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Pirate Whac-A-Mole: Sky Takes On TeaTV, CucoTV & Cinema HDAndy Maxwell, 11 Oct 10:56 AM UK broadcaster Sky has never been particularly fond of peopl

Pirate Whac-A-Mole: Sky Takes On TeaTV, CucoTV & Cinema HD Andy Maxwell, 11 Oct 10:56 AM UK broadcaster Sky has never been particularly fond of people pirating its content. It's a battle that's raged for more than 30 years, and despite there being no apparent end in sight, Sky keeps slugging it out, putting in the rounds, and hoping for a win on points. From its roots as Sky Television through its teenage years as BSkyB, Sky has battled everything from box and smartcard hacking through to smartcard blocking and smartcard emulation. Not even cardsharing dented Sky's enthusiasm for a piracy brawl. Sky's latest arch-nemesis is the commercial IPTV provider. Utilizing captured satellite and cable streams or even its own streaming service NowTV, today's Sky faces the most organized pirates the company has ever seen, and in greater numbers too. But as that war rages in the background, Sky is careful to ensure that other aspects of internet-based piracy are taken care of too.. Small Apps, Major Irritation Over the past decade, Android-based piracy apps have given Sky a migraine along with the rest of the entertainment industries. Popcorn Time, Showbox, Mobdro and Terrarium TV all played their part – at least before every last one succumbed to legal pressure. The problem for Sky is that it's easier than ever for today's competent programmers to come up with an alternative. Despite anti-piracy groups claiming to have taken hundreds down, new apps or resurrections of old ones are never in short supply. Indeed, despite several attempts by Sky to wipe out the same few apps, they always have a tendency to bounce back in one way or another. Sky, MPA and ACE vs. TeaTV: Seconds Out, Round 6 Back in 2020, the Motion Picture Association decided to disrupt popular streaming app TeaTV. The app had featured in a widely-read article published by CNBC before disappearing offline, but a grand return was always on the cards. The MPA tried to have TeaTV's operator permanently banned from Github and since the MPA is behind anti-piracy group ACE (and Sky is a member of that coalition), the broadcaster would've given its full support. But despite four sets of correspondence with Github, the ultimate goal of killing the app remained elusive. TeaTV turned out to be a pretty strong brew, despite the suspension of its Twitter account. Through strong branding it has managed to stay in the game, but whether today's variant (of which there are several) is/are the same and/or operated by the original developer is a question for people with an abundance of spare time. The key thing is that still exists and Sky still isn't giving up. In a fresh move against TeaTV, an anti-piracy company representing Sky Group's Sky Italia follows the familiar pattern of demanding the app's removal from Github. "We are writing in the name and on behalf of Sky Italia Srl, the exclusive owner of distribution and exploitation rights of the Sky IT channels. This IPTV App (TeaTV) includes illegal and unauthorized Pay Tv Sky IT tv series: Gomorra," Kopjra S.R.L. writes. In an effort to help Github understand the problem, Kopjra provides a tutorial detailing where to find the app, how to download and install it, and ultimately how to carry out a search to find the infringing content before watching it. Whether Github took them up on the offer isn't clear but Sky's DMCA takedown notification was a success. The locations referenced in the takedown notice were either deleted or suspended by Github in response. Sky vs. CucoTV: The Rematch If TeaTV is an irritant to Sky, movie and TV show streaming app CucoTV certainly won't be viewed any more positively. Anti-piracy group Kopjra S.R.L. asked Github to take down a TeaTV website and repository in May 2021, but even that required an additional complaint weeks later to hopefully finish off the task. Somewhat predictably, ten months after that the job still wasn't done, so yet another complaint was fired off to Github. Featuring a customary piracy tutorial, it prompted Github to respond with the necessary action. Five months later, after a user called CucoTV switched to CucoTV2 and then to CucoappTV, a CucoTV-branded app appeared once again on Github. This time it was Sky UK's turn to spoil the piracy party with another tutorial and yet another demand for the persistent piracy app to be taken down. Spoiler Alert: CucoTV Reappeared To the surprise of absolutely nobody, a user called 'cucotv2022' recently signed up to Github and proceeded to upload a CucoTV-branded streaming app to a similarly named repository. Whoever it was also created a new website to promote the free software but the fun was short-lived. Another DMCA complaint filed on behalf of Sky UK