• To chevron_right

      Major VPN Providers Ordered to Block Pirate Sports Streaming Sites

      news.movim.eu / TorrentFreak • 16 May 2025 • 7 minutes

    vpn-divertx1 Article L. 333-10 of the French Sport Code enables rightsholders to request blocking measures against named pirate sites if they can demonstrate “serious and repeated infringement” of their exploitation rights.

    To prevent pirate sites from being accessed on French soil, rightsholders may request that “all proportionate measures” are implemented by any online entity in a position to help. The scope of Article L. 333-10 was always meant to be broad.

    The first logical targets were local ISPs which easily fell within scope. Then, when inevitable circumvention raised its head, utilizing infrastructure beyond the reach of regular ISPs, Article L. 333-10 already had that covered.

    Following a Canal+ complaint, use of third party DNS resolvers at Cloudflare and Google headed to court in 2024 . Both were labeled intermediaries by the Court, and under the still unstressed scope of Article L. 333-10, both were considered capable of contributing to the suppression of piracy.

    Canal+ / LFP Target Major VPN Providers

    Having effectively added public DNS resolvers to the French blocking machine, attention turned to the next targets. In February 2025, it emerged that Groupe Canal + and Société d’édition de Canal Plus (SECP) had filed a case in November 2024 against NordVPN, CyberGhost, ProtonVPN, ExpressVPN, and Surfshark.

    The Canal companies alleged that “numerous” websites, accessible from within France, illegally streamed matches from various sporting competitions to which they hold the rights.

    Since the VPNs’ subscribers were among those viewing the infringing streams, the Canal companies asked the court to compel the providers to implement “all measures likely to prevent access [to the illegal streams] from French territory,” including in all French overseas territories, “by any effective means”.

    The VPN providers objected to the application on various grounds. Nord and Surfshark requested a declaration that the Canal companies lacked standing to act; as such, their application should be declared inadmissible. Proton sought a similar declaration while noting that the company lacked the ability to defend the requested blocking measures. The same assertion was made by CyberGhost and Express; all argued that Article L. 333-10 does not apply to VPN providers.

    Other objections concerned jurisdiction and whether French law is compatible with EU legislation. CyberGhost and Express suggested a stay of proceedings pending a response from the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) in the Dutch case, AFS et al .

    Court Rejects VPN Providers’ Objections

    In its decision published Thursday, the Court found that matters concerning the CJEU would have no impact on the current case. Calls for the Canal companies’ application to be declared inadmissible due to a lack of standing, were also dismissed, while a review of the allocation of rights pertaining to the various sports competitions raised no concerns.

    Arguments that the VPN providers had no standing to defend themselves, due to Article L. 333-10 of the French Sports Code being inapplicable to VPN providers, fared no better.

    The court notes that Article L.333-10 does not impose any restrictions on the targeted entity, adding that VPN providers are expressly covered under the Digital Services Act.

    “Blocking such a service for certain domain names means that the provider of this service prevents its users from accessing the disputed domain names when using their VPN tool. Internet users using these virtual private networks would therefore no longer be able to access the disputed sites through this intermediary,” the decision reads.

    “Consequently, the defendant companies, in their capacity as providers of virtual private network services, are technical intermediaries capable of contributing to remedying the harm that Groupe Canal+, SECP and Canal+ Rights claim to have suffered.”

    Blocking Order Issued

    The Court’s instructions and the full list of domains can be found below.

    [The Court] orders the companies Cyberghost LLC, Cyberghost Srl, Expressco services, Express technologies, Nordvpn (Netherlands), Nordvpn (Republic of Panama), Surfshark Bv, Surfshark Ltd and Proton to implement, at the latest within three days following notification of this decision, all measures necessary to prevent, until the date of the last match of the championship of the Premier League for the 2024/2025 season, currently set for May 25, 2025, access to the websites and IPTV services identified [below] as well as to the IPTV sites and services not yet identified on the date of this decision, from French territory, including in the overseas communities, departments and regions, and/or by their users based on a contract taken out in this territory, by any effective means, and in particular by blocking the following domain names and associated subdomains…..

    The cost of blocking will be shared between the parties, with the details to be agreed at a later date. A request by the plaintiffs to compel the VPN providers to publish details of the case on their homepages for publicity purposes, was described as “inappropriate” and rejected by the Court.

    The decision reveals that many of the domain names submitted by Canal for blocking, are already subject to blocking measures by French ISPs following notification by telecoms regulator ARCOM. Familiar brands include Footy Bite, Cric HD, Buffstreams, Futbollibre, Rojadirecta, and Crackstreams, among dozens of others. In these cases widespread piracy has already been established, but it appears that in-depth proof of infringement may not be a hard requirement.

    “Since the burden of proof should not be unnecessarily complex and costly, the court cannot require the claimants to demonstrate access to the disputed IPTV sites and services by using each of the defendants’ virtual private networks, just as it does not request findings by using each of the internet service providers’ networks when a blocking is requested of them on the basis of Article L. 333-10 of the Sports Code,” the court notes.

    Had comprehensive checks been carried out, questions may have been raised over the need to block pirate domains previously seized by the Alliance for Creativity and Entertainment.

    ace-sus

    Other domains from the Canal+ list below were seized by ACE during the last few days, so blocking those domains will be unnecessary too.

