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ACE Anti-Piracy Coalition Takes Control of Dozens of Pirate IPTV DomainsAndy Maxwell, 06 Oct 09:44 PM Pirate IPTV and similar streaming services are

ACE Anti-Piracy Coalition Takes Control of Dozens of Pirate IPTV Domains Andy Maxwell, 06 Oct 09:44 PM Pirate IPTV and similar streaming services are considered one of the greatest threats to the global market for legitimate movie and TV show content. As a result, content companies of all kinds are going to extreme lengths to reduce unlicensed supply. The most significant anti-piracy program by scale is operated by the Alliance for Creativity and Entertainment, a global coalition that counts the major Hollywood studios, Netflix, Amazon, and dozens more giants among its members. From Apple TV+ to the BBC, Bell Canada, and Canal+, ACE members want pirate streaming platforms out of business as quickly as possible. Not Afraid of Court Action But ACE Prefers Compliance One of the key ACE strategies is to use its momentum and sheer power to force pirates into submission. In a nutshell, ACE gathers evidence on pirate IPTV operators and then approaches them with an offer they may be unwise to refuse – shut down or face potentially dire consequences. And then have to shut down anyway. Part of this process involves operators having to sign over their domains for use by the Motion Picture Association. Over the past few years, ACE has taken control of more than 200 domains in this fashion and in the past couple of weeks has been particularly busy. The group is yet to make any announcements but we can reveal the number of domains 'seized' has grown by more than three dozen. Pirate IPTV Domains Seized in Their Dozens The first set of domains appear to be connected to each other. In the past they have been advertised separately and together on platforms including Reddit and even Pintrest, making them relatively easy pickings for ACE. Abon-sat.com, abon-iptv-ott.com, king-platinum-iptv.com, electrotv-sat.com, electro-tvsat.com, electro-tv-sat.com, electrotvsat.net, electro-tv-sat.net, king-premium-iptv.com, king-platinum-iptv.com and salah-sat.com have all been promoted by a single user on Reddit and now divert to ACE, presumably having been shut down. King-platinum-iptv.com, which claimed to offer 17,000+ channels and VOD. It even had its own DMCA page noting that the service "DOES NOT! broadcast any TV channel from its servers, nor is in any way connected with the channel broadcasting" but that didn't prevent it from being placed under ACE/MPA control with all of the others. Other domains scooped up by Hollywood include volkatvpro2.com and volkatv-pro2.com after offering access to global TV at a cheap price, including live sports from Sky and Bein, and TV shows from Canal+. It too shows the familiar ACE seizure banner after presumably caving to legal pressure And the list goes on. Juice TV and Others Also Shuttered By ACE Up until the summer Juice TV was being promoted as a great alternative to services such as Netflix and Amazon Prime, offering channels from the United States and United Kingdom, plus PPV, movies and TV shows available across a wide range of devices for as little as $4.99 per month. That and all other offers now appear to be over. In the past few days, many former Juice TV domains have been transferred over to the Motion Picture Association and now divert to the ACE 'seizure' banner. They read as follows: juicetv.ca, jaccounting.ca, juiceaccounting.ca, juicepay.app, juicetv.plus, juicetv.org, juicetvmax.pro, juicetv.app, juicetv.in, juicetv.co, juicetv.app and juicetvmax.pro. Other IPTV-related domains to fall to ACE control include the following: recepteur-iptv.com, orca-pro.com, ottrapid.com, smartstb-ott.com, ip-tv-ott.com, ott-premium-iptv.com, ott-tvbox.com, premium-kingott.com, ott-rapid.com, buyiptv-ott.com and akhbar-ma.com plus ezstreamtv.com, esiptv-pro.com and estilotv.pro. ACE is Relentless This global anti-piracy action by ACE is part of the MPA's war on all kinds of unlicensed services, focused mainly on IPTV and similar streaming operations. As reported yesterday, Hollywood still considers piracy to be its biggest threat so these seizures certainly won't be the last. Indeed, the work of the MPA is being recognized at the highest levels, including by Spanish law enforcement which yesterday awarded the industry group with the Distinguished Cross of the Police Merit with Distinction for its anti-piracy efforts. In part, recognized the MPA's work in the shut down of streaming app Mobdro earlier this year. From: TF, for the latest news on copyright battles, piracy and more. RIAA Secures 'Victory' Against YouTube Rippers and Seeks $82 Million in Damages Ernesto Van der Sar, 06 Oct 11:37 AM The major record labels believe that YouTube rippers are the most significant piracy threat on the Internet. These sites, which can serve a variety of purposes, are used by some to convert free YouTube videos into MP3s. FLVTO.biz and 2conv.com Lawsuit The RIAA and several of its members have taken legal action to curb this threat. They previously sued YouTube-MP3, the world's largest ripping site at the time, which resulted in the site shutting down in 2017. A year later, the music industry hoped to achieve the same with FLVTO.biz and 2conv.com. The sites' Russian owner Tofig Kurbanov was taken to court in the United States in 2018, accused of facilitating mass copyright infringement. Kurbanov was convinced that the sites operate legally and fought back in court. However, after several setbacks, including a discovery order that required the YouTube rippers to log user data, the Russian operator decided to back out of the US court process. Default Judgment Kurbanov's failure to comply with the discovery order and his decision to step away from the US lawsuit cleared the path for the RIAA. And indeed, the music group was quick to request a default judgment. This request doesn't come out of the blue. The court had repeatedly warned Kurbanov that, if he failed to comply with the orders, a default judgment could follow. And indeed, that's exactly what has happened. Virginia District Court Magistrate Judge Theresa Carroll Buchanan has issued a report and recommendations, concluding that the default judgment should be granted as a discovery sanction. The court sees no other option, especially since the site operator stepped away from the lawsuit. Need to Deter "There is a clear need to deter Defendant's behavior in this case. Despite being ordered to fully produce documents and web server data, Defendant failed to comply with this Court's orders. "A less drastic sanction is unlikely to salvage this case. Plaintiffs are unable to fairly move forward with this case without discovery. It is unclear what other sanction could make Defendant comply with this Court's orders..," Judge Buchanan said. This recommendation was taken over by U.S. District Judge Claude M. Hilton, who handed down the default judgment last Friday. The order means that the stream-rippers and their operator are liable for copyright infringement and violating the DMCA's anti-circumvention provision. The only remaining issue is the scale of the damages and the potential injunctive measures. Millions in Damages A hearing on these remaining issues is scheduled for later this week and yesterday the RIAA shared its demands with the court. The music industry group demands $50,000 in damages per willful infringement of 1,618 copyrighted sound recordings, which is $80,900,000 in total. In addition, it requests $1,250 for every circumvention of YouTube's technological protection measures, which amounts to $2,022,500. On top of the damages, the RIAA requests a permanent injunction that prohibits Mr. Kurbanov from engaging in copyright-infringing activity. The music group also wants to take over the FLVTO.biz and 2conv.com domains, either directly through the defendant, or via the domain registrar or registries. At the time of writing, both FLVTO.biz and 2conv.com are still operating as usual. The sites closed their doors to traffic from the U.S. a few weeks ago, shortly after Mr. Kurbanov stepped away from the lawsuit. — A copy of the request for damages and a permanent injunction is available here (pdf) From: TF, for the latest news on copyright battles, piracy and more. ©2021 TorrentFreak | Office 21338 PO Box 4336 Manchester, North West M61 0BW United Kingdom Web Version   Preferences   Forward   Unsubscribe     Powered by Mad Mimi®A GoDaddy® company