In 2019, Internet provider Cox Communications lost its legal battle against a group of dozens of record labels, including Sony and Universal.

Following a two-week trial, a Virginia jury held Cox liable for its pirating subscribers. The ISP failed to disconnect repeat infringers and was ordered to pay $1 billion in damages.

This case is one of many. Other ISPs have been accused of being similarly lax in their stance against alleged piracy. Rightsholders believe that ISPs are motivated by profit, while ISPs typically argue that they shouldn’t be held liable for the alleged wrongdoing of subscribers.

Landmark Piracy Battle

Cox challenged the verdict through several routes and last August filed a petition at the U.S. Supreme Court asking it to hear the case. The Internet provider stressed that the current verdict ‘jeopardizes’ internet access for all Americans.

Around the same time, the music companies filed their own petition, hoping to strengthen the verdict at the Supreme Court. Specifically, the record labels argued that the ISP should also be held liable for vicarious copyright infringement.

Both petitions essentially boil down to questions on liability. Are ISPs liable for copyright infringement if they don’t disconnect subscribers accused of copyright infringement? And can ISPs be held liable for infringing subscribers, even if they don’t directly profit from their activities?

Last November, the Supreme Court suggested that it is indeed interested in the questions. Before deciding, however, the U.S. Solicitor General was invited to share the Government’s view on the matter.

The Solicitor General is a high-ranking official in the U.S. Department of Justice who serves as the federal government’s primary lawyer before the Supreme Court. Needless to say, their input weighs strongly for the Supreme Court’s decision whether to accept these petitions or not.

U.S. Backs Cox’s Petition

Yesterday, the Solicitor General submitted its amicus brief in this matter, clearly siding with the Internet provider.

The Solicitor General argues that the Fourth Circuit’s decision, which held Cox liable for contributory infringement, “departs from this Court’s contributory-infringement precedents” and is in “substantial tension” with the Supreme Court’s recent analysis of secondary liability in Twitter v. Taamneh.

“The Taamneh Court’s reasoning reinforces the conclusion that imposing liability on Cox for copyright infringement committed by its users, based on Cox’s failure to terminate service to IP addresses associated with infringement, is incompatible with traditional common-law limitations on secondary liability,” the brief reads.

The U.S. also cites the Sony and Grokster cases, which make clear that contributory liability for copyright infringement requires more than knowing about pirating activity. Instead, it requires “culpable intent” to cause copyright infringement.

“If Cox had explicitly or implicitly marketed its service as being particularly useful for infringers, or if it had encouraged subscribers to use Cox’s internet service to infringe, liability might be appropriate,” the Solicitor General writes.

According to the view of the U.S. Government, an ISP is not automatically liable for copyright infringement if it fails to terminate subscribers after receiving copyright infringement notices. This is a strong statement that targets the central issue in many similar lawsuits in U.S. courts.

Not Liable

Innocent Subscribers at Risk

The amicus brief goes on to state that the current verdict of the Court of Appeals can have broad implications for ISPs and their subscribers.

Cox previously argued that, based on this precedent, ISPs find themselves ‘forced’ to terminate subscribers who may have done little wrong. The U.S. Solicitor General acknowledges this potential threat.

If copyright infringement notices from third parties can trigger liability, Internet providers may take more drastic action to avoid legal trouble.

“Given the breadth of that liability, the decision below might encourage providers to avoid substantial monetary liability by terminating subscribers after receiving a single notice of alleged infringement,” the Solicitor General writes.

“Losing internet access is a serious consequence, as the internet has become an essential feature of modern life. And because a single internet connection might be used by an entire family—or, in the case of coffee shops, hospitals, universities, and the like, by hundreds of downstream users— the decision below could cause numerous non-infringing users to lose their internet access.”

No Willful Infringement

Aside from the liability question, the brief also criticizes the Fourth Circuit’s finding of “willfulness” against Cox, which led to the enhanced statutory damages.

The Solicitor General argues that the jury instruction was “erroneous” because it allowed a finding of willfulness based on the notion that Cox knew its subscribers’ actions were unlawful, even though Cox believed its own response was lawful.

The Solicitor General notes that “willfulness” generally requires knowledge or reckless disregard that the defendant’s own conduct was unlawful. Simply knowing about third-party infringements should not be sufficient.

This broad interpretation would essentially undermine the Copyright Act’s two-tiered damages scheme, which reserves higher damages for willful copyright infringement than for non-willful infringement.

Music Companies’ Writ Should be Denied

While the U.S. supports Cox’s petition, it has asked the Supreme Court to deny a related writ from the opposing music labels, who argue that Cox should also be held liable for vicarious copyright infringement.

Defendants can be held vicariously liable if they had the right and ability to control the infringing activities and a direct financial interest in those activities. According to the Solicitor General, the lower court correctly concluded that is not the case here.

“There was no evidence that Cox would be forced to collect a lower fee if the users of its internet service ceased to infringe; that subscribers were drawn to Cox’s internet service because of the ability to engage in copyright infringement using that service; or that Cox had used the opportunity for customers to infringe to lend credibility to the service it offered,” the brief notes.

All in all, it’s clear that the U.S. Solicitor General, and thus the U.S. Department of Justice, supports Cox’s attempt to overturn the piracy liability verdict. While the Supreme Court has yet to formally decide whether it will take on the case, the brief suggests the chance is now significantly higher.

Conclusion

While Cox will be pleased to see the supportive brief, there are no guarantees that the Supreme Court will agree with the U.S. Solicitor General, should it ultimately decide to take on the case.

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A copy of the U.S. Solicitor General’s Amicus Curiae brief for the United States is available here (pdf).

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

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Portugal now has a decade of experience with pirate site blocking measures, which were made possible through a voluntary agreement

In 2015, the country’s blocking scheme was formalized through a deal between several parties, including the Government, rightsholders, and Internet providers.

Under the blocking regime, many thousands of domain names have been blocked over the years. To strengthen the impact, advertisers joined in on the action by preventing ad placements on these sites.

Portugal: A Leading Site Blocking Example

The relative ease of this rollout, which received little pushback overall, was swiftly embraced by Hollywood. In 2016, Portugal served as a leading example of how other countries, including Spain and France, could implement their blocking plans.

A year later, a Hollywood-commissioned study confirmed that traffic to blocked sites had decreased significantly. This shouldn’t really come as a surprise, as these domains are blocked after all, but it was seen as a great accomplishment nonetheless.

While site blocking is effective at blocking specific domains, it typically boosts traffic to unblocked sites. The effect wasn’t considered in the initial study, but the problem was previously documented in related research. And it’s visible today too, as Portugal’s piracy woes are far from over.

Blocking Pioneer and Piracy Hotspot?

Earlier this year, Apritel, the association for Portuguese Internet providers and telcos, flagged pirate streaming and IPTV services as a major problem. The group didn’t mention blocking as a solution, but suggested that the authorities should enable financial penalties for users of these services.

These piracy concerns are shared by many rightsholders and were also a topic at the Colloquium on Digital Piracy of Audiovisual Content, which took place in Lisbon last week. Here, many stakeholders discussed the ongoing piracy challenges.

With more than 3,000 blocked domain names, Portugal has strict anti-piracy measures in place. However, data from piracy tracking firm MUSO, prepared for last week’s meeting, shows that piracy remains popular in Portugal, even by European standards.

“Portugal’s piracy rate per user is 33% higher than the European average, marking it as one of the most active territories for unauthorised content consumption,” MUSO explains.

The higher piracy rates are also reflected in the number of visits to pirate sites by Internet users. These visit numbers are higher than in any other country in the region, despite the existing blocking measures.

“This pattern of high engagement has remained consistent across several years, indicating a need for ongoing and more refined enforcement strategies,” MUSO writes, aligning with the call for stronger enforcement.

Since MUSO only reports data on website visits, the growth in the use of pirate IPTV services is not reflected in these numbers. Instead, it appears that Portugal’s piracy numbers are in large part due to a seemingly overlooked content category.

Manga / Anime Blindspot?

After years of site blocking, many pirate sites are known to temporarily evade measures by switching to new domain names, which are eventually blocked again, resulting in an ongoing cat and mouse game. Tugaflix, for example, has been blocked for a decade, but new domains continue to show up.

MUSO data shows that a ‘Tugaflix’ domain has appeared in the list of ten most visited pirate sites in Portugal over the past 12 months. The domain has since been blocked and has already moved to a new location.

Pirate sites with most visits (MUSO: April 24 / March 25)

The list also reveals another interesting insight. The list of most visited piracy sites includes many Manga and Anime sites, including the hugely popular Asuracomic.net, as well as Hianime and 3xyaoi. According to our blocklist data, these remain accessible in Portugal.

In fact, we don’t see any Manga or Anime related website in the list of 3,000 blocked domain names we have access to, which was updated a few months ago. Apparently, this is somewhat of an enforcement blindspot.

This means that the relatively high piracy rates are not necessarily the result of lacking anti-piracy measures. Online piracy doesn’t magically disappear merely because anti-piracy tools exist; these tools must be actively and properly utilized by rightsholders.

Whether this was also a topic of discussion at last week’s anti-piracy colloquium is unknown.

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

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Rampant piracy of live sporting events has been a hot topic in Europe for several years. Anti-piracy measures against relatively static targets have their place but preventing access to pirated live streams is much more difficult.

After calling for assistance from the European Commission, many rightsholders are hoping for new legislation to hold intermediaries more accountable. Until then, most sport-linked rightsholders continue to rely on site blocking measures.

After years of fine-tuning, courts all over Europe understand the process well and most appreciate the difficulties faced by rightsholders. Cases are commonly assessed to ensure that injunctive relief is warranted, measures requested are proportionate, and any negative effects on non-infringing third parties will be as low as practically possible.

LaLiga / Telefonica Order: Massive Overblocking

Sysadmin @jaumepons has been crunching data concerning a blocking order previously obtained by LaLiga and Telefonica to block 119 streaming sites. It was granted on the basis there would be no negative effects on internet users, but in February it became clear that hundreds, potentially thousands of innocent sites and users, were being blocked at the same time.

Appeals by Cloudflare and cybersecurity group RootedCON were dismissed by the issuing court; @jaumepons’ latest estimates published on Friday suggests those decisions came at a price.

LaLiga insists that its blocking is not indiscriminate and any overblocking is minimal. Unfortunately, even if the 2.7 million estimate was slashed to just 270, blocking two legal domains for every pirate domain isn’t proportionate and the harm inflicted is likely to be significant.

RootedCON Appeals to Constitutional Court

RootedCON previously stated it wouldn’t just stand by if nothing was done to protect internet users. With a complaint filed at Spain’s Constitutional Court, it is now making good on its word.

“At RootedCON, after 15 years promoting freedom, innovation, and critical thinking in the field of cybersecurity, we cannot stand idly by in the face of this outrage,” their statement reads.

“The measures adopted, lacking transparency, proportionality, and adequate safeguards, represent an extremely dangerous precedent for citizens’ digital rights and the Spanish technological ecosystem. We urge La Liga, the operators involved, and the judiciary to reflect on the serious impact of these types of decisions, which are more similar to the practices of authoritarian regimes of the last century than those of a modern, forward-looking democracy.”

Despite the serious nature of the ongoing controversy, until now it has generally lacked a political dimension.

The Spanish government’s only comment thus far (“We respect judicial decisions”) meets the standard every democratically elected government should strive for. The fly in the ointment is that the injunction was granted on the basis it would do no harm to third parties. As RootedCON suggests, momentum is building regardless.

“[I]n our appeal to the Constitutional Court, we request precautionary measures to curb the constant harassment suffered by both companies and users in our country, and we demand a public and technical debate in the Congress of Deputies on the limits of online control, following the initiative recently proposed by Representative Néstor Rego,” the statement concludes.

Politics Enters the Equation

Néstor Rego is a politician and a member of the Congress of Deputies of Spain. He’s the leader of the Galician Nationalist Bloc and in a statement posted to the party’s website, he calls on the government to “put a stop to the abusive and uncontrolled practices.”

“The State Government must take action on the matter given the repeated blocking of thousands of web pages because, if it does not do so, it implies an abandonment of its functions, leaving them in private hands that act for their own benefit and without control,” Rego says.

“[I]t is incomprehensible that private companies can block websites. The judicial authorization is absurd at this point, but it is not even respected, because that authorization establishes that no harm can be caused to third parties, and yes it is happening. The indiscriminate blocking by LaLiga and Movistar implies a violation of the rights of users and that is why the Government must act.”

LaLiga Responds to Complaints

During the last couple of weeks, momentum has noticeably increased among those who oppose blocking for the collateral damage it causes. Among them is José Luis Porquicho Prada, a journalist working at local news outlet Cádiz Directo.

On May 18, Prada published an article titled LaLiga blocks Cádiz Directo without evidence in its uncontrolled anti-piracy crusade, which revealed that LaLiga had started blocking cadizdirecto.com for no apparent reason. Prada reported that LaLiga was initially unresponsive so he was unable to explain that a mistake had been made.

“[C]ompletely innocent media outlets are being held accountable, without due process, without the right to defense, and without a shred of evidence. Fundamental rights enshrined in Article 24 of the Spanish Constitution, which guarantees effective judicial protection and the right to defense, are being violated,” Prada wrote as part of a polite but withering diatribe on recent events.

Response Perceived as Threatening – Then Bewildering

Late last week Prada revealed that he’d received a response via burofax, a type of secure postal service. He claims that the correspondence was presented in a “markedly threatening tone and lacking any willingness to resolve the conflict.”

Prada says it was signed by none other than LaLiga president Javier Tebas, who advised that cadizdirecto.com had been blocked because it is “hosted on an IP addresses from which intellectual property rights are repeatedly violated.”

