Wednesday, January 31, 2024

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World's Most Notorious Pirate Sites Listed in New USTR Report
Andy Maxwell, 31 Jan 12:56 PM

2023 notoriousEach year around the end of January, the Office of the United States Trade Representative (USTR) publishes its annual review of so-called 'notorious markets' known for their connections to intellectual property crime.

In common with previous years, the 2023 edition published Tuesday highlights "prominent and illustrative" examples of mainly online sites and services that either engage directly in piracy, facilitate it, or simply turn a blind eye to infringement while enjoying the benefits. The USTR's report aims to motivate governments and various players in the private sector to take appropriate action, wherever that's possible, to disrupt and limit infringement.

2023 Notorious Markets Review

The 2023 Review of Notorious Markets shows that for a persistent few, annual appearances on the list are now considered more likely than sudden absences. The Pirate Bay is present once again, and the same is true for streaming giant Fmovies and academic research repository Sci-Hub. Russia-based trio Rapidgator (file-hosting), RuTracker (torrents) and VK, the largest social media platform in Russia, also maintain their spots.

After an unexplained absence in 2021, YTS.mx reappeared in the report last year. As expected, the most-visited torrent site on the internet also appears in this year's report.

USTR Highlights Positive Developments, Notable Absentees

Regular readers of the USTR's reports will have already noted the absence of former torrent giant, RARBG. After being listed as a notorious market for the previous seven years, last May the site suddenly shut down, sending shockwaves through the piracy ecosystem.

Since it proved impossible for us to confirm the specific reasons behind the site's closure, our best attempt at an explanation last September necessarily relied on circumstantial evidence. The USTR links to that article in its report but the specific reasons for RARBG's demise remain elusive.

Nevertheless, RARBG's place in the report has already been occupied by new entry, TorrentGalaxy, a popular torrent site that effortlessly handled additional users and sudden increases in traffic when RARBG unexpectedly disappeared last year. Reportedly hosted in Romania, TorrentGalaxy has cemented its position as one of the most-visited torrent sites in the world.

Other absentees this year include the Premier League-nominated iStreamtoWatch and LalaStreams, which fell following enforcement action by the U.S. government. The USTR also highlights significant enforcement action in 2023 against some of the largest overseas piracy platforms. They come with important caveats, however.

Major Piracy Platforms and the Resurrection Phenomenon

While mitigating the effects of enforcement action is nothing new for pirate sites, today's 'hydra response' can happen at bewildering speed and scale. For some, resilience is already baked in and for those based in problematic jurisdictions, even a more leisurely response can prove effective.

In 2023, the Alliance for Creativity and Entertainment targeted sites operating under Cuevana3 branding that had featured in earlier notorious markets reports. As the USTR notes, the operation was an immediate success, albeit in much the same way earlier operations targeting Cuevana-branded sites had been too; initially devastating but ultimately temporary.

"Cuevana's use of multiple domains has allowed variants of the site to remain operational. Despite successful enforcement efforts that enabled right holders to take control of 22 domain name variants in 2023, mirror sites were able to quickly re-emerge under new domains," the USTR writes. (Officially nominated as Cuevana3.ch, others include go.cuevana3.news, cuevana3.pro, cuevana3.ma, cuevana3.media, and cuevana3.nu)

Mexico-based Pelisplus, a new addition to the 2023 list, is another streaming platform causing problems in Latin America. The USTR says the site services its own visitors but also supplies content to similar sites.

"Pelisplus offers a content management system library service — a database that provides access to pirated movies and television series elsewhere in exchange for payment of a fee or other compensation — and also streams its own catalog of pirated movies and television shows," the USTR reports. (Nominated as pelisplus.icu. Related sites include pelisplushd.to, pelisplushd.lat, pelisplus.in, and pelisplus.ai)

After receiving a nomination from the MPA last October, the rapid growth of streaming site Vegamovies earns it a prominent newcomer spot in this year's report. Operating from several domains, it's claimed that Vegamovies receives almost 185 million visits per month, which could already mean it's the most-visited site of its type in the world.

Since 96% of its visitors originate from India, Vegamovies has remarkable scope for expansion in international markets.

