upon a Time, Breaking Bad

Names, physical IP/email addresses, telephone numbers, payment & account histories

The DMCA subpoena application is available here (pdf)

___________

2:23-mc-00148 (MPA v Tonic Domains, October 19, 2023)

Domains Targeted: myflixtor.to, flixtor.to, pelisplushd.to
Content Infringed: The Flash, No Hard Feelings, The Batman, Encanto

Names, physical IP/email addresses, telephone numbers, payment & account histories

The DMCA subpoena application is available here (pdf)

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

Piracy release group EVO was long considered one of Hollywood’s main targets, publishing thousands of movie and TV show titles including several high-profile releases.

The piracy group repeatedly opened “screener season” by releasing leaked copies of upcoming films. These included Oscar contenders , but also several Netflix titles that originated from festival screenings.

EVO was also the first to release an early Blu-ray copy of ‘Spider-Man: No Way Home’ last year, and a high-quality copy of the blockbuster “Dune” in 2021, ahead of its official U.S. premiere.

EVO Busted

When pirates were eagerly awaiting freshly-leaked movie screeners last fall, none arrived. This was unusual in its own right and when EVO suddenly stopped publishing new content of any kind, it was clear that something was up .

From the get-go, there were rumors that the notorious group had been busted. These suspicions were eventually confirmed in March this year and, a month later, Portuguese police shared additional details on the crackdown which the authorities dubbed “Operation EVO 1.2”.

The enforcement action against EVO targeted piracy at the source. This impacted the availability of content on thousands of pirate sites which, in turn, serve many millions of users. For this reason, it’s not surprising that the EVO bust was prominently mentioned at the International IP Crime Conference in Oslo earlier this month.

The Alliance for Creativity and Entertainment (ACE) highlighted the importance of the action, describing EVO as one of the “most active pirate groups in the world” and a major threat to the industry.

ACE Awards Law Enforcers

To commemorate the achievement, ACE boss Jan Van Voorn handed awards to two units with central roles in the enforcement effort. The awards were presented on behalf of ACE members, which include the major Hollywood studios, Amazon, Netflix, and various other movie industry players.

The first recipient was the dedicated cybercrime unit of the Polícia Judiciária in Portugal ( UNC3T ), which handled a large part of the operation, including investigative work, house searches, and the arrest of EVO’s suspected leader.

The second award was handed to INTERPOL’s Illicit Markets Sub-directorate, which consists of the IP Crime and Digital Piracy unit, and the Public Health and Pharmaceutical Crime unit. This group is closely involved in INTERPOL’s Stop Online Piracy project ( I-SOP ).

On INTERPOL’s side, the EVO takedown was handled under the I-SOP project and, among other things, the international police organization helped to investigate the items that the Portuguese police collected during their raids.

“I-SOP deployed an officer to carry out analysis of the seized devices and provide a comprehensive report to authorities. Support will continue as the wider investigation progresses,” INTERPOL previously explained, while sharing the photo below.

Prosecution Pending

The awards were handed out while the prosecution of the alleged EVO leader is still ongoing. ACE informs TorrentFreak that it continues to work on the case with INTERPOL, Portuguese police, as well as the local prosecutor’s office.

There is little doubt that last year’s action had a broad impact. For one, there weren’t any notable screener releases last year, which hasn’t happened since online piracy hit the mainstream two decades ago.

It’s possible that other groups and their sources were spooked by the enforcement action against EVO. While new screener leaks may eventually appear again, the stakes are clear, if they weren’t already.

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

Over the past two decades, online piracy has proven a massive challenge for the entertainment industries.

It’s a global issue that’s hard to contain, but various anti-piracy group are doing their best to fight back.

There’s a seemingly perpetual stream of takedowns, as evidenced by press releases that come out every week. However, some targets are particularly resistant to enforcement action and much harder to take offline.

