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Where Are the Pirated Movie Screeners This Year?Ernesto Van der Sar, 29 Dec 11:38 AM Screeners are advance copies of recent movies that are generall

Where Are the Pirated Movie Screeners This Year? Ernesto Van der Sar, 29 Dec 11:38 AM Screeners are advance copies of recent movies that are generally sent out to critics and awards voters for review. These copies have regularly ended up in the hands of pirates after which they're widely circulated online. That includes screeners of potential Academy Award nominees, which usually appear around December. In recent history, hundreds of these screeners have leaked early. In 2015, for example, a a spree of high-profile screeners were released by the Hive-CM8 group. These allegedly came from the talent agency Innovative Artists which was later sued by Warner Bros. During the past two years, the first movie screeners surfaced even earlier in the season. In 2020, the first ones came out in October and a year later the first leaks appeared in September. These 'digital screener' leaks were linked to film festivals, instead of awards show voting. No Screener Leaks This year, however, things have been rather quiet on the screener front. While many awards screener links have already been sent off for review, the first have yet to leak to the public. Looking at recent history, it's almost unthinkable that no pirated screener copies will appear online this year. For more than two decades they have leaked in significant numbers, often from Hollywood's own connections. So why would that stop now? While it's still possible that a wave of new screeners will come out during the next few days, several developments make that less likely than usual. EVO? Many of the screeners leaked in recent years were published by the release group "EVO", which mysteriously disappeared a few weeks ago. The group used to post a steady stream of TV and movie releases, not just screeners. This regular posting schedule came to an abrupt halt last month and hasn't resumed. EVO's disappearance was followed by unsubstantiated rumors of an arrest. We haven't found any hard evidence of an enforcement action but leaking screeners is a risky endeavor that draws the attention of the largest Hollywood players. There are only a few groups that are willing to take these risks. Even if there are other release groups that have access to screeners, these may be spooked by EVO's sudden absence. Screeners Lost Relevance This enforcement threat may play a role in the absence of leaks this year. The fact that all Oscar screeners are now sent digitally may also help to increase security, although that's certainly not a silver bullet. A third and perhaps even more important factor is the overall relevance of screeners in today's movie piracy landscape. Piracy groups typically release pirate screeners when there's no high-quality copy of a movie available online. This was very common in the past, due to the long window between theatrical and Blu-Ray or digital releases. That's no longer the case. Today, release windows have shrunk significantly or disappeared altogether. When Netflix releases a new movie a high-quality copy is posted to pirate sites soon after. As a result, a screener of an already-released Netflix title is useless for piracy groups. Rare Breed The shorter release windows have made screener leaks a rare breed. In the early 2000s, it was pretty common to see screeners of all Oscar contenders leak online before the winners were announced. Last year, the volume dropped below 10% for the first time. The fact that fewer screeners leak doesn't mean that piracy is less prevalent, of course. On the contrary, screeners are less relevant because there are other high-quality leaks of the films already circulating online. This doesn't mean that screeners no longer exist in the streaming era. Depending on the release date, voters still need early access to a Netflix or Disney+ film if it's not on the platform yet. All in all, we can conclude that it is certainly notable that there haven't been any screener leaks thus far this year. However, it's not entirely unexpected; It's simply a sign of the time. From: TF, for the latest news on copyright battles, piracy and more. Russian Cinemas Get Help to Bypass Sanctions to Screen "Avatar: The Way of Water" Ernesto Van der Sar, 28 Dec 09:41 PM With its invasion of Ukraine, Russia ignited a regional conflict with global repercussions. Thousands of lives have been lost and many more ruined. In response, many U.S. entertainment industry companies took a stand by ceasing their Russian operations. Since Russia is a relatively small source of revenue, the damage is mostly contained for the major Hollywood studios. For the Russian cinema industry, the effect of