In recent years, legal video and sports streaming services have flourished around the world.

At the same time, millions of people are streaming from unauthorized sources, often through perfectly legal streaming devices including Amazon’s Firesticks.

Most people know that the subscription services that typically arrive pre-installed on the devices are unauthorized. However, with such significant discounts available, millions can’t resist these offers.

The demand has created an entire new industry with a few big players at the top, making millions. Further down the food chain, there is a wide variety of subscription resellers who take a cut as well, running their own ‘shops’.

Court Sentences IPTV Firestick Seller

The latter description applies to Mr. O’Donnell, a 41-year-old man from the North West of England who was sentenced at Liverpool Crown Court today. The defendant, who pleaded guilty, received a two-year suspended prison sentence and was ordered to carry out 150 hours of unpaid work.

As often seen in UK cases, the sentence is for “supplying” content under the Fraud Act. In addition, the defendant violated the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act of 1988 by “providing, promoting and marketing in the course of a business, a service designed to circumvent technological measures.

O’Donnell promoted and sold the ‘fully loaded’ Firesticks though direct contact, Facebook and WhatsApp, delivering some of the purchases in person. After an investigation by local anti-piracy group FACT, he was eventually arrested by Merseyside Police on July 4th last year.

According to FACT, these unauthorized IPTV subscriptions included broadcasts of Sky, TNT Sports, and possibly others.

£130,000

The Liverpool man doesn’t seem to be a key player in the broader pirate IPTV ecosystem, but still generated £130,000 in revenue. How much work that involved isn’t clear, but FACT mentions that the Firesticks were sold ‘over a number of years’.

Not all of the revenue came from selling modified Firesticks. The defendant also sold standalone IPTV subscriptions, priced between £40 and £85 for an annual plan.

How much profit the operation made is unclear. According to information available to us at the time of writing, O’Donnell is not required to pay any costs to the victims due to his personal circumstances.

Sticky Message

All in all, both FACT andMerseyside Police are pleased with the outcome of this case. They hope that it sends a clear message to others operating in the same line of business.

“The message is very clear: if you sell a device that provides access to content that is not licensed to you or owned by you, you could face criminal investigation, prosecution and a conviction,” FACT CEO Kieron Sharp comments.

Detective Inspector Steve Frame at Merseyside Police adds more cautionary words for pirate IPTV peddlers.

“We will use all available powers and continue to work with FACT to identify anyone else who is involved in this form of criminality and put them before the courts,” Frame says, commenting on the news.

This certainly isn’t the first IPTV-related sentencing in the UK; time will tell if the message eventually sticks.

Finally, the FACT press release prominently refers to the activities as an “ illegal Firestick operation “. However, it is worth clarifying that Firesticks themselves are perfectly legal and are still on sale at Amazon.

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

In recent years, legal video and sports streaming services have flourished around the world.

At the same time, millions of people are streaming from unauthorized sources, often through perfectly legal streaming devices including Amazon’s Firesticks.

Most people know that the subscription services that typically arrive pre-installed on the devices are unauthorized. However, with such significant discounts available, millions can’t resist these offers.

The demand has created an entire new industry with a few big players at the top, making millions. Further down the food chain, there is a wide variety of subscription resellers who take a cut as well, running their own ‘shops’.

Court Sentences IPTV Firestick Seller

The latter description applies to Mr. O’Donnell, a 41-year-old man from the North West of England who was sentenced at Liverpool Crown Court today. The defendant, who pleaded guilty, received a two-year suspended prison sentence and was ordered to carry out 150 hours of unpaid work.

As often seen in UK cases, the sentence is for “supplying” content under the Fraud Act. In addition, the defendant violated the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act of 1988 by “providing, promoting and marketing in the course of a business, a service designed to circumvent technological measures.

O’Donnell promoted and sold the ‘fully loaded’ Firesticks though direct contact, Facebook and WhatsApp, delivering some of the purchases in person. After an investigation by local anti-piracy group FACT, he was eventually arrested by Merseyside Police on July 4th last year.

According to FACT, these unauthorized IPTV subscriptions included broadcasts of Sky, TNT Sports, and possibly others.

£130,000

The Liverpool man doesn’t seem to be a key player in the broader pirate IPTV ecosystem, but still generated £130,000 in revenue. How much work that involved isn’t clear, but FACT mentions that the Firesticks were sold ‘over a number of years’.

