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U.S. Registrars Failed to Disable Pirate Site Domains, Judge Orders ActionAndy Maxwell, 16 Nov 11:54 AM India began blocking websites in the late 19

U.S. Registrars Failed to Disable Pirate Site Domains, Judge Orders Action Andy Maxwell, 16 Nov 11:54 AM India began blocking websites in the late 1990s and even today sites are blocked with no explanation. Just this week, VLC's website was unblocked by ISPs after months in the dark but why it was blocked at all remains a mystery. For at least the last decade, India's courts have also authorized injunctions that compel local ISPs to block domains linked to alleged copyright infringement. The Pirate Bay was one of the more obvious targets but with blocking requests containing first dozens, then hundreds of domains, an overall picture was hard to determine. Copyright injunctions are more easily tracked today but the pace is relentless. India's Department of Communications has processed at least 130 court orders since April 2022, including one against Z-Library and another containing more than 13,000 domains. And the orders don't stop at ISP blocking either. ISPs Must Block Domains, Registrars Must Disable Them Star India and Novi Digital Entertainment own broadcasting rights for various sporting events including cricket, football, tennis, hockey and Formula 1. In an effort to reduce piracy of cricket matches broadcast as part of the Asia Cup 2022, they asked the Delhi High Court for a site-blocking order targeting 11 domains. In an order dated August 22, 2022, Justice Prathiba M. Singh was happy to oblige. Agreeing that the plaintiffs had a prima facie case of infringement, she issued an ex-parte interim injunction which required Indian ISPs to block access to the domains. To prevent the sites from regaining an advantage by switching to new domains, the Judge said the order would be 'dynamic' and applicable to any new domains. Domain Registrars Ordered to Take Action In their application for injunction, Star India and Novi Digital Entertainment linked several domain name registrars to the domains listed above; Sarek Oy (Finland), GoDaddy, NameCheap and Dynadot (United States), Tucows (Canada) and Hostinger (Lithuania). The Judge ordered these foreign companies to immediately block domains under their control and hand over their owners' names, addresses, email addresses, phone numbers and IP addresses, plus records relating to payments and processing. The domain registrars were furthered ordered to identify any other domains owned by the 11 domain owners and hand those details over too. These orders would also apply to any other domains identified by the plaintiffs, the Judge added, further futureproofing the injunction. What Could Possibly Go Wrong? When Star and Novi Digital requested a blocking injunction against the 11 domains, the Asia Cup 2022 cricket tournament hadn't even started. The applicants' said that since these domains were linked to earlier infringement, they might infringe their rights in the future. Justice Singh agreed and handed down an injunction dated August 22, 2022. Asia Cup 2022 got underway just four days later and by September 11, 2022, it was all over. A filing at the Delhi High Court dated November 9, 2022, contains many of the Judge's instructions in bold, underlined italics, suggesting that things hadn't gone well. Indeed, NameCheap, DynaDot, Tucows, Gransy and Sarek Oy, did not comply with the terms of the injunction, the plaintiffs say. In response to a call for compliance, NameCheap responded as follows: In such situations, it is advised to appeal to a court of competent jurisdiction. In order for us, as a U.S.- based company, to take the actions you are requesting, we require a U.S. state or federal court order or subpoena. If a U.S. court order is received, we will abide by any decision stated therein. If you already have a U.S. court order, please forward it, along with your request and contact information, to our Senior Legal department directly via legal@namecheap.com. After reviewing correspondence with other domain registrars (DNR), Justice Singh notes that the Court "reiterates its prima facie view that all DNRs have to abide by and give effect to orders passed by competent courts, government authorities, etc." The Judge says that the registrars are bound by the Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules, 2021 (pdf), which requires them to appoint 'Grievance Officers' to ensure compliance with Indian court orders, orders that they have not complied with. Domain Registrar Obligations Justice Singh goes on to cite ICANN agreements governing relationships between registry operators, domain name registrars, and the domain name registry. These agreements "make it abundantly clear that DNRs have to respond adequately to governmental or semigovernmental authorities operating in any country." In her view, the listed registrars failed to meet this standard. Star India and Novi Digital previously admitted that they have no idea who operates the 11 domains or where those people are located, India included. However, a recent copyright case involving Telegram and handled by the same Judge found that India does have jurisdiction; the plaintiffs reside and do business in