    The decision of the Court of Paris is available here (pdf, French)

    aliezstream.pro
    antenasport.shop
    antenasports.ru
    antenasports.shop
    antenatv.online
    antenatv.store
    antennasport.ru
    asportv.shop
    livetv802.me
    toparena.store
    emb.ap1357.me
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    1.qwebplay.xyz
    livetv807.me
    cdn.livetv807.me
    boxtv60.com
    infinity-ott.com
    vbnl23.com
    footy-bite.com
    freesportstime.com
    livestreamlinks.cc
    crichdplayer.com
    crichd.sc
    crichd.mobi
    crichd.sx
    crichd.tv
    me.crichd.tv
    nbabite.to
    reddit.nbabite.to
    s2watch.link
    soccerinhd.com
    sportlemons.to
    sports-prime.com
    topevents.us
    buffsports.me
    buffstreams.sx
    vipbox.sx
    vipbox.bz
    freestreams-live.top
    alkooratv.onlinekora-tv.com
    onlinekora-tv.com
    futbollibre.ws
    kooracity.cc
    ok.tvkora-online.com
    tvkora-online.com
    pirlotv.football
    ramsportl .com
    roja.football
    rojadirectaenvivo.life
    rojadirectaenvivo.site
    rojadirectatv.at
    rojadirectatv.la
    rojadirectaz.top
    rojadiretta.me
    soccerlive.app
    thesport.live
    futbollibre.ws
    hesgoal.watch
    hesgoall .net
    librefutbol.su
    myp2p.tv
    myp2ptv.org
    myp2px.xyz
    partidosenvivo.gratis
    pirlotvenhd.org
    rojadirecta.org.pl
    rojadirectaenhd.live
    rojadirectaenhd.net
    rojadirectaenvivo.com
    rojadirectaenvivo.watch
    rojadirecta.tv
    rojadirectas.org
    rojadirectatv.at
    rojadirectatv.top
    rojadirectatvhd.site
    rojadirectatvs.com
    soccerstreams.cc
    soccerstreams.unblockedstream.online
    streameast.soccer
    tarjetarojaonline.org
    tarjetarojatv.run
    totalsportek.one
    totalsportk.org
    viperplay.net
    viperplay.online
    viperplayhd.com
    vipleague.app
    vipleagues.org
    vip-league.net
    livetv806.me
    rojadirectahdenvivo.com
    streamsthunder.tv
    rojadirectenvivo.me
    methstreams.me
    antenasports.ru
    asportv.shop
    toparena.store
    Ishunter.net
    tv1337.buzz
    livetv.sx
    sporttuna.pro
    livetv807.me
    embx224539.ap1366.me
    cdn.livetv807.me
    locatedinfain.com
    tvhd.tutvlive.info
    stream-24.net
    speci41eagle.com
    vl.methstreams.me
    klubsports.fun
    weblivehdplay.ru
    buddycenters.shop
    olalivehdplay.ru
    1 qwebplay.xyz
    sporttvls.com
    eur02024direct.ru
    librarywhispering.com
    cdn.livetv808.me
    watch.sporttuna.pro
    sporttuna.sx
    sporttuna.online
    lewblivehdplay.ru
    viwlivehdplay.ru
    r365.city
    fmytv.com
    yalla-shootv.live
    sportlemo.net
    sportlemon.be
    antenasport.site
    sportlemons.tv
    directatvhd.me
    sportlemon.info
    koora365.io
    sport365.live
    live.esportivos.one
    sportlemonx.com
    mip2p.top
    bein-live.tv
    yalla-shoot.fun
    sportlemone.top
    sportlemont.org
    thedaddy.to
    abbasport.site
    h5.365streams.world
    stad.yallashoot.vip
    crickfree.org
    drakulatv.eu
    sportlemon.net
    footdirect.ru
    hdmatch.link
    livehd7i.live
    noblockaabbdd-xcktb.xyz
    sportp2p.com
    crichd.info
    crichd-player.top
    crichd. to
    telerium.lol
    rojatv.tv
    mundialqatar2022tv.tv
    hesgoal.website
    redditsoccerstreams.one
    redditsoccerstreams.watch
    soccerbite.net
    hesgoal.one
    cricfree.be
    cricfree.me
    cricfree.pw
    crickfree.net
    cricfrees.com
    crackstreams.dev
    ronald07.me
    draculastream.org
    drakulastream.tv
    drakulastream.org
    drakulastream.xyz
    drakula.top
    drakula.stream
    elitegoltv.run
    firstrowl.xyz
    thesportsl.org
    livetv813.me
    sportp2p.com
    directatvhd.me
    Ishunter.net
    antenasport.shop
    antenasports.ru
    antenasports.shop
    ilovetoplay.xyz
    hoca2.com
    livetv814.me
    cdn.livetv814.me
    streamingon.org
    emb.ap1357.me
    livetv815.me
    cdn.livetv815.me
    noblockaabbdd-xcktb.xyz
    embx222304.ap1357.me
    tutvlive.info
    sporttvls.com
    quest4play.xyz
    antenasport.online
    wfzrbhp.luxevpn.xyz
    smart.lionsmart.cc

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

    • To chevron_right

      Major VPN Providers Ordered to Block Pirate Sports Streaming Sites

      news.movim.eu / TorrentFreak • 16 May 2025 • 7 minutes

    vpn-divertx1 Article L. 333-10 of the French Sport Code enables rightsholders to request blocking measures against named pirate sites if they can demonstrate “serious and repeated infringement” of their exploitation rights.

    To prevent pirate sites from being accessed on French soil, rightsholders may request that “all proportionate measures” are implemented by any online entity in a position to help. The scope of Article L. 333-10 was always meant to be broad.

    The first logical targets were local ISPs which easily fell within scope. Then, when inevitable circumvention raised its head, utilizing infrastructure beyond the reach of regular ISPs, Article L. 333-10 already had that covered.

    Following a Canal+ complaint, use of third party DNS resolvers at Cloudflare and Google headed to court in 2024 . Both were labeled intermediaries by the Court, and under the still unstressed scope of Article L. 333-10, both were considered capable of contributing to the suppression of piracy.

    Canal+ / LFP Target Major VPN Providers

    Having effectively added public DNS resolvers to the French blocking machine, attention turned to the next targets. In February 2025, it emerged that Groupe Canal + and Société d’édition de Canal Plus (SECP) had filed a case in November 2024 against NordVPN, CyberGhost, ProtonVPN, ExpressVPN, and Surfshark.

    The Canal companies alleged that “numerous” websites, accessible from within France, illegally streamed matches from various sporting competitions to which they hold the rights.

    Since the VPNs’ subscribers were among those viewing the infringing streams, the Canal companies asked the court to compel the providers to implement “all measures likely to prevent access [to the illegal streams] from French territory,” including in all French overseas territories, “by any effective means”.

    The VPN providers objected to the application on various grounds. Nord and Surfshark requested a declaration that the Canal companies lacked standing to act; as such, their application should be declared inadmissible. Proton sought a similar declaration while noting that the company lacked the ability to defend the requested blocking measures. The same assertion was made by CyberGhost and Express; all argued that Article L. 333-10 does not apply to VPN providers.