Prada clarified that the site uses a CDN and then revealed what LaLiga expected from him. Translated from Spanish (original here), Prada explained as follows:

It transpires that Prada wasn’t the only journalist to receive similar correspondence. Political analysis outlet El Orden Mundial was also provided with legal advice.

Posting on X, El Orden Mundial director Fernando Arancón spoke of “the barbarity that is being carried out by @LaLiga with the support of the judiciary,” before suddenly adopting a “something’s coming” tone.

“[LaLiga] have lost their way and are going to eat a Streisand textbook,” Arancón predicted.

Update: Statement from LaLiga

At LALIGA, as always, we respect and comply with the legal system. And, as it could not be otherwise, we respect the decision to file an appeal for constitutional protection before the Constitutional Court. An appeal that was already announced several weeks ago and still needs to pass the admissibility phase.

It is worth recalling that, already last March, the Commercial Court No. 6 of Barcelona fully dismissed the requests for annulment filed by Cloudflare and RootedCON, among others, against the final ruling issued on 18 December 2024, finding no violation of any fundamental rights. That decision reaffirmed that the legal action taken was in accordance with the law and is supported by the current legislation on intellectual property and information society services.

Furthermore, the court order validated the procedural legality of the case, explicitly declaring that there was no “lack of guarantees” and stating that “none of the arguments put forward by the various petitioners demonstrate any actual harm, nor is any such harm identified, quantified, or supported by any proposed evidence intended to directly or indirectly establish damage as a constituent element of the claim for annulment.”

The judicial ruling is fully reasoned and lawful, and also makes it clear that the petitioners lacked standing to invoke the rights they claimed to hold.

LALIGA remains steadfast in its commitment to combating audiovisual fraud in order to protect the audiovisual rights of the competition, its sustainability and that of the football clubs, as well as the broader sports and entertainment industry.

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

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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.

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)

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Attempts to significantly downplay the scale of the piracy problems faced by major European football leagues, are simply at odds with the facts on the ground.

They’re also just as unhelpful as the staggering annual loss estimates spouted by rightsholders.

These figures have a tendency to become ‘fact’ after endless repetition, before being built upon and defended to the very last man, in blood if that becomes necessary.

Seemingly powerless to curtail piracy in any meaningful way, major European leagues are combining increasingly bitter rhetoric with threats against intermediaries, while tearing up what was left of the anti-piracy rule book.

With their backs against the wall and so much at stake, some quite reasonably argue that a new approach was desperately needed. For those caught in the crossfire, new does not mean improved. It means seemingly random websites failing to load while from the opposite direction, perfectly functioning websites receiving no visits. For some businesses, it means tens of thousands of euros in reported losses.

Three Months of Disbelief

In Spain, where a power blackout made global headlines this week, mainstream media outlets seem strangely disinterested in the deliberate blackouts inflicted on companies doing business on the internet. Cloudflare, Vercel, GitHub, Amazon, and thousands of innocent internet users and businesses, have been subjected to blocking several times each week, every week. Since February.

Under the authority of a local court order, obtained by LaLiga and Telefonica, IP addresses linked to pirate services are being blocked en masse by local ISPs. The stated aim is to prevent access to pirated live sports streams, but the same IP addresses are also used by thousands of ordinary people and businesses.

Having seen this type of crisis loom on the horizon many times before, at the beginning it seemed that LaLiga’s determination to be heard could’ve resulted in a few shared IP addresses being blocked, effectively for demonstration purposes. While not without risk, a properly calibrated shock and a small amount of panic may have been just enough to break the deadlock.

After 90 days of blocking pirates and anything else in the way, there’s no real panic; just outrage and disappointment at the lack of concern shown by the authorities to those negatively affected. Of course, everything is subject to sudden change in volatile environments; blocking Twitch IP addresses on Saturday seemed unlikely to have had a calming effect.

Yesterday’s blocking wave was once again immaculately documented by hayahora.futbol. Datta confirms that most blocking targeted IP addresses operated by United States-based companies, including Cloudflare, Vercel, and QUIC.cloud.

Providing Transparency

The service provided by hayahora.futbol records blocking in Spain that would otherwise thrive in the shadows. There is no transparency requirement under law but if there’s a case for mandatory transparency, there is no better example than this.

Vercel, which publicly confirmed it would work with LaLiga to prevent its service being blocked again, may be disappointed that at least one ISP still hasn’t deactivated its original blocks (76.76.21.142 / 66.33.60.129).

Much of the pain yesterday was shouldered by Cloudflare, as partial data obtained from Hayahoro for some of Saturday’s blocking clearly shows.

And it’s going to get worse. Much worse. In fact, escalation is underway right now. No holds barred.

After EUIPO Meetings, ‘All Firewood Thrown on The Grill’

Site Reliability Engineer Sergio Conde works at Tiny Bird Co., one of the companies whose business was suddenly interrupted following the recent blocking of Vercel IP addresses.

In common with a growing number of computer and coding experts suddenly thrown into the cruel world of pirate site blocking, he now appears to be taking a much closer interest in events playing out in his country.

Conde’s monitoring of blocking by Spain’s major ISPs today leaves little doubt that LaLiga’s priority is the protection of its soccer clubs, period.

The current crisis didn’t begin overnight, and the dangers were clearly visible. Yet in its midst, no authority – competent or otherwise – seems to have the power to end the collateral damage. That all authorities seem to lack even the basic will to encourage moderation to avoid collateral damage, is nothing short of extraordinary.

Discussion Before the Storm

A conference titled The Impact of Piracy on the Audiovisual Industry took place on January 29 at the Madrid headquarters of the Spanish Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. In attendance to present the European Union Intellectual Property Office’s (EUIPO) latest piracy facts and figures, Harrie Temmink had only bad news for Spain.

Piracy figures are not only rising again in Spain, they’re doing so at a rate faster than seen elsewhere in Europe. Many Spaniards believe that if piracy is only for personal use, that is acceptable. As a result, around 21% admit to knowingly consuming pirated content, with a stubborn 6% vowing to always consume pirated content, no matter what.

The Digital Services Act (DSA) is expected to play a wider role in the fight against online piracy. Temmink described the Directive as one of the “greatest triumphs” in the battle against piracy and noted that it “makes all online platforms safer and more reliable for users.”

How to prevent anti-piracy work that can make all sites instantly less reliable, including those that have nothing whatsoever to do with the DSA, will probably need more time to think through. However, the issue of IP address blocking was raised during the conference by Lara Pérez-Caminha, the president of the Association of Independent Film Distributors (Adicine).

Noting that LaLiga and Movistar worked extremely hard to obtain a court order to block IP addresses to protect live sports, having something similar to protect the film industry could prove beneficial, Pérez-Caminha said.

Within Days, LaLiga Blocks Cloudflare

Days after this event for the film industry, LaLiga started a campaign that continues today; blocking IP addresses used by pirate sites that are also used by innocent parties.

On March 28, LaLiga reported that it had attended a meeting in Madrid, to “share relevant information on how the illegal distribution of sports content is carried out and how business models surrounding this criminal activity operate.” Also in attendance, representatives from the European Union Intellectual Property Office (EUIPO), and members of the European Parliament.

Any claim that those in attendance had no knowledge of events playing out in Spain fail to appreciate the depth of the EU’s influence on regulatory matters. Yet while the public announcement addressed the impact of live sports piracy and emphasized that collaboration with the EU will address the challenges ahead, the elephant in the room was nowhere to be seen, or heard.

Not only was the crisis facing ordinary members of the public and business communities never mentioned, the announcement boiled down to just two issues: protect live sports and immediately compel intermediaries to action.

No commentary addressed the importance of safeguarding the rights of citizens and other businesses in the EU.

Actions Speak Louder

It would be naive to expect a warts-and-all press release that addressed positives and potential negatives that could help or harm the fight against piracy. There’s always a need to discuss such matters in private and some things are clearly better left at the negotiating table, not aired for the entertainment of the media.

Whether the situation was mentioned, or not mentioned, is impossible to say. Arguably, that isn’t the test that matters. Whatever was said, or not said, only the actions post March 30 can demonstrate whether LaLiga felt more or less restrained by the EU, at least in the event any opinion was made clear either way.

Perhaps the issue was mentioned last week, we really don’t know.

If it was discussed at all, there was no restraining effect observed today during the Real Madrid match. That the effort appears to have been doubled over yesterday’s action, raises more questions on top of existing concerns.

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

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From TorrentFreak via this RSS feed

When site-blocking is publicized by those who acquire an injunction, attention tends to be carefully drawn towards key messaging.

Being seen to take action against piracy is a public reminder to pirate sites and suppliers that rightsholders are always watching. At the top of the supply chain that’s unlikely to act as a deterrent but lower down, where resellers and the public are much more exposed, even a pause for thought could prove useful.

In broad terms, anti-piracy announcements in this context are more easily framed as regular advertising. New and improved, whatever couldn’t be wiped away last time will now meet our toughest formula yet. So capitulate now, because we are going nowhere.

Blocking in Belgium

News of yet another blocking order in Belgium early April, obtained by DAZN and 12th Player, arrived via local media. No misdirection, just facts that combined to form an interesting, credible account of progress via a new type of injunction.

Notable was a not-so-veiled warning for DNS providers. Among the few details of the order made public was confirmation that it included penalties of €100,000 per day for any DNS provider that failed to prevent access to around 100+ streaming sites. Having responded to similar orders to block DNS in France and Portugal by leaving those countries, OpenDNS left Belgium too.

The new order was described as “the first of its kind,” and a “real step forward” in the fight against piracy. But was that the work of the marketing department or a measured fact-based assessment?

Court Order RR/25/00020: Game Changer or the Same Game?

Filed on March 25, 2025, by S.R.L. The 12th Player and DAZN Limited at the Chamber of Presidential Competence in Brussels, the petition for ISP and third-party DNS blocking establishes the fundamentals on well-trodden ground.

The applicants hold the necessary rights to the content in question and to a background of rising infringement in Belgium and an alleged piracy rate nearing 50%, they requested an order to disrupt the supply of infringing content.

The subsequent order dated March 28, 2025, spends almost no time on the first group of respondents; local ISPs VOO, Orange Belgium, Proximus, Telenet, and DIGI Communications Belgium. With their cooperation already established, the Court describes how users turn to alternative DNS providers to circumvent the ISPs’ blocking measures.

[T]he Complainants rightly argue that in order for domain name blocking measures to be effective, it is essential to target not only Internet access providers, but also providers of alternative domain name resolution systems providing their services in Belgium. Legal doctrine and case law confirm that the notion of intermediary is broadly defined.

The intermediaries in question – Cloudflare, Google LLC and Google Ireland Ltd, Cisco Systems and Cisco OpenDNS – form the second category of respondents. It’s understood that Cloudflare, Google, and Cisco opposed their involvement in the petition on various grounds. The specifics are absent from the order but suffice to say, all objections against blocking were rejected.

The Proposed Measures

DAZN’s claim that the order is a “real step forward” is supported by permission from the Court to compel blocking by third party DNS services. This type of blocking has been ordered previously, notably against Cloudflare in Italy and more recently at the request of Canal+ in France, but as a mainstream tool it’s still in its infancy.

History has shown that having gained momentum in one or two key member states, measures like these spread more quickly to others in the bloc. Approval in Belgium makes that much more likely.

Belgium already has experience of so-called ‘static blocking’ against stationary targets but is a relative newcomer to the ‘dynamic blocking’ requested here. Injunctions like these bake in flexibility from the start in preparation for various pirate countermeasures.

As clarified in the order: “The aim is to target not only the domain names identified in the request, but also any domain names circumventing the blocking measures, via redirects and/or mirror sites and/or ‘copycats’. The blocking measures will therefore be regularly updated.”

Confidential Pirate Trademarks

Attention then turns to a ‘confidential’ aspect of the order dealing with the issue of blocking sites based on their appearance.

More specifically, sites that lack an individual identity of their own but gain popularity through the use of ‘pirate trademarks’, usually familiar logos and/or domains containing recognizable site names.

Already part of injunctions in countries including the UK and Australia, targeting new sites based on their use of already familiar ‘pirate’ brands, usually offering the same content, took a surprisingly long time to arrive.

An inevitable response to some piracy groups turning to mass production of sites to frustrate blocking, mitigate search engine downranking, and in some cases to usurp trust in another brand for malicious purposes, brand-based blocking can suppress a range of time-consuming irritants.

Brand-blocking wasn’t advertised as a plus by DAZN but as part of a package, it does indeed amount to another step forward.

The Balance of Interests

With events currently playing out in Spain suggesting that basic rights and freedoms exist only with caveats, faith may need to be restored in balance of interests tests.

That being said, the Court indicates “that after weighing up the interests, rights and freedoms at stake, including the general interest, the facts and, where applicable, the documents on which the applicant relies are such as to reasonably justify the provisional measures requested.”

The Court arrived at the following conclusions:

• Users are in no way deprived of access to the content concerned on legal offers; • Blocking targets are structurally infringing and do not host any legal content; • The blocking measures requested constitute a proportionate and effective response • Impact of measures limited to the violations observed

Blocking Notices

Anyone visiting one of the blocked sites within the court’s jurisdiction should be diverted to a blocking page. The page should provide information to explain why a visit to a pirate site didn’t produce the expected result.

Pirate site redirects should lead to a government website, but in some cases users may find themselves worrying about attackers instead.

How many visitors see the official piracy warning rather than a broken website is unknown; the same certificate issue has persisted for several weeks, leading to a warning that the government’s website could steal citizens’ personal information.

Those who look a little closer might notice that the server has been given a fun name to brighten visitors’ days. Or maybe it’s a cunning way to boost trademark awareness; we may never know. In any event, duties to address these issues are clearly allocated, so along with being monitored, there’s much to draw comfort from.