A few days ago, the Motion Picture Association ( MPA ) submitted an overview of some of the most problematic pirate sites and services to the U.S. Trade Representative. The entertainment industry group, which represents the major Hollywood studios and Netflix, also urges other players in the online ecosystem to help out.

Stakeholders Unite

The call to fellow stakeholders appears in the MPA’s recommendations for the USTR’s annual overview of notorious piracy markets.

“All stakeholders in the Internet ecosystem — including hosting providers, DNS providers, content delivery networks, reverse-proxy and other anonymization services, registrars, registries, cloud services, advertising networks, payment processors, social networks, and search engines — should actively seek to reduce support for notoriously infringing sites,” MPA writes

One key problem is that pirate sites use third-party intermediaries to ‘hide’ the true location of their servers, which complicates enforcement efforts.

The MPA mentions proxy services and CDN providers as the main culprits. While the USTR is mainly interested in foreign companies, the American company Cloudflare is singled out specifically. Apparently, the Internet infrastructure company is used by many pirate sites.

“Cloudflare’s customers include some of the most notorious, longstanding pirate websites in the world, including the massively popular streaming sites vegamovies.im, cuevana3.ch, and The Pirate Bay.”

“An analysis of 1,386 unique and currently active piracy domains found that 65 percent use Cloudflare’s services,” MPA adds.

This isn’t a groundbreaking finding. The MPA and other rightsholders have shared this critique many times in the past. In fact, Cloudflare previously responded to it through the USTR, explaining that it shares information with rightsholders, both voluntarily and through the courts.

Priority Threats

The above remarks appear as an introduction and handily serve as an indirect lobbying effort. The USTR is mostly interested in the actual notorious markets, however, which are also described in detail in the MPA’s submission.

In previous years the MPA didn’t specifically rank identified threats, but there is a novelty in the latest submission. For several categories, the movie industry group specifies “priority targets” that ideally should be dealt with as soon as possible.

In the streaming and linking category, Fmovies is listed as the top priority. The site, which is purportedly operated from Vietnam, has roughly a hundred million monthly users.

Fmovies faced some setbacks earlier this year. First, the MPA-affiliated group ACE took down its streaming partner 2Embed. The site responded by using an alternative provider and recently rebranded to Fmoviesz.

“With its former primary source for streaming video files 2embed taken down in July 2023, Fmovies.to now uses video streaming API vidsrc.to. It is likely that Fmovies.to has a close association with vidsrc.to,” MPA writes.

Other priority streaming sites include Vegamovies and Cuevana3.ch, while Aniwatch.to, Dizibox.tv, KatmovieHD and others are marked as less urgent.

MPA continues with the cyberlocker and video streaming/hosting category, where DoodStream.com is listed as the main problem. The ad-free video hosting platform is believed to be operated from India and is embedded on various streaming portals.

“DoodStream and known associate domains had 43.5 million visits in July 2023, according to SimilarWeb and is mainly hosted by OVH SAS in France, but also uses Online S.A.S., Hetzner Online GmbH, Interkvm Host10 SRL, among others.”

Mixdrop.co and Streamtape.com are also considered key targets while more general services such as Telegram, Baidu Pan, and VK are seen as lower priority.

Torrent sites, IPTV services & Apps

The MPA goes on to list a variety of problematic sites and services, which are all listed in full at the bottom of this article. This includes the usual torrent sites such as The Pirate Bay and 1337x.

MPA also mentions the shutdown of RARBG, which it indirectly associates with ACE’s anti-piracy efforts and increased enforcement activity in Bulgaria.

“Following a series of ACE actions, a spate of U.S. IP workshops with Bulgarian officials, and international law enforcement cooperation, the Bulgarian P2P network, and major content release16 hub, RARBG ended its operations at the end of May 2023,” MPA writes, referring to our earlier reporting .

There are no priority categories for torrent sites, and these are also absent for the IPTV and apps categories, which include Bestbuyiptv.biz, GenIPTV, EVPAD, LokLok, PikaShow and others.