    Other objections concerned jurisdiction and whether French law is compatible with EU legislation. CyberGhost and Express suggested a stay of proceedings pending a response from the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) in the Dutch case, AFS et al .

    Court Rejects VPN Providers’ Objections

    In its decision published Thursday, the Court found that matters concerning the CJEU would have no impact on the current case. Calls for the Canal companies’ application to be declared inadmissible due to a lack of standing, were also dismissed, while a review of the allocation of rights pertaining to the various sports competitions raised no concerns.

    Arguments that the VPN providers had no standing to defend themselves, due to Article L. 333-10 of the French Sports Code being inapplicable to VPN providers, fared no better.

    The court notes that Article L.333-10 does not impose any restrictions on the targeted entity, adding that VPN providers are expressly covered under the Digital Services Act.

    “Blocking such a service for certain domain names means that the provider of this service prevents its users from accessing the disputed domain names when using their VPN tool. Internet users using these virtual private networks would therefore no longer be able to access the disputed sites through this intermediary,” the decision reads.

    “Consequently, the defendant companies, in their capacity as providers of virtual private network services, are technical intermediaries capable of contributing to remedying the harm that Groupe Canal+, SECP and Canal+ Rights claim to have suffered.”

    Blocking Order Issued

    The Court’s instructions and the full list of domains can be found below.

    [The Court] orders the companies Cyberghost LLC, Cyberghost Srl, Expressco services, Express technologies, Nordvpn (Netherlands), Nordvpn (Republic of Panama), Surfshark Bv, Surfshark Ltd and Proton to implement, at the latest within three days following notification of this decision, all measures necessary to prevent, until the date of the last match of the championship of the Premier League for the 2024/2025 season, currently set for May 25, 2025, access to the websites and IPTV services identified [below] as well as to the IPTV sites and services not yet identified on the date of this decision, from French territory, including in the overseas communities, departments and regions, and/or by their users based on a contract taken out in this territory, by any effective means, and in particular by blocking the following domain names and associated subdomains…..

    The cost of blocking will be shared between the parties, with the details to be agreed at a later date. A request by the plaintiffs to compel the VPN providers to publish details of the case on their homepages for publicity purposes, was described as “inappropriate” and rejected by the Court.

    The decision reveals that many of the domain names submitted by Canal for blocking, are already subject to blocking measures by French ISPs following notification by telecoms regulator ARCOM. Familiar brands include Footy Bite, Cric HD, Buffstreams, Futbollibre, Rojadirecta, and Crackstreams, among dozens of others. In these cases widespread piracy has already been established, but it appears that in-depth proof of infringement may not be a hard requirement.

    “Since the burden of proof should not be unnecessarily complex and costly, the court cannot require the claimants to demonstrate access to the disputed IPTV sites and services by using each of the defendants’ virtual private networks, just as it does not request findings by using each of the internet service providers’ networks when a blocking is requested of them on the basis of Article L. 333-10 of the Sports Code,” the court notes.

    Had comprehensive checks been carried out, questions may have been raised over the need to block pirate domains previously seized by the Alliance for Creativity and Entertainment.

    ace-sus

    Other domains from the Canal+ list below were seized by ACE during the last few days, so blocking those domains will be unnecessary too.

    The decision of the Court of Paris is available here (pdf, French)

    aliezstream.pro
    antenasport.shop
    antenasports.ru
    antenasports.shop
    antenatv.online
    antenatv.store
    antennasport.ru
    asportv.shop
    livetv802.me
    toparena.store
    emb.ap1357.me
    embx224539.ap1357.me
    1.qwebplay.xyz
    livetv807.me
    cdn.livetv807.me
    boxtv60.com
    infinity-ott.com
    vbnl23.com
    footy-bite.com
    freesportstime.com
    livestreamlinks.cc
    crichdplayer.com
    crichd.sc
    crichd.mobi
    crichd.sx
    crichd.tv
    me.crichd.tv
    nbabite.to
    reddit.nbabite.to
    s2watch.link
    soccerinhd.com
    sportlemons.to
    sports-prime.com
    topevents.us
    buffsports.me
    buffstreams.sx
    vipbox.sx
    vipbox.bz
    freestreams-live.top
    alkooratv.onlinekora-tv.com
    onlinekora-tv.com
    futbollibre.ws
    kooracity.cc
    ok.tvkora-online.com
    tvkora-online.com
    pirlotv.football
    ramsportl .com
    roja.football
    rojadirectaenvivo.life
    rojadirectaenvivo.site
    rojadirectatv.at
    rojadirectatv.la
    rojadirectaz.top
    rojadiretta.me
    soccerlive.app
    thesport.live
    futbollibre.ws
    hesgoal.watch
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    rojadirectaenvivo.com
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    rojadirectatv.top
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    rojadirectatvs.com
    soccerstreams.cc
    soccerstreams.unblockedstream.online
    streameast.soccer
    tarjetarojaonline.org
    tarjetarojatv.run
    totalsportek.one
    totalsportk.org
    viperplay.net
    viperplay.online
    viperplayhd.com
    vipleague.app
    vipleagues.org
    vip-league.net
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    hdmatch.link
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    From: TF , for the latest news on copyright battles, piracy and more.

    • To chevron_right

      Major VPN Providers Ordered to Block Pirate Sports Streaming Sites

      news.movim.eu / TorrentFreak • 16 May 2025 • 7 minutes

    vpn-divertx1 Article L. 333-10 of the French Sport Code enables rightsholders to request blocking measures against named pirate sites if they can demonstrate “serious and repeated infringement” of their exploitation rights.

    To prevent pirate sites from being accessed on French soil, rightsholders may request that “all proportionate measures” are implemented by any online entity in a position to help. The scope of Article L. 333-10 was always meant to be broad.

    The first logical targets were local ISPs which easily fell within scope. Then, when inevitable circumvention raised its head, utilizing infrastructure beyond the reach of regular ISPs, Article L. 333-10 already had that covered.

    Following a Canal+ complaint, use of third party DNS resolvers at Cloudflare and Google headed to court in 2024 . Both were labeled intermediaries by the Court, and under the still unstressed scope of Article L. 333-10, both were considered capable of contributing to the suppression of piracy.