Not all of the revenue came from selling modified Firesticks. The defendant also sold standalone IPTV subscriptions, priced between £40 and £85 for an annual plan.

How much profit the operation made is unclear. According to information available to us at the time of writing, O’Donnell is not required to pay any costs to the victims due to his personal circumstances.

Sticky Message

All in all, both FACT andMerseyside Police are pleased with the outcome of this case. They hope that it sends a clear message to others operating in the same line of business.

“The message is very clear: if you sell a device that provides access to content that is not licensed to you or owned by you, you could face criminal investigation, prosecution and a conviction,” FACT CEO Kieron Sharp comments.

Detective Inspector Steve Frame at Merseyside Police adds more cautionary words for pirate IPTV peddlers.

“We will use all available powers and continue to work with FACT to identify anyone else who is involved in this form of criminality and put them before the courts,” Frame says, commenting on the news.

This certainly isn’t the first IPTV-related sentencing in the UK; time will tell if the message eventually sticks.

Finally, the FACT press release prominently refers to the activities as an “ illegal Firestick operation “. However, it is worth clarifying that Firesticks themselves are perfectly legal and are still on sale at Amazon.

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

In recent years, legal video and sports streaming services have flourished around the world.

At the same time, millions of people are streaming from unauthorized sources, often through perfectly legal streaming devices including Amazon’s Firesticks.

Most people know that the subscription services that typically arrive pre-installed on the devices are unauthorized. However, with such significant discounts available, millions can’t resist these offers.

The demand has created an entire new industry with a few big players at the top, making millions. Further down the food chain, there is a wide variety of subscription resellers who take a cut as well, running their own ‘shops’.

Court Sentences IPTV Firestick Seller

The latter description applies to Mr. O’Donnell, a 41-year-old man from the North West of England who was sentenced at Liverpool Crown Court today. The defendant, who pleaded guilty, received a two-year suspended prison sentence and was ordered to carry out 150 hours of unpaid work.

As often seen in UK cases, the sentence is for “supplying” content under the Fraud Act. In addition, the defendant violated the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act of 1988 by “providing, promoting and marketing in the course of a business, a service designed to circumvent technological measures.

O’Donnell promoted and sold the ‘fully loaded’ Firesticks though direct contact, Facebook and WhatsApp, delivering some of the purchases in person. After an investigation by local anti-piracy group FACT, he was eventually arrested by Merseyside Police on July 4th last year.

According to FACT, these unauthorized IPTV subscriptions included broadcasts of Sky, TNT Sports, and possibly others.

£130,000

The Liverpool man doesn’t seem to be a key player in the broader pirate IPTV ecosystem, but still generated £130,000 in revenue. How much work that involved isn’t clear, but FACT mentions that the Firesticks were sold ‘over a number of years’.

Not all of the revenue came from selling modified Firesticks. The defendant also sold standalone IPTV subscriptions, priced between £40 and £85 for an annual plan.

How much profit the operation made is unclear. According to information available to us at the time of writing, O’Donnell is not required to pay any costs to the victims due to his personal circumstances.

Sticky Message

All in all, both FACT andMerseyside Police are pleased with the outcome of this case. They hope that it sends a clear message to others operating in the same line of business.

“The message is very clear: if you sell a device that provides access to content that is not licensed to you or owned by you, you could face criminal investigation, prosecution and a conviction,” FACT CEO Kieron Sharp comments.

Detective Inspector Steve Frame at Merseyside Police adds more cautionary words for pirate IPTV peddlers.

“We will use all available powers and continue to work with FACT to identify anyone else who is involved in this form of criminality and put them before the courts,” Frame says, commenting on the news.

This certainly isn’t the first IPTV-related sentencing in the UK; time will tell if the message eventually sticks.

Finally, the FACT press release prominently refers to the activities as an “ illegal Firestick operation “. However, it is worth clarifying that Firesticks themselves are perfectly legal and are still on sale at Amazon.

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

Driven by views, likes, and in some cases, a reasonable level of fame, around 2016 emboldened YouTubers threw caution to the wind with their ‘content acquisition’ tutorials.

Where there had once been a nod-and-a-wink, many ventured into the full-blown piracy tutorial arena. For good measure, they also marketed them as such.

While some claimed protection based on freedom of speech, many underestimated the implications of exercising that right on YouTube, a platform they did not own. The majority failed to appreciate the importance of framing and intent and, as predicted in 2018 , YouTube’s 2021 response was inevitable .