sanctions is devastating. In fact, Russia's Association of Cinema Owners warned that the entire industry could collapse. Evading Sanctions In response to the restrictions, several theaters had to get creative to keep visitors coming through the door. This includes the use of pirated films, with some converted to Digital Cinema Packages (DCP) so they can be displayed on the big screen. Many of these DCP releases come with Russian dubbing. Interestingly, our previous research suggests that these packages are sometimes shared between cinema locations using unlisted torrents. For the movie industry, pirate screenings are seen as a bare necessity to keep the lights on. And since there are no legal options available, Alexei Voronkov of the Russian Association of Cinema Owners understands this move. "I can't even blame cinemas now dabbling in torrent screenings," Voronkov previously said, after condemning pirate screenings early on. Screening Avatar These piracy issues drifted from the headlines in more recent months, but with the release of this year's blockbuster "Avatar: The Way of Water", the topic is hot once again. Russian cinema owners recently promised that, one way or another, the movie would be screened locally. Even decent-quality CAM rips were being considered in the absence of better-quality options. A recent "Avatar: The Way of Water" CAM This promise was indeed kept as several cinemas began showing "Avatar: The Way of Water" to the public a few days ago. Interestingly, the theaters didn't have to rely on low-quality pirate releases either. Independent Russian news outlet Meduza reports that several movie theaters managed to get their hands on high-quality DCP copies. These are reportedly sourced from "friendly" countries such as Kazakhstan, and come complete with Russian dubbing. Unauthorized screenings are taking place in cities including St. Petersburg, Yekaterinburg, and Krasnoyarsk. How these theaters receive their DCP copies is unknown, but unlisted torrent transfers could be involved. Delays and Tricks Not all movie theater chains are taking part in these illegal screenings. The Movie Distributor's Bulletin reports that the major chains have reached a private agreement to keep Avatar 2 out of theaters until January 13. This "gentlemen's agreement" was reached because there is already a healthy stream of visitors around New Year. "In this way, cinemas show that they are responsible for the Russian film business. We all ended up in the same boat, and if we don't help each other in this situation, then further coexistence within the industry will be difficult," a source explained. Not all cinemas are bound by the agreement but there are concerns that openly advertising the screenings could have legal ramifications. This has resulted in some interesting workarounds, such as showing Avatar 2 as a free preview to a 17-minute Russian film "I See". "Free pre-session service 'Avatar: The Way of Water' – duration 3 hours 12 minutes. The break between the pre-screening service and the film is 1 minute. The film 'I See' – duration – 17 minutes," one movie theater states (translated) on its booking page. Legalizing Piracy? Interestingly, movie theaters that use pirated content to stay in business, also have piracy as their main competitor. A few hours ago a relatively high-quality Telesync copy of Avatar 2 made its way onto various pirate sites, which might tempt some Russians to stay at home. The Association of Cinema Owners is well aware of the difficult situation and has lobbied the Government for relief. This may now be on the horizon in the form of a newly proposed law that would allow Russian theaters to show unlicensed movies, without fear of legal repercussions. However, with everything that's going on in and around Russia in recent months, copyright infringement is unlikely to be the country's main priority. 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

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Analysis of U.S. Pirate Site Domain Seizures During FIFA World Cup 2022Andy Maxwell, 28 Dec 10:33 AM After gathering data and in the absence of anno

