Sunday, October 4, 2020

TorrentFreak's Latest News

 

ACE TV, Firestick Plusman Repo, and Other Domains Seized By ACE / MPA
Andy Maxwell, 04 Oct 09:28 PM

ACE logoGlobal anti-piracy coalition Alliance for Creativity and Entertainment is forging ahead with its mission to sue, shut down, disrupt or otherwise hinder a broad range of unlicensed content providers or those who facilitate access.

For years, mass shutdowns and domain seizures were relatively uncommon but the Alliance, which is compromised of some of the most powerful entertainment companies in the world, is setting records as it goes, albeit largely in the shadows.

Closures and Domain 'Seizures'

Rather than taking the more expensive option of suing alleged copyright infringers, ACE regularly deploys its considerable muscle to intimidate opponents into submission. The tactic isn't popular with pirates but ACE picks its targets carefully and in the vast majority of cases, could easily win a court battle should it choose to pursue one.

Instead, pirate players of all shapes and sizes are given the option to settle with ACE, which can simply mean a promise to shut down or could involve additional elements such as handing over domains and/or paying a settlement sum. In the past few days and weeks, there has been no shortage of new domains being taken over.

Firestick Plusman / ACE TV

The Firestick Plusman (FSPM) name is well known in the piracy community, with connections to various Kodi add-ons, IPTV, Android APKs, and for providing storage facilities so they can be accessed and installed by users.

Earlier this year, disruption was apparent when Fspmkodi.com, a repository of software associated with various forms of streaming-related piracy (Kodi add-on 'Fantastic', for example), suddenly went down, taking access to some of the software listed below with it.

FSPMKodi

Aside from the usual rumors that the shutdown was forced, no official confirmation was available to the wider public at the time. This week, however, the domain utilized by the popular repository was transferred into the hands of the MPA. This usually happens when a domain/service owner receives a cease-and-desist settlement offer from ACE members and takes the option to shut up shop rather than face a lawsuit.

At the same time, three other domains connected to FSPM also suffered the same fate. Acetv.online, acehostingservice.com, and acetvpremium.com, which were all connected to the provision of pirate IPTV services, are now operated by the MPA and currently divert to the ACE anti-piracy portal when accessed by visitors.

Sundry Other Domains Also Diverting to ACE

As reported by TF in September, ACE also managed to close down IPTV provider Streams For Us, apparently taking other IPTV brands with it, including one called Nue Media.

We can now confirm that Nue Media was one of the targets as its domain neumediatv.net is now in the hands of the MPA and also diverts to the ACE anti-piracy portal. The same goes for loveyour.tv, a domain previously used by Streams For Us.

Also confirmed last month were the problems being faced by IPTV provider The Players Klub (TPK). We managed to identify several domains that had been seized by ACE, including MintPanel.net, MintPanel.co and MintPanel.digital.

We can now add several other TPK domains to the list including thepk.co, tkotv.stream, and tpkshield.net, all of which display the now-familiar anti-piracy warning.

Finally, we don't know much about Elitestreamtv.com or Cosmostv.ca, other than they were involved in the supply of unlicensed IPTV services. What we can be sure of, however, is that ACE members got to their operators and forced them to hand over their domains to the MPA, thus adding to the growing list of platforms that disappear into the night following threats from the world's largest entertainment companies.

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

EU Allows Accused 'Pirate' Sites to Rebut Copyright Holder Claims
Ernesto Van der Sar, 04 Oct 12:46 PM

EU CopyrightFollowing the example of the United States, the EU started publishing its very own piracy watchlist two years ago.

The annual 'Counterfeit and Piracy Watch List' is put together by the European Commission. As in the US, it is based on reports from copyright holder groups that report several problematic sites and services.

For example, the first watch list included 'non-EU' targets such as The Pirate Bay, Torrentz2, Rapidgator, Uploaded, Sci-Hub, and H2converter. In addition, some third-party intermediaries such as Cloudflare were called out as well.

EU's 2020 Piracy Watchlist

The European Commission is currently working on its 2020 watchlist and has already completed the public consultation. This resulted in a list of sites and services which are now being vetted for publication.

"This list will again identify and describe the most problematic marketplaces […] in order to encourage their operators and owners as well as the responsible local authorities and governments to take the necessary actions and measures to reduce the availability of IPR infringing goods or services," the Commission writes.

A common critique with this type of watchlist is that they are often based on one-sided input. The 'piracy' and 'copyright infringement' claims come from copyright holders and are often repeated before hearing from the accused party.

EU Commission Consults Accused Sites

The European Commission breaks with this tradition. It has recently contacted several accused parties, allowing them to have their say. TorrentFreak spoke to the operator of a torrent site who, on the condition of anonymity, agreed to share the letter he received from the Commission.

"We contact you because the website you operate was one of the reported marketplaces," the letter starts.

"According to the stakeholders, [redacted] is reportedly a popular BitTorrent website hosted in [redacted] facilitating access to a wide range of content, including music, films, TV programmes, software and videogames."

The Commission acknowledges that the targeted site responds to takedown notices, but copyright holders report that infringing material is usually quickly reposted. In addition, the site reportedly generates income from ad revenue and pay-per-install links that could link to malware.

Based on these third-party reports, the EU Commission is inclined to add the site to the forthcoming piracy watch list. However, it allows the site operator to have his say as well.

"Based on the public consultation, we are considering including the name of the site you operate in the next edition of the Watch List. We would like to give you the opportunity to express your views concerning the above-mentioned allegations reported by stakeholders and to send us your comments."

Proper Verification is Welcome

The site operator we spoke with isn't sure whether he is going to reply. However, it is laudable that targeted sites are allowed to chime in before the list is published.

It's not entirely clear what constitutes a 'pirate' site in the eyes of the EU Commission. The letter suggests that simply taking down reported files isn't good enough as they will simply reappear. However, that same logic applies to many sites and services, including YouTube.

When the European Commission announced its most recent consultation earlier this year it said that all information received will be thoroughly verified. This is crucial, as its first report wasn't free of errors, and included a perfectly legitimate site.

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

 
 
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