Piracy Tutorials in 2024

On May 31, a popular GitHub repo containing Switch emulation tutorials found itself targeted by Nintendo.

According to a just-published DMCA notice, Nintendo’s main target was the Switch-Emulators-Guide repo and, by extension, over 120 forks.

A note from GitHub confirms that since most or all of the forks were infringing to the same extent as the parent repo, it processed the notice against 127 repos in total.

The Switch Emulators Guide was presented in the context of piracy, something made clear by a note on the main page of the original repo which stated that the tutorial was made, in part, for use on the /r/NewYuzuPiracy subreddit.

Since the actions of Yuzu and its eventual demise are part of the unwritten framework for similar takedowns , that sets the tone (although not the legal basis) in favor of takedown.

Violations of DMCA’s Anti-Circumvention Provision

When asked to provide a description and URL pointing to the copyrighted content allegedly infringed by the repos, Nintendo states that the works are the ‘Nintendo Switch firmware” and various games protected by technological protection measures (TPM) which prevent users from unlawfully copying and playing pirated games. The notice states the repos ‘provide access’ to keys that enable circumvention of its technical measures.

“The reported repositories offer and provide access to unauthorized copies of cryptographic keys that are used to circumvent Nintendo’s Technological Measures and infringe Nintendo’s intellectual property rights. Specifically, the reported repositories provide to users unauthorized copies of cryptographic keys (prod.keys) extracted from the Nintendo Switch firmware,” Nintendo writes.

“The prod.keys allow users to bypass Nintendo’s Technological Measures for digital games; specifically, prod.keys allow users to decrypt and play Nintendo Switch games in unauthorized ways. Distribution of keys without the copyright owner’s authorization is a violation of Section 1201 of the DMCA.”

Nintendo further notes that unauthorized distribution of prod.keys “facilitates copyright infringement by permitting users to play pirated versions of Nintendo’s copyright-protected game software on systems without the Nintendo Technological Measures or systems on which Nintendo’s Technological Measures have been disabled.”

Since the prod.keys are extracted from the Nintendo Switch firmware, which is also protected by copyright, distribution amounts to “infringement of Nintendo Switch firmware itself.”

Repo ‘Encrypts’ Links to Circumvention Tools

Given that the repo’s stated purpose was to provide information on how to circumvent Nintendo’s technical protection measures, it’s fairly ironic that it appears to have used technical measures itself to hinder detection.

“The reported repositories attempt to evade detection of their illegal activities by providing access to prod.keys and unauthorized copies of Nintendo’s firmware and video games via encoded links that direct users to third-party websites to download the infringing content,” Nintendo explains in its notice.

“The repositories provide strings of letters and numbers and then instruct users to ‘use [private] to decode the lines of strings given here to get an actual link.’ The decoded links take users to sites where they can access the prod.keys and unauthorized copies of Nintendo’s copyright-protected material.”

The image below shows the encoded links (partially redacted) that allegedly link to the content in question on third-party sites. To hide their nature, regular URLs are encoded using Base64, a binary-to-text encoding scheme that transforms them into a sequence of characters. Those characters can be decoded to reveal the original URL using online tools .

This type of encoding has increased in popularity in recent years since it’s believed that automated DMCA notice systems are more likely to pass by when no obvious URL exists in a web page. While in some cases that may still be true, it’s beyond clear that Nintendo’s notice here is the work of humans, even if a machine was responsible for finding the repo with the words ‘switch’ and ’emulators” in the title.

Repo Modifications, Original Stays Up

In line with GitHub policy, the repo was allowed to put right its transgressions to stay up. A number of modifications were made, including the removal of all encoded URLs and the references to piracy made on various pages. Most if not all forks were unable to take action in a timely fashion, so these were disabled by GitHub.

Finally, it’s worth noting that this was not a regular DMCA takedown notice ; Nintendo sent a DMCA anti-circumvention notice for which there is no official counternotice process available. While on many other platforms a notice like that can be instantly and permanently terminal, GitHub said that it did not find sufficient information to determine a valid anti-circumvention claim.

It did find other valid claims, however, and that led to the outcome detailed above.

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

Driven by views, likes, and in some cases, a reasonable level of fame, around 2016 emboldened YouTubers threw caution to the wind with their ‘content acquisition’ tutorials.

Where there had once been a nod-and-a-wink, many ventured into the full-blown piracy tutorial arena. For good measure, they also marketed them as such.