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

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From TorrentFreak via this RSS feed

Following its launch in 2016, Fmovies presented a major threat to Hollywood and after years online, it was one that seemed near impossible to defeat.

The site’s operators were linked to dozens of popular pirate sites, together generating billions of visits annually.

While the MPA’s anti-piracy flagship ACE tied the operation to Vietnam early on, an effective shutdown proved to be unusually complicated. In addition to gathering intelligence, Hollywood’s diplomatic powers were required to force a breakthrough.

Last summer, these efforts paid off handsomely; or so it appeared. After the main Fmovies site fell apart in July, related streaming portals including Bflix, Aniwave, and Zorox fell like dominoes in the weeks after, with ACE taking partial credit for the closures.

The enforcement action didn’t stop there. Vietnamese authorities eventually arrested two suspects in the case; Phan Thành Công, who allegedly ran Fmovies between 2016 and 2024, and Nguyen Tuan Anh, an accomplice who allegedly uploaded 50,000 videos.

The arrests, paired with follow-up confessions by both men, appeared to be great news for Hollywood and other rightsholders. However, the question remained whether others would be deterred from operating similar piracy rings in Vietnam.

USTR: Vietnam Perceived as a Piracy Haven

Earlier this week, the Office of the United States Trade Representative (USTR) published its latest Special 301 Report, highlighting countries that fail to live up to U.S. copyright protection standards. Despite the Fmovies crackdown, Vietnam remains a prime concern.

The USTR writes that Vietnam remains on its “Watch List” since there has been little or no progress on many other intellectual property concerns. At the same time, doubts remain over the effectiveness of local anti-piracy prosecutions.

The USTR highlights two successful criminal convictions last year; one against the operator of BestBuyIPTV, and another targeting the admins of Bilutv.net, Tvhayh.org, and Hiss.pro. While these convictions were rare for Vietnam, they resulted in relatively mild suspended sentences.

These prosecutions don’t appear to have sent shockwaves to other pirate site operators in the country, USTR notes, adding that Vietnam is seen as a piracy haven.

“[E]ven with recent law enforcement actions, Vietnam remains a leading source of online piracy and continues to host some of the most popular English-language copyright infringement sites and services in the world, targeting a global audience,” USTR writes.

“The operators of these sites and services are believed to operate from Vietnam in part because of the perception that the country is a haven for online piracy.”

Stunning Victory or Token Gesture?

The MPA and ACE previously characterized the Fmovies shutdown as a “stunning victory” but they too must be frustrated with the lack of change in the local piracy landscape. Just a few months ago, the MPA listed Hianime and 2embed as notorious pirate operations; both sites are believed to operate from Vietnam.

At the same time, there are serious doubts that prosecutions will lead to convictions that are sufficient to deter other pirate site operators. This includes the prospect of financial penalties that may seem low relative to the scale of the operation.

The USTR sees the challenges ahead, and it urges Vietnam to step up its enforcement game. This includes more prosecutions of pirate site operators as well as tougher punishments, including prison sentences and steep fines.

“In order to have a deterrent effect, Vietnam enforcement authorities should bring more criminal cases against significant piracy sites and consider seeking prison sentences, monetary fines, and other criminal penalties at the higher levels that are available under Vietnamese law,” USTR writes.

This recommendation must be music to the ears of the MPA and the Hollywood group did indeed welcome the USTR report.

“The MPA commends the team at USTR and its interagency partners for identifying harmful practices, combating copyright infringement in foreign markets, and renewing its commitment to countering digital piracy worldwide,” MPA CEO Charles Rivkin says.

MPA’s comments don’t mention Vietnam or the Fmovies case, however. This is understandable, as there are likely diplomatic talks in progress behind the scenes. While the U.S. has recently shown that playing offense can be one strategy to get things done, sometimes a more subtle approach can still be preferred.

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A copy of the USTR’s full 2025 Special 301 Report is available here (pdf).

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

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From TorrentFreak via this RSS feed

In 2015, Portugal’s General Inspectorate of Cultural Activities (IGAC) finalized an agreement hailed as a groundbreaking development in the fight against online piracy.

A multi-industry memorandum of understanding saw rightsholders, anti-piracy group MAPINET, ISP group Apritel, and DNS.pt, the organization responsible for .PT domains, team up with advertising companies and consumer groups to fight piracy – together.

Based on reports from rightsholders, MAPINET filed monthly complaints to IGAC and within 15 days, ISPs voluntarily blocked pirate sites and advertisers took measures to prevent ad placement.

The Pirate Bay had been previously blocked by court order, but with judicial oversight no longer a requirement under the voluntary program, progress was swift. Within weeks major torrent sites including KickassTorrents, ExtraTorrent, Isohunt, YTS and RARBG, were blocked, along with streaming portals Watchseries, Primewire, and many more besides.

Portugal was on a roll and impressing powerful rightsholders with its reported efficiency.

Portugal’s Success Promoted to Spain and France

In 2016, it was reported that the Portuguese model was considered so effective that Hollywood had begun promoting it to other countries, including Spain and France. After just six months, 330 sites were on the blocklist and according to rightsholders, Portugal’s program was receiving international recognition for its streamlined blocking process.

Noting a “special efficiency” based on results versus costs of litigation, visits to pirate sites had been reportedly slashed by “at least 60%” already. In 2017, a study commissioned by the then-MPAA reported that usage of the top 250 pirate sites in Portugal had decreased 9.3 percent overall, while a control group showed that the same sites enjoyed a 30.8 percent increase in usage globally.

In 2019, the MoU was amended to allow for swift blocking of pirated streams of live sporting events, meaning that Portugal had access to the full range of blocking instruments; static, dynamic, and live. New law that came into force in 2022 added regulatory authority (IGAC) to the existing voluntary program and formalized obligations for intermediaries to address removal of infringing content.

Portugal Keeps on Blocking

Our most recent view of blocking activity in Portugal dates back to last November. Since official information isn’t made available to the public, reliance is placed on third-party resources’ best estimates.

The table of around 3,000 domains blocked since 2015 at the end of this article is likely incomplete. However, in light of Apritel’s statement concerning what it claims is a disastrous piracy situation in the country, the details are important when trying to process the bigger picture.

Apritel begins by reporting on data previously published by the European Union Intellectual Property Office (EUIPO); 288,000 households in Portugal access paid piracy services (including pirate IPTV) every month, and around one million citizens have at some point consumed pirated content.

“Sports content leads the way in inappropriate consumption: 48% in the EU and 54% in Portugal,” Apritel explains, referencing the percentage of the population that have consumed pirated live sports streams at least once.

The telecoms group continues with additional information sourced from EU reports and covers the now-common talking points about the nature of pirate sites; the security risks faced by the people who use them, for example. Yet the thing that stands out most is actually notable for its puzzling absence.

Gold Standard Blocking System, Zero Mention of Blocking

Depending on the occasion, site-blocking is sometimes described as “just one of the tools in a broader anti-piracy toolbox” or more often one of the most essential tools available to rightsholders, period.

Portugal is as decorated as they come in respect of site blocking; if there was an Oscar for DNS tampering, Portugal would’ve received one a decade ago. Yet when describing the dire piracy situation in the country, Apritel doesn’t mention site blocking directly at all. The closest it gets is with a comment about VPNs noting that it’s “essential that no one gets left out.”

Instead, Apritel calls for urgent reform of the “Portuguese legislative framework and current practices by the competent authorities,” based on four fundamental points.

• Raising awareness among users of the illegality and risks of piracy; • Systematically identifying/penalizing illegal exploitation of content via streaming/IPTV; • Notifying and warning consumers as a first deterrent measure; • Applying simple and swift financial sanctions to repeat offenders.

Since site-blocking measures aren’t directly addressed, to what extent they had an effect is difficult to say. That being said, it seems safe to assume that regardless of performance, a blocking program once described as the model for others to follow, simply wasn’t effective enough to prevent a new piracy crisis. If indeed the last one ever went away.

Punishing Pirates

What Portugal should do now, Apritel says, is put pirate consumers under pressure; warnings to begin, then sanctions for consumers who repeatedly don’t get the message.

“Several European countries — Germany, Spain, France, Greece, Denmark and Italy — have already implemented effective ‘Cease & Desist’ systems, with different models, which consist of formal warnings to consumers, supervised by competent authorities,” Apritel explains.

“In Portugal, this function would be the responsibility of the Inspectorate-General for Cultural Activities (IGAC), never that of electronic communications operators, as is wrongly believed. The data shows that illegal consumption per capita is significantly lower in countries that have adopted these tools. Why is this not being done here as well?”

The above caveat ‘with different models’ is worth a brief explanation. France has operated a system of warnings and sanctions for the past 15 years. Greece passed new law only recently but seems keen to start fining IPTV pirates as quickly as possible.

Italy passed new law in 2023 which supports small fines for an initial offense, increasing to 5,000 euros maximum for repeat offenders. At the time of writing, there are no reports of fines having been issued but pirate IPTV users are likely to be the first targets. Fines of around 70 euros are expected.

To our knowledge, Germany and Denmark have no comparable warning/fine systems in place for tackling piracy; what both have in common (Germany in particular) are histories of aggressive rightsholders using existing copyright law to squeeze cash settlements from the public.

Uptake of Legal Services Was Impressive

Apparently timed to coincide with the blocking of major pirate sites, in October 2015 and after a long wait, Netflix finally launched in Portugal. Estimates in 2023 suggested that around 4.5 million people in Portugal were consuming legal content from legitimate services, with Netflix easily the most popular.

The Streaming Platform Barometer – BStream – is a regular study to monitor the awareness and consumption of on-demand streaming services in Portugal. The most recent edition reported early February 2025 found that 52% of Portuguese people (15+ years old) are now consuming content via streaming platforms, the highest figure since the study began.

While this year’s figure shows a 10% increase over that reported in 2021, it represents growth over last year of just one percentage point; the market is slowing down.

Prices Travel in One Direction

When Netflix launched in Portugal in 2015, a basic single screen subscription cost €7.99 per month; two screen HD cost €9.99, and a premium plan of four screens in Ultra HD cost €11.99. That’s a lot more than the zero paid out when visiting pirate sites, so considering the millions who subsequently went legal, that’s not bad at all.

Due to the imposition of advertising and other shifts in service, direct comparisons today are less straightforward. However, the base subscription now costs €8.99, the ‘standard’ plan costs €12.99, and the ‘Premium’ plan costs €17.99, up from €15.99 at the last increase. Netflix also charges €4.99 for any additional viewers who aren’t under the same roof; when added together, the pressure appears to be on those who lightened the load by sharing the costs.

Consumers obtaining dramatic cost reductions via alternative means is apparently a concern once again. Depending on who receives the money, fines seem unlikely to increase consumers’ disposable income, or make them more receptive to industry outreach.

More blocking?

Consisting of blocking data compiled and publicly made available by sitesbloqueados.pt (offline at the time of writing), the ~3,000 domains in the table below should be considered an incomplete set. The list may also contain a relatively small number of domains blocked for reasons other than piracy. We have already removed around 300 domains blocked for gambling reasons, but we may not have identified them all.

No domains blocked in the last six months are included, and we understand that relatively few domains were added between November 2023 and November 2024

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

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From TorrentFreak via this RSS feed

In recent years, music and movie companies have filed several lawsuits against U.S. Internet providers, for failing to take action against pirating subscribers.

One of the main allegations is that ISPs fail to terminate the accounts of repeat infringers in “appropriate circumstances”, as the DMCA requires.

These lawsuits resulted in multi-million dollar judgments against Cox and Grande. Meanwhile, more companies are at risk too, including Frontier Communications, which emerged from bankruptcy four years ago.

Frontier vs. Movie and Music Companies

Frontier is fighting not one, but two legal battles. After the company was sued by several prominent record labels including UMG, Sony Music and Warner Music, a group of independent film companies filed a similar lawsuit.

Progress was slow in both cases but after the court denied Frontier’s motions to dismiss last year, the parties began preparing for a trial starting next week.

With damages that could run to hundreds of millions of dollars, the stakes are high. The music companies alone listed 7,758 sound recordings; based on the statutory maximum of $150,000 per willfully infringed work, that could translate to over $1 billion in damages.

The movie and music company plaintiffs separately alleged that Frontier is secondarily liable for copyright infringement because it allegedly provided internet service to known repeat infringers.

The movie companies sought additional relief, most notably a request for an injunction that was bound to pique wider interest due to a site blocking component.

Pirate Site Blocking Measures (Shelved)

In a pretrial order published last week, the parties shared their contentions in advance of the scheduled trial at the New York Bankruptcy Court. The movie companies listed their site-blocking demand as one of the key questions to be answered.

The companies argued that the domains thepiratebay.org, 1337x.to, YTS.MX and (the currently offline) torrentgalaxy.to, should be blocked.

“MCCs further request the Court grant an injunction ordering Frontier to terminate accounts of customers that have repeatedly infringed MCCs’ Works and block access on the domain name service (‘DNS’) level of foreign piracy websites thepiratebay.org, 1337x.to, YTS.MX and torrentgalaxy.to and any of their proxy websites,” the pretrial order reads.

If granted and carried through to conclusion, this would’ve been the first time that a major U.S. Internet provider had blocked pirate sites. However, not long after the joint pretrial order was published, Frontier and the movie companies announced that they were aiming to settle the case.

Movie Companies and Frontier Settle “In Principle”

Last Friday, the parties submitted a joint notice of settlement to the court, mentioning that a settlement is being finalized. As a result, the movie companies asked to be excused from the trial next week.