    Canal+ / LFP Target Major VPN Providers

    Having effectively added public DNS resolvers to the French blocking machine, attention turned to the next targets. In February 2025, it emerged that Groupe Canal + and Société d’édition de Canal Plus (SECP) had filed a case in November 2024 against NordVPN, CyberGhost, ProtonVPN, ExpressVPN, and Surfshark.

    The Canal companies alleged that “numerous” websites, accessible from within France, illegally streamed matches from various sporting competitions to which they hold the rights.

    Since the VPNs’ subscribers were among those viewing the infringing streams, the Canal companies asked the court to compel the providers to implement “all measures likely to prevent access [to the illegal streams] from French territory,” including in all French overseas territories, “by any effective means”.

    The VPN providers objected to the application on various grounds. Nord and Surfshark requested a declaration that the Canal companies lacked standing to act; as such, their application should be declared inadmissible. Proton sought a similar declaration while noting that the company lacked the ability to defend the requested blocking measures. The same assertion was made by CyberGhost and Express; all argued that Article L. 333-10 does not apply to VPN providers.

    Other objections concerned jurisdiction and whether French law is compatible with EU legislation. CyberGhost and Express suggested a stay of proceedings pending a response from the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) in the Dutch case, AFS et al .

    Court Rejects VPN Providers’ Objections

    In its decision published Thursday, the Court found that matters concerning the CJEU would have no impact on the current case. Calls for the Canal companies’ application to be declared inadmissible due to a lack of standing, were also dismissed, while a review of the allocation of rights pertaining to the various sports competitions raised no concerns.

    Arguments that the VPN providers had no standing to defend themselves, due to Article L. 333-10 of the French Sports Code being inapplicable to VPN providers, fared no better.

    The court notes that Article L.333-10 does not impose any restrictions on the targeted entity, adding that VPN providers are expressly covered under the Digital Services Act.

    “Blocking such a service for certain domain names means that the provider of this service prevents its users from accessing the disputed domain names when using their VPN tool. Internet users using these virtual private networks would therefore no longer be able to access the disputed sites through this intermediary,” the decision reads.

    “Consequently, the defendant companies, in their capacity as providers of virtual private network services, are technical intermediaries capable of contributing to remedying the harm that Groupe Canal+, SECP and Canal+ Rights claim to have suffered.”

    Blocking Order Issued

    The Court’s instructions and the full list of domains can be found below.

    [The Court] orders the companies Cyberghost LLC, Cyberghost Srl, Expressco services, Express technologies, Nordvpn (Netherlands), Nordvpn (Republic of Panama), Surfshark Bv, Surfshark Ltd and Proton to implement, at the latest within three days following notification of this decision, all measures necessary to prevent, until the date of the last match of the championship of the Premier League for the 2024/2025 season, currently set for May 25, 2025, access to the websites and IPTV services identified [below] as well as to the IPTV sites and services not yet identified on the date of this decision, from French territory, including in the overseas communities, departments and regions, and/or by their users based on a contract taken out in this territory, by any effective means, and in particular by blocking the following domain names and associated subdomains…..

    The cost of blocking will be shared between the parties, with the details to be agreed at a later date. A request by the plaintiffs to compel the VPN providers to publish details of the case on their homepages for publicity purposes, was described as “inappropriate” and rejected by the Court.

    The decision reveals that many of the domain names submitted by Canal for blocking, are already subject to blocking measures by French ISPs following notification by telecoms regulator ARCOM. Familiar brands include Footy Bite, Cric HD, Buffstreams, Futbollibre, Rojadirecta, and Crackstreams, among dozens of others. In these cases widespread piracy has already been established, but it appears that in-depth proof of infringement may not be a hard requirement.

    “Since the burden of proof should not be unnecessarily complex and costly, the court cannot require the claimants to demonstrate access to the disputed IPTV sites and services by using each of the defendants’ virtual private networks, just as it does not request findings by using each of the internet service providers’ networks when a blocking is requested of them on the basis of Article L. 333-10 of the Sports Code,” the court notes.

    Had comprehensive checks been carried out, questions may have been raised over the need to block pirate domains previously seized by the Alliance for Creativity and Entertainment.

    ace-sus

    Other domains from the Canal+ list below were seized by ACE during the last few days, so blocking those domains will be unnecessary too.

    The decision of the Court of Paris is available here (pdf, French)

    aliezstream.pro
    antenasport.shop
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    From: TF , for the latest news on copyright battles, piracy and more.

    • To chevron_right

      Italy Fines Over 2,200 Pirate IPTV Subscribers in New Crackdown

      news.movim.eu / TorrentFreak • 16 May 2025 • 3 minutes

    italy flag A few months ago, Italy paved the way to issue fines against subscribers of pirate IPTV services.

    A memorandum of understanding between the Prosecutor’s Office, Guardia di Finanza, and AGCOM, established a “collaboration protocol” where information on IPTV users would be shared between agencies.

    The source of this information wasn’t made immediately clear, but it’s likely that it applies to subscriber details obtained in IPTV raids that regularly take place in the country. These databases likely hold emails and other potentially identifiable information on (former) subscribers.

    With these details in hand, authorities can now approach suspected offenders. Backed by a new anti-piracy law introduced in 2023, which enables fines of up to €5,000 for repeat offender s, no time was wasted warning IPTV pirates that their time had run out. This warning was more than a veiled threat, it now appears.

    2,282 Subscribers Fined

    At a press conference this week, the Guardia di Finanza announced the first concrete results of intensified anti-piracy actions targeting end-users. According to the police, 2,282 pirate IPTV users were targeted with fines across Italy.

    Initial fines typically start at €154, but the authorities emphasize that these will increase to €5,000 if the same offenders are caught again.

    These actions mark the first effective application of Law 93/2023 against end-users, not just operators. According to local press , the subscriber details are linked to an enforcement action in Lecce, where a large IPTV operation was dismantled last October.

    The authorities have made it clear that this is not a one-off event. Activities are underway to identify other pirate IPTV subscribers and three other Prosecutors’ Offices have launched investigations to identify more targets.