Vietnam Also Injects Life Into 'Dead' Sites

For similar reasons mentioned earlier, regarding Cuevana3, 2embed maintains its notorious status in 2023. The USTR describes 2embed as a "piracy-as-a-service" provider; it crawls pirate sites for infringing content and then supplies it to other platforms.

When 2embed inserts its own ads, content is supplied for free; when customers prefer their own ads, that comes at a price. When the MPA reached an agreement for 2embed to shut down, its response was less predictable.

"Despite successful enforcement action in July 2023 by right holders and anti-piracy trade associations to shut down 2embed.to, which was run from Vietnam, the site is now operating again using different domains," the USTR notes. (Nominated as 2embed.me. Related sites include 2embed.cc and 2embed.org)

Reanimating Anime

When the world's largest anime piracy platform pulled an almost identical stunt around the same time last year, notorious market status was all but inevitable.

"Aniwatch, which reportedly became one of the most popular pirate streaming sites in the world this year, also is reportedly a rebrand of a previously popular site, zoro.to," the USTR notes. "In July 2023, right holders and anti-piracy trade associations shut down zoro.to, which was run from Vietnam, and thereafter the site apparently was rebranded as aniwatch.to."

The USTR notes that resurrections like these "highlight the importance of pursuing piracy site owners and operators, in addition to shutting down the websites, in order to target the root of infringing content and illegal conduct."

Pirate IPTV in a State of Flux

After various enforcement measures paid off, IPTV platforms Chaloos, Forever IPTV, iStar Media, and Media Star, are absent from the 2023 report.

After being listed last year, Globe IPTV – historically one of the largest and longest-standing pirate providers – receives no mention in the report published yesterday. In its place is new entrant GenIPTV, one of the services currently being subjected to unconventional blocking measures at the hands of UK subscription broadcaster, Sky TV.

"GenIPTV is one of the largest IPTV providers in the world, reportedly operating through multiple affiliates to sell subscriptions for access to over 10,000 broadcast and streaming channels as well as a video library of over 52,000 copyright-protected titles," the USTR notes. (Nominated as genip.tv)

Vietnam-based BestBuyIPTV remains on the list this year as does Shabakaty, an unlicensed IPTV service operated by EarthLink Telecommunications, the largest Internet service provider in Iraq. Spider, based in Amman, Jordan, keeps its notorious status due to its persistent sale of pre-loaded set-top boxes and unlicensed IPTV subscriptions.

After the MPA labeled it a priority target last October, IPTV software solution WHMCS Smarters now appears in the USTR's full report.

"WHMCS Smarters is a company in India that sets customers up in the illegal IPTV business by building for them a customized 'over the top' (OTT) IPTV platform from scratch and providing end-to-end support," the USTR notes.

"While WHMCS Smarters states that they do not sell infringing streams, channels, or other content or subscriptions, it does sell the software, tools, and services an individual would need to establish and operate his or her own 'off the shelf' illegal IPTV business."

Music, Shadow Libraries, File-Hosting

Having previously been considered priority enforcement targets, stream-ripping platforms flvto.biz and 2conv.com, and fellow music piracy platforms MP3Juices and NewAlbumReleases, are absent from this year's report. Instead, SSYoutube.com has burst onto the scene after being identified as the most popular YouTube-ripping platform in the world, pulling in an estimated 343 million visits per month.

On the file-hosting front, Krakenfiles (incorrectly listed in the report as Krankenfiles) and Savefrom are new additions to the notorious markets list. There's no change for shadow libraries Sci-Hub and Libgen, but the USTR now links both platforms with relative newcomer, Annas-archive.org.

A copy of the USTR's 2023 Review of Notorious Markets is available here (pdf). A list of highlighted sites/services, including those listed for counterfeiting, reads as follows:

Torrent Sites

– 1337X
– RuTracker
– The Pirate Bay
– TorrentGalaxy (new)
– YTS.mx

File-Hosting/Cyberlockers

– 1fichier
– Krakenfiles (new)
– Rapidgator
– Savefrom (new)

E-Commerce

Aliexpress (no longer listed)
– Baidu Wangpan
– Bukalapak
– DHgate
– Indiamart
– Pinduoduo
– Shopee
– Taobao