“Parties have arrived at a settlement in principle, which the Parties are working quickly to document and finalize. Accordingly, the Parties request that the Court excuse MCCs from participating in the trial […] to give the Parties an opportunity to effectuate their settlement and file a stipulation for dismissal,” the update reads.

The court has yet to grant this request, but it shows that the movie companies seem unlikely to participate in the trial. In fact, two of the movie companies have already finalized their settlement.

This significantly narrows the scope, since the trial will focus on the music company claims alone. Since the movie companies requested the site blocking injunctions, this request will naturally be off the table as well.

Music Companies go to Trial with Frontier

Regardless of the outcome, the music companies’ claims remain, and Frontier will have to put up a defense at trial, of which the company shared a glimpse in the pretrial order.

Among other things, the ISP plans to argue that it lacked sufficient knowledge of the infringements based on the notices sent by copyright holders. Frontier will further point out that it did not encourage or materially contribute to any infringement, emphasizing the substantial non-infringing uses of its service.

The ISP will also highlight its repeat infringer policy, which included warnings and termination of accounts when appropriate. It will argue that the policy should be sufficient for the ISP to benefit from the DMCA’s safe harbor provision.

All in all, it’s clear that the scope of the trial will be significantly reduced if the movie companies and Frontier settle. That said, with a billion dollars in potential damages still in play, significant risk remains.

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A copy of the joint pretrial order, submitted to the New York Bankruptcy Court, is available here (pdf). The joint notice of settlement can be found here (pdf).

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

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From TorrentFreak via this RSS feed

The internet has made video entertainment more accessible than ever before. With plenty of legal streaming services releasing new content every week, there’s no shortage of options.

While this is good news, choice brings its own difficulties. Because there are a myriad of legal options available today, paying several monthly subscription fees can become a costly endeavor. As a result, pirate streaming sites and services are thriving.

Hollywood and other copyright holders are trying to tackle this problem through enforcement. This has resulted in both large crackdowns and smaller successes, but new threats are always lurking around the corner. Sometimes they pop up in unexpected places.

A Piracy Optimized Browser?

Browser app Seekee has attracted quite a lot of attention recently, particularly on social media where people have noticed that the app is surprisingly good at accessing pirated content.

The app advertises itself as a fast and safe browser with built-in AI capabilities. While that sounds intriguing, the true appeal appears to lie in its entertainment offering, which is accessible via a single click on the “movies and series” and “animes” tabs.

Seekee

These tabs take users to an overview of trending content, which can be watched instantly. There’s no indication that Seekee hosts any of the content it links to, but videos from third-party pirated sources are conveniently organized.

In fact, trying to find links to legal alternatives is quite a challenge. When we searched for “The Last of Us”, we had to scroll down past a list of pirate sources, before the Wikipedia and IMDb entries finally appeared.

For good measure, users can also watch the offerings listed by streaming platform, including Netflix, Prime Video, and Max, but links to these official services are not presented anywhere near the top of results.

Hot Streaming

The videos we checked were being streamed from the unknown h5.swplayer.com domain and similar variants. In addition to subtitles and original audio, many videos are also available with Portuguese and Spanish audio. This may explain why the app is particularly popular in Latin America, both on social media and in the press.

Google Play & iOS App Store

When we started writing this article, the Seekee app had five million downloads in the Google Play store, most of which were added this month. However, it appears that this exposure turned out to be too much. The app was deleted without explanation, possibly following rightsholder complaints. APK versions are still floating around, however.

Five Million Users… Gone

In the iOS store, Seekee remains available for now, listed as a fast and safe browser with intelligent search, AI creation, and multimedia processing. That includes the aforementioned streaming options.

“Easily search for movies and TV resources across the entire network and get accurate and reliable results. With a massive library updated daily, you can seamlessly access entertainment anytime, anywhere,” the iOS listing reads.

Seekee in the App Store

The app is published by the Chinese company Xiji Information Technology Co., Ltd, which also has a web presence with a privacy policy and user agreement. We reached out to the company requesting additional information on its unique offering, but we didn’t hear back.

At What Cost?

Aside from copyright concerns, using new apps from unknown developers always comes with risks. In this case, the privacy policy mentions that users have to give up a lot of information, including the following selection of data;

Advertising IDs, cookies, identifiers, IP addresses, social media IDs and profile pictures, IMEI/OAID, GAID numbers, IMSI numbers, MAC addresses, serial numbers, system versions and types, ROM versions, Android versions, Android ID, Space ID, SIM card operator and region, screen display information, device model name, activation time, network operator, connection type, hardware details, sales channels, CPU data, storage info, battery usage, screen resolution, temperature, camera model, and wake/unlock frequency.

Again, that’s just a selection, there is more.

While this is a lot of data, quite a few apps list such broad data collection practices in their privacy policies, so it’s not completely out of the ordinary. Then again, it may very well explain why the app is free; the user and their data are the product.

It is hardly groundbreaking for apps like these to attract millions of users, with help from social media. However, the people who fall for the hype should be aware of the potential risks and trade-offs, especially if they are not bombarded by ads.

At the end of the day, someone is making money from the app. In this case, it’s not the people who make the films, series and anime, but some unknown people in a land far, far away.

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

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From TorrentFreak via this RSS feed

Tackling online piracy is a complicated endeavor that often begins with efforts to identify the operators of infringing sites and services. This is also where the first hurdles show up.

Many pirates keep their identities concealed. This applies to the operators of sites and services as well as their users.

This relative anonymity is a nuisance to anti-piracy groups, including the RIAA and MPA. While most online services refuse to voluntarily hand over user details, legal tools can help rightsholders move forward.

In recent years, DMCA subpoenas have established themselves as a key anti-piracy enforcement tool. These requests don’t require any oversight from a judge and are typically signed off by a court clerk. This makes them ideal to swiftly identify online pirates.

DMCA Subpoenas at Risk

Both the RIAA and MPA have used these subpoenas to identify owners of pirate sites and individual infringers. The groups would like DMCA subpoenas, as detailed in DMCA §512(h), to remain in their toolbox but there are concerns that a recent court order could hinder their effectiveness.

The case in point doesn’t involve the RIAA or MPA. It’s a dispute between several independent film companies and Internet provider Cox. The latter successfully objected to a DMCA subpoena which sought to obtain the personal details of numerous alleged BitTorrent pirates.

The main contention in this case is whether DMCA subpoenas apply to residential Internet providers. Cox argued against, describing itself as a mere conduit provider benefiting from the DMCA’s §512(a) safe harbor, which does not require ISPs to take anything down, because the ISP doesn’t store content.

For background, a brief summary of the four types of ISPs under 17 U.S.C. § 512.

– §512(a): transitory digital network communications; services that merely pass on bits and bytes – §512(b): system caching; services that temporarily store (cache) data – §512(c): storage of information on systems; services that host data – §512(d): information location tools; services that connect users to online locations (e.g. social media, search engines)

Last year, the court agreed with Cox’s reasoning and quashed the subpoena. The order concluded that DMCA subpoenas typically don’t apply to DMCA §512(a) services, but do apply to other providers that store or link to infringing content directly.

The film companies, including Capstone Studios and Millennium Funding, didn’t give up. After the motion for reconsideration failed, they filed an appeal at the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals. Among other things, the appeal argued that Cox also falls under DMCA §512(d), as it can remove or disable ‘references or links’ to infringing content.

In addition, the rightsholders also argue that DMCA subpoenas apply to § 512(a) service providers. Therefore, they say, a DMCA subpoena should be valid for Cox.

MPA and RIAA Want to be Heard

The language of the DMCA can be complex at times and open to interpretation. The film companies hope that they can force a breakthrough via the court of appeals, but an adverse ruling that further restricts the scope of DMCA subpoenas is possible too.

The risk of an adverse ruling clearly has the MPA and RIAA worried. They often use these subpoenas to request information from third-party services such as Cloudflare, social media companies, and domain registrars.

The trade groups previously shared their thoughts in an amicus brief. They didn’t take sides in the dispute, but pointed out that the lower court’s ruling was too broad. Specifically, they questioned the part suggesting that IP addresses may never function as links, within the context of the section 512(d) safe harbor.

MPA and RIAA instead argued that section 512(d) services, which could cover reverse proxy providers such as Cloudflare, can link to pirate websites through IP-addresses.

If the district court’s order stands, the validity of MPA and RIAA DMCA subpoenas may be in question. For this reason, the group urged the court to limit its findings to the evidence at hand, without the contested and presumably unneeded IP-address interpretation.

To further reiterate this position, MPA and RIAA asked for speaking time at a hearing scheduled for June. They request 10 minutes of the court’s time, while keeping the available time for the other parties at 15 minutes each.

“MPA and RIAA invest substantial resources to combat online piracy, including through the use of section 512(h) subpoenas. Because infringers hide under aliases and behind proxies, section 512(h) subpoenas are a key tool to combat online infringement and protect the legitimate creative industries,” the groups inform the court.

“Amici intend to use their time to advocate for reversal or a narrow ruling, preventing unintended consequences for subpoenas and issues not before this Court that could have unintended consequences on the carefully-crafted compromise reflected in the DMCA.”

MPA and RIAA brief

The court has yet to rule on this request. While the movie companies don’t object, Cox doesn’t want to extend the hearing by ten minutes, but wants the MPA and RIAA to use the film companies’ time instead.

‘Trolls’

Where the MPA and RIAA call for a more narrow and restricted ruling, an additional third-party has submitted an amicus brief that extends far beyond the legal intricacies of the DMCA’s section 512.

That submission comes from Charles Muszynski, who has been embroiled with movie companies and their attorneys for several years. Their dispute started when the movie companies targeted LiquidVPN, which had been purchased by one of Muszynski’s companies.

That particular legal battle is over, but follow-up litigation in international courts continues to this day. According to Muszynski, the movie companies are of a “copyright troll” group that operates a “criminal racketeering and money laundering sham” that he likens to the criminal Prenda Law operation.

These allegations are not immediately relevant for the DMCA subpoena argument. But, for the matter at hand, Muszynski’s amicus brief concurs and adopts the arguments that were previously made by the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) in this case.

‘Trolling Sham’

EFF also used the “troll” terminology, albeit in a different context and without directly referring to the movie companies. EFF urged the court not to allow copyright holders to issue §512(h) subpoenas to ISPs who simply transmit data, as this could trigger more coercive settlement requests against internet subscribers.

The amicus curiae briefs from both EFF and Muszynski are still listed as pending, so it’s still unknown whether they will be considered by the Court of Appeals. That said, with many eyes on this case, it’s clear that there’s a lot at stake in the upcoming hearing, and in the ruling that will eventually follow.

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A copy of the MPA and RIAA’s request to participate in the oral hearing is available here (pdf). Muszynski’s amicus curiae brief is available here (pdf)

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

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From TorrentFreak via this RSS feed

Since early February, Spain has faced unprecedented yet avoidable nationwide disruption to previously functioning, entirely legitimate online services.

A court order obtained by top-tier football league LaLiga in partnership with telecommunications giant Telefonica, authorized ISP-level blocking across all major ISPs to prevent public access to pirate IPTV services and websites.

In the first instance, controversy centered on Cloudflare, where shared IP addresses were blocked by local ISPs when pirates were detected using them, regardless of the legitimate Cloudflare customers using them too.

When legal action by Cloudflare failed, in part due to a judge’s insistence that no evidence of damage to third parties had been proven before the court, joint applicants LaLiga and Telefonica continued with their blocking campaign. It began affecting innocent third parties early February and hasn’t stopped since.

Vercel Latest Target

US-based Vercel describes itself as a “complete platform for the web.” Through the provision of cloud infrastructure and developer tools, users can deploy code from their computers and have it up and running in just seconds. Vercel is not a ‘rogue’ hosting provider that ignores copyright complaints, it takes its responsibilities very seriously.

Yet it became evident last week that blocking instructions executed by Telefonica-owned telecoms company Movistar were once again blocking innocent users, this time customers of Vercel.

Movistar informed of yet more adverse blocking

As the thread on X continued, Vercel CEO Guillermo Rauch was asked whether Vercel had “received any requests to remove illegal content before the blocking occurs?”

Vercel Principal Engineer Matheus Fernandes answered quickly.

No takedown requests, just blocks

Additional users were soon airing their grievances; ChatGPT blocked regularly on Sundays, a whole day “ruined” due to unwarranted blocking of AI code editor Cursor, blocking at Cloudflare, GitHub, BunnyCDN, the list goes on.

Vercel Slams “Unaccountable Internet Censorship”

In a joint statement last week, Vercel CEO Guillermo Rauch and Principal Engineer Matheus Fernandes cited the LaLiga/Telefonica court order and reported that ISPs are “blocking entire IP ranges, not specific domains or content.”

Among them, the IP addresses 66.33.60.129 and 76.76.21.142, “used by businesses like Spanish startup Tinybird, Hello Magazine, and others operating on Vercel, despite no affiliations with piracy in any form.”

This isn’t a narrowly scoped takedown. LaLiga is a private organization triggering IP-wide blocks that impact critical infrastructure, developers, and businesses—without review, due process, or transparency. These blocks are primarily enforced during LaLiga matchdays, typically on weekends and select weekdays, when live broadcasts occur.

ISP-level blocking of individual sites is common. Typically, this is done by inspecting the Server Name Indication (SNI) header during the TLS handshake. SNI contains the hostname in plaintext before encryption, allowing ISPs to block specific domains while leaving other traffic on the same IP untouched, even while the actual traffic is encrypted.

But that’s not what’s happening here. Spanish ISPs are blocking entire IPs, ignoring SNI and making no effort to distinguish between hosts. Any website or service behind a blocked IP is taken offline, regardless of its legitimacy.

What started as an anti-piracy measure has become an unaccountable form of internet censorship. There’s no distinction between targeted enforcement and mass collateral damage. IPs are being blocklisted wholesale.