Piracy as a Service (PaaS)

The MPA goes on to discuss various platforms that supply off-the-shelf services, making it easy for would-be pirates to easily get into the game. These include simple setup piracy content systems, pirate content libraries, and IPTV dashboards.

One of Hollywood’s greatest anti-piracy achievements this year was the shutdown of the Vietnamese video CMS 2embed.to, which had more than a billion monthly visits. However, plenty of other targets remain.

The IPTV turnkey solution ‘WHMCS Smarters’ is seen as the priority target in this category. Operated from India, it offers a software solution that allows third parties to administer IPTV services.

Other, lower-priority PaaS threats include the familiarly-named 2embed.me, pirate video libraries such as Collaps.org and Pelisplus.icu, as well as the domain privacy service Njal.la.

Intermediaries

The rest of the MPA’s submission mostly highlights third-party intermediaries, including hosting providers, advertising services, and domain name registries. These are not the source of any piracy activity but play a crucial role in keeping services afloat, the anti-piracy group argues.

For example, the .CC, .IO, .ME, .RU and .TO domain registries continue to provide their services to pirate sites “despite notification and outreach.”

“A registry — directly or via its contractual relationship with its registrars — can withdraw or disable domain names used by websites engaged in massive copyright infringement,” MPA clarifies.

The same reasoning could also apply to the more high-profile .com and .org registries, but they are not mentioned. The Public Internet Registry (.org) previously declined to cut off The Pirate Bay, as it prefers not to act as piracy police .

—

Instant update: ACE/MPA just reported that they shut down two of Latin America’s “most notorious” piracy things; Futbolparatodos.online and Pelisplus.Lat. These are not mentioned in the USTR notorious markets recommendation.

—

A list of all sites and services highlighted and categorized in the MPA’s notorious markets submission (pdf) can be found below. For additional context, we highlight the new entries, while also indicating those from the 2022 report that have since been removed.

Linking and Streaming Websites

Priority sites
– Fmovies.to
– Vegamovies (new)
– Cuevana3.ch (new)

Additional sites
– Aniwatch.to (new)
– Cda.pl
– Dizibox.tv (new)
– Dytt8.net, Dy2018.com, dygod.net, and Ygdy8.com
– Futemax.app (currently, Futemax.to) and Futebolplayhd.com (new)
– Indoxxi Network (new)
– KatmovieHD
– Librefutboltv.com (new)
– Myflixer.to
– Rezka.ag
– Tamilblasters / Streamblasters /
– Cuevana3.me
– Cuevana.pro
– Egy.best
– Fullhdizlesene
– Gimy.app
– Gnula.se/Gnula.nu
– Hesgoal.com
– NooNoo.tv
– Soap2Day
– Streaming Community
– TheNetNaija

Direct Download Cyberlockers and Streaming Video Hosting Services

Priority sites

– DoodStream.com
– Mixdrop.co
– Streamtape.com

Additional sites

– HQQ/WaaW/Netu (new)
– Baidu Pan and Baidu Search
– Telegram
– Uloz.to (new)
– VK.com
– 1fichier.com
– Uptobox.com

Illegal IPTV Services

– Apollo Group TV
– BestBuyIPTV.biz
– GenIPTV
– MagisTV
– Iptv.casa
– Spider Receiver
– TheKing365tv.site
– IcutCord.net
– King-IPTV.net
– SatCon Africa
–

Piracy Devices and Apps

– EVPAD
– LokLok
– Movie Box (new)
– PikaShow
– Shabakaty
– SVI Cloud
– TVMob
– Unblock Tech (unblocktech.com & ub1818.com)

Peer-to-Peer Networks & BitTorrent Portals

– 1337x.to
– DonTorrent.com (new)
– Rutracker.org
– ThePirateBay.org
– Ygg/Yggtorrent.wtf (new)
– Yts.mx
– Zamunda.net
– Rarbg.to

Hosting Providers

– Amaratu/KoDDos
– Ddos-Guard.net
– Mnogobyte
– Squitter.eu (ABC Consultancy)
– Veesp (new)

