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Publishers Target Z-Library Domains With Millions of DMCA TakedownsErnesto Van der Sar, 18 Jan 11:28 AM With more than 14 million digital books in i

Publishers Target Z-Library Domains With Millions of DMCA Takedowns Ernesto Van der Sar, 18 Jan 11:28 AM With more than 14 million digital books in its archive, Z-Library is one of the largest shadow libraries on the Internet. Two of its alleged operators were arrested as part of a criminal crackdown by the United States, but the site seems largely unaffected. The Russian defendants are currently fighting an extradition battle. While their involvement with Z-Library is apparent to U.S. law enforcement, they don't appear to be crucial to the operation, since Z-Library continues to thrive. The feds are not standing idly by and have seized hundreds of domain names belonging to the site. This first happened in November 2022, shortly before the criminal case was made public. Last spring this was followed by another round, and a third wave came two months ago. Despite these continued crackdowns, Z-Library doesn't intend to throw the towel. Instead, it has relocated to new domains, of which there's an infinite supply. Helped by dedicated apps and browser extensions, many users manage to find their way back to the site. Popular search engines help too, as these typically return the site's active domain in search results. However, publishers are actively trying to put a halt to that too. Targeting Z-Library's Google Results Earlier this month, we already indicated that publishers are now responsible for the bulk of the DMCA takedown requests Google receives. These notices come in at a rate of millions per day. Looking more closely at the data, we see that this recent surge in publisher activity is largely driven by Z-Library. This suggests that the publishers are trying to make sure that the shadow library is hard to find through the search engine. While publishers have had to deal with piracy for many years, the Z-Library case seems to have struck a nerve. The takedown campaign isn't just limited to a handful of publishers either. There is broad participation, including the names below which have all sent millions of takedowns. Hachette, Penguin Random House, Simon and Schuster, HarperCollins Publishers, Taylor & Francis, Oxford University Press, Princeton University Press, Editis, Madrigal, and Pearson Education. Many Millions of URLs Hachette, for example, targeted over 3 million domains during the first week of 2024, mostly targeting, Z-Library domains. This includes familiar including Z-Library.se, but also country-specific ones such as Ukrainian-books.se. The publisher started sending takedowns around the time Z-Library was raided, and it reported more than 30 million URLs since. Looking at all publishers' requests, we see that Zlibrary-global.se and Zlibrary-asia.se were targeted most often. Both domains have more than 8 million URLs flagged as copyright-infringing. This happened in just a few months, with the first requests coming in June last year. At the moment, Z-Library.se is promoted as Z-Library's main domain. While it has only been active for a few weeks, rightsholders have already reported over 2 million of its URLs. With a total of hundreds, if not thousands of Z-Library domain names, it's easy to see how the number of reported URLs could easily exceed a hundred million. This recent action is a clear departure from the relatively mild takedown action visible before the U.S. crackdown. At that time, the main Z-Library domains such as the now-seized z-lib.org and b-ok.org were flagged considerably less. Effective? The effectiveness of the Google-oriented takedown action remains to be seen. The search engine typically hides frequently targeted domains from search results, which indeed makes them harder to find. That said, a search for Z-Library does return the Wikipedia entry in the top results, which provides information on how the site can be accessed. In addition, go-to-zlibrary.se, which provides info on how to access the site, remains in the top results too. Since this domain doesn't link to infringing material directly, it is harder to take down. All in all, it is safe to conclude that the DMCA surge will make it less likely that people will accidentally stumble upon Z-Library through Google searches. However, those who are determined to access the site usually find a way. From: TF, for the latest news on copyright battles, piracy and more. Copyright Parody Exception Denied Due to Defendant's Discriminatory Use Andy Maxwell, 17 Jan 08:28 PM Campbell v. Acuff-Rose Music, Inc. is one of the most interesting cases in history to rely on a fair use defense, arguing that the alleged infringement qualifies as a parody. Acuff-Rose sued members of hip hop group 2 Live Crew, claiming that their track "Pretty Woman" infringed the label's copyright in the Roy Orbison song, "Oh, Pretty Woman." 