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Advanced Pirate IPTV Blocks Proposed By Football Club-Owning PoliticianAndy Maxwell, 09 Dec 12:32 PM With much of the legal groundwork completed in

Advanced Pirate IPTV Blocks Proposed By Football Club-Owning Politician Andy Maxwell, 09 Dec 12:32 PM With much of the legal groundwork completed in Europe, blocking pirate sites and services is often a case of rightsholders following established procedures and waiting for the rubber stamp of approval. The problem for rightsholders is that waiting for weeks or even days can introduce new complications. And for live sporting events, especially football matches, a 90 minute wait is effectively useless. Rightsholders in the UK have developed some interesting strategies to implement blocking almost immediately and a similar system is also deployed in Canada. Predictably, other countries are interested in having access to the same tools. Italy's Blocking Machine From an administration perspective, Italy's site-blocking mechanisms are well developed. Domains are blocked every week and each process is officially recorded along with explanatory notes. Recent additions to the blocking list include ru-music.com, only-free-mp3.xyz, convertezilla.com, indirdur.ist, and radiomola.net, but the full list includes more than 3,000 domains. Telecoms regulator AGCOM processes complaints quickly. After FPM, Sony, Universal and Warner complained about savemp3.app on December 1, 2022, a decision to block the domain was published yesterday. The system is efficient but nowhere near fast enough for live sports. What Italy wants is near real-time blocking, especially to protect Serie A, the country's top-tier football league. Teams playing in Serie A are the pride of Italy but in common with all regions, the country faces challenges from pirate IPTV providers. Rapid blocking measures were discussed in parliament during the summer and subject to approval, it was hoped that the new provisions would help to mitigate the problem. Upgraded Blocking Proposals Under the proposals, telecoms regulator AGCOM would be given new powers to order "urgent precautionary measures" to disable access to allegedly illegal content using DNS and IP address blocking, including any other IP addresses suspected of offering the same content. None of this is particularly unusual but then talk switched to a new process to tackle situations that are even more serious and/or urgent, using a system that can block streams before they even start. Blocking during a live event, based on domain names and IP addresses supplied by rightsholders, was also part of the conversation. Blocking requests sent to AGCOM would also be distributed to various parties, including service providers and search engines. They would be required to implement technical measures "without delay and in real time" to render content inaccessible, with administrative penalties available to encourage compliance. Piracy and Taxes Top-tier Italian football league Serie A is likely to be the top beneficiary if rapid blocking is put in place. The league has continually reminded fans that watching pirate streams is "killing football" and they should do their part by boycotting unlicensed providers. Awkwardly, however, Serie A is sponsored by 1XBET, a supposedly bankrupt online betting platform, reported sponsor of pirate movies, and a prolific advertiser on pirate sites. Serie A's anti-piracy and social responsibility pages still carry 1XBET logos, despite damning reports and allegations that 1XBET doesn't meet its tax obligations. Entirely separately and nothing to do with the 1XBET deal, many teams playing in Serie A have tax problems of their own. To reduce financial pressures faced by Serie A,B, and C clubs during the pandemic, in 2020 the Italian government extended their tax deadlines. As a result, Italian football clubs now owe nearly half a billion euros in taxes, payable by December 22, 2022. Serie A teams account for €380 million of those unpaid taxes with Inter Milan (€50m) and Lazio (€40m) owing the most. These teams believe that reducing piracy could help their financial positions while the government should be more understanding of their tax issues. Interestingly, they already have someone in place to deal with both. Football, Politics and Piracy Claudio Lotito is the president and majority owner of Lazio, which owes €40m in taxes. He's been doing everything in his power to convince the government that the most appropriate way for all clubs to pay their taxes is via installments, spread over five years, but without any of the fines usually associated