Registries

– .IO Registry
– .CC Registry
– .ME Registry
– .RU Registry
– .TO Registry
– .CH Registry

Payment Processors

– Wise (new)
– VoguePay

Ad Networks and Online Advertisers

– Propeller Ads
– 1XBET

Piracy-as-a-Service (PaaS)

Priority
– WHMCS Smarters

Additional

– 2embed.me (new)
– Collaps.org
– GDrivePlayer
– HDVB (new)
– Njalla
– Pelisplus.icu
– XFileSharing/XVideoSharing
– Fembed.com
– Abyss.to

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

When Hollywood sets its sights on something it wants to achieve in the piracy landscape, victory may not come this week or even next year. The MPA has been around for 100 years; it definitely has patience to see out a few more.

In Vietnam, despite changes in the law and visits by high-ranking MPA and ACE representatives, patience will be required to reduce piracy. The world’s largest pirate sites seem to operate freely there and even when giants like Zoro.to and 9anime came under direct pressure from ACE recently, immediate respawning under new domains was hardly conducive to confidence building.

MPA/ACE have enjoyed success, the closure of 2embed is just one example. But with Vietnam-based movie streaming giant Fmovies also announcing a domain switch/minor rebranding to Fmoviesz recently, more progress is needed and in an announcement this week, the authorities reported just that.

1,000 Piracy Websites Blocked

During an anti-piracy seminar held in Hanoi on Tuesday, data compiled by the Authority of Broadcasting and Electronic Information, a department under the Ministry of Information and Communications revealed that, during the past 12 months, 1,000 copyright-infringing sites were blocked in Vietnam.

The blocking reportedly took place between August 2022 and August 2023, but there’s not much for the MPA to celebrate, at least not in the short term.

It appears that most of the targets were sites offering pirate football streams, not the platforms offering movies, TV shows, manga, and anime that the MPA would like to shut down. Reading between the lines, these blocking efforts are considered a step in the right direction but were probably ineffective overall.

Blocking is 98% Successful Until it Immediately Isn’t

A representative of the state-run Vietnam Digital Copyright Center said that blocking of the 1,000 sites (a closer view reveals that’s actually the number of domains) was carried out in coordination with Vietnamese internet service providers. A similar approach last year allegedly reduced visits to pirate streaming sites by 98%, but general commentary on the scheme tends to undermine that.

Current blocking efforts are described as inconsistent, with some ISPs quickly blocking sites but others taking a much more leisurely approach. Given that sites reportedly switch to new domains in a claimed five to 10 minutes, blocking faces immediate challenges. A football streaming site known as ‘Xoi Lac TV’ is claimed to be the most notorious repeat offender and by ignoring bans and switching domains, it has remained online for around five years.

Pirate Sites Funded By Illegal Advertising

Media reports from 2018 indicate that Xoi Lac TV and many other sites were blocked on copyright grounds. And when 500 sites were reportedly blocked in 2021/22, copyright was again the headline reason.

Indeed, Vietnam already has a site-blocking mechanism in place; a verified complaint from a rightsholder can lead to the Authority of Broadcasting and Electronic Information (AEBI) instructing an online platform to remove content. If that doesn’t happen within the allocated timeframe, ISPs can be instructed to block the sites. Why that doesn’t happen to more sites more often isn’t clear, but there are other ways pirate sites can find themselves in more immediate trouble.

When football streaming sites are blocked in Vietnam, discussion of illegal betting advertising on the platforms usually appears as part of the discussion. Xoi Lac TV has appeared on lists of domains blocked due to illegal gambling promotions and the government seems very willing to bring those involved to justice .

Late 2022 an expert with Vietnam’s National Cyber Security Center said that the operators of local streaming sites obtain foreign streams, embed their own logos, and then use the content to promote gambling and fraud.

“The general method of these websites is to steal TV copyrights, ‘push’ the search engine optimization (SEO) to the top on Google to attract traffic, and then receive ads for gambling and fraud channels,” the expert said .