India, infringing content circulated in India, and the platform supplying the content was accessible in India. Whether international domain registrars can be reasonably ordered to suspend domains on almost zero notice, based on allegations of copyright infringement violations that haven't happened, remains to be seen. These things aren't impossible to navigate but four days maximum doesn't make the process any easier. Star India won the rights to the Asia Cup in 2018 leaving plenty of time to get a dynamic injunction put in place. Of course, the Asia Cup 2022 itself is now resigned to history but Justice Singh is in no mood to move on without the registrars being held to account. Judge Orders Action Against Registrars In orders directed at India's Department of Communications and Department of Electronics and Information Technology (DeiTY), Justice Singh allocates one week for action to be taken against NameCheap, DynaDot, Tucows, Gransy, and Sarek Oy, for non-compliance with the Court's orders. "The authorities shall also look into the question as to whether these DNRs ought to be permitted to continue to offer their goods and services in India," the Judge adds, "if they are not giving effect to orders of Indian Courts and not complying with the applicable laws under the Information Technology Act, 2000, and the 2021 Rules." A further hearing is scheduled for January 11, 2023. The August order, ISP instructions, and order of Nov 9, can be found here (1,2,3,pdf) From: TF, for the latest news on copyright battles, piracy and more. VPN Restrictions Are Problematic, App Association Tells U.S. Government Ernesto Van der Sar, 15 Nov 10:22 PM VPNs are valuable tools for people who want to access the Internet securely and with decent privacy. These services are vital for whistleblowers, activists, and citizens rebelling against Government oppression. The latter has become clear once again in recent months, with Iran pulling out all the stops to block VPN services that dare to offer protesters a window to the rest of the world. In response, some of the more serious VPN providers have taken countermeasures by offering special servers to Iranians to bypass restrictions and using channels such as Telegram to reach out to them. This is having a positive effect but Iran isn't sitting idle and its blocking efforts are continuous. The situation in Iran demonstrates the crucial role VPNs play in the fight against censorship. However, Iran is not the only country suppressing access to these services; China and Russia are well known for their own restrictive policies. ACT Against VPN Restrictions These types of restrictions are problematic according to 'ACT | The App Association', a trade organization that represents thousands of startups and small businesses in the software industry. The organization recently shared its concerns with the U.S. Trade Representative. The U.S. Government completes an annual review of various trade barriers around the globe and ACT believes that overly restrictive policies deserve to be called out. This includes Russia's VPN law. Russia began cracking down on VPNs in 2017 to help deter copyright infringement. The Government outright banned services that allow users to access blocked pirate sites. Only companies that agree to block content are allowed to continue operating. "This is an obvious trade barrier and real threat to the free market," ACT writes in its letter to the USTR. "The Russian government cites this regulation as an effort to keep people from accessing dangerous and illegal content. This regulation says that any internet providers that allow these to exist, or function without being blocked, will lose their market access." China Too These types of issues are not limited to Russia. ACT makes no mention of the recent VPN crackdown in Iran but China's VPN restrictions are called out. Unlike in Russia, China's anti-VPN stance has little to do with copyright infringement. The country's policy is mostly in place to ensure citizens are unable to access websites that are banned by the state. ACT believes that the VPN restrictions are a clear trade barrier that affects companies around the globe. It is opposed to China's widespread blocking of websites, which includes the New York Times, Reddit and Wikipedia. "China regulates and restricts the use of VPNs, leaving consumers in China out of the digital marketplace, while creating massive barriers to entry," ACT notes. "China's 'extensive blocking of legitimate websites' also threatens to impose significant costs on providers and users of services and products." U.S. Response These concerns are not new. In an earlier trade barrier report, the U.S. Government previously called out China's restrictive policies. They include a decision to ban VPNs, which also puts the privacy of foreigners at risk. "This [VPN ban] has had a particularly dire effect on foreign businesses, which routinely use VPN services to connect to locations and services outside of China, and which depend on VPN technology to ensure confidentiality of communications," the USTR wrote. ACT hopes that the USTR will continue to press this issue. Whether that will make China reconsider its policies is an entirely different question. The same is true for Russia, which is unlikely