    Piracy & Politics

    In addition to these fines, Law 93/2023 also established Italy’s Piracy Shield, a system that enables swift ISP blocking of unauthorized IPTV streams.

    After its launch last year, Piracy Shield was heavily criticized by opponents, particularly for several overblocking errors. However, it remains in place today and is gradually being expanded and streamlined .

    The legislation is in large part tailored towards stopping pirated live-streams of football broadcasts, which is a big deal in the country. What helps in this regard is that Senator Claudio Lotito, the author and rapporteur of the anti-piracy law, is also the owner of one of the largest Italian clubs; Lazio.

    Commenting on the thousands of fines, Lotito notes that there is “no more joking around”, adding that those who cross the line will face personal and financial repercussions.

    Italian Football Praises Fines

    The Lazio owner is not the only football boss to welcome the news. Sky reports that Luigi De Siervo, CEO of the top league Serie A, warned that “no one who commits a crime of piracy in Italy can rest easy” .

    Paolo Scaroni, president of AC Milan, stressed that the country already has some of the best anti-piracy laws; it is key to put these to use.

    “We have an excellent law, but it needs to be enforced. Enforcing it means punishing those who provide piracy but also those who use and buy it,” Scaroni commented.

    Finally, Inter president Beppe Marotta noted that it’s time to say ‘enough’ to piracy. Instead of asking the public to stop pirating, they should feel the consequences right away.

    “This law, which was passed two years ago, is now prepared to address the priorities. Using a football metaphor: if before there was a yellow card, now there is a red card. The law will help rebalance revenues and give a boost to the movement.”

    Whether these fines will indeed motivate people to start paying remains to be seen. Depending on the scale of the fines, recipients may have to save up before they can start paying for legal subscriptions.

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

    • To chevron_right

      Italy Fines Over 2,200 Pirate IPTV Subscribers in New Crackdown

      news.movim.eu / TorrentFreak • 16 May 2025 • 3 minutes

    italy flag A few months ago, Italy paved the way to issue fines against subscribers of pirate IPTV services.

    A memorandum of understanding between the Prosecutor’s Office, Guardia di Finanza, and AGCOM, established a “collaboration protocol” where information on IPTV users would be shared between agencies.

    The source of this information wasn’t made immediately clear, but it’s likely that it applies to subscriber details obtained in IPTV raids that regularly take place in the country. These databases likely hold emails and other potentially identifiable information on (former) subscribers.

    With these details in hand, authorities can now approach suspected offenders. Backed by a new anti-piracy law introduced in 2023, which enables fines of up to €5,000 for repeat offender s, no time was wasted warning IPTV pirates that their time had run out. This warning was more than a veiled threat, it now appears.

    2,282 Subscribers Fined

    At a press conference this week, the Guardia di Finanza announced the first concrete results of intensified anti-piracy actions targeting end-users. According to the police, 2,282 pirate IPTV users were targeted with fines across Italy.

    Initial fines typically start at €154, but the authorities emphasize that these will increase to €5,000 if the same offenders are caught again.

    These actions mark the first effective application of Law 93/2023 against end-users, not just operators. According to local press , the subscriber details are linked to an enforcement action in Lecce, where a large IPTV operation was dismantled last October.

    The authorities have made it clear that this is not a one-off event. Activities are underway to identify other pirate IPTV subscribers and three other Prosecutors’ Offices have launched investigations to identify more targets.

    Piracy & Politics

    In addition to these fines, Law 93/2023 also established Italy’s Piracy Shield, a system that enables swift ISP blocking of unauthorized IPTV streams.

    After its launch last year, Piracy Shield was heavily criticized by opponents, particularly for several overblocking errors. However, it remains in place today and is gradually being expanded and streamlined .

    The legislation is in large part tailored towards stopping pirated live-streams of football broadcasts, which is a big deal in the country. What helps in this regard is that Senator Claudio Lotito, the author and rapporteur of the anti-piracy law, is also the owner of one of the largest Italian clubs; Lazio.

    Commenting on the thousands of fines, Lotito notes that there is “no more joking around”, adding that those who cross the line will face personal and financial repercussions.

    Italian Football Praises Fines

    The Lazio owner is not the only football boss to welcome the news. Sky reports that Luigi De Siervo, CEO of the top league Serie A, warned that “no one who commits a crime of piracy in Italy can rest easy” .

    Paolo Scaroni, president of AC Milan, stressed that the country already has some of the best anti-piracy laws; it is key to put these to use.

    “We have an excellent law, but it needs to be enforced. Enforcing it means punishing those who provide piracy but also those who use and buy it,” Scaroni commented.

    Finally, Inter president Beppe Marotta noted that it’s time to say ‘enough’ to piracy. Instead of asking the public to stop pirating, they should feel the consequences right away.

    “This law, which was passed two years ago, is now prepared to address the priorities. Using a football metaphor: if before there was a yellow card, now there is a red card. The law will help rebalance revenues and give a boost to the movement.”

    Whether these fines will indeed motivate people to start paying remains to be seen. Depending on the scale of the fines, recipients may have to save up before they can start paying for legal subscriptions.

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

    • To chevron_right

      Italy Fines Over 2,200 Pirate IPTV Subscribers in New Crackdown

      news.movim.eu / TorrentFreak • 16 May 2025 • 3 minutes

    italy flag A few months ago, Italy paved the way to issue fines against subscribers of pirate IPTV services.

    A memorandum of understanding between the Prosecutor’s Office, Guardia di Finanza, and AGCOM, established a “collaboration protocol” where information on IPTV users would be shared between agencies.

    The source of this information wasn’t made immediately clear, but it’s likely that it applies to subscriber details obtained in IPTV raids that regularly take place in the country. These databases likely hold emails and other potentially identifiable information on (former) subscribers.

    With these details in hand, authorities can now approach suspected offenders. Backed by a new anti-piracy law introduced in 2023, which enables fines of up to €5,000 for repeat offender s, no time was wasted warning IPTV pirates that their time had run out. This warning was more than a veiled threat, it now appears.

    2,282 Subscribers Fined

    At a press conference this week, the Guardia di Finanza announced the first concrete results of intensified anti-piracy actions targeting end-users. According to the police, 2,282 pirate IPTV users were targeted with fines across Italy.