PaaS

– 2embed
– WHMCS Smarters (new)

Advertising

– Avito

Streaming /IPTV

– Aniwatch (new)
– BestBuyIPTV
– Cuevana3 (new)
– Fmovies
– GenIPTV (new)
– Pelisplus (new)
– Shabakaty
– Spider
– Streamtape (new)
– VegaMovies (new)

Hosting/Infrastructure

– Amaratu
– DDoS-Guard (new)
– FlokiNET
– Squitter (new)

Social Media

– VK
– WeChat

Gaming

– NSW2U (new)

Music

– SSYouTube (new)

Publishing

– Libgen
– Sci-Hub

From: TF, for the latest news on copyright battles, piracy and more.

Film Companies Counter Reddit: "An IP Address is Not a Person"
Ernesto Van der Sar, 30 Jan 10:07 PM

ip addressOver the past decade and a half, hundreds of thousands of alleged BitTorrent pirates were taken to court for sharing mostly video content without permission from rightsholders.

While this activity is still ongoing, at least to a degree, not all courts have welcomed this type of lawsuit.

On several occasions, courts dismissed piracy claims after ruling that "an IP address is not a person". In 2014, for example, Florida federal court Judge Ursula Ungaro dismissed a lawsuit ruling that IP address evidence can't identify the person who allegedly shared a pirated movie.

Geolocation software might make a reasonably accurate estimate of where the associated account holder lives, but even if an exact home address is known, an IP address can't identify the person who used it to pirate.

"Even if this IP address is located within a residence, the geolocation software cannot identify who has access to that residence's computer and who would actually be using it to infringe Plaintiff's copyright," Judge Ungaro explained.

Filmmakers who use IP addresses as piracy evidence are generally not keen on this conclusion, especially when it gets in the way of their legal efforts. Intriguingly, however, several movie companies now hope to use it to gain an advantage in their dispute with Reddit.

Film Companies: An IP address is Not a Person

The film companies, which include Voltage Holdings, are no strangers to the IP address argument. They previously filed lawsuits against alleged BitTorrent pirates based on IP address evidence that didn't result in the desired outcome.

A Canadian court, for example, concluded that while IP address evidence may link pirate activity to an internet connection, it can't conclude that the account holder is the person who committed that offense. Or put differently: an IP address is not a person.

So, when Reddit recently defended the anonymous speech of its users in a piracy-related case, arguing that an IP address is "identifying information," Voltage knew what its response should be.

In a reply, the filmmakers counter that sharing the IP addresses of the Reddit users doesn't violate their anonymous speech rights. IP addresses don't "unmask" the Redditors, they argue.

"Movants are not 'unmasking' Reddit's subscribers. Movants' subpoena merely requests Internet Protocol ('IP') address logs. An IP address is not a person," the film companies argue, citing Judge Ungaro's order.

"Accordingly, Reddit's pages of arguments based upon the First Amendment standards for unmasking anonymous speakers are not applicable," they add.

Anonymous Speech at Stake?

Reddit is concerned that the filmmakers could obtain the identities of the affected users by subpoenaing their ISP for the account holder information behind the IP addresses. While the account holders might not be the Redditors, it potentially puts their anonymity at risk.

The film companies previously said that they have no intention of going after the Redditors. Instead, they want to use their comments to show that Internet provider Frontier failed to reasonably implement a policy for terminating repeat infringers.

Since disclosing the IP addresses won't directly identify anyone, their request can't harm anonymous speech in any way, they add.

This reply shows that the request has multiple angles and the tables can be turned be either side. What's helpful, however, is that the film companies have shared information on want they intend to do with the requested IP addresses.

Narrowing Down the Search

In theory, the Redditors' households can be potentially identified using Reddit's IP address logs via a follow-up subpoena to their ISP. However, the filmmakers suggest that identities are not essential to their request. Instead, they see most value in the following information.

1. Information that shows the comments were made by people who used a Frontier connection to boast about piracy.

2. Identifying the number of copyright infringement notices rightsholders sent to Frontier for the associated IP addresses.

main frontier

Neither of these points require the filmmakers to know who the Redditors or associated subscribers are. Then again, without legal guarantees, Reddit may still be concerned that the filmmakers will do more.

Alternatives?