successfully requested the elimination of both. CucoTV doesn't appear to have much of an offical presence on Github right now but its Twitter account suggests that Discord may have become the latest hot location. In the meantime, Sky maintains its search engine delisting campaign against dozens of sites claiming to offer CucoTV for download. Organized Piracy Meets Disorganized Piracy Whether Sky will follow up on Discord remains to be seen but the company remains vigilant as it identifies new threats on the back of existing ones. Two days after the latest successful CucoTV takedown, a follow-up DMCA notice from Sky took down what appears to be the official repo of popular free streaming app CinemaHD, an app that also has links to similar services. In common with CinemaHD, they also have clones and copycats muddying the waters. Saying that the piracy app 'marketplace' has become more complicated over the years is a bit of an understatement. If users put in enough effort and have enough patience, it's possible to track specific apps over time. But factor in the disruption caused by takedowns, which sometimes results in developers 'going dark' and coming back with a similar app under a new name, not much is straightforward for long. Opportunists deliberately sowing confusion to draw attention to their own tools is also a problem, especially for people who click on the first thing they find. Sky takedown notices sent to Google reveal dozens of sites claiming to offer CucoTV, albeit in a range of suspiciously broad filesizes. Sky undoubtedly faces additional headaches due to this chaos, but if it's any consolation at all, it's not alone when it reaches for the painkillers. Image Credits: Pixabay/meineresterampe From: TF, for the latest news on copyright battles, piracy and more. Hollywood and Netflix Report Top Piracy Threats to US Govt Ernesto Van der Sar, 10 Oct 09:10 PM The Motion Picture Association (MPA) has been a key player in the anti-piracy fight for decades and this position has only strengthened in recent years. As the driving force behind the Alliance for Creativity and Entertainment, the MPA finds itself at the center of an international enforcement apparatus. Just a few days ago we reported how ACE was instrumental in shutting down pirate streaming services in Latin America. Pretty much at the same time, it was involved in over a dozen arrests in Singapore, where more than 2,500 pirate streaming boxes were seized at Lim Square. Notorious Markets The MPA and ACE can already claim a long list of anti-piracy successes but some of the most egregious threats are rather persistent. This is apparent from the latest overview of 'notorious markets' that was just submitted to the US Trade Representative (USTR). The MPA report typically provides a detailed overview of the piracy landscape. This year, the USTR further asked rightsholders to explain how piracy impacts US workers. According to the movie industry group, the effect is significant. "In 2020, there were an estimated 137.2 billion visits to film and TV piracy sites globally, which cost the U.S. economy at least $29.2 billion in lost revenue each year. Specifically, piracy has been estimated to reduce employment in our industry between 230,000 and 560,000 jobs," MPA writes, citing external research. The Internet's Responsibility The MPA notes that piracy is a global problem that requires cooperation from the broader Internet ecosystem. Services that see themselves as neutral intermediaries, operating parts of the core Internet infrastructure, should take responsibility. "All stakeholders in the internet ecosystem – including hosting providers, DNS providers, cloud services, advertising networks, payment processors, social networks, and search engines – should actively seek to reduce support for notoriously infringing sites," MPA writes. The industry group views Cloudflare as part of this group and mentions the US company by name in its submission. "Cloudflare's customers include some of the most notorious, longstanding pirate websites in the world, including the massively popular streaming site cuevana3.me and The Pirate Bay," MPA notes, adding that repeated notices of infringement elicited no action on Cloudflare's part. The notorious markets list is limited to non-US operations, so Cloudflare itself isn't one of the MPA's targets. Various other Internet services are, including several third-party intermediaries. Registries, Hosting, Ads, and Payments The MPA's list of notorious markets calls out domain name registries, including the Russian .RU registry, and the companies that maintain the records for the .CH, .CC, .IO, .ME and .TO domain names. These continue to keep pirate sites on board, despite numerous complaints. The same is true for the payment provider VoguePay, which is reportedly quite popular among IPTV services. In addition, advertisers such as 1XBET and Propeller