    Initial fines typically start at €154, but the authorities emphasize that these will increase to €5,000 if the same offenders are caught again.

    These actions mark the first effective application of Law 93/2023 against end-users, not just operators. According to local press , the subscriber details are linked to an enforcement action in Lecce, where a large IPTV operation was dismantled last October.

    The authorities have made it clear that this is not a one-off event. Activities are underway to identify other pirate IPTV subscribers and three other Prosecutors’ Offices have launched investigations to identify more targets.

    Piracy & Politics

    In addition to these fines, Law 93/2023 also established Italy’s Piracy Shield, a system that enables swift ISP blocking of unauthorized IPTV streams.

    After its launch last year, Piracy Shield was heavily criticized by opponents, particularly for several overblocking errors. However, it remains in place today and is gradually being expanded and streamlined .

    The legislation is in large part tailored towards stopping pirated live-streams of football broadcasts, which is a big deal in the country. What helps in this regard is that Senator Claudio Lotito, the author and rapporteur of the anti-piracy law, is also the owner of one of the largest Italian clubs; Lazio.

    Commenting on the thousands of fines, Lotito notes that there is “no more joking around”, adding that those who cross the line will face personal and financial repercussions.

    Italian Football Praises Fines

    The Lazio owner is not the only football boss to welcome the news. Sky reports that Luigi De Siervo, CEO of the top league Serie A, warned that “no one who commits a crime of piracy in Italy can rest easy” .

    Paolo Scaroni, president of AC Milan, stressed that the country already has some of the best anti-piracy laws; it is key to put these to use.

    “We have an excellent law, but it needs to be enforced. Enforcing it means punishing those who provide piracy but also those who use and buy it,” Scaroni commented.

    Finally, Inter president Beppe Marotta noted that it’s time to say ‘enough’ to piracy. Instead of asking the public to stop pirating, they should feel the consequences right away.

    “This law, which was passed two years ago, is now prepared to address the priorities. Using a football metaphor: if before there was a yellow card, now there is a red card. The law will help rebalance revenues and give a boost to the movement.”

    Whether these fines will indeed motivate people to start paying remains to be seen. Depending on the scale of the fines, recipients may have to save up before they can start paying for legal subscriptions.

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

    • To chevron_right

      Wrong Logo, No Piracy Proof: French Court Rejects DNS Piracy Blocking Bids

      news.movim.eu / TorrentFreak • 15 May 2025 • 4 minutes

    image of a blindfolded justice In May last year, the Paris Judicial Court ordered Google, Cloudflare, and Cisco to block access to several pirate websites by effectively poisoning their DNS.

    The order, requested by Canal+, compelled the tech giants to modify their resolvers or take measures that had that effect, to prevent users from accessing unauthorized sports streams.

    In the months that followed, additional rightsholders such as DAZN and beIN joined in on the action with similar requests, while more DNS providers were added as targets, including Quad9 and Vercel. Transparency is limited, however, so it can be difficult to figure out who blocks what and why.

    BeIN Seeks New DNS Blocking Order

    This week, a new court order appeared on our radar which stands out for numerous reasons. The order was requested by a French sister company of Qatari multinational beIN and targets public DNS resolvers provided by Cloudflare, Google, and Quad9.

    BeIN’s complaint alleges that the DNS services allow the public to resolve domain names linked to sports piracy. This includes unauthorized broadcasts of the Bundesliga and the WTA Tennis tournament, for which beIN claims to be the licensed rightsholder.

    Domains listed: sporttvls.com, lshunter.net, premiertv.watch, line.super-signal.com, line.protv.cc, mrc10.in, streamendous.online, techydeals.online, braveo.tv, evdtv.app, and mypanel.be.

    The legal paperwork is in many regards similar to that seen in previous applications; grounded in Article L. 333-10 of the French Sports Code, rightsholders are empowered to seek court orders against any entity that can help to stop ‘serious and repeated’ sports piracy.

    Court Rejects Domain Blocks Citing Insufficient Proof

    Previously, the Paris Judicial Court had few reservations regarding the infringing status of targeted domain names. In this case, however, several blocking requests were denied.

    According to the court, beIN failed to provide sufficient proof to warrant a blocking order under Article L. 333-10 for alleged infringing activity on sporttvls.com, lshunter.net, premiertv.watch, streamendous.online, and techydeals.online.

    Insufficient evidence

    court order

    To grant the requested blocking measures, the court needed to see evidence of “grave and repeated” infringements of beIN’s neighboring rights by these specific domains. In this case, the provided evidence fell short.

    No Logo, No Blocking

    This doesn’t mean that the websites can’t be labeled pirate sites. In fact, two of the domains were previously blocked in France for grave and repeated copyright infringement. In this case, beIN appears to have shown the wrong streams in court.

    BeIN is not the exclusive rightsholder for these sporting events. For the WTA, for example, DAZN obtained broadcasting rights from the tennis tournament, which sublicensed it to beIN for the French territory. Similarly, beIN also holds derived rights to broadcast the Bundesliga in France.

    This means that beIN has neighboring rights and, according to the Paris court, needs to show that streams infringing its neighboring rights are shown by the alleged pirate sites. For example, by displaying a beIN logo.

    That was not the case for all domains. For example, the infringement evidence for streamendous.online and techydeals.online included broadcasts with the DAZN logo, while some WTA streams did not include a logo at all. Therefore, the court deemed this proof to be insufficient.

    Cloudflare and Google Pushed Back

    The court’s decision to reject these blockades came after Google and Cloudflare objected. While many of their counterarguments were rejected by the court, both companies challenged beIN’s claim that it holds exclusive broadcast rights for these streams.

    The court agreed with this objection. It found that beIN’s evidence was insufficient to definitively prove its exclusive exploitation rights for the WTA Tour and Bundesliga competitions.

    BeIn was allowed to continue the case based on the neighboring rights it holds. Google subsequently argued that these were not sufficiently backed up by the evidence, as the logos (or lack thereof) revealed, which is ultimately why several blocking requests were denied.

    Opposition

    insufficient proof

    While neither Google nor Cloudflare will be pleased with the outcome, this case shows the importance of challenging blocking requests in court, although that’s not always feasible.