Ultimately, the court will reach a decision after weighing the First Amendment rights of the Redditors against the interests of copyright holders. Previously, the balance tipped in favor of Redditors, twice.

In the present dispute the rightsholders only seek IP addresses, not the names and email addresses of Redditors. But whether that will change things remains to be seen.

A key reason for the court siding with Reddit previously was that the filmmakers have other options to get similar evidence. The movie companies already have a list of IP addresses that allegedly pirated their films, for example.

Reddit also pointed this out in the current dispute, adding that the filmmakers already have a subpoena in hand to obtain the associated subscriber information from Frontier directly.

The filmmakers don't dispute that they are able to get information on Frontier's pirating subscribers. They indeed have a subpoena in hand, but note that this is limited to the subscribers who shared their films.

Given the already available options, the key question is whether the Reddit comments are unique and valuable enough as evidence in the Frontier case, to require Reddit to share the posters' IP addresses.

The filmmakers' reply indicates that they are open to a compromise. They suggest that, at minimum, they would like to verify that the Redditors were using a Frontier connection.

"Movants intend to show that these posts were made from same Frontier IP addresses where multiple notices of infringement were sent to Frontier. At the very least, Movants need to show that these posts were made from Frontier IP addresses for the Court to consider them as evidence," they write.

Both the film companies and Reddit will get the opportunity to explain their motivations and concerns during a forthcoming hearing, after which the court will likely issue its decision.

A copy of the reply from Voltage Holdings, LLC; Screen Media Ventures, LLC; Killing Link Distribution, LLC; Family of the Year Productions, LLC; and Laundry Films, Inc is available here (pdf)

From: TF, for the latest news on copyright battles, piracy and more.

Authorities Secure $2 Billion in Bitcoin from Pirate Site Operators
Ernesto Van der Sar, 30 Jan 01:57 PM

movie2kPirate sites were early adopters of cryptocurrency. The Pirate Bay, for example, started accepting bitcoin donations in 2013.

At the time, a single bitcoin was worth roughly $120, just a fraction of today's price of $43,000. If The Pirate Bay had kept all donations received it would have millions in bitcoin today.

Movie2K was another pirate site that showed an early interest in bitcoin. In its heyday, the site was the dominant pirate streaming portal in German-speaking countries. It generated a healthy revenue stream, part of it held in bitcoin.

Movie2K Bitcoin Loot

The operator of the site never got to spend most of it though. The site surprisingly shut down in the spring of 2013. Many suspected that legal troubles had plagued the site, something confirmed years later when Dresden police announced several arrests.

It was rare to see new activity in an already-dated dossier, but the biggest surprise followed later when the police announced that $29.7m in bitcoin had been secured from the site's operators.

This 'seizure' was one of the largest of its kind but the authorities estimated that the operators had more bitcoin stashed away, much more. Today, new information released by Dresden police shows that the assumption was correct.

50,000 Bitcoin Secured

Following an investigation carried out by the Dresden General Prosecutor's Office, the Saxony State Criminal Police, and the local tax authority (INES), nearly 50,000 bitcoin were 'provisionally' secured earlier this month. The haul is worth more than $2 billion at today's exchange rate.

Never before has this much bitcoin been secured by German authorities; it's also one of the largest crypto hauls worldwide.

"The Bitcoins were seized after the accused voluntarily transferred them to official wallets provided by the [Federal Criminal Police Office]. This means that a final decision has not yet been made about the utilization of the Bitcoins," police write.

Operators Bought Bitcoin

The German authorities received help from forensic experts at the FBI to secure these assets. According to publicly released information, the operators earned money through advertising and dodgy subscription scams.

Interestingly, the site operators didn't necessarily get paid in bitcoin; they purchased the coins. They started converting their revenue to bitcoin in 2012 when it was worth just a few dollars per coin.

Looking back, this must be one of the best investments ever made, although the operators don't get to enjoy it. As noted by Tarnkappe, a 40-year-old German and a 37-year-old Polish man remain under investigation for copyright infringement and money laundering.

It's not clear whether the authorities believe that all Movie2K bitcoin have now been secured, or if they have even more in their sights.

From: TF, for the latest news on copyright battles, piracy and more.

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