Xoi Lac TV streams reportedly promote the gambling game portal Zovip and sports betting sites including 1bet88 and fun88.

Vietnam Faces “Overseas Challenges”

This type of gambling-focused business model is largely absent from the large sites the MPA would like Vietnam to shut down. Whether that helps them to survive is up for debate but based on comments before and during the event on Tuesday, Vietnam isn’t averse to highlighting enforcement difficulties it faces in ‘other’ countries.

Xoi Lac TV is reportedly among around 70 football piracy sites that together generated around 1.5 billion views in 2022/23. However, figures cited by authorities in Vietnam claim that 200 local pirate movie sites only attract 120 million visits per month overall. Fmovies – now known as Fmoviesz – receives around 119.5 million visits each month in its own right.

Traffic estimates aside, Pham Hoang Hai, Director of the Digital Content Copyright Center, notes that all of these sites have something in common; they use foreign domain names and services to hide their identities. It was previously highlighted that when Xoi Lac TV operated from Xoilac.tv, it was difficult to trace its operator due to the domain’s registration in the United States. That wasn’t made any easier by the site allegedly using a U.S. IP address and U.S. hosting.

Blocking or shutting down websites isn’t something to be taken lightly and it appears Vietnam will take its time before deciding how to proceed against the largest pirate platforms. Meanwhile, it’s being reported that the government has been drafting new rules that will compel ISPs to kick citizens off the internet if they share “law-breaking information.”

“The move threatens to throttle web access further in a country where an estimated 1,000 websites, from those of the BBC to Freedom House, are already blocked,” Nikkei reports .

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

There’s no denying the many victories of the Alliance for Creativity and Entertainment ( ACE ) over the past few years.

The anti-piracy group, which represents the major Hollywood studios and other prominent rightsholders such as Apple, BBC, and Netflix, systematically hunts down key piracy players.

A few weeks ago, ACE claimed one of the most significant successes this year by shutting down 2Embed following negotiations with its Hanoi, Vietnam-based operator.

2Embed was one of the key services that took the pirate streaming world by storm. The site offered access to a catalog of pirate streaming links for 300,000 movies and TV shows, which could easily be embedded in any website by simply using an IMDb ID for reference.

Zoro’s Last Minute Acquisition

Right around the time 2Embed went offline, Zoro.to came out with some surprising news. With over 200 million visits the anime streaming portal was one of the largest pirate sites until last June, when it was suddenly acquired by a new team , who redirected it to Aniwatch.to.

This sudden takeover likely wasn’t a coincidence. 2Embed and Zoro.to were reportedly operated by the same person who, after ACE paid a visit to Vietnam, struck a deal with the anti-piracy alliance. And indeed, both 2Embed and Zoro.to now redirect to ACE’s ‘ Watch Legally ’ page.

This major success was tainted, however, as Zoro’s earlier redirect to Aniwatch.to was rather effective. This new streaming portal came out of nowhere and is now one of the largest piracy portals online with 277 million monthly visits in August.

ACE Goes After Aniwatch

With this new site pupping up right under the noses of MPA and ACE, it is no surprise that Aniwatch is now a priority target. And indeed, through two recent subpoenas, rightsholders are attempting try to discover who’s in charge.

Late last week, MPA requested several DMCA subpoenas at a federal court in California. These subpoenas are directed at Cloudflare and the Tonic domain registry, listing a variety of targets including Aniwatch.to.

The subpoenas were requested on behalf of ACE members with the aim of obtaining the personal details of the people who operate Aniwatch.to, Gogoanimehd.to, Myflixerz.to and several other domains.

Specifically, ACE seeks “names, physical addresses, IP addresses, telephone numbers, e-mail addresses, payment information, account updates and account histories of the users” who operate the allegedly infringing websites.

More High Traffic Sites

Aniwatch is without a doubt the biggest target, but the other sites have massive traffic levels too. Gogoanimehd.to, for example, logged more than 90 million visits last month, while Myflixerz.to came close to 60 million.