While some claimed protection based on freedom of speech, many underestimated the implications of exercising that right on YouTube, a platform they did not own. The majority failed to appreciate the importance of framing and intent and, as predicted in 2018 , YouTube’s 2021 response was inevitable .

Piracy Tutorials in 2024

On May 31, a popular GitHub repo containing Switch emulation tutorials found itself targeted by Nintendo.

According to a just-published DMCA notice, Nintendo’s main target was the Switch-Emulators-Guide repo and, by extension, over 120 forks.

A note from GitHub confirms that since most or all of the forks were infringing to the same extent as the parent repo, it processed the notice against 127 repos in total.

The Switch Emulators Guide was presented in the context of piracy, something made clear by a note on the main page of the original repo which stated that the tutorial was made, in part, for use on the /r/NewYuzuPiracy subreddit.

Since the actions of Yuzu and its eventual demise are part of the unwritten framework for similar takedowns , that sets the tone (although not the legal basis) in favor of takedown.

Violations of DMCA’s Anti-Circumvention Provision

When asked to provide a description and URL pointing to the copyrighted content allegedly infringed by the repos, Nintendo states that the works are the ‘Nintendo Switch firmware” and various games protected by technological protection measures (TPM) which prevent users from unlawfully copying and playing pirated games. The notice states the repos ‘provide access’ to keys that enable circumvention of its technical measures.

“The reported repositories offer and provide access to unauthorized copies of cryptographic keys that are used to circumvent Nintendo’s Technological Measures and infringe Nintendo’s intellectual property rights. Specifically, the reported repositories provide to users unauthorized copies of cryptographic keys (prod.keys) extracted from the Nintendo Switch firmware,” Nintendo writes.

“The prod.keys allow users to bypass Nintendo’s Technological Measures for digital games; specifically, prod.keys allow users to decrypt and play Nintendo Switch games in unauthorized ways. Distribution of keys without the copyright owner’s authorization is a violation of Section 1201 of the DMCA.”

Nintendo further notes that unauthorized distribution of prod.keys “facilitates copyright infringement by permitting users to play pirated versions of Nintendo’s copyright-protected game software on systems without the Nintendo Technological Measures or systems on which Nintendo’s Technological Measures have been disabled.”

Since the prod.keys are extracted from the Nintendo Switch firmware, which is also protected by copyright, distribution amounts to “infringement of Nintendo Switch firmware itself.”

Repo ‘Encrypts’ Links to Circumvention Tools

Given that the repo’s stated purpose was to provide information on how to circumvent Nintendo’s technical protection measures, it’s fairly ironic that it appears to have used technical measures itself to hinder detection.

“The reported repositories attempt to evade detection of their illegal activities by providing access to prod.keys and unauthorized copies of Nintendo’s firmware and video games via encoded links that direct users to third-party websites to download the infringing content,” Nintendo explains in its notice.

“The repositories provide strings of letters and numbers and then instruct users to ‘use [private] to decode the lines of strings given here to get an actual link.’ The decoded links take users to sites where they can access the prod.keys and unauthorized copies of Nintendo’s copyright-protected material.”

The image below shows the encoded links (partially redacted) that allegedly link to the content in question on third-party sites. To hide their nature, regular URLs are encoded using Base64, a binary-to-text encoding scheme that transforms them into a sequence of characters. Those characters can be decoded to reveal the original URL using online tools .

This type of encoding has increased in popularity in recent years since it’s believed that automated DMCA notice systems are more likely to pass by when no obvious URL exists in a web page. While in some cases that may still be true, it’s beyond clear that Nintendo’s notice here is the work of humans, even if a machine was responsible for finding the repo with the words ‘switch’ and ’emulators” in the title.

Repo Modifications, Original Stays Up

In line with GitHub policy, the repo was allowed to put right its transgressions to stay up. A number of modifications were made, including the removal of all encoded URLs and the references to piracy made on various pages. Most if not all forks were unable to take action in a timely fashion, so these were disabled by GitHub.

Finally, it’s worth noting that this was not a regular DMCA takedown notice ; Nintendo sent a DMCA anti-circumvention notice for which there is no official counternotice process available. While on many other platforms a notice like that can be instantly and permanently terminal, GitHub said that it did not find sufficient information to determine a valid anti-circumvention claim.

It did find other valid claims, however, and that led to the outcome detailed above.

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

Driven by views, likes, and in some cases, a reasonable level of fame, around 2016 emboldened YouTubers threw caution to the wind with their ‘content acquisition’ tutorials.