Like all platforms working with user-uploaded content, Vercel receives external complaints concerning potential copyright infringement. Vercel’s latest transparency report reveals that during the latest reporting period it received 1,015 DMCA notices and restricted content in response to 1,001 of them. For additional perspective, Vercel has six million users and has a dedicated dispute resolution program, should that be necessary in respect of any complaint.

Vercel Now in Contact With LaLiga

The details concerning this latest blocking disaster and the many others since February, are unavailable to the public. This lack of transparency is consistent with most if not all dynamic blocking programs around the world. With close to zero transparency, there is no accountability when blocking takes a turn for the worse, and no obvious process through which innocent parties can be fairly heard. While these negatives are a real concern, it appears that tech-savvy Spaniards are embracing the challenge.

In our previous report we highlighted several coding projects that aim to counter the blocking issues in various ways. The hayahora.futbol project is especially impressive; it gathers evidence of blocking events, including dates, which ISPs implemented blocking, how long the blocks remained in place, and which legitimate services were wrongfully blocked.

Vercel blocked IP addresses, who was responsible, and for how long

While clearly unhappy with how the company has been treated, Vercel says it’s now working with LaLiga.

“We remain committed to providing fast, secure infrastructure for modern web applications. Likewise, we expect enforcement efforts to do the same: targeted, transparent, and technically sound. We are in contact with La Liga and are collaborating to remove illegal content in accordance with the court order. We’re exploring mitigation strategies to restore access for Spanish users and continue to advocate for an open and permissionless web,” Vercel concludes.

The Changing Role of ISPs

ISPs were traditionally the first to push back against site blocking but in Spain, all of those now involved have commercial interests in the content being blocked. They agreed to the terms of the blocking order, and they weren’t subjected to it against their will; that’s why the court approved it.

Yet when LaLiga is portrayed as the driving force behind events playing out in Spain, very little attention is paid to the significant help it needs to make blocking happen. The reasons why that help continues to arrive – despite known and repeated overblocking incidents – may raise questions as part of the wider net neutrality debate.

On one hand, LaLiga, Telefonica, and the interested ISPs, are protecting their rights in live LaLiga match broadcasts against rampant piracy under extremely difficult conditions. Yet on the other, they’re blocking IP addresses that their sophisticated anti-piracy departments know are also used by innocent companies and their customers trying to conduct legitimate business in Spain. There are suggestions that may yet run into trouble.

That leads us to RootedCON, the cybersecurity group that previously attempted to end LaLiga’s blocking campaign with an appeal to the court. Like Cloudflare, the bid failed but motivation to examine other potential opportunities remains high.

Previously dismissed as “geeks” by LaLiga, others consider the term “hackers” more descriptive. It also adds more spice to the recent mention that there may be a release of “technical tools to piss people off” as an interim (but entirely legal) anti-blocking measure.

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

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From TorrentFreak via this RSS feed

Without assurances that hosts, domain registries, registrars, DNS providers, and consumer ISPs would not be immediately held liable for internet users’ activities, investing in the growth of the early internet may have proven less attractive.

Of course, not being held immediately liable is a far cry from not being held liable at all. After years of relatively plain sailing, multiple ISPs in the United States are currently embroiled in multi-multi million dollar lawsuits for not policing infringing users. In Europe, countries including Italy and France have introduced legislation to ensure that if online services facilitate or assist piracy in any way, they can be compelled by law to help tackle it.

DNS Under Pressure

Given their critical role online, and the fact that not a single byte of infringing content has ever touched their services, some believed that DNS providers would be among the last services to be put under pressure.

After Sony sued Quad9 and wider discussions opened up soon after, in 2023 Canal+ used French law to target DNS providers. Last year, Google, Cloudflare, and Cisco were ordered to prevent their services from translating domain names into IP addresses used by dozens of sports piracy sites.

While all three companies objected, it’s understood that Cloudflare and Google eventually complied with the order. Cisco’s compliance was also achieved, albeit by its unexpected decision to suspend access to its DNS service for the whole of France and the overseas territories listed in the order.

So Long France, Goodbye Belgium

Another court order obtained by DAZN at the end of March followed a similar pattern.

Handed down by a court in Belgium, it compels the same three DNS providers to cease returning IP addresses when internet users provide the domain names of around 100 pirate sports streaming sites.

At last count those sites were linked to over 130 domain names which in its role as a search engine operator, Google was also ordered to deindex from search results.

During the evening of April 5, Belgian media reported that a major blocking campaign was underway to protect content licensed by DAZN and 12th Player, most likely football matches from Belgium’s Pro League. DAZN described the action as the “the first of its kind” and a “real step forward” in the fight against content piracy. Google and Cloudflare’s participation was not confirmed, but it seems likely that Cisco was not involved all.

In a very short statement posted to the Cisco community forum, employee tom1 announced that effective April 11, 2025, OpenDNS will no longer be accessible to users in Belgium due to a court order. The nature of the order isn’t clarified, but it almost certainly refers to the order obtained by DAZN.

Cisco’s suspension of OpenDNS in Belgium mirrors its response to a similar court order in France. Both statements were delivered without fanfare which may suggest that the company prefers not to be seen as taking a stand. In reality, Cisco’s reasons are currently unknown and that has provoked some interesting comments from users on the Cisco community forum.

Possible Motivation to Exit

Whether the rightsholders requested it, or the Judge simply thought it was appropriate, is still unclear, but the blocking order has a sting in its tail for non-compliance. Believed to be targeted at Cloudflare, Google, and Cisco – but not Belgian ISPs also required to comply with its terms – the order warns of penalties of €100,000 for each day of non-compliance. A user on Cisco’s forum felt that compliance shouldn’t be a problem.

“The court is very specific what needs to be blocked (130 pirate sports streaming domains and five illegal IPTV platforms). Blocking DNS requests based on domain categorization is at the core of the service of OpenDNS. There is nothing stating that OpenDNS should stop its services in Belgium,” Wiggum wrote.

“So why isn’t OpenDNS complying to this ruling? Instead, by pulling out of [Belgium], the Internet becomes less safe for those making use of it.”

While these are valid points, without the order being made available to the public, the definition of “non-compliance” is an unknown factor with potential to tip the scales. €100,000 per day is an awful lot of money for failing to deal with alleged copyright infringement over which the company has zero visibility.

Compliance is an Ongoing Commitment

The second and most critical factor is the assumption that blocking 130 domains is the end of Cisco’s obligations. The blocking order is dynamic, meaning that DAZN can and will add additional domains to the block list whenever that’s required. On the basis that blocking new domains quickly is the main goal of dynamic blocking, it’s at least possible that Cisco preferred an exit rather than a ruinous penalty hanging over its head.

Speculation, of course, but with no such penalties directed at the pirate sites themselves, it’s not difficult to see why being held liable may not sit well with intermediaries distant from any potential infringement.

For those who until recently were simply going about their daily business, blindly directing overwhelmingly legal internet traffic, perhaps the mandatory police uniform didn’t fit or sit well.

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

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From TorrentFreak via this RSS feed

Tech companies are racing to build the most powerful Artificial Intelligence (AI) but how these systems are trained is now mired in controversy.

Many major tech firms allegedly used huge amounts of copyrighted material to train their AI, without obtaining permission from rightsholders. This has triggered a series of copyright infringement lawsuits.

Meta, the parent company of Facebook and Instagram, is one of the companies being sued. Well-known book authors, including Richard Kadrey, Sarah Silverman, and Christopher Golden, previously filed a class-action lawsuit against the company.

This lawsuit has a clear piracy angle, as Meta used BitTorrent to download archives of pirated books to use as training material for its Llama models.

Notably, the authors argued that, in addition to downloading pirated books from Anna’s Archive, Z-Library and other sources, Meta uploaded pirated books to third parties in the process.

Last month, both parties filed motions for summary judgment. Meta’s motion relied heavily on a fair use defense. Meanwhile, the authors argued that the downloading of millions of books cannot be classified as fair use, since the source of the books is clearly copyright-infringing.

Law Professors Back Both Sides

Given the high stakes, the motions for summary judgment attracted interest from various third parties. Through amicus brief filings, these groups are asking the court to consider their perspectives. Previously, several law professors backed Meta, for example, arguing that training AI using ‘pirated’ content might be fair use.

Not all law professors agree with this conclusion, however, as highlighted in a new amicus brief from another group of law professors. This “friend of the court” brief, submitted last Friday, clearly backs the authors.

These law professors, who don’t address the BitTorrent-specific allegations, believe that using copyrighted books to train AI is not fair use.

“Meta’s claim that its unauthorized copying of plaintiffs’ works to train its large language models is fair use is a breathtaking request for greater legal privileges than courts have ever granted human authors. It should be rejected,” they write.

Using copyrighted works without permission might be considered ‘fair use’ if the use creates a new and transformative product. However, the law professors don’t believe that’s the case here.

Instead, they see the AI end product as a commercial tool that has a similar purpose to the books it is trained on; namely, to educate people.

“The use of copyrighted works to train generative models is not ‘transformative,’ because using works for that purpose is not relevantly different from using them to educate human authors, which is a principal original purpose of all of plaintiffs’ works,” the professors state.

“That training use is also not ‘transformative’ because its purpose is to enable the creation of works that compete with the copied works in the same markets – a purpose that, when pursued by a for-profit company like Meta, also makes the use undeniably ‘commercial’.”

In their 19-page brief, the professors dispute Meta’s fair use defense by analyzing several relevant factors. They ultimately conclude that these factors weigh “conclusively” against a finding of fair use.

Professors’ conclusion

Publishers Highlight Brazen Widespread Piracy

The book authors also receive support from other third parties, including The International Association of Scientific, Technical and Medical Publishers (STM), which also submitted an amicus curiae brief last Friday.

The publishers’ brief highlights the shadow libraries that Meta allegedly used to source some of its training materials. These include Z-Library, Sci-Hub, Library Genesis and Anna’s Archive, which have all been subject to legal problems of their own; such as the criminal prosecution of two alleged Z-Library operators.

“The illegal websites that Meta used to purloin a trove of copyrighted works have been the repeated subject of enforcement,” the publishers’ brief reads.

“Collectively, they have been found by multiple courts to be illegal and against the public interest; investigated by the FBI and the U.S. Department of Justice, including for potential espionage; had their domains shut down; and had their operators arrested.”

From the STM brief

Meta previously argued that its alleged use of copyrighted books as training inputs could be seen as fair use, regardless of the source of the data. However, STM sees this differently. They say that the “use of stolen content matters.”

The brief urges the court to consider these pirate sources, not only regarding the direct copyright infringement claim, but also when determining fair use for the AI training.

“Meta knowingly copied and distributed a shocking amount of infringing material from the world’s most notorious infringing websites to serve its commercial ends. Meta’s brazen acts of infringement, unprecedented in the annals of copyright law, must be considered in the context of fair use and should weigh heavily against it,” the publishers conclude.

The publishers’ position doesn’t come as a surprise, as they are directly impacted by the legal debate over AI training data. However, the fact that law professors can have vastly different opinions on the fair use analysis, shows that this isn’t an easy matter to resolve in court.

And given the stakes at play, these and other AI-related fair-use questions could very well end up at the Supreme Court in a few years.

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Update: The Association of American Publishers (AAP) has also submitted an amicus brief (pdf).

“In filing this amicus brief, AAP explains in detail that Meta’s systematic copying and encoding of protected creative works, word by word, into a large language model, is not a transformative fair use under the law, but rather, grossly exceeds the doctrine’s legal purpose and judicial precedent,” says Maria A. Pallante, AAP’s President and CEO.

“The brief also corrects Meta’s spurious assertion that there is no way for AI developers to lawfully license what they seek to use, citing numerous examples to the contrary of existing and emerging markets.”

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A copy of the Amicus Curiae brief from the Law Professors is available here (pdf), and the brief from the International Association of Scientific, Technical and Medical Publishers can be found here (pdf)

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

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From TorrentFreak via this RSS feed

More than a year after its official debut in February 2024, Italy’s controversial Piracy Shield blocking system is yet to deliver on the key predictions justifying its launch.

Claims of piracy’s total elimination quickly evaporated, taking predictions of major economic benefits down with them. The pirate sites causing the issues are now rarely mentioned by the authorities. Instead, telecoms regulator AGCOM and major football rightsholders have sought to toughen up legislation, and through a current public consultation, amend copyright protection regulations.

Public Consultation

Proposals for new technical and operational changes were reported last month. Hampered by the veil of secrecy surrounding Piracy Shield and its operations, input from the public has little chance of being taken seriously. Fortunately, the most important issues won’t go unaddressed.

A submission dated April 3 by the Computer & Communications Industry Association (CCIA) is notable for the members it represents; global tech giants such as Amazon, Apple, Cloudflare, Google, and Meta, among others.

“Like many other operators in the digital sector – whether based in Italy, in other EU Member States, or outside of Europe, – we have been expressing serious concerns about Italy’s Piracy Shield, which AGCOM has chosen as a tool for issuing orders to block internet sites (i.e. within the very short time frame of 30 minutes),” CCIA’s submission reads.

“These requests are made by rightsholders without due process or possibility for recourse. Hence, we believe that the Piracy Shield poses significant risks to the principles of freedom of enterprise expression, as established by European and Italian law.”

Piracy Shield Risk Factors

The basic factors said to contribute to these risks are well known. The Piracy Shield system was developed by a company affiliated with football league Serie A, one of the few companies currently allowed to use it. The technical features of Piracy Shield have never been made public and participation in the technical committee was by invite only and few operators from the digital sector were invited.

Subsequent operational errors, including overblocking affecting Cloudflare and Google Drive, also feature in the submission, but the specifics can be found in the regulatory amendments proposed by CCIA.