    Quad9: DNS Blocks are Fundamentally Wrong

    Quad9 was noticeably absent and General Manager Simon Forster informs us that his company didn’t make an appearance, simply because it lacks the resources to put up a fight.

    Forster highlights the challenges faced by his small Swiss non-profit organization. With a tight budget, confronting billion-euro corporations in court presents a significant hurdle for Quad9.

    Despite these financial constraints, Forster notes that Quad9 will continue to resist blocking actions to the best of its ability. He clarifies that the company’s decision not to defend itself in this particular case is due to a lack of resources, rather than an unwillingness to protect its rights and those of its users.

    ‘Fundamentally we believe that these blocking orders are wrong,’ Forster states, emphasizing that rightsholders have alternative methods to protect their content instead of pursuing legal action against content-neutral DNS providers.

    More Blocking Action Ahead?

    For now, there are no signs that rightsholders are backing down from their DNS blocking requests. On the contrary, these are rapidly expanding to other countries in Europe, and in the United States they are also part of a proposed site blocking bill.

    Given the opposition to recent court orders, Google and Cloudflare are expected to oppose these efforts fiercely, until all their options are exhausted.

    Whether beIN plans to partially refile its blocking request with the correct logos is unknown. If they do, a move by pirate stream operators to step up logo blurring could amount to a novel type of blocking circumvention, complicating matters further.

    A copy of the latest blocking order, issued by the Paris Judicial Court on May 2 and published by Cloudflare in the Lumen Database is available here ( pdf )

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

    • To chevron_right

      Wrong Logo, No Piracy Proof: French Court Rejects DNS Piracy Blocking Bids

      news.movim.eu / TorrentFreak • 15 May 2025 • 4 minutes

    image of a blindfolded justice In May last year, the Paris Judicial Court ordered Google, Cloudflare, and Cisco to block access to several pirate websites by effectively poisoning their DNS.

    The order, requested by Canal+, compelled the tech giants to modify their resolvers or take measures that had that effect, to prevent users from accessing unauthorized sports streams.

    In the months that followed, additional rightsholders such as DAZN and beIN joined in on the action with similar requests, while more DNS providers were added as targets, including Quad9 and Vercel. Transparency is limited, however, so it can be difficult to figure out who blocks what and why.

    BeIN Seeks New DNS Blocking Order

    This week, a new court order appeared on our radar which stands out for numerous reasons. The order was requested by a French sister company of Qatari multinational beIN and targets public DNS resolvers provided by Cloudflare, Google, and Quad9.

    BeIN’s complaint alleges that the DNS services allow the public to resolve domain names linked to sports piracy. This includes unauthorized broadcasts of the Bundesliga and the WTA Tennis tournament, for which beIN claims to be the licensed rightsholder.

    Domains listed: sporttvls.com, lshunter.net, premiertv.watch, line.super-signal.com, line.protv.cc, mrc10.in, streamendous.online, techydeals.online, braveo.tv, evdtv.app, and mypanel.be.

    The legal paperwork is in many regards similar to that seen in previous applications; grounded in Article L. 333-10 of the French Sports Code, rightsholders are empowered to seek court orders against any entity that can help to stop ‘serious and repeated’ sports piracy.

    Court Rejects Domain Blocks Citing Insufficient Proof

    Previously, the Paris Judicial Court had few reservations regarding the infringing status of targeted domain names. In this case, however, several blocking requests were denied.

    According to the court, beIN failed to provide sufficient proof to warrant a blocking order under Article L. 333-10 for alleged infringing activity on sporttvls.com, lshunter.net, premiertv.watch, streamendous.online, and techydeals.online.

    Insufficient evidence

    court order

    To grant the requested blocking measures, the court needed to see evidence of “grave and repeated” infringements of beIN’s neighboring rights by these specific domains. In this case, the provided evidence fell short.

    No Logo, No Blocking

    This doesn’t mean that the websites can’t be labeled pirate sites. In fact, two of the domains were previously blocked in France for grave and repeated copyright infringement. In this case, beIN appears to have shown the wrong streams in court.

    BeIN is not the exclusive rightsholder for these sporting events. For the WTA, for example, DAZN obtained broadcasting rights from the tennis tournament, which sublicensed it to beIN for the French territory. Similarly, beIN also holds derived rights to broadcast the Bundesliga in France.

    This means that beIN has neighboring rights and, according to the Paris court, needs to show that streams infringing its neighboring rights are shown by the alleged pirate sites. For example, by displaying a beIN logo.

    That was not the case for all domains. For example, the infringement evidence for streamendous.online and techydeals.online included broadcasts with the DAZN logo, while some WTA streams did not include a logo at all. Therefore, the court deemed this proof to be insufficient.

    Cloudflare and Google Pushed Back

    The court’s decision to reject these blockades came after Google and Cloudflare objected. While many of their counterarguments were rejected by the court, both companies challenged beIN’s claim that it holds exclusive broadcast rights for these streams.

    The court agreed with this objection. It found that beIN’s evidence was insufficient to definitively prove its exclusive exploitation rights for the WTA Tour and Bundesliga competitions.

    BeIn was allowed to continue the case based on the neighboring rights it holds. Google subsequently argued that these were not sufficiently backed up by the evidence, as the logos (or lack thereof) revealed, which is ultimately why several blocking requests were denied.

    Opposition

    insufficient proof

    While neither Google nor Cloudflare will be pleased with the outcome, this case shows the importance of challenging blocking requests in court, although that’s not always feasible.

    Quad9: DNS Blocks are Fundamentally Wrong

    Quad9 was noticeably absent and General Manager Simon Forster informs us that his company didn’t make an appearance, simply because it lacks the resources to put up a fight.

    Forster highlights the challenges faced by his small Swiss non-profit organization. With a tight budget, confronting billion-euro corporations in court presents a significant hurdle for Quad9.

    Despite these financial constraints, Forster notes that Quad9 will continue to resist blocking actions to the best of its ability. He clarifies that the company’s decision not to defend itself in this particular case is due to a lack of resources, rather than an unwillingness to protect its rights and those of its users.

    ‘Fundamentally we believe that these blocking orders are wrong,’ Forster states, emphasizing that rightsholders have alternative methods to protect their content instead of pursuing legal action against content-neutral DNS providers.