Analysis of U.S. Pirate Site Domain Seizures During FIFA World Cup 2022 Andy Maxwell, 28 Dec 10:33 AM After gathering data and in the absence of announcements by U.S. law enforcement agencies, on December 10 TorrentFreak reported on a wave of domain seizures. Many of the affected sites displayed a banner indicating the involvement of three government agencies – IPR Center, Homeland Security Investigations, and the Department of Justice. Data clearly showed that the domains were all connected to illicit live sports streaming, but it took another three days for that to be officially confirmed. On December 13, the United States Attorney for the District of Maryland confirmed that more than 50 domains had been seized to protect FIFA World Cup 2022. None of the domains were mentioned by name, but TorrentFreak independently identified just over three dozen. Less than a week later, with some sites using backup domains and some investing in replacements, U.S. law enforcement followed up with a new wave of seizures that attempted to whack-the-moles as they resurfaced. The Domain Seizure Mystery At least for the time being, the domain seizures appear to have stopped, but that in itself only adds to the growing list of questions. Why seize these domains and not others? Why seize domains to protect FIFA when a) football isn't exactly popular in the U.S. and b) there are plenty of bigger sites covering NFL/NBA/NHL/UFC etc, and continue to do so? Why not seize domains every month, every week, or even every day? We don't have definitive answers on any of these questions, but data collected by TorrentFreak on close to 70 seized domains (listed at the end of this article) offers pointers on why some domains could be more vulnerable than others. The bigger picture over millions of domains suggests that many pirate sites are already vulnerable to domain seizures. Seizures Targeted Some High Traffic Domains The live sports streaming piracy market is both huge and global. Public streaming websites are just a part of a larger picture where even the seizure of 70+ domains has limited impact, despite inconveniencing hundreds of millions of monthly visitors. The chart below shows the seized domains that enjoyed the most traffic, measured by their visits in November 2022, before the seizures began. The list started as a 'Top 10' but due to some replication of traffic across WeakStreams and SoccerStreams, one of the domains was excluded. Given that the United States is behind these domain seizures, we wanted to determine where these sites were (and in some cases still are) most popular. The domains listed below are followed by monthly visits data for November 2022 (SimilarWeb data, rounded), their five most popular visitor countries, and the percentage of each domain's total traffic they accounted for. Librefutbol.com – 70m – Argentina 45%, Peru 14%, Columbia 9%, Mexico 5%, Chile 4% Score808.com – 32.1m – Malaysia 9%, Kenya 9%, Indonesia 6%, Nigeria 5%, UAE 5% Hesgoal.com – 30.1m – UK 14%, U.S. 11%, Belgium 6%, Sweden 6%, Netherlands 4% Freestreams-live1 – 21.1m – U.S. 23%, UK 13%, Canada 9%, Poland 3%, Germany 3% Soccerstreams.net – 16.4m – U.S. 22%, Canada 12%, UK 12%, Portugal 6%, India 3% istream2watch.com – 10.8m – U.S. 26%, Canada 9%, UK 6%, Portugal 5%, Germany 3% Rojadirectatv.tv – 11.7m – Spain 32%, Columbia 17%, Mexico 14%, Argentina 8%, Chile 8% Steamlivenow.me – 10.7m – U.S. 28%, Canada 9%, UK 6%, Portugal 5%, Germany 4% Yalla-Shoots.com – 8.4m – Egypt 19%, Morocco 15%, Algeria 9%, UAE 6%, Germany 6% While visitors from the U.S. account for around a quarter of visits to three of the most popular domains in the list, Argentina's love for Librefutbol.com amounted to 31.5m visits per month in November alone – in a nation of fewer than 46 million people. New domains for the site are reportedly in operation, but the seizure will have had a significant effect on traffic, at the worst possible time for Argentinian football fans. Domain Registrars The domains listed above show a reasonable spread of extensions – from .com to .tv, through .net and .me – but the full list offers even more variety and clearly no better protection against seizure. Despite having a reputation for being at least a little more resilient than most, a pair of .to domains also found themselves directed toward U.S. Government servers. A pair of domains registered with Sarek Oy stood up no better, despite the registrar having a reputation for being an awful lot more resilient than others. Nearly 15% of the seized domains were registered with GoDaddy, but with 4.4m domains and almost 15% of the domain market overall, that looks normal. NameCheap-registered domains accounted for almost 27% of seizures against its 14% market share but with 4.06m domains overall, anything could happen if another 50 or 100 domains were added to the seizure list. After examining close to 70 domains in search of a pattern or anomaly, little about the domains suggest anything out of the ordinary. All are clearly susceptible to seizure whenever U.S. authorities decide that's the appropriate course of action. Location, Location, Location One thing is glaringly obvious, however. When U.S. authorities need something done, it certainly doesn't hurt when domain companies are on home soil. And they are, overwhelmingly so. Of all domains seized in December based on allegations of illegal streaming, almost 69% were registered with US-based companies. The runner-up with just over 13% of the domains was