(Note: Machine translations may lack nuance, original documents included below for reference)

Proposed Changes to Regulations

According to CCIA, Article 8, paragraph 3 of AGCOM’s draft, awards AGCOM the power to issue orders to remove content from servers hosted outside Italy (in other EU Member States), based on a reference to provisions in the Digital Services Act (DSA).

While the provision to which AGCOM refers is unknown, establishing the scope of AGCOM’s jurisdiction is important. To that end, CCIA calls on AGCOM to identify the provision “that you believe to establish this extra-territorial power.”

On the same theme, CCIA takes issue with paragraph 4 directly after.

The issue here begins with the assertion that AGCOM should be awarded powers to issue orders to remove content from servers hosted outside Italy. AGCOM currently has the authority to compel Italian ISPs to block access to servers, usually foreign, to prevent those servers being accessed by users in Italy.

Given the similar end result, CCIA notes that when it was previously envisaged that AGCOM should be awarded local blocking power, that was promoted “precisely with specific reference to the hypothesis of servers located beyond national borders, as a substitute for the direct order of removal.”

References to the Digital Services Act

That AGCOM intends to make use of provisions available under the EU’s Digital Services Act (DSA) is a complication, especially when the provisions aren’t made clear, as the ‘extra-territorial’ example above shows.

Further DSA-related issues quickly raise their heads too, specifically concerning Article 9, Orders to act against illegal content. The relevant sections below from the DSA (EU law) and AGCOM’s reference to that law, are followed by a comment from CCIA.

A second translation of CCIA’s comment (in yellow) reads as follows: “Provision should be made for compliance with the formal requirements for authority orders in Article 9 of the Digital Services Regulation, referred to in this same rule as the source of the information obligation.”

This statement may serve as a reminder that removal orders issued under Article 9 of the DSA impose a reporting obligation on intermediary recipients. However, for an order to be considered valid under Article 9, the issuer must ensure that takedown orders contain the following at minimum:

(i) the legal basis for the order under EU/national law (ii) a statement explaining why the information is illegal, (iii) information to identify the issuing authority, (iv) clear information enabling the intermediary to identify and locate the illegal content, (v) information about redress mechanisms available, (vi) details of the authority to receive information about the effect given to the orders.

Major Concerns Over Draft Regulations in Article 10

The real dispute takes place around Article 10, Precautionary proceedings for violations relating to audiovisual content broadcast. To appreciate the gulf between AGCOM’s stance and that of CCIA’s members, the first page of proposals tackle several fundamental issues that AGCOM has thus far refused to discuss.

Basics include the requirement that when AGCOM issues a blocking order, a timeframe of 30 mins to implement it safely isn’t realistic. Five days, on the other hand, is too short for those wrongfully blocked to file an appeal. Calls for improved transparency have also fallen on deaf ears, but the full list goes on…..and on.

A gulf of disagreement

CCIA concludes its submission with a request for a dedicated hearing but before that, the tech industry group urges AGCOM to reconsider its approach.

“We take the opportunity to encourage AGCOM to reconsider its blocking approach and instead focus its efforts on targeting the actual hosts and distributors of pirated content and on protecting content at the source,” CCIA’s submission adds.

“Network-level blocking does not remove content from the internet, can easily be circumvented and is ultimately ineffective in combating piracy, reducing infringing content, or deterring sophisticated piracy tactics.”

CCIA’s summary is available here (pdf), the full set of proposals here (docx, Italian)

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

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From TorrentFreak via this RSS feed

Like many similar reports published most weeks by newspapers in Europe, an article published by Belgian media outlet L’Echo late Saturday evening pulled few punches.

The publication explained that after football broadcasters DAZN and 12th Player obtained authority from a local court for a new type of enforcement action, on Saturday Belgian ISPs blocked around 100 illegal streaming sites and five pirate IPTV providers. The measures were reportedly timed to take effect shortly before the start of the second day of the Belgian football championship play-offs, presumably to maximize the irritant effect of sudden pirate ssite blackouts.

“DAZN: First of Its Kind”

According to L’Echo, DAZN described the action as the “the first of its kind” and a “real step forward” in the fight against content piracy in Belgium. Comments like these are fairly standard in the anti-piracy arena, likewise claims that rightsholders have acquired a secret weapon capable of tipping the balance of power.

L’Echo’s report was much more balanced but if the various components came together as planned, major disruption of live match streams at a crucial point in the season seemed to have a real chance of success.

The groundwork was completed last month. An order issued by the Brussels Enterprise Court late March, authorized DAZN and 12th Player to engage in dynamic blocking boosted by a significant additional component.

While this would be its first use in Belgium, dynamic blocking is already used extensively elsewhere. The mechanism allows for speedy responses to blocking countermeasures, including domain changes and the appearance of proxies and mirrors, and there’s no requirement for a follow-up legal procedure.

Pirate sites are by now mostly familiar with dynamic blocking but in this case, the rightsholders also had an eye on spoiling a circumvention tactic popular with millions of users. Faced with blocking on Saturday, users in Belgium who switched from ISP-provided DNS to Cloudflare’s DNS wouldn’t have restored connectivity quite so easily. Moving to DNS provided by Google or Cisco may not have helped much either.

Cloudflare, Google, and Cisco Ordered to Block DNS Resolvers

Over the past several years, Cloudflare has faced several lawsuits that demanded pirate site blocking measures on its public DNS resolver. Rightsholders take the position that when ISPs implement DNS blocking, users shouldn’t be able to switch to a public DNS service like Cloudflare’s to regain access.

Those cases mostly focused on Cloudflare in Italy but a site-blocking case filed by Canal+ in 2023, concluded in 2024 with Cloudflare, Google, and Cisco ordered to prevent use of their DNS resolvers to access dozens of pirate sites.

In terms of platforms blocked in a single swoop, the order obtained by DAZN and 12th Player in Belgium may be even broader in scope.

New Law, New Blocking Momentum

New law passed in Belgium in 2022 aimed to strengthen rightsholders’ piracy-fighting capabilities. A new expedited judicial procedure at the Brussels Enterprise Court promised tougher measures such as dynamic blocking, and the creation of a new department within the Federal Public Service FPS Economy (SPF Économie).

Documents seen by TorrentFreak late last week include a notice penned by the Belgian Online Anti-Piracy & Illegal Gambling Office. The notice references a “regulatory order” to block public DNS resolvers, stemming from a court order concerning claims of copyright infringement against pirate streaming sites.

Domains For Blocking (public DNS resolvers) [dark square=domain unresponsive]

The notice does not mention DAZN or 12th Player by name but the nature of the domains (almost 140, all linked to illegal sports streaming sites) and the date of the notification (April 3, 2025) suggest a strong link to Saturday’s events. DAZN’s standing as a dominant rightsholder means the notice is unlikely to relate to anyone else.

Pro Site-Blocking ISPs

Site blocking has existed in Belgium for close to 15 years with The Pirate Bay an early target back in 2011. Until recently, however, site blocking measures have been quite patchy and lacked volume in general.

By the summer of 2024, DAZN and 12th Player were helping to push that trend in a different direction after obtaining an order to block around 90 pirate streaming sites offering content to which the companies own the rights.

Local ISPs Telenet NV, Proximus NV, Voo NV, and Orange Belgium NV were technically the defendants in that matter but the site blocking process in Belgium is completely non-adversarial. In February 2024, the CEOs of both Proximus and Orange openly spoke out in favor of site-blocking measures, with the former indicating they couldn’t come soon enough.

Resistance is Futile – and Expensive

Whether the Brussels Enterprise Court took the ISPs’ cooperation into account isn’t clear, but as far as we’re able to determine, the dynamic blocking order seems to have taken their compliance for granted. The same cannot be said of the operators of the public DNS resolvers, Cloudflare, Google, and Cisco.

The Court reportedly set penalties at €100,000 per day for non-compliance, a sharp turnaround from the status quo barely a year ago when public DNS resolvers mostly considered themselves too distant from infringement to be held liable. Given that the vast majority of the sites in the blocking order act as portals or indexes for content not even they host, links to direct infringement are distant indeed.

That raises the most important question of all: can blocking be considered successful if it doesn’t remove or even target the infringing streams that fuel the entire ecosystem?

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

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From TorrentFreak via this RSS feed

The frontline of online piracy liability keeps moving, and core internet infrastructure providers are increasingly finding themselves in the crosshairs.

In a significant ruling last week, the Paris Judicial Tribunal ordered Cloudflare to actively block access to pirate MotoGP streams, confirming that third-party intermediaries can be required to take responsibility.

The ruling follows a complaint from French entertainment powerhouse Société d'Edition de Canal Plus (SECP), which holds the rights to various sports broadcasts. In this case, the proceeding was filed to protect its interests in MotoGP events, which started a new season last month.

DNS Resolvers are Liable

The reasoning behind the blocking request is similar to a previous blocking order, which also targeted OpenDNS and Google DNS. It is grounded in Article L. 333-10 of the French Sports Code, which empowers rightsholders to seek court orders against any outfit that can help to stop 'serious and repeated' sports piracy.

This time, SECP's demands are broader than DNS blocking alone. The rightsholder also requested blocking measures across Cloudflare's other services, including its CDN and proxy services.

The 14 domain names

The legal paperwork cites 14 domain names, including motogpstream.me and livestreamhd247.live, but doesn't stop there. SECP also pushed for dynamic blocking, asking Cloudflare to act against future infringing sites identified by French media regulator, ARCOM.

Cloudflare's Failed Defense

Cloudflare put up a defense, arguing that unlike traditional ISPs, it isn't the kind of intermediary that's targeted by Article L. 333-10. The company said that its DNS, CDN, and reverse proxy services don't "transmit" infringing content in the way envisioned by the law. Instead, they merely route traffic or cache content passively, so strict policing obligations are not appropriate.

Cloudflare also attacked the proportionality and effectiveness of the requested measures. For example, it said that DNS blocking would affect a "negligible" number of users and could be easily bypassed by VPNs or other DNS resolvers, rendering these restrictions futile.

Cloudflare also warned that due to technical challenges, it could be difficult to accurately geo-restrict blocking measures to France, introducing a new risk of global collateral damage.

Court Dismisses Pushback, Orders Blocking Measures

None of these defenses convinced the Paris court, which rejected all of Cloudflare's arguments. For example, it disregarded the "passive" vs. "active" distinction, concluding that intermediaries such as Cloudflare play an integral role in accessing pirate streams. As a result, the company is required to block this content.

The potentially limited effect of the blocking order didn't change the court's view either. While Cloudflare's blocking won't put an end to piracy, it will have an impact, even if some people bypass the proposed blocking measures.

All in all, the Paris Court ordered Cloudflare to comply and block the listed pirate site domains within three days. The blockades should stay in place for the remainder of the 2025 MotoGP season, across all relevant services.

Future Pirate Site Domains are Covered

The order was issued last week and Cloudflare has already implemented it, with the court allowing Cloudflare to adopt its own technical measures. Visiting the blocked domain names from France will now result in an HTTP 451 error, indicating that they are now unavailable for legal reasons.

Error HTTP 451

Interestingly, the blockades may not stop at the 14 domain names mentioned in the original complaint. The 'dynamic' order allows SECP to request additional blockades from Cloudflare, if future pirate sites are flagged by French media regulator, ARCOM. Refusal to comply could see Cloudflare incur a €5,000 daily fine per site.

"[Cloudflare is ordered to implement] all measures likely to prevent, until the date of the last race in the MotoGP season 2025, currently set for November 16, 2025, access to the sites identified above, as well as to sites not yet identified at the date of the present decision," the order reads.

From the order

This latest French ruling is part of broader efforts by rightsholders to co-opt core internet infrastructure into their enforcement efforts. Mandatory blocking requirements, once largely confined to ISPs, are now gradually expanding to other intermediaries. The expansion is not just a French or European phenomenon; a proposed U.S. site blocking bill also envisions a key role for DNS resolvers.

_--

A copy of the Paris Court order, issued on March 28, 2025, is available here (pdf) _

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

---

From TorrentFreak via this RSS feed

cross-posted from: https://lemmygrad.ml/post/7438737

I am assuming Stalin would approve of this since he literally robbed trains. Also he's so handsome. So thats why hes my thumbnail.

Recently I have kind of realized that the way I use the internet isnt as common as I thought. I don’t watch ads ever, and I pirate a lot. I thought id share some methods and hopefully help others get a better online experience.

~~So I know theres a few piracy communities around that might work for some of this stuff, but its not all piracy and I want more people to see it so here we are~~

I wanted to make this because I think a lot of people don’t realize just how easy it is to save money, and time online. Even if you know some of these methods hopefully a few will be new to you.

Time to learn how to look like this IRL

We will go through some stages. Basic, Advanced, and Torrenting methods.

Basic

First things first is the web browser we are going to use. This guide will be based on FLOORP. A Fire Fox fork. Its what I use for general web use. For more privacy centric folks switch it out for LibreWolf and all this should still work fine with some tweaking. Or any Firefox variant.

Browser Extensions: Get these from the firefox extension store.

Ublock Origin: General adblock and doesn’t need much configuring. If it doesn’t block something you want gone you can right click it and block it manually.

Alternative Player for Twitch.tv: This will add a new web player for twitch streams which will block ads in the streams. It will drop the resolution while it blocks them to 480p and say “Hiding Ads” in the corner. I am pretty sure the streamer still gets paid since it has no way to know you arent watching them.

ClearURLs: Removes tracking elements from URLs

I still don’t care about cookies: Will get rid of annoying cookie pop ups on most sites by just accepting them automatically.

Sponsorblock for YouTube – Skip Sponsorships: Names self explanatory. Community powered so some new videos wont be flagged yet. You can configure what is skipped and isnt.