In addition to the .to domain registry, ACE also seeks the same information from Cloudflare through a DMCA subpoena. These recent subpoena requests are part of a bigger push that targets dozens of domain names, which are listed at the bottom of this article.

All in all, it’s clear that, despite the major enforcement efforts this year, ACE still has plenty of ground to cover. While it sometimes seems like a perpetual game of whack-a-mole, rightsholders hope that their perseverance will eventually pay off.

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Below is a list of all domains targeted by MPA/ACE in a recent DMCA subpoena wave ( 1 , 2 , 3 , 4 , 5 , 6 ).

-cyberflix.me
-cuevanahd.net
-pelisflix2.team
-vizer.in
-pobretv.net
-aniwatch.to
-tugaflix.best
-diziwatch.net
-filma24.li
-filma24.gd
-kaido.to
-animez.org
-anix.to
-laroza.one
-gogoaninehd.to
-gogoanime3.net
-smashystream.com
-embed.smashystream.com
-bflix.to
-nuuuppp.store
-soap2day-online.com
-adjaranet.com
-myflixerz.to
-watchsomuch.to
-watchsomuch.tv
-noxx.to
-projectfreetv.space
-0123movie.net
-yugenanime.tv
-yugen.to
-123-movies.sb
-123-movies.zone
-primewire.li
-primewire.tf
-gowatchseries.tv
-movstreamhd.pro
-webtvguek.org
-guek.org
-privateiptvaccess.com
-iptvespana.online
-line.ottcst.org
-line.rs4ott.com
-rapidiptv.pro
-mujitv.com
-sportiumtv.com
-sixstartv.com
-upbaam.com
-vidroba.com
-vidspeeds.com
-anafasts.com
-v.aflam.news
-vod540.xyz
-sfntv.xyz
-tvhdonline.org

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

Many pirate sites have attracted large volumes of traffic over the years but a relatively new breed of streaming portals have taken things to a whole new level.

Excellent traffic levels a few years ago were measured in tens of millions of visits per month, but when Soap2Day suddenly threw in the towel around June 12/13, the site was receiving at least 108 million visits. Given that traffic levels were trending up and the site had no obvious technical issues, a zero-notice termination of a hugely successful platform prompts a single question: why now?

Legal Action in Canada

Dozens of reasons lie behind the closure of hundreds of sites over the years, but it’s extremely rare for highly successful sites to throw in the towel for minor reasons. A catastrophic team issue was a possible explanation when Soap2Day shut itself down, but the safer money was always on legal problems.

We can’t confirm the reasons from a direct source, but the following facts appear to leave very little doubt that Soap2Day shut down under massive legal pressure.

On May 31, 2023, major entertainment companies Bell Media, Netflix, Disney, Columbia, Universal, Warner, and Paramount, plus Get Er Done Productions and Spinner Productions, launched legal action at the Federal Court in Canada. The named parties were Soap2Day and a presumed operator of the platform listed only as ‘John Doe’.

The plaintiffs immediately sought an interim confidentiality order and on June 7, the Court obliged. The studios requested an interlocutory injunction pursuant to section 44 of the Federal Court Act and Rule 373 of the Federal Court Rules; the latter allows the Court to issue an injunction where there is a strong case to support copyright infringement and the plaintiffs face irreparable harm.

In short, the Court ordered the site to shut down and that’s exactly what it did.

Plaintiffs Seek Norwich Order

In Canada and the United Kingdom, the Norwich Pharmacal Order is often the discovery weapon of choice in cases involving online copyright infringement. First acquired in a case back in 1973/74 , Norwich orders allow plaintiffs to obtain information regarding infringements from parties who may not themselves be involved in the alleged infringement. In this case, two service providers.

Court documents reveal that on June 12, 2023, Exclusive Technologies Inc. (doing business as domain registrar Register.to) was served with the statement of claim, letters from the plaintiffs, a confidential version of the plaintiffs’ motion, and a court order. OVH Hosting Inc. was served on the same day.