Ads are called out as well. The latter company rebutted MPA's accusations last year but that didn't prevent it from being highlighted again. Hosting companies are also cited as intermediaries that could and should do more. Instead, some find themselves appealing to pirate services with products such as "bulletproof" hosting. Squitter.eu and Amaratu are two such examples, the MPA reports. Piracy as a Service In addition to third-party intermediaries, there is also a category of services that caters to pirates directly. These "piracy as a service" (PaaS) companies offer tools that allow people to start a pirate site with minimal effort. "PaaS encompasses a suite of often off-the-shelf services that make it easy for would-be pirates without any technical knowledge to create, operate, and monetize a fully functioning pirate operation," MPA writes. The MPA first defined PaaS as a separate category in its report last year. In its latest overview, it again mentions a variety of services such as Collaps.org, which offers a pirate movie CMS, and XFileSharing, which offers cyberlocker software. "These services are evidence of the scale, sophistication, and profitability of modern online commercial copyright infringement. The emergence and development of PaaS services have become a key concern of MPA and a top priority for its antipiracy efforts." Classic Pirate Sites and IPTV Actual pirate sites themselves are also mentioned, including the usual suspects The Pirate Bay, RARBG and YTS. In addition to torrent sites, the MPA also lists direct download hubs, streaming portals and linking sites, including Uptobox.com, Fmovies.to and Egy.best. Various dedicated piracy apps get a mention as well, and the MPA further includes a long list of unauthorized IPTV services. The anti-piracy group says that it has identified more than a thousand pirate IPTV platforms, so the list provided to the USTR is certainly not exhaustive. In fact, the MPA says that all companies, sites, and services are part of a broader piracy problem. Those flagged in the MPA's report are just examples of some of the worst offenders, nothing more. In a similar vein, we have also noticed that some "notorious markets" are removed from the list over time. That doesn't mean that they're no longer considered a problem for Hollywood, of course. All in all, it is clear that, despite the ACE successes, the MPA still has plenty of work ahead. With its USTR submission, it is hoping for a helping hand from the US Government, potentially in the form of some diplomatic nudges. — A list of all sites and services that are highlighted and categorized in MPA's notorious markets submission (pdf) can be found below. For additional context, we highlight the new entries, while also indicating those from the 2021 report that have been removed. Linking and Streaming Websites – Cda.pl – Cuevana3.me (new) – Cuevana.pro (new) – Dytt8.net, Dy2018.com, Dygod.net, and Ygdy8.com – Egy.best – Fmovies.to – Fullhdizlesene (new) – Gimy.app – Gnula.se/Gnula.nu – Hesgoal.com (new) – KatmovieHD (new) – Myflixer.to (new) – NooNoo.tv (new) – Rezka.ag (new) – Soap2Day (new) – Streaming Community (new) – Tamilblasters / Streamblasters / TamilMV (new) – TheNetNaija (new) – Afdah.video – Altadefinizione – Bs.to – CB01 – Chomikuj.pl – Cuevana3.io – MrPiracy.top – Pelisplushd.net – Phimmoi – Rezka.ag – Topflix.vc – Zone-telechargement.com Direct Download Cyberlockers and Streaming Video Hosting Services – 1fichier.com – Baidu Pan and Baidu Search – DoodStream.com (new) – Mixdrop.co – Streamtape.com – Telegram – Uptobox.com – VK.com – PowVideo.net – Uploaded.net – Vivo.sx Illegal IPTV Services – Apollo Group TV (new) – BIPTV.best and BestBuyIPTV.store – GenIPTV – IcutCord.net (new) – Iptv.casa (new) – TheKing365tv.site – King-IPTV.net – MagisTV – SatCon Africa – Spider Receiver – IPTVForest.net Piracy Devices and Apps – EVPAD – LokLok (new) – PikaShow – Shabakaty – SVI Cloud – TVMob – Unblock Tech (unblocktech.com) – PopcornTime – PopcornTime.one (Kids) Peer-to-Peer Networks & BitTorrent Portals – 1337x.to – Rarbg.to – Rutracker.org – ThePirateBay.org – Yts.mx – Gimmepeers.com (formally Bitsoup.org) Hosting Providers – Amaratu/KoDDos – Ddos-Guard.net – Mnogobyte – Squitter.eu (ABC Consultancy) – BlueAngelHost – Host-palace.com Registries – .CH Registry – .IO Registry (new) – .CC Registry (new) – .ME Registry (new) – .RU Registry – .TO Registry – .IS Registry – .TV Registry Payment Processors – VoguePay Ad Networks and Online Advertisers – 1XBET – Propeller Ads – AdsKeeper – GetB8.com – PopAds and PopCash – RevenueHits Piracy-as-a-Service (PaaS) – 2embed.ru – Abyss.to – Collaps.org – Fembed.com – GDrivePlayer – WHMCS Smarters – Njalla – Pelisplus.icu – XFileSharing/XVideoSharing – Embedforfree.co From: TF, for the latest news on copyright battles, piracy and more. ©2022 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