2 Live Crew had previously sought to license the track from Acuff-Rose to be used as a parody; Acuff-Rose refused and 2 Live Crew used it anyway. The case went all the way to the Supreme Court where 2 Live Crew prevailed; their parody was ruled fair use, despite being a commercial product. Still, some believed 2 Live Crew's music shouldn't have been on sale at all. Three members were previously arrested for alleged obscenity violations but were eventually acquitted after the men received support from freedom of speech activists. Free Speech Has Limits A criminal copyright infringement trial that concluded in Finland this week also saw the defendant rely on a fair use-style parody defense. It involved the use of copyrighted content to create an alleged 'parody' (one that many people would find offensive), the distribution of that content to the public via Twitter, and a defendant claiming immunity under copyright law. Not that other routes hadn't already been tested, however. Former Oulu city councilor Junes Lokka and controversy are rarely far apart. He regularly voices his opinions on ethnic minorities, including what they represent, and what should be done with them. In 2022, Lokka faced Finland's Supreme Court over videos of a 2016 protest published to his YouTube channel, to which Lokka added subtitles in various languages. While the words in those videos were not Lokka's, his claim to be acting as a journalist when he added subtitles was rejected by the court. Upholding the decision of a lower court the Supreme Court concluded that, since the videos contained hate speech and Lokka was responsible for them appearing on his YouTube channel, his conviction for incitement to ethnic hatred must stand. Subtitle Defense 2.0: The Parody In the spring of 2020, as the enormity of the coronavirus pandemic was beginning to take hold, Finland's national public broadcaster Yleisradio Oy (Finnish Broadcasting Company) aired a news broadcast in Somali. Without obtaining permission, Lokka made a copy of the report, added his own subtitles, and then retransmitted the new version to the public via Twitter. In the opinion of Yleisradio, the subtitles added by Lokka were both racist and degrading. When he copied and then rebroadcast the news report, that was copyright infringement. Lokka claimed there was no requirement to obtain permission from Yleisradio. New law that came into force in April 2023 allows the free use of copyright works for parody, pastiche, and caricature. Lokka chose parody but under the circumstances, that underperformed. Parody Under Copyright Law Yleisradio was represented by the Copyright Information and Control Center (TTVK) and as the Finnish anti-piracy group revealed this week, the nature of the subtitles added to the news report proved fatal to Lokka's defense. "[Th]e court determined that this could not be considered a parody as referenced in Section 23a of the Copyright Act, but a prohibited modification of the work," TTVK explains. "The use of the recording in the manner outlined in the case was not justified under copyright exceptions. The court considered that the edited video contained a discriminatory message, and in its reasoning referred to the interpretation guidelines provided by the Court of Justice of the European Union." Freedom of Speech vs. Prohibiting Discrimination Those guidelines reference a legal opinion in C-201/13 – Deckmyn and Vrijheidsfonds VZW v Vandersteen and Others which found that in order for a derivative work to be considered a parody, certain conditions must be met (pdf). In the Finnish matter, compatibility with the European Convention on Human Rights, which upholds freedom of expression but prohibits discrimination on grounds of race or religion, proved crucial. "Accordingly, an act containing a discriminatory message cannot be considered a permitted parody," TTVK reports. With parody status unavailable, the content posted to Twitter was confirmed as an unauthorized derivative work, distributed by Lokka, in breach of copyright. "The court found the defendant guilty of a copyright crime and sentenced him to a fine," TTVK reports. "The court sentenced him to pay EUR 640 in compensation for the use of the work in accordance with the Copyright Act, and EUR 2,260 in compensation. In addition, the court prohibited the person from continuing or repeating the act." Comments posted to Lokka's X/Twitter account suggest that to the extent any deterrent effect was intended, it may be quite limited. From: TF, for the latest news on copyright battles, piracy and more. Nigerian Police Bust Pirate Site Operators After Actress Suffers Panic Attacks Ernesto Van der Sar, 17 Jan 01:37 PM Dubbed "Nollywood," Nigeria has a flourishing film industry which generates billions of dollars in revenues while creating new stars in the process. In tandem, a