Where there had once been a nod-and-a-wink, many ventured into the full-blown piracy tutorial arena. For good measure, they also marketed them as such.

While some claimed protection based on freedom of speech, many underestimated the implications of exercising that right on YouTube, a platform they did not own. The majority failed to appreciate the importance of framing and intent and, as predicted in 2018 , YouTube’s 2021 response was inevitable .

Piracy Tutorials in 2024

On May 31, a popular GitHub repo containing Switch emulation tutorials found itself targeted by Nintendo.

According to a just-published DMCA notice, Nintendo’s main target was the Switch-Emulators-Guide repo and, by extension, over 120 forks.

A note from GitHub confirms that since most or all of the forks were infringing to the same extent as the parent repo, it processed the notice against 127 repos in total.

The Switch Emulators Guide was presented in the context of piracy, something made clear by a note on the main page of the original repo which stated that the tutorial was made, in part, for use on the /r/NewYuzuPiracy subreddit.

Since the actions of Yuzu and its eventual demise are part of the unwritten framework for similar takedowns , that sets the tone (although not the legal basis) in favor of takedown.

Violations of DMCA’s Anti-Circumvention Provision

When asked to provide a description and URL pointing to the copyrighted content allegedly infringed by the repos, Nintendo states that the works are the ‘Nintendo Switch firmware” and various games protected by technological protection measures (TPM) which prevent users from unlawfully copying and playing pirated games. The notice states the repos ‘provide access’ to keys that enable circumvention of its technical measures.

“The reported repositories offer and provide access to unauthorized copies of cryptographic keys that are used to circumvent Nintendo’s Technological Measures and infringe Nintendo’s intellectual property rights. Specifically, the reported repositories provide to users unauthorized copies of cryptographic keys (prod.keys) extracted from the Nintendo Switch firmware,” Nintendo writes.

“The prod.keys allow users to bypass Nintendo’s Technological Measures for digital games; specifically, prod.keys allow users to decrypt and play Nintendo Switch games in unauthorized ways. Distribution of keys without the copyright owner’s authorization is a violation of Section 1201 of the DMCA.”

Nintendo further notes that unauthorized distribution of prod.keys “facilitates copyright infringement by permitting users to play pirated versions of Nintendo’s copyright-protected game software on systems without the Nintendo Technological Measures or systems on which Nintendo’s Technological Measures have been disabled.”

Since the prod.keys are extracted from the Nintendo Switch firmware, which is also protected by copyright, distribution amounts to “infringement of Nintendo Switch firmware itself.”

Repo ‘Encrypts’ Links to Circumvention Tools

Given that the repo’s stated purpose was to provide information on how to circumvent Nintendo’s technical protection measures, it’s fairly ironic that it appears to have used technical measures itself to hinder detection.

“The reported repositories attempt to evade detection of their illegal activities by providing access to prod.keys and unauthorized copies of Nintendo’s firmware and video games via encoded links that direct users to third-party websites to download the infringing content,” Nintendo explains in its notice.

“The repositories provide strings of letters and numbers and then instruct users to ‘use [private] to decode the lines of strings given here to get an actual link.’ The decoded links take users to sites where they can access the prod.keys and unauthorized copies of Nintendo’s copyright-protected material.”

The image below shows the encoded links (partially redacted) that allegedly link to the content in question on third-party sites. To hide their nature, regular URLs are encoded using Base64, a binary-to-text encoding scheme that transforms them into a sequence of characters. Those characters can be decoded to reveal the original URL using online tools .

This type of encoding has increased in popularity in recent years since it’s believed that automated DMCA notice systems are more likely to pass by when no obvious URL exists in a web page. While in some cases that may still be true, it’s beyond clear that Nintendo’s notice here is the work of humans, even if a machine was responsible for finding the repo with the words ‘switch’ and ’emulators” in the title.

Repo Modifications, Original Stays Up

In line with GitHub policy, the repo was allowed to put right its transgressions to stay up. A number of modifications were made, including the removal of all encoded URLs and the references to piracy made on various pages. Most if not all forks were unable to take action in a timely fashion, so these were disabled by GitHub.

Finally, it’s worth noting that this was not a regular DMCA takedown notice ; Nintendo sent a DMCA anti-circumvention notice for which there is no official counternotice process available. While on many other platforms a notice like that can be instantly and permanently terminal, GitHub said that it did not find sufficient information to determine a valid anti-circumvention claim.