A few others I find useful, Dont Track Me Google, Twitch Channel Points Autoclicker, Unwanted Twitch, Youtube-shorts block, Pinyin Web(For learning chinese), Dark Reader.

Now at this point your browser should be basically ad free and debloated. I recommend messing with FLOORPs settings if you used that its got some nice customization options.

Now lets make use of it to get some free content.

Anime: https://kaa.mx/ or https://hianime.to/tv

TV/Movies: https://movies5.online/

Overall list of pirating sites and other useful things: https://fmhy.net/ This has all kinds of stuff. Definitely worth checking out. It even has textbooks for school.

I cannot stress enough that I would not go to piracy sites without the above adblocking setup or something similar. Theyre usually full of crazy ads some of which could have malware. With ads blocked ive never had issues though.

Advanced

Music: Many people use spotify. If you do I recommend not buying premium, and instead using SpotXBash. Or the windows alternative. This one works for Linux and Mac. You run the script, and your spotify is ad free. It does require terminal usage, and theres always the risk your spotify account gets banned if they detect it. It’ll need re running every now and then as updates can mess it up. I’ve never been banned but if your worried about it make a new account for it. https://github.com/SpotX-Official/SpotX-Bash

Now you may be thinking, like I did, “I wish I didn’t have to stream my music. Just let me download it.”

Thats where spotdl comes in. https://github.com/spotDL/spotify-downloader

Theres a tutorial on getting it setup on the github. Once its ready its pretty simple you make a playlist on your newly ad free spotify, run the command spotdl with the link to it, and itll grab all the songs off youtube if theyre available. Quick and easy music piracy. Not perfect as sometimes you get music video versions but its pretty good.

I’ve downloaded hundreds of songs this way, and its nice to have when you don’t have internet, and the powers out or something.

Also if you don’t want to use youtube at all due to privacy reasons now we have a more advanced option for you. FreeTube. Its an app that works on all OS’s as far as I have seen even mobile, and works as a youtube frontend. You can even use invidious as the way to get videos for even more privacy. https://freetubeapp.io/

Torrenting

Ok if you’ve been following along this far its time to take a breather. Depending on where you are, and who your ISP is this part can be pretty risky. You might get letters in the mail, might get fined, could even get sued in some places.

That being said I can show you how to do it safely.

First we are going to buy something. Mullvad VPN. Its the only VPN id recommend getting. It is 5.50$ or so a month, and if you cancel your streaming accounts it’ll pay for itself now that you’ll be pirating stuff with it.

Once youve bought and setup Mullvad we can continue. Go here: https://mullvad.net/en/check

Its going to check that the VPN is working correctly. You should see 3 green boxes that say Using Mullvad, No DNS leaks, No WebRTC leaks. If you have that go into Mullvads settings. Under VPN settings Kill Switch, and Lockdown Mode should be turned ON. This will prevent your computer from connecting to the internet with anything but the VPN.

Now we are gong to get qBitTorrent. This is our torrenting client. Your gonna install it, click settings, advanced, and look for “Network Interface.” There will be a drop down menu. Click it and select the mullvad option. Mine is “wg0-mullvad” then click apply.

Your now ready to torrent and cannot be tracked by the other leechers or seeders. So you wont get those DMCA letters.

Now where do we find things to torrent? That wiki I linked earlier has some stuff. For games https://fitgirl-repacks.site/ is a great option. She recently repacked The Last of Us Part II remastered.

You’ll copy the magnet link, put that into Qbittorrent, and let it do its thing. Once its done you’ll pause the torrent. Assuming you don’t want to keep seeding it for other people downloading. Then open up the files and it’ll be an easy installer.

So to recap. You should no longer be seeing ads online, no longer be paying for stupid streaming services, and be getting lots of music, and games for free. Plus you get the added bonus of making liberals and capitalists mad by not giving them your money. If your well off take the money you saved and do mutual aid, if your poor like me and couldn’t afford this stuff anyway, enjoy!

P.S. If you are worried about not supporting certain independent creators and stuff while doing this keep in mind direct donations are still an option for pretty much everything. Most youtubers have a patreon or something for example.

Corporation simps when they find out you arent giving Disney all your money:

cross-posted from: https://lemmygrad.ml/post/7438737

I am assuming Stalin would approve of this since he literally robbed trains. Also he's so handsome. So thats why hes my thumbnail.

Recently I have kind of realized that the way I use the internet isnt as common as I thought. I don’t watch ads ever, and I pirate a lot. I thought id share some methods and hopefully help others get a better online experience.

~~So I know theres a few piracy communities around that might work for some of this stuff, but its not all piracy and I want more people to see it so here we are~~

I wanted to make this because I think a lot of people don’t realize just how easy it is to save money, and time online. Even if you know some of these methods hopefully a few will be new to you.

Time to learn how to look like this IRL

We will go through some stages. Basic, Advanced, and Torrenting methods.

Basic

First things first is the web browser we are going to use. This guide will be based on FLOORP. A Fire Fox fork. Its what I use for general web use. For more privacy centric folks switch it out for LibreWolf and all this should still work fine with some tweaking. Or any Firefox variant.

Browser Extensions: Get these from the firefox extension store.

Ublock Origin: General adblock and doesn’t need much configuring. If it doesn’t block something you want gone you can right click it and block it manually.

Alternative Player for Twitch.tv: This will add a new web player for twitch streams which will block ads in the streams. It will drop the resolution while it blocks them to 480p and say “Hiding Ads” in the corner. I am pretty sure the streamer still gets paid since it has no way to know you arent watching them.

ClearURLs: Removes tracking elements from URLs

I still don’t care about cookies: Will get rid of annoying cookie pop ups on most sites by just accepting them automatically.

Sponsorblock for YouTube – Skip Sponsorships: Names self explanatory. Community powered so some new videos wont be flagged yet. You can configure what is skipped and isnt.

A few others I find useful, Dont Track Me Google, Twitch Channel Points Autoclicker, Unwanted Twitch, Youtube-shorts block, Pinyin Web(For learning chinese), Dark Reader.

Now at this point your browser should be basically ad free and debloated. I recommend messing with FLOORPs settings if you used that its got some nice customization options.

Now lets make use of it to get some free content.

Anime: https://kaa.mx/ or https://hianime.to/tv

TV/Movies: https://movies5.online/

Overall list of pirating sites and other useful things: https://fmhy.net/ This has all kinds of stuff. Definitely worth checking out. It even has textbooks for school.

I cannot stress enough that I would not go to piracy sites without the above adblocking setup or something similar. Theyre usually full of crazy ads some of which could have malware. With ads blocked ive never had issues though.

Advanced

Music: Many people use spotify. If you do I recommend not buying premium, and instead using SpotXBash. Or the windows alternative. This one works for Linux and Mac. You run the script, and your spotify is ad free. It does require terminal usage, and theres always the risk your spotify account gets banned if they detect it. It’ll need re running every now and then as updates can mess it up. I’ve never been banned but if your worried about it make a new account for it. https://github.com/SpotX-Official/SpotX-Bash

Now you may be thinking, like I did, “I wish I didn’t have to stream my music. Just let me download it.”

Thats where spotdl comes in. https://github.com/spotDL/spotify-downloader

Theres a tutorial on getting it setup on the github. Once its ready its pretty simple you make a playlist on your newly ad free spotify, run the command spotdl with the link to it, and itll grab all the songs off youtube if theyre available. Quick and easy music piracy. Not perfect as sometimes you get music video versions but its pretty good.

I’ve downloaded hundreds of songs this way, and its nice to have when you don’t have internet, and the powers out or something.

Also if you don’t want to use youtube at all due to privacy reasons now we have a more advanced option for you. FreeTube. Its an app that works on all OS’s as far as I have seen even mobile, and works as a youtube frontend. You can even use invidious as the way to get videos for even more privacy. https://freetubeapp.io/

Torrenting

Ok if you’ve been following along this far its time to take a breather. Depending on where you are, and who your ISP is this part can be pretty risky. You might get letters in the mail, might get fined, could even get sued in some places.

That being said I can show you how to do it safely.

First we are going to buy something. Mullvad VPN. Its the only VPN id recommend getting. It is 5.50$ or so a month, and if you cancel your streaming accounts it’ll pay for itself now that you’ll be pirating stuff with it.

Once youve bought and setup Mullvad we can continue. Go here: https://mullvad.net/en/check

Its going to check that the VPN is working correctly. You should see 3 green boxes that say Using Mullvad, No DNS leaks, No WebRTC leaks. If you have that go into Mullvads settings. Under VPN settings Kill Switch, and Lockdown Mode should be turned ON. This will prevent your computer from connecting to the internet with anything but the VPN.

Now we are gong to get qBitTorrent. This is our torrenting client. Your gonna install it, click settings, advanced, and look for “Network Interface.” There will be a drop down menu. Click it and select the mullvad option. Mine is “wg0-mullvad” then click apply.

Your now ready to torrent and cannot be tracked by the other leechers or seeders. So you wont get those DMCA letters.

Now where do we find things to torrent? That wiki I linked earlier has some stuff. For games https://fitgirl-repacks.site/ is a great option. She recently repacked The Last of Us Part II remastered.

You’ll copy the magnet link, put that into Qbittorrent, and let it do its thing. Once its done you’ll pause the torrent. Assuming you don’t want to keep seeding it for other people downloading. Then open up the files and it’ll be an easy installer.

So to recap. You should no longer be seeing ads online, no longer be paying for stupid streaming services, and be getting lots of music, and games for free. Plus you get the added bonus of making liberals and capitalists mad by not giving them your money. If your well off take the money you saved and do mutual aid, if your poor like me and couldn’t afford this stuff anyway, enjoy!

P.S. If you are worried about not supporting certain independent creators and stuff while doing this keep in mind direct donations are still an option for pretty much everything. Most youtubers have a patreon or something for example.

Corporation simps when they find out you arent giving Disney all your money:

I am assuming Stalin would approve of this since he literally robbed trains. Also he's so handsome. So thats why hes my thumbnail.

~~he robbed stagecoaches not trains apparently~~

Recently I have kind of realized that the way I use the internet isnt as common as I thought. I don’t watch ads ever, and I pirate a lot. I thought id share some methods and hopefully help others get a better online experience.

~~So I know theres a few piracy communities around that might work for some of this stuff, but its not all piracy and I want more people to see it so here we are~~

I wanted to make this because I think a lot of people don’t realize just how easy it is to save money, and time online. Even if you know some of these methods hopefully a few will be new to you.

Time to learn how to look like this IRL

We will go through some stages. Basic, Advanced, and Torrenting methods.

Basic

First things first is the web browser we are going to use. This guide will be based on FLOORP. A Fire Fox fork. Its what I use for general web use. For more privacy centric folks switch it out for LibreWolf and all this should still work fine with some tweaking. Or any Firefox variant.

Browser Extensions: Get these from the firefox extension store.

Ublock Origin: General adblock and doesn’t need much configuring. If it doesn’t block something you want gone you can right click it and block it manually.

Alternative Player for Twitch.tv: This will add a new web player for twitch streams which will block ads in the streams. It will drop the resolution while it blocks them to 480p and say “Hiding Ads” in the corner. I am pretty sure the streamer still gets paid since it has no way to know you arent watching them.

ClearURLs: Removes tracking elements from URLs

I still don’t care about cookies: Will get rid of annoying cookie pop ups on most sites by just accepting them automatically.

Sponsorblock for YouTube – Skip Sponsorships: Names self explanatory. Community powered so some new videos wont be flagged yet. You can configure what is skipped and isnt.

A few others I find useful, Dont Track Me Google, Twitch Channel Points Autoclicker, Unwanted Twitch, Youtube-shorts block, Pinyin Web(For learning chinese), Dark Reader.

Now at this point your browser should be basically ad free and debloated. I recommend messing with FLOORPs settings if you used that its got some nice customization options.

Now lets make use of it to get some free content.

Anime: https://kaa.mx/ or https://hianime.to/tv

TV/Movies: https://movies5.online/

Overall list of pirating sites and other useful things: https://fmhy.net/ This has all kinds of stuff. Definitely worth checking out. It even has textbooks for school.

I cannot stress enough that I would not go to piracy sites without the above adblocking setup or something similar. Theyre usually full of crazy ads some of which could have malware. With ads blocked ive never had issues though.

Advanced

Music: Many people use spotify. If you do I recommend not buying premium, and instead using SpotXBash. Or the windows alternative. This one works for Linux and Mac. You run the script, and your spotify is ad free. It does require terminal usage, and theres always the risk your spotify account gets banned if they detect it. It’ll need re running every now and then as updates can mess it up. I’ve never been banned but if your worried about it make a new account for it. https://github.com/SpotX-Official/SpotX-Bash

Now you may be thinking, like I did, “I wish I didn’t have to stream my music. Just let me download it.”

Thats where spotdl comes in. https://github.com/spotDL/spotify-downloader

Theres a tutorial on getting it setup on the github. Once its ready its pretty simple you make a playlist on your newly ad free spotify, run the command spotdl with the link to it, and itll grab all the songs off youtube if theyre available. Quick and easy music piracy. Not perfect as sometimes you get music video versions but its pretty good.

I’ve downloaded hundreds of songs this way, and its nice to have when you don’t have internet, and the powers out or something.

Also if you don’t want to use youtube at all due to privacy reasons now we have a more advanced option for you. FreeTube. Its an app that works on all OS’s as far as I have seen even mobile, and works as a youtube frontend. You can even use invidious as the way to get videos for even more privacy. https://freetubeapp.io/

Torrenting

Ok if you’ve been following along this far its time to take a breather. Depending on where you are, and who your ISP is this part can be pretty risky. You might get letters in the mail, might get fined, could even get sued in some places.