flourishing piracy market serves parts of the population that either can't or won't pay for films. Local authorities and anti-piracy organizations are trying to get a grip on the problem, but that's not easy. Aside from investigative challenges, there's also a shortage of basic enforcement resources. Laptops, Electricity, and Internet Access These issues were previously recognized by the U.S. embassy in Nigeria, which generously donated 50 laptops and other gadgets to the Nigerian Copyright Commission in 2020. This equipment should help to aid the local fight against online piracy, it reasoned. The equipment was certainly welcome but the International Intellectual Property Alliance (IIPA) recently indicated that the Nigerian Copyright Commission also lacks reliable access to electricity and the Internet. Without these necessities, the laptops are useless. "Provide more resources, including critical resources such as electricity and Internet access, for the Nigeria Copyright Commission (NCC) online enforcement unit to adequately engage in and sustain efforts to combat piracy in the country," IIPA urged Nigeria's government Police Take Action Against Pirate Sites It's clear that tackling online piracy is a challenge in Nigeria. However, according to local media reports, police recently busted several key suspects in one of the largest enforcement actions thus far. Officers from the Force Criminal Investigations Department (FCID) in Alagbon, Lagos, arrested five alleged operators and accomplices with ties to local pirate sites, including noregret.com.ng, 36vibes.com.ng and naijajoy.com.ng. The police action follows a complaint from actress and filmmaker Toyin Abraham, who discovered that her latest film 'Malaika' was illegally distributed through these pirate sites. Commenting on the news, Lagos police chief Idowu Owohunwa said that an investigation into the alleged crimes eventually led to the five suspects. "Through these initiatives, the websites of origin of the crime were narrowed down to www.noregret.com.ng which was registered, owned and operated by one Lagos-based Kehinde Iyanda and www.naijajoy.com.ng owned and maintained by one Ogun State -based Adekunle Segun," Owohunwa said. The police investigation identified Kehinde Iyanda as a main suspect and the alleged operator of noregret.com.ng. The man was arrested and reportedly admitted that the website was used for online piracy. "He additionally acknowledged that the website was, as alleged, utilized to pirate several movies including the 'Malaika' movie as alleged by the complainants," the police boss added. Panic Attacks and Hospital Visits The police action must come as a relief for Toyin Abraham, who reportedly suffered panic attacks as the result of online piracy, which led her to be hospitalized several times. Abraham said that she's committed to taking up the fight against online piracy, not just for herself, but also in the broader interest of the Nigerian entertainment industry. While Kehinde was seen as the main suspect at noregret.com.ng, he didn't act alone. The operator identified Adebiyi Sodiq and Sodiq Oseni Akano as co-conspirators, which prompted a follow-up investigation. More Arrests and a Fugitive The police eventually located Adebiyi Sodiq in Osun State, where he was arrested. The suspect conspired with his mother to hide evidence, including a laptop, but this was eventually uncovered by the police. In addition, Sodiq also stands accused of running yet another streaming platform, 36vibes.com.ng, which distributed films including 'Malaika' and 'A Tribe Called Judah.' The makers of the latter had also filed a complaint in the past. The third suspect, Sodiq Oseni Akano, received help from his girlfriend to evade the police. This was successful, as he is still on the run. His girlfriend and the mother of Adebiyi Sodiq were arrested, however. Sites Remain Available In addition to the two alleged site operators and their female accomplices, the police apprehended Adekunle Segun, the alleged operator of yet another pirate site; naijajoy.com.ng. This site also had a link to the 'Malaika' movie, according to the authorities. Overall, three men were arrested for operating pirate sites. The two women were arrested for allegedly acting as accomplices by helping their son/boyfriend to evade prosecution. All in all, the Nigerian police managed to pull off one of the largest anti-piracy swoops in recent history, at least locally. While rightsholders are pleased with the action, it's not yet clear whether it will have a lasting effect. At the time of writing, all three sites remain online, apparently offering a wide range of pirated content. — 36Vibes today From: TF, for the latest news on copyright battles, piracy and more. Are you looking for a VPN service? TorrentFreak sponsor NordVPN has some excellent offers. ©2024 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