It did find other valid claims, however, and that led to the outcome detailed above.

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

With more than a quarter billion site visits between February and April, pirate streaming site Fmovies is seen as a major threat by Hollywood.

The pirate site rivals legal streaming platforms such as Disney+ in web traffic and has become the poster child for rejuvenated site blocking proposals in the U.S. Congress.

Fmovies is no newcomer to the pirate streaming market. The site has been around for quite some time and ACE and the MPA have pinpointed its alleged operators in Vietnam. Efforts to shut the site down have failed thus far, however, while its main user base in the United States continues to grow.

The Indian Threat

There is a glimmer of hope on the horizon for Hollywood. In India, the home of Bollywood, courts have recently signed several site blocking orders , amplified with broad injunctions intended to have a global effect.

In addition to requiring Indian ISPs to block access to pirate sites, High Court orders also require domain registrars to suspend their domain names. Some American domain name registrars are receptive to these orders, as they otherwise risk being banned from doing business in India.

Earlier this year, this resulted in suspensions of popular pirate site domains including Zorox, Upmovies , Animeflix, and Vegamovies . Many of these suspensions were the result of action by foreign companies, including US-based domain name registrars Namecheap and Porkbun.

Top Pirate Sites Switch Domains

Domain suspensions can prove punishing, but it doesn’t necessarily mean that pirate sites go down for good. Losmovies.id, which lost its domain last month, continues its operations from Losmoviesz.to. And it’s not the only popular pirate site to relocate.

This weekend, several pirate streaming sites switched to new domain names. Fmovies, for example, traded in its fmoviesz.to domain name for fmovies24.to, without any explanation.

Other popular pirate site domains that appear to be part of the same group, took similar decisions. For example, Bflix.to moved to Bflixhd.to, Soap2dayx.to, became Soap2dayx2.to, and Sflixhd.to switched to Sflixhd.to.

The suggestion that these sites are operated by one group is strengthened by their redirection notices. All appeared at the same time and are identical, as shown above.

Why Move?

None of the sites provided an explanation for their sudden moves. We can only guess what motivated them, but considering the domain crackdowns over the past several months, one explanation stands out.

TorrentFreak learned that the originating domain names of these pirate sites were all registered though Namecheap. This makes them vulnerable to Indian court orders. The new domains have moved away from Namecheap, possibly as a preemptive move to avoid suspensions.

Technically, the original domain names could have been transferred out without moving to a new domain. It’s not clear why that hasn’t happened, but there must be a good reason for it.

All new domain names are still .to, which are overseen by the Tonic registry . The new domains might also be registered there directly but, in any case, the new domains are not linked to Namecheap.

It’s possible that the Tonic registry will be subjected to the same Indian court order, but the company’s compliance standards might be different. Thus far, only .to domains registered though Namecheap have been suspended. Other domains listed in the same court orders, such as huramovies.to and eztvz.to , remain active.

—

Update: Watchseries.mx also switched to Watchseriesx.to a few days ago.

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

With more than a quarter billion site visits between February and April, pirate streaming site Fmovies is seen as a major threat by Hollywood.

The pirate site rivals legal streaming platforms such as Disney+ in web traffic and has become the poster child for rejuvenated site blocking proposals in the U.S. Congress.

Fmovies is no newcomer to the pirate streaming market. The site has been around for quite some time and ACE and the MPA have pinpointed its alleged operators in Vietnam. Efforts to shut the site down have failed thus far, however, while its main user base in the United States continues to grow.

The Indian Threat

There is a glimmer of hope on the horizon for Hollywood. In India, the home of Bollywood, courts have recently signed several site blocking orders , amplified with broad injunctions intended to have a global effect.

In addition to requiring Indian ISPs to block access to pirate sites, High Court orders also require domain registrars to suspend their domain names. Some American domain name registrars are receptive to these orders, as they otherwise risk being banned from doing business in India.

Earlier this year, this resulted in suspensions of popular pirate site domains including Zorox, Upmovies , Animeflix, and Vegamovies . Many of these suspensions were the result of action by foreign companies, including US-based domain name registrars Namecheap and Porkbun.

Top Pirate Sites Switch Domains

Domain suspensions can prove punishing, but it doesn’t necessarily mean that pirate sites go down for good. Losmovies.id, which lost its domain last month, continues its operations from Losmoviesz.to. And it’s not the only popular pirate site to relocate.