with late payments. Claudio Lotito is also a politician and a Senator in the Upper house of the Italian Parliament. He's with the Forza Italia party of former Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, who happens to be the owner of another Serie A team, A.C. Monza. A month ago, Senator Lotito was elected vice-president of the Budget and Economic Planning Commission of the Senate. In his acceptance speech he noted that "all citizens and businesses are in extreme difficulty" and that he would be working hard to bring a "tangible improvement to all the financial rules of the state." On Thursday it was announced that the deadline for Serie A clubs to pay their taxes had been extended for 60 months, with a token 3% added on top for late payment. Good news for the clubs, of course, but Lotito hopes to deliver even more. Forza Italia Demands Instant IPTV Blocking An amendment to the Budget Law signed by Lotito, Dario Damiani, and Francesco Silvestro, insists that the type of advanced IPTV blocking discussed during the summer must be put in place to protect Italian football, Serie A teams especially. According to local reports, the amendment states the following: "If a precautionary order arrives to block access to IP addresses and sites through which illegal content is disseminated, service providers must ensure that it is carried out promptly and in any case within thirty minutes of the communication." Digital economy and innovation publication Cormcom.it describes the proposal as "unmanageable in practice" and a "further burden" on telecoms companies. "The request for removal in 30 minutes proposed by [Forza Italia] is unmanageable : once the report has been received by Agcom, this should impose the immediate removal of the content by the Internet service provider. How does Agcom manage reports with these timings during the weekend (when the matches are broadcast)? And who pays for management and operations?" A previous proposal submitted to the government said that AGCOM should receive one million euros annually to implement and manage an IT platform capable of administering this type of blocking. The proposal was ultimately shelved, but since the system would've been funded by taxpayers, it's not hard to see a win-win situation for Italy's football clubs. The eventual introduction of this type of blocking is inevitable, however. Who will end up paying for it on paper remains to be seen, but one way or another, the bill will always be covered by the majority of fans who buy match tickets, buy TV subscriptions, or simply pay their taxes. From: TF, for the latest news on copyright battles, piracy and more. EU Adds Mega, FMovies and DDoS-Guard to "Piracy Watchlist" Ernesto Van der Sar, 08 Dec 10:01 PM Following the example of the United States, the EU began publishing its very own piracy watchlist a few years ago. The 'Counterfeit and Piracy Watch List' is compiled by the European Commission. As in the US, it relies on stakeholder groups to nominate several problematic sites and services for inclusion. The third iteration of the EU watchlist, published a few days ago, provides an overview of some of the most problematic sites and services. The Commission stresses that the list doesn't "have any legal effect" and is merely based on "allegations" from stakeholders. However, being mentioned leaves a mark nonetheless. As in previous years, the EU Piracy Watch List includes a wide range of targets, including online marketplaces that are linked to counterfeiting. For this article, however, we will mainly focus on pirate sites and services. Progress The EU Commission starts with some positive news. Following the 2020 report, several of the mentioned pirate sites and services have disappeared. Bookfi.net, for example, which later operated from 3lib.net, is no longer online. This latest domain name was targeted in the recent Z-library crackdown and currently displays a U.S. Government seizure banner. The illegal IPTV service Electrotv-sat.com is no longer operating either and the same applies to cyberlocker Wi.to, and Youtubeconverter.io. The YouTube ripper was taken offline by Google through a WIPO domain name dispute Usual Suspects and Newcomers The European Commission's latest Counterfeit and Piracy Watch List still includes plenty of targets, featuring many of the usual suspects. Torrent sites The Pirate Bay, Rarbg.to, Rutracker.org and 1337x.to are all mentioned, as they were two years ago. The same is true for cyberlockers Uptobox.com and Rapidgator.net, stream rippers Y2mate.com and Savefrom.net, plus other pirate sites including Sci-Hub, Libgen and