That being said I can show you how to do it safely.

First we are going to buy something. Mullvad VPN. Its the only VPN id recommend getting. It is 5.50$ or so a month, and if you cancel your streaming accounts it’ll pay for itself now that you’ll be pirating stuff with it.

Once youve bought and setup Mullvad we can continue. Go here: https://mullvad.net/en/check

Its going to check that the VPN is working correctly. You should see 3 green boxes that say Using Mullvad, No DNS leaks, No WebRTC leaks. If you have that go into Mullvads settings. Under VPN settings Kill Switch, and Lockdown Mode should be turned ON. This will prevent your computer from connecting to the internet with anything but the VPN.

Now we are gong to get qBitTorrent. This is our torrenting client. Your gonna install it, click settings, advanced, and look for “Network Interface.” There will be a drop down menu. Click it and select the mullvad option. Mine is “wg0-mullvad” then click apply. (YOU MUST DO THIS! DO NOT SKIP!)

People in the comments have suggested some other VPNs that they prefer. I can't verify any but Mullvad as thats what i use, but feel free to check out other offerings just be careful.

Your now ready to torrent and cannot be tracked by the other leechers or seeders. So you wont get those DMCA letters.

Now where do we find things to torrent? That wiki I linked earlier has some stuff. For games https://fitgirl-repacks.site/ is a great option. She recently repacked The Last of Us Part II remastered.

You’ll copy the magnet link, put that into Qbittorrent, and let it do its thing. Once its done you’ll pause the torrent. Assuming you don’t want to keep seeding it for other people downloading. Then open up the files and it’ll be an easy installer.

So to recap. You should no longer be seeing ads online, no longer be paying for stupid streaming services, and be getting lots of music, and games for free. Plus you get the added bonus of making liberals and capitalists mad by not giving them your money. If your well off take the money you saved and do mutual aid, if your poor like me and couldn’t afford this stuff anyway, enjoy!

P.S. If you are worried about not supporting certain independent creators and stuff while doing this keep in mind direct donations are still an option for pretty much everything. Most youtubers have a patreon or something for example.

Corporation simps when they find out you arent giving Disney all your money:

Resources from the comments:

Stalins_Spoon@lemmygrad.ml: Open directories with tons of movies; http://23.147.64.113/ http://144.217.70.79/VODS-M/1080P/

The reason it says insecure is bcz they don’t have an https cert

KrasnaiaZvezda@lemmygrad.ml: No nyaa.si ? It’s for torrenting instead of watching things online, but for those who prefer torrents it’s perfect as you can also find OPs and EDs, manga, LNs…

uberstar@lemmy.ml: For something multi-platform as a music downloading solution, I recommend Lucida instead:

https://lucida.to/

you just paste the link of an album/song (whether via Qobuz, Deezer, Tidal, etc…) and download away. Then all you have to do is unzip the resulting archive file.

For anyone doing research (or more generally, studying in uni), consult the literature pirate’s equivalent of the Library of Alexandria:

https://libgen.is/

And fuck copyright in academia (fuck copyright and academia in general), here’s a site that let’s you bypass research article paywalls (pick one of the instances):

https://www.sci-hub.pub/

XxFemboy_Stalin_420_69xX@hexbear.net:

great post small addition: should include anna’s archive for downloading books and journal articles, among other types of media

I didn't write this, u/Rumbleskim on Reddit did. Their account was suspended so I can't link their profile. Original post here.

[Digital Piracy] The rise of EMPRESS - How one woman turned the pirate underworld on its head, waged a solo war against the entire game industry (and won), went mad with power, started a messianic cult based on high school-level philosophy, and faked her own arrest to spite her rivals and haters

An Introduction to Piracy

Most of us have torrented something at some point, whether it’s a game, movie, book, song or TV show, but just for those who haven’t, I’ll explain the basics.

When you go to a site like The Pirate Bay or Kick Ass Torrents, and click ‘Download Torrent’, all you’re really getting is a link. Programmes like Bittorrent or Vuze are able to open those links, and will let you download almost any file, legal or not. But you’re not downloading it from a server somewhere, a website, or a single person, you’re downloading it from dozens, sometimes thousands of people at the same time, all around the world. Those are known as ‘seeders’. And while you do that, other people are downloading the file from you. They’re ‘leechers’. The original distributor of the file created that torrent, and submitted it to torrenting websites so that other people could find it, but once they’ve shared the full file once, they can break off their connection to the torrent.

This is known as ‘Peer to Peer’ file sharing, and it’s the primary means of distributing media illegally, because it’s basically impossible to stop. If a website is hosting episodes of Game of Thrones, you can shut the website down. If a person is sending out files, you can sue them. But no company or corporation, however powerful, can stop a torrent (though many have tried).

Sharing a movie or a song is easy – you just distribute the file. It will work no matter who downloads it. But games are different. Since a game is made up of loads of files working in tandem and tangled up in a confusing spider-web of code, the developer is able to ‘booby trap’ the game so that it doesn’t work when it’s copied.

For as long as developers have been doing this, savvy hackers and programmers have been working to undo it. When they do, the developers go back to the drawing board and come up with something smarter.

Cassettes were easily duplicated, so the industry invented consoles with more secure cartridges and built-in ROMs that could detect fakes. Pirates reverse-engineered the consoles to make their own duplicate consoles which could run both legitimate and fake copies. So the industry moved to CDs, because they had more storage space and could be fitted with new security features. Pirates cracked the CDs. Developers started requiring a game key, so pirates created key-generators to fool them. The developers came back with copy-detection software, so the pirates cracked the software. The companies started using DRM that forced players to remain connected and logged into the company’s servers at all times. Pirates cracked that too.

This game of cat-and-mouse has been going on for decades, steadily growing more complex and inscrutable. The stakes are high. By some estimates, piracy costs tens of billions a year. By other estimates, it costs almost nothing. To the game industry, every pirated game is a lost sale.

But who are these pirates, anyway?

The Warez Scene

Pirates tend to work in tightly-knit ‘Warez’ groups, and these groups are bound together in a secretive, world-wide, decentralised network called ‘The Scene’. While the Scene has no leader, it has come to adhere to strict rules and regulations. If a release breaks these rules, other groups will ‘nuke’ it – flagging it as bad content. From the outside, they may seem like the Robin Hoods of the industry, stealing video games from the rich and distributing them to the poor, but don’t let that fool you. Warez groups are motivated by competition, not generosity. They all want to be the best. The first group to release a cracked game wins – any cracks to release after that are considered worthless (and are subsequently nuked). There’s no prize, of course. But in the Scene, prestige is its own reward.

In one of their info files (often the only way a group communicates with pirates), the group SKIDROW said the following:

Keep in mind we do all this, because we can and because we like the thrilling excitement of winning over the other competing groups. We absolutely don't do all these releases, to please the general user that rather want to spend their cash on updating to the latest hardware, and sees the scene releases as a source to play all these games for free. Enjoy playing and remember if you like it, support the developer!

The group MYTH said the same thing:

We do this just for FUN. We are against any profit or commercialisation of piracy. We do not spread any release, others do that. In fact, we BUY all our own games with our own hard earned and worked for efforts. Which is from our own real life non-scene jobs. As we love game originals. Nothing beats a quality original. "If you like this game, BUY it. We did!"

The Scene comprises thousands of active groups, most flickering in and out of existence within the space of a few months. Some came and dominated for a while, but couldn’t adapt to the challenges companies placed before them, and inevitably faded into obscurity. Every era of piracy had its big names. PARADOX, RELOADED, SKIRDOW and RAZOR1911 are all good examples. The competition was fierce, so no single group held on to the spotlight for long.

But everything changed when the industry pulled out its trump card.

Denuvo Anti-Tamper

Denuvo is a piece of anti-tamper software, developed in Austria and first released in September 2014. At first, pirates saw it as yet another obstacle which would be overcome and set aside. But it gradually became clear that Denuvo was going to be more of a challenge.

I’m not remotely intelligent enough to go into exactly what Denuvo does in detail, though these people are. It’s difficult to understand because it was designed to be. But the simple version is that it scrambles the code inside the .exe (the file that boots the game) and decrypts it on the fly, using information from Denuvo’s servers, and from your computer. The first time you run the game, it will tailor itself to the nooks and crannies of hardware, which acts kind of like a fingerprint. This way, it can detect if it’s been copied to a different device, or if the .exe has been tampered with.

It’s hard to overstate how big a difference Denuvo made. At a time when games were being cracked less than a day after hitting shelves, this software could keep them out of pirates’ hands for literally years. Many people on the Scene thought Denuvo was truly impenetrable. That reputation got around, and soon almost every game came with it baked in.

There are claims that Denuvo has all sorts of negative effects on games, from slowing load times to taking a toll on hardware. It’s also possible that due to the way Denuvo works, once the company stops supporting older games, or new hardware becomes too different to old hardware, gamers may be totally unable to play. There’s a lot of debate about whether these effects are real but it's hard to know who to trust, because everyone has a narrative to push. Pirates go to great lengths to discredit Denuvo, and corporations work hard to defend it.

“The Denuvo anti-tamper technology is ultimately to protect the gaming industry and ensure game studios have an ability to continue to invest and build new games,” said a representative in a statement. “On PC, a large proportion of games (especially the AAA games) tend to be protected for a period of time to protect the monetization of the games being launched—say six months or 12 months for example.”

It took three months for the first breakthrough. 3DM, a warez group from China, successfully breached Denuvo on 1st December 2014. Thirty days after it came out, 3DM released Dragon Age Inquisition onto the Scene. But major video games made most of their sales within the first month, so that was still a victory for the developers.

Games came out in drips and drabs for a while. In all of 2015, only six games were cracked. 3DM gradually fell behind their biggest competitor, CPY. When CPYp cracked Metal Gear Solid V only nine days after it hit shelves, there were optimistic whispers that perhaps Denuvo could be defeated after all. But that was a folly.

In January 2016, Rise of the Tomb Raider came out, and with it was a new and improved version of Denuvo. Whatever had changed, it was enough to terrify 3DM. Within days of its release, they admitted defeat.

“The last stage is too difficult and Jun nearly gave up, but last Wednesday I encouraged him to continue,” the founder, known by her internet handle “Phoenix”, said.

“I still believe that this game can be compromised. But according to current trends in the development of encryption technology, in two years’ time I’m afraid there will be no free games to play in the world,”

3DM all but disappeared from the Scene after that. CPY was the only group left with any prospects of taking down Denuvo. They toiled quietly in the background for days. The days became weeks. Weeks became months. And the video game piracy community fell into a long, deep hibernation, fuelled only by memes and indie games.

And then one morning, it awoke. Tomb Raider had been cracked. It had taken 193 days, but CPY had done it.

The day CPY gave us Hope again ...

After that, the games began to release more regularly – around a week or two apart. Since CPY was the only group capable of breaking Denuvo, they owned the Scene in a way no other group ever really had. From August 2016 through to May the next year, almost nothing got cracked without their input. It still took at least a month to crack a single game, but the number of days gradually got smaller and smaller. When Resident Evil Biohazard got cracked within five days, the call once again went out that Denuvo had truly been defeated, for sure this time.

And the scene and outsiders of the scene have completely dismantled and destroyed them. Far cry from the fear everyone originally had. Every new protection is scary at first but when it comes down to it...if there are people smart enough to create it...there are people smart enough to reverse engineer it! Cheers to all the groups and individuals who crushed them and will continue to do so as it evolves.

Over time, CPY started collaborating more with other groups, who themselves picked up the tricks for circumventing Denuvo. BALDMAN and STEAMPUNKS began to dominate between June and October 17. Between them, there were pirated games coming out almost every day. CODEX was there too, first working on collabs, and then on their own. From 2018 to 2020, they made up most of the releases, and CPY made up the rest.

And there was also a woman called EMPRESS.

Long Live the Queen

The rise of EMPRESS didn’t come as a shock; it was a gradual takeover. She first appeared under the name C000005, and had a history working with the popular cracker CODEX. Her first Denuvo cracks under the name EMPRESS came in mid-2017 as part of larger collaborations. One of these, ‘Total War Warhammer 2’, involved no less than six scene groups, plus EMPRESS on top.

She worked her way up from three collabs in 2017, to five in 2018, and a few the next year too, and it wasn’t until her solo debut with the cracked version of ‘Planet Zoo’ that she really made waves.

Between October 2020 and July 2021, EMPRESS would reign supreme. Of the fifteen major cracks during that period, she was behind eight.

But it wasn’t just her skill that drew attention. It was the fact that she bucked every trend in the Scene. She wasn’t part of some secretive group, she was one woman out to declare war against an industry worth tens of billions, and she won, with nothing more than her own intelligence. The normal Scene motivations of glory and prestige meant nothing to her (so she claimed), it was all about saving games. She made the cardinal sin of commenting on the CrackWatch subreddit, and did it freely. She posted polls asking what games the community wanted next, called out her competitors, interacted with fans, and shared her (often enigmatic) philosophical views. And unlike the other groups, she accepted donations.

In short, she was everything the Scene hated. But they couldn’t touch her – none of them could. She was one of the only people in the world capable of breaching Denuvo, so no-one could justify any measures against her. And even if the Scene tried to ‘nuke’ her releases, people would download them anyway – such was her fan following.

Groups targeted whichever games they pleased, insulating themselves from outside input, to say nothing of requests. And a lot of the time, they didn’t update their releases to account for bug fixes or software changes, fating their achievements to obsolescence. Empress doesn’t think they loved video games. They loved themselves, and winning. “Everything they did was just a way to ‘prove’ themselves and boost their fake meaningless Egos,’” says Empress.

EMPRESS became the closest thing the piracy community had to a