This weekend, several pirate streaming sites switched to new domain names. Fmovies, for example, traded in its fmoviesz.to domain name for fmovies24.to, without any explanation.

Other popular pirate site domains that appear to be part of the same group, took similar decisions. For example, Bflix.to moved to Bflixhd.to, Soap2dayx.to, became Soap2dayx2.to, and Sflixhd.to switched to Sflixhd.to.

The suggestion that these sites are operated by one group is strengthened by their redirection notices. All appeared at the same time and are identical, as shown above.

Why Move?

None of the sites provided an explanation for their sudden moves. We can only guess what motivated them, but considering the domain crackdowns over the past several months, one explanation stands out.

TorrentFreak learned that the originating domain names of these pirate sites were all registered though Namecheap. This makes them vulnerable to Indian court orders. The new domains have moved away from Namecheap, possibly as a preemptive move to avoid suspensions.

Technically, the original domain names could have been transferred out without moving to a new domain. It’s not clear why that hasn’t happened, but there must be a good reason for it.

All new domain names are still .to, which are overseen by the Tonic registry . The new domains might also be registered there directly but, in any case, the new domains are not linked to Namecheap.

It’s possible that the Tonic registry will be subjected to the same Indian court order, but the company’s compliance standards might be different. Thus far, only .to domains registered though Namecheap have been suspended. Other domains listed in the same court orders, such as huramovies.to and eztvz.to , remain active.

—

Update: Watchseries.mx also switched to Watchseriesx.to a few days ago.

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

With more than a quarter billion site visits between February and April, pirate streaming site Fmovies is seen as a major threat by Hollywood.

The pirate site rivals legal streaming platforms such as Disney+ in web traffic and has become the poster child for rejuvenated site blocking proposals in the U.S. Congress.

Fmovies is no newcomer to the pirate streaming market. The site has been around for quite some time and ACE and the MPA have pinpointed its alleged operators in Vietnam. Efforts to shut the site down have failed thus far, however, while its main user base in the United States continues to grow.

The Indian Threat

There is a glimmer of hope on the horizon for Hollywood. In India, the home of Bollywood, courts have recently signed several site blocking orders , amplified with broad injunctions intended to have a global effect.

In addition to requiring Indian ISPs to block access to pirate sites, High Court orders also require domain registrars to suspend their domain names. Some American domain name registrars are receptive to these orders, as they otherwise risk being banned from doing business in India.

Earlier this year, this resulted in suspensions of popular pirate site domains including Zorox, Upmovies , Animeflix, and Vegamovies . Many of these suspensions were the result of action by foreign companies, including US-based domain name registrars Namecheap and Porkbun.

Top Pirate Sites Switch Domains

Domain suspensions can prove punishing, but it doesn’t necessarily mean that pirate sites go down for good. Losmovies.id, which lost its domain last month, continues its operations from Losmoviesz.to. And it’s not the only popular pirate site to relocate.

This weekend, several pirate streaming sites switched to new domain names. Fmovies, for example, traded in its fmoviesz.to domain name for fmovies24.to, without any explanation.

Other popular pirate site domains that appear to be part of the same group, took similar decisions. For example, Bflix.to moved to Bflixhd.to, Soap2dayx.to, became Soap2dayx2.to, and Sflixhd.to switched to Sflixhd.to.

The suggestion that these sites are operated by one group is strengthened by their redirection notices. All appeared at the same time and are identical, as shown above.

Why Move?

None of the sites provided an explanation for their sudden moves. We can only guess what motivated them, but considering the domain crackdowns over the past several months, one explanation stands out.

TorrentFreak learned that the originating domain names of these pirate sites were all registered though Namecheap. This makes them vulnerable to Indian court orders. The new domains have moved away from Namecheap, possibly as a preemptive move to avoid suspensions.

Technically, the original domain names could have been transferred out without moving to a new domain. It’s not clear why that hasn’t happened, but there must be a good reason for it.

All new domain names are still .to, which are overseen by the Tonic registry . The new domains might also be registered there directly but, in any case, the new domains are not linked to Namecheap.

It’s possible that the Tonic registry will be subjected to the same Indian court order, but the company’s compliance standards might be different. Thus far, only .to domains registered though Namecheap have been suspended. Other domains listed in the same court orders, such as huramovies.to and eztvz.to , remain active.

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Update: Watchseries.mx also switched to Watchseriesx.to a few days ago.

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