Soap2Day operated a .to domain and was known to utilize OVH servers. The Norwich order, which hasn’t been made public, will require the companies to hand over any information held on Soap2Day and its operator(s).

Shutdown Coincided With Operator(s) Being Served

Along with the site’s domain registrar and hosting company, Soap2Day’s ‘John Doe’ was served with various documents and a court order on June 12, via email.

The image below shows how Soap2Day’s landing page appeared on June 11, the day before Soap2Day was served.

This second image shows the site’s appearance on June 13, the day after ‘John Doe’ was electronically served and ordered to shut down the streaming platform.

How the case will progress from here is unknown. Whether Soap2Day’s operators have any direct connections to Canada other than retaining a domain with Register.to and server hosting with OVH is unclear.

A Zoom conference is scheduled for Tuesday and the defendants were instructed to file their response by June 29, but that doesn’t appear to have happened.

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

Legal video streaming services such as Amazon, Disney, and Netflix are booming. At the same time, there’s a flourishing dark market of pirate streaming tools.

These unauthorized alternatives increasingly use slick designs and easy-to-use apps to appeal to a broad audience. And unlike the legal options, they offer all popular titles under the same roof, without charging a penny.

Cloudstream is one of the apps that made its mark in recent years. The Android-based software can aggregate pirated content from several third-party streaming sources and is fully customizable through open-source extensions.

This hasn’t gone unnoticed by rightsholders. Sky UK targeted the software last year, and a few months ago, Hollywood’s Motion Picture Association (MPA) took action against the app.

MPA Targets Cloudstream

The MPA represents the major Hollywood studios and Netflix, and the weight of these massive corporations had the required effect. Following a takedown notice in March, Cloudstream developer “Lag” took the Cloudstream.cf website and some code offline voluntarily.

“Having the absolute worst anti-piracy coalition on our asses is not preferable. They will undoubtedly fuck us legally if they have to. Think what you want but I do not want all of Hollywood after me because of some hobby project,” Lag wrote.

In addition to the website, MPA’s initial notice also listed various files from third-party Cloudstream code repositories, most of which related to extensions. These files were taken offline by GitHub but the repositories all stayed online.

A screenshot from the main repository shows that the bare app code doesn’t include any extensions. This means that by default, it can’t be used to stream pirated content. This is likely why the repository is still on GitHub today and actively being developed.

MPA Fires Another Round

The MPA hasn’t completely forgotten about Cloudstream though. This week, it sent another takedown notice to GitHub asking the developer platform to take down two code repositories, in their entirety.

“We are writing to notify you of, and request your assistance in addressing, the extensive copyright infringement of motion pictures and television shows that is occurring by virtue of the operation of the APK software, CloudStream.

“[T]he Repository hosts and offers for download the APK, which in turn is used to engage in massive infringement of copyrighted motion pictures and television shows,” MPA adds in its notice.

The reported “CloudStream-2” repositories, including one from developer “Lag”, have been removed by GitHub. People who try to access the respective URLs will see a “ Repository unavailable due to DMCA takedown ” notice instead.

The Extension Escape

Interestingly, the CloudStream-2 code is far from new. It’s an older release that has been on GitHub for several years and was no longer actively supported. Unlike the newer versions, it didn’t rely on extensions, which means that it likely still worked as a pirate streaming app out of the box.

Also, the repository included screenshots that displayed how the APK could be used to stream pirated content. This likely didn’t work in their favor either.

The difference between the ‘fully-loaded’ and ‘bare’ versions of Cloudstream is worth highlighting. As mentioned earlier, MPA’s earlier takedown notice targeted extension files, not the entire Cloudstream repository.

We don’t want to draw strong conclusions based on these actions, but the MPA appears willing to leave the extension-based app untouched on GitHub for a reason. At least for now; there are certainly no guarantees that this won’t change in the future.

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