Seasonvar.ru. The latest watch list also features several newcomers. These include YouTube downloader Snappea.com and the popular streaming portal Fmovies.to, both of which have millions of regular users. In addition, the Commission has added more 'problematic' hosting companies that allegedly facilitate piracy, including DDoS-Guard, and piracy-supporting services such as 2embed.ru and Fembed.com. Mega Problem One of the newcomers that stands out is Mega, the file-hosting service originally founded by Kim Dotcom. Today, Dotcom is no longer involved with the platform and Mega itself aims to be a law-abiding company. Unlike most pirate sites, Mega has a fully functional and transparent copyright takedown system. During the first three-quarters of 2022, MEGA removed more than 1.7 million files, which is less than 0.001% of all files stored on the platform. Thousands of users also had their accounts suspended for repeat copyright infringements. According to the EU report, however, a lack of upload filters and a recent Russian court decision still warrant its inclusion. "The stakeholders report Mega for the lack of preventive measures to avoid uploads of infringing content. According to their information, in January 2022, ISPs in Russia were ordered to permanently block the site following music rightholders' actions," the Commission writes. Mega Unhappy Mega is not pleased to be highlighted among the most notorious pirate sites. Not least because the EU Commission reportedly never reached out to hear their side. "The inclusion of Mega on the watchlist lacks legitimacy and we refute their findings," Mega's executive chairman Stephen Hall informs TorrentFreak. "Unfortunately the Commission never contacted Mega for clarification or comment so they misunderstand Mega and misrepresent our operations. Mega had no opportunity to correct their misunderstandings." The company doesn't believe that its service is a cyberlocker under the Commission's own definitions. In addition, Mega stresses that it takes its copyright takedown responsibilities very seriously. Finally, Hall informs us that the Russian court decision cited in the report deserves some nuance. That order was issued without hearing Mega, and was reversed after a successful appeal. "The claims by Universal Music were based on two public links which had immediately been disabled, consistent with Mega's published process for dealing with reported copyright claims," Hall clarifies. Notable 'Disappearances' We expect that Mega will keep a close eye on future submissions to make its position clear in advance. That might prevent its inclusion in the next watch list. A similar position was experienced by Cloudflare. The Internet infrastructure company was featured in the first EU piracy watchlist in 2018 and responded with rebuttals. Since then, the company is no longer labeled a 'notorious market'. Other sites and services have also dropped off the list. For example, the popular file-sharing service 4shared is no longer mentioned, and the same is true for the messaging app Telegram. Why these were removed is not clear. Most sites and services understandably want to avoid a listing but being mentioned doesn't have direct consequences. According to the EU Commission, the report mainly aims to encourage the operators and owners, as well as local governments and enforcement authorities, to take appropriate action to reduce online piracy. —- A copy of the European Commission's third Counterfeit and Piracy Watch List is available here (pdf). A list of all the online piracy targets and intermediaries can be found below. Cyberlockers – Mega.nz/.io – Uptobox.com / Uptostream.com – Rapidgator.net – Uploaded.net (ul.to, uploaded.to) – Dbree.org Stream-Rippers – Y2mate.com – Savefrom.net /ssyoutube.com/sfrom.ne – Flvto.biz and 2conv.com – Snappea.com Linking or referring websites – Fmovies.to (and related domains) – Seasonvar.ru – Rlsbb.ru – Rezka.ag BitTorrent and P2P Sites – ThePirateBay.org – Rarbg.to – Rutracker.org – 1337x.to Unlicensed download sites – Music-Bazaar.com and Music-Bazaar.mobi – Sci-hub.tw; sci-hub.cc; sci-hub.ac; sci-hub.bz and others – Libgen.onl and mirror sites Piracy Apps – IPTV Smarters – Ievpad.com – Shabakaty Hosting providers – DDoS-Guard.net – Private Layer – "Amarutu", also known as Koddos – AS-Istqservers / Istqserverses ("Istq") – HostPalace Web Solution PVT LTD ("Host Palace") Unlicensed IPTV services – BIPTV.best and BestBuyIPTV.store – King365tv.com / Theking365tv.pro – VolkaIPTV.com Social media – VK.com Piracy Supporting Services – 2embed.ru – Fembed.com 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