India-based PDR Ltd, but ultimately even that has US-based owners. That leads to the biggest question of all: if 70 or so domains can be seized in the blink of an eye, why can't 700 or 7,000? Even if the domains were seized as part of an adversarial legal process, the chances of any domain owners appearing in the U.S. to fight for their return are vanishingly small. And that means only one thing – more domain seizures. Given the tendency towards symbolism, a new wave of seizures may coincide with a major sporting event or a notable date in Hollywood's diary. Precisely when is unknown but one thing is certain; any domain with a connection to the U.S. is vulnerable and finding alternatives may not be as easy as it sounds. Suggestions That .org Domains Are 'Safe' The Pirate Bay has operated from thepiratebay.org for years, which may be seen as a plus for domains with a .org extension. Indeed, it appears that operators of a handful of the sports streaming sites listed below have switched to a .org variant, despite the controlling Public Interest Registry and parent Internet Society both having a base in Virginia, United States. Indeed, when more than 240 Z-Library domains were seized last month, among them were z-lib.org, b-ok.org, book4you.org, hk1lib.org, art1lib.org, ca1lib.org, eg1lib.org, and at least two dozen more with a .org extension. For reference, we compared the WHOIS records of thepiratebay.org (registrar easyDNS Technologies – Canada) with the WHOIS records of ten random Z-Library .org domains that currently have DNS records pointing to SeizedServers.com. Book4you.org is the only domain with a registrar in the United States (GoDaddy.com, LLC). The next seven – b-ok.org, zlib.org, hk1lib.org, cl1lib.org, art1lib.org, ca1lib.org, eg1lib.org and au1lib.org – were all registered with Canada-based Tucows Domains. 2lib.org was also registered with Tucows, with Njalla-owner 1337 Services LLC as the registrant. Privacy was most likely maintained but the domain was still seized, unlike The Pirate Bay's which appears impossibly bulletproof. For now, at least. Domains Seized By U.S. Authorities (December 2022, list may be incomplete) – 222live.com – 247football.net – 88kanqiu.tv – 88zhibo.net – 9goal.tv – 9goaltv.cc – 9goaltv.to – acrackstreams.com – ajsports.tv – amzfootball.com – beeduball.com – bongtron1.live – cado89.com – crichd.pro – eplsite.football – extremotvplay.com – freestreams-live1.com – futbollatam.com – futbollatin.com – futboltv-envivo.com – futboltv.biz – futboltv.live – ghiban1.live – ghiban2.com – goaltime.tv – guduballs.com – hesgoal.com – hesgoal.me – hesgoal.pro – hesgoal.tv – ijube.com – istream2watch.com – juventus-live-stream.com – koragol.com – librefutbol.com – live-sports-stream.net – livetv605.me – mythethao.com – mythethao.live – ovopremium.com – polysportstv.info – releasesky.com – rojadirecta-futbol.live – rojadirecta.global – rojadirecta.me – rojadirecta.vip – rojadirectaliga.com – rojadirectatv.tv – rojadirectatvlive.com – rojadirectatvonline.net – score808.com – soccer24hd.com – soccerstreams.net – soccerstreams.to – sportstream.tv – streamlivenow.me – tarjetarojaonlinetv.com – tenorsky.com – toplivematch.com – toplivematch.net – tructiep99.com – tvrojadirectaonline.net – vipleagues.net – weakstream.net – weakstreams.com – wizwig1.com – yalla-shoots.com From: TF, for the latest news on copyright battles, piracy and more. U.S. Marshals Will Sell Pirate IPTV Owner's House, 'Only' $99m Still to Pay Andy Maxwell, 27 Dec 09:45 PM Some players in the pirate IPTV market view subscription sales as little more than a side hustle, one that brings in a few dollars here, and a few dollars there. No big deal. That may well be the case but elsewhere in the chain, people are making serious money. Bill Omar Carrasquillo, aka Omi in a Hellcat, openly admits that he made multiple tens of millions from his service, Gears TV. The operators of Nitro TV didn't make that much, but the amount still contained one or two digits followed by six zeros. In common with Carrasquillo, legal problems also engulfed Nitro operator Alex Galindo and several members of his family. After being sued in 2021 by US broadcaster DISH Network, Sling and NagraStar, in June 2022 a court ordered Nitro's operators to pay more than $100m in damages, a staggering amount that won't ever be recovered in full. Recovery in part can't be ruled out, however. Plaintiffs Go After the Money In July 2022, the plaintiffs stepped on the gas by requesting several writs of garnishment at a Texas district court. Believing that the Galindos had squirreled away several million dollars in various bank accounts, the plaintiffs sought permission to find out exactly how much was involved and where it could be found. Among those contacted were Wells Fargo Bank, Woodforest National