LaLiga's court-ordered authority to block Cloudflare IP addresses to disrupt pirate IPTV services continues to black out large numbers of entirely legal sites. Interestingly, LaLiga's opinion differs quite drastically; maybe just a handful have been affected, but certainly not lots. A report that a UK-based CDN isolates pirates means LaLiga doesn't have to block it. A network specialist claims that LaLiga went ahead and blocked it anyway.
Having listened to LaLiga chief Javier Tebas speak about piracy for almost an hour at a conference recently, several things become apparent.
Whether one agrees or disagrees with his stance on how to tackle piracy, in particular the blocking controversy that has dogged Spain since early February, at a time of crisis this would be the man to have fighting your corner. He’s passionate about his mission, knows exactly what needs to be done, and is as unmovable as he is uncompromising on how to get there.
For these reasons and many more like them, what some argue is a footbal...
The Internet Archive's 'Great 78 Project' digitizes historical recordings to preserve musical heritage, but in 2023 the initiative led to major record labels filing a copyright lawsuit. The financial stakes soared last month when the labels proposed to update their claim to $693 million in statutory damages. A recent filing suggests that due to significant progress in settlement discussions, it may not come to that.
The Internet Archive is widely known for its Wayback Machine, which preserves copies of the web for future generations.
These archiving efforts, which started decades ago, will become more valuable over time. The same could apply to IA’s other projects, including the digitization of old books and records.
Seven years ago, the Archive began archiving the sounds of 78rpm gramophone records, a format that is obsolete today. In addition to capturing their unique audio characteristics, including all ‘crackles and hisses’, this saves unique recordings for future ...
Tech and communications group CCIA has listed dozens of recommendations in its response to a public consultation on regulatory amendments concerning the Piracy Shield IPTV blocking system.
Highlighting what it describes as several critical issues, CCIA hopes that telecoms regulator AGCOM will consider its proposals in light of "significant risks" to the principles of freedom of enterprise and expression.More than a year after its official debut in February 2024, Italy’s controversial Piracy Shield blocking system is yet to deliver on the key predictions justifying its launch.
Claims of piracy’s total elimination quickly evaporated, taking predictions of major economic benefits down with them. The pirate sites causing the issues are now rarely mentioned by the authorities. Instead, telecoms regulator AGCOM and major football rightsholders have sought to toughen up legislation, and through a current public consultation, amend copyright protection regulations.
Public Co...
Pay TV provider DISH Network has filed a complaint against the yet unidentified operators of the popular 'pirate' streaming services Lemo TV and Kemo IPTV. The lawsuit, filed in a Texas federal court, is coordinated by the International Broadcaster Coalition Against Piracy (IBCAP). It accuses the IPTV operators of widespread copyright infringement and seeks more than $25 million in potential damages.
With the continued growth of pirate IPTV services in recent years, TV broadcasters and distributors have been ramping up their anti-piracy efforts.
The International Broadcaster Coalition Against Piracy (IBCAP) has been particularly active. It’s also the main driver behind a new lawsuit filed yesterday by DISH Network at a Texas federal court.
Lemo TV & Kemo IPTVThe American pay-TV provider accuses the operators of popular streaming services ‘Lemo TV’ and ‘Kemo IPTV’ of direct copyright infringement. These services, operating from Lemotv.co...
A report in Belgian media on Saturday evening claimed that in conjunction with local ISPs, broadcasters DAZN and 12th Player had just launched a major campaign against more than 100 illegal streaming services and IPTV providers. Documents seen by TorrentFreak show that a court order required public DNS resolver operators Cloudflare, Google, and Cisco, to render over 130 domains inaccessible or face fines of €100,000 per day for non-compliance.
Like many similar reports published most weeks by newspapers in Europe, an article published by Belgian media outlet L’Echo late Saturday evening pulled few punches.