    More Blocking Action Ahead?

    For now, there are no signs that rightsholders are backing down from their DNS blocking requests. On the contrary, these are rapidly expanding to other countries in Europe, and in the United States they are also part of a proposed site blocking bill.

    Given the opposition to recent court orders, Google and Cloudflare are expected to oppose these efforts fiercely, until all their options are exhausted.

    Whether beIN plans to partially refile its blocking request with the correct logos is unknown. If they do, a move by pirate stream operators to step up logo blurring could amount to a novel type of blocking circumvention, complicating matters further.

    A copy of the latest blocking order, issued by the Paris Judicial Court on May 2 and published by Cloudflare in the Lumen Database is available here ( pdf )

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

    • To chevron_right

      Wrong Logo, No Piracy Proof: French Court Rejects DNS Piracy Blocking Bids

      news.movim.eu / TorrentFreak • 15 May 2025 • 4 minutes

    image of a blindfolded justice In May last year, the Paris Judicial Court ordered Google, Cloudflare, and Cisco to block access to several pirate websites by effectively poisoning their DNS.

    The order, requested by Canal+, compelled the tech giants to modify their resolvers or take measures that had that effect, to prevent users from accessing unauthorized sports streams.

    In the months that followed, additional rightsholders such as DAZN and beIN joined in on the action with similar requests, while more DNS providers were added as targets, including Quad9 and Vercel. Transparency is limited, however, so it can be difficult to figure out who blocks what and why.

    BeIN Seeks New DNS Blocking Order

    This week, a new court order appeared on our radar which stands out for numerous reasons. The order was requested by a French sister company of Qatari multinational beIN and targets public DNS resolvers provided by Cloudflare, Google, and Quad9.

    BeIN’s complaint alleges that the DNS services allow the public to resolve domain names linked to sports piracy. This includes unauthorized broadcasts of the Bundesliga and the WTA Tennis tournament, for which beIN claims to be the licensed rightsholder.

    Domains listed: sporttvls.com, lshunter.net, premiertv.watch, line.super-signal.com, line.protv.cc, mrc10.in, streamendous.online, techydeals.online, braveo.tv, evdtv.app, and mypanel.be.

    The legal paperwork is in many regards similar to that seen in previous applications; grounded in Article L. 333-10 of the French Sports Code, rightsholders are empowered to seek court orders against any entity that can help to stop ‘serious and repeated’ sports piracy.

    Court Rejects Domain Blocks Citing Insufficient Proof

    Previously, the Paris Judicial Court had few reservations regarding the infringing status of targeted domain names. In this case, however, several blocking requests were denied.

    According to the court, beIN failed to provide sufficient proof to warrant a blocking order under Article L. 333-10 for alleged infringing activity on sporttvls.com, lshunter.net, premiertv.watch, streamendous.online, and techydeals.online.

    Insufficient evidence

    court order

    To grant the requested blocking measures, the court needed to see evidence of “grave and repeated” infringements of beIN’s neighboring rights by these specific domains. In this case, the provided evidence fell short.

    No Logo, No Blocking

    This doesn’t mean that the websites can’t be labeled pirate sites. In fact, two of the domains were previously blocked in France for grave and repeated copyright infringement. In this case, beIN appears to have shown the wrong streams in court.

    BeIN is not the exclusive rightsholder for these sporting events. For the WTA, for example, DAZN obtained broadcasting rights from the tennis tournament, which sublicensed it to beIN for the French territory. Similarly, beIN also holds derived rights to broadcast the Bundesliga in France.

    This means that beIN has neighboring rights and, according to the Paris court, needs to show that streams infringing its neighboring rights are shown by the alleged pirate sites. For example, by displaying a beIN logo.

    That was not the case for all domains. For example, the infringement evidence for streamendous.online and techydeals.online included broadcasts with the DAZN logo, while some WTA streams did not include a logo at all. Therefore, the court deemed this proof to be insufficient.

    Cloudflare and Google Pushed Back

    The court’s decision to reject these blockades came after Google and Cloudflare objected. While many of their counterarguments were rejected by the court, both companies challenged beIN’s claim that it holds exclusive broadcast rights for these streams.

    The court agreed with this objection. It found that beIN’s evidence was insufficient to definitively prove its exclusive exploitation rights for the WTA Tour and Bundesliga competitions.

    BeIn was allowed to continue the case based on the neighboring rights it holds. Google subsequently argued that these were not sufficiently backed up by the evidence, as the logos (or lack thereof) revealed, which is ultimately why several blocking requests were denied.

    Opposition

    insufficient proof

    While neither Google nor Cloudflare will be pleased with the outcome, this case shows the importance of challenging blocking requests in court, although that’s not always feasible.

    Quad9: DNS Blocks are Fundamentally Wrong

    Quad9 was noticeably absent and General Manager Simon Forster informs us that his company didn’t make an appearance, simply because it lacks the resources to put up a fight.

    Forster highlights the challenges faced by his small Swiss non-profit organization. With a tight budget, confronting billion-euro corporations in court presents a significant hurdle for Quad9.

    Despite these financial constraints, Forster notes that Quad9 will continue to resist blocking actions to the best of its ability. He clarifies that the company’s decision not to defend itself in this particular case is due to a lack of resources, rather than an unwillingness to protect its rights and those of its users.

    ‘Fundamentally we believe that these blocking orders are wrong,’ Forster states, emphasizing that rightsholders have alternative methods to protect their content instead of pursuing legal action against content-neutral DNS providers.

    More Blocking Action Ahead?

    For now, there are no signs that rightsholders are backing down from their DNS blocking requests. On the contrary, these are rapidly expanding to other countries in Europe, and in the United States they are also part of a proposed site blocking bill.

    Given the opposition to recent court orders, Google and Cloudflare are expected to oppose these efforts fiercely, until all their options are exhausted.

    Whether beIN plans to partially refile its blocking request with the correct logos is unknown. If they do, a move by pirate stream operators to step up logo blurring could amount to a novel type of blocking circumvention, complicating matters further.

    A copy of the latest blocking order, issued by the Paris Judicial Court on May 2 and published by Cloudflare in the Lumen Database is available here ( pdf )

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