Bank, JPMorgan Chase Bank, Bank of America, and Capital One (example response below) All responses received amounted roughly to the same thing – if there was ever any money, it's all gone now. In October 2022, the plaintiffs updated the court on their findings, noting that more than $10 million had been spent, relocated, or otherwise disappeared. Disappearing Millions Referring to Nitro TV defendants Alejandro (Alex), Anna, Martha, and Osvaldo Galindo as "Judgment Debtors", the plaintiffs reminded the court of ignored pre-lawsuit cease-and-desist correspondence, failure to shut down Nitro TV after the lawsuit was filed, and destruction of evidence while it was underway. Then came details of the bank accounts; – $5.8m deposited into Martha and Osvaldo Galindo's Chase accounts. Balance: $49.22. – $3.0m deposited into Martha's Capital One account. Response: No active accounts – $1.0m deposited into Anna's Woodforest account. Balance: unspecified negative sum – $164k deposited into Alex's Wells Fargo account. Response: No active accounts "All told, the entirety of the $10 million that Judgment Debtors are known to have received from their sale of Device Codes has been removed from Judgment Debtors' accounts," DISH and Nagra informed the court. "More than $1.5 million of those funds was transferred to a Galindo family member in Mexico and another $181,730.00 was transferred to Alejandro Galindo's ex-wife, further demonstrating that Judgment Debtors have taken steps to conceal their illicit proceeds and prevent Plaintiffs from enforcing the Judgment." Some assets are less easily relocated, however. A Very Nice House in Texas While protection varies from state to state, a homestead exemption can limit creditors' access to equity held in a home. A property identified by the plaintiffs in Friendswood, Texas, does not enjoy any protection, the plaintiffs informed the court. "The Friendswood Property was purchased using funds that Judgment Debtors wrongfully acquired from their sale of Device Codes [pirate IPTV subscriptions]," the companies said, referencing the property in the video below. The plaintiffs said that customer IPTV subscription payments totaling $5.5m were paid into a Paymentech account. Around $5.4m was transferred to a Chase account operated by Martha Galindo, with $925,913 ultimately financing the house in Friendswood, under Alex Galindo's name. No Protection, Court Orders Sale of Property "The Friendswood Property does not qualify for homestead protection under this well-established Texas law because the property was purchased using wrongfully acquired funds that Judgment Debtors received from their infringing Nitro TV service," the plaintiffs informed the court. The Galindos could have objected, but did not. On November 30, 2022, the court ordered the United States Marshal Service to levy and sell the property, and apply the proceeds towards satisfaction of the judgment. The Marshal Service visited the house on December 9, 2022. According to court records, someone inside responded to the official's knock and ring, but he wasn't invited into the property. A Notice of Sale was posted on the front door. A formal notice was later published by The Daily News, the oldest newspaper in Texas. It has since been removed but the key details are as follows: [The U.S. Marshals Service] will proceed to sell, without appraisement, for cash, to the best and highest bidder, on the first Tuesday in January 2023, that being the 3rd day of January 2023, at Public Auction at the Galveston County Courthouse located at 722 Moody Ave., Galveston, TX 77550 in the commissioner's court, between the hours of 10a.m. and 4p.m., all the right, title and interest of the defendant(s) in the real property as described below in order to satisfy the judgment issued in the above mentioned action. At the start of the sale, the Marshal shall set the minimum bid and bid increments, if any. At the conclusion of the sale the winning bidder shall provide the U.S. Marshal with a deposit of ten percent (10%) of the winning bid and the remaining ninety percent (90%) shall be paid within seven (7) days thereafter, excluding Saturdays, Sundays, and holidays. While large damages awards are often the outcome of pirate IPTV lawsuits in the United States, their scale can at times render them ridiculous to most ordinary people. The persistence of DISH, Sling and Nagra, shows that while the amounts can be unbelievable, the consequences live on, long after the headlines have been forgotten. The potential for the consequences to drag on in this matter seems considerable. Even if the property sells for $1 million, the amount outstanding on the damages award will still exceed $99 million. Related court documents can be found here (1,2,3, pdf) 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