The publication explained that after football broadcasters DAZN and 12th Player obtained authority from a local court for a new type of enforcement action, on Saturday Belgian ISPs blocked around 100 illegal streaming sites and five pirate IPTV providers. The measures were reportedly timed to take effect shortly before the start of the second day of the Belgian football championship play-offs, presumably to maximiz...
A Premier League DMCA subpoena requires Cloudflare to hand over the details of individuals behind 38 pirate streaming sites. Before that process could even begin, the Premier League needed to obtain certain information about the pirate sites to support its claims. Today we'll attempt to recreate the toolkit used to gather that information and, if all goes to plan, it won't cost a single penny,
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In the seemingly endless game of online piracy whack-a-mole, a French court has ordered Cloudflare to block several sites illegally streaming MotoGP. The ruling is an escalation of French blocking measures that began increasing their scope beyond traditional ISPs in the last few months of 2024. Obtained by MotoGP rightsholder Canal+, the order applies to all Cloudflare services, including DNS, and can be updated with 'future' domains.
The frontline of online piracy liability keeps moving, and core internet infrastructure providers are increasingly finding themselves in the crosshairs.
In a significant ruling last week, the Paris Judicial Tribunal ordered Cloudflare to actively block access to pirate MotoGP streams, confirming that third-party intermediaries can be required to take responsibility.
The ruling follows a complaint from French entertainment powerhouse Société d’Edition de Canal Plus (SECP), which holds the rights to various sports broadcasts. In this case, the proceeding was filed to p...
With assistance from Spain's leading ISPs, LaLiga continues to block pirate sites, Cloudflare, and thousands of innocents caught in the crossfire. Legal action by Cloudflare and hacking collective RootedCON tried to bring the chaos to an end but their requests were dismissed last month. Meanwhile, a non-profit group is demanding that all ISPs participate in nationwide blocking.
When rightsholders feel that conditions are optimal, site-blocking measures are presented to countries as a proportionate, precise, and entirely reasonable response to rampant piracy.
Should there be a need for new legislation, care should be taken to provide room for rightsholders to maneuver, to ensure that adaptive pirates are placed under maximum continuous pressure.
Under intense pressure itself by an impatient United States demanding that piracy needed to be taken more seriously, Spain spent years doing just that. The success story includes over a decade of site-blocki...
Ahead of its long-delayed American premiere, an unfinished 'workprint' copy of "A Minecraft Movie" is circulating on pirate sites. Warner Bros. is trying to contain this and other leaks, but that may prove difficult. The incident mirrors the infamous 2009 X-Men Origins: Wolverine workprint leak and the involvement of the FBI, which led to the arrest and conviction of an uploader. The source of that leak was never publicly disclosed.
More than a decade ago, Mojang Studios announced that it was working on a Minecraft movie together with Warner Bros.
The film had been scheduled for a 2022 release, but was delayed due to the COVID-19 pandemic among other factors.
Today, ‘A Minecraft Movie‘ will finally see its American box office premiere. While it’s too early to say whether it will be a blockbuster hit, the film already has the dubious honor of being linked to an extremely rare event; the leak of an unfinished copy of the movie which is now circulating on pirate sites.
It’s n...
After a long hiatus, site blocking proposals have resurfaced in the U.S. Congress. The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) strongly opposes these plans, condemning site blocking as ineffective against piracy but still a
censorship tool that poses a serious threat to the open internet. The group is mobilizing public opposition, while drawing attention to the fierce SOPA battle that took place over a decade ago.After a decade of focusing efforts overseas, the push for website blocking has landed back on American shores.
The fierce backlash against SOPA effectively shelved domestic site blocking initiatives in the U.S., but that hesitation appears to have evaporated.
With Representative Zoe Lofgren’s introduction of the Foreign Anti-Digital Piracy Act (FADPA) in February, the controversial mechanism of court-ordered blocking against foreign ‘pirate’ sites is no longer just a foreign issue; on The Hill it’s a hot topic once again.
Should the proposal be...