to be receptive to U.S. critique at the moment. What's clear, however, is that the U.S. Government is already quite aware that VPN services can have considerable value. A few weeks ago, the Department of the Treasury increased its support for internet freedom in Iran. Among other things, it carved out exceptions to the Iran sanctions, allowing U.S. VPN providers to continue operating in the country. "These tools protect the ability of Iranians to engage in free expression and bravely resist regime oppression," the Treasury wrote. — A copy of ACT's trade barrier submission for the US Trade Representative's 2023 NTE report is available here (pdf) From: TF, for the latest news on copyright battles, piracy and more. Man Used Stolen Netflix Credentials to Acquire Content For Torrent Site Andy Maxwell, 15 Nov 01:11 PM As part of a campaign against torrent sites in Denmark, local anti-piracy group Rights Alliance (Rettigheds Alliancen) targeted several members-only torrent trackers. Early November 2021, the Public Prosecutor for Special Economic and International Crime (SØIK) announced that six people had been arrested following criminal referrals by Rights Alliance. All were members and/or operators of ShareUniversity and DanishBytes. One of those arrested was a 33-year-old man from Denmark. Man Progressed From Site User to Staff Member Following his arrest one year ago, this week Rights Alliance revealed more information about the now 34-year-old from Aalborg. The anti-piracy group informs TorrentFreak that the man was initially just a regular DanishBytes user but was later promoted to the site's staff. His position on the DanishBytes team led him to provide IT support to the site's users. At that time the members-only torrent site offered more than 10,000 copyrighted works to around 5,000 members and, in common with similar sites, not all users understood how everything worked. Rights Alliance says the man did other work too. Content Acquisition and Hacking The anti-piracy group says the man was "active in file-sharing" and an uploader on DanishBytes. When users requested specific content to be made available, which included pirated copies of Danish weekly newspapers, the man fulfilled the requests when he could. But there was another side too, one usually hidden from public view. The prosecution's case included evidence that the man also uploaded video content to DanishBytes. The content was acquired from legal streaming services including Netflix and TV 2 Play, a subscription channel owned by the Danish government. Anyone can legally sign up to these platforms but obtaining content from them carries risks when redistribution is the end goal. The man countered these threats by obtaining streaming service login credentials himself via hacking, and by downloading lists of credentials offered by other hackers. These lists typically contain email addresses and passwords exposed due to a data breach. When users deploy the same username/password combination across sites, all of their accounts face potential exposure. In this case the DanishBytes user avoided paying for Netflix and TV 2 Play while ensuring that any copies he made would be associated with innocent users' accounts. Rights Alliance couldn't confirm if any copies were traced using watermarking or similar means. HOwever, it did confirm that the man's role as a staff member on DanishBytes ended with him being kicked out after two months. Convicted and Sentenced Having been convicted for his offenses on DanishBytes and those related to hacking, this week the man appeared for sentencing. "At the court in Aalborg, a 34-year-old man from Aalborg has been sentenced to 3 months' probation and 80 hours of community service, as well as confiscation of IT equipment, including for having participated in the operation of the illegal file sharing service DanishBytes," Rights Alliance reports. Rights Alliance Thanks 'Danish FBI' Founded in 2020 with a vision to create a Danish version of the FBI, DSK (National enhed for Særlig Kriminalitet) is a police unit focused on cybercrime, organized crime, and related financial crime. Following this week's sentencing, Rights Alliance director Maria Fredenslund thanked the 'Special Crime Unit' for its work on the DanishBytes case. "NSK, the Section for Legal Protection, has been enormously effective in catching and bringing the masterminds behind DanishBytes and other illegal Danish file-sharing services to court, as well as shutting down the illegal services. In this case, we have seen the hacking of the private data of ordinary Danes with the aim of accessing and retrieving content and then spreading it illegally," Fredenslund said. "NSK's efforts have helped to clarify how password hacking is used to give birth to the illegal services with content, and it is gratifying that the masterminds are now being held accountable for their crime, which has consequences for the content industry as well as for the Danes who get their credentials hacked." The sentence handed down to the DanishBytes user is broadly in line with those handed down recently in similar cases. However, those cases did not feature hacking or stolen credentials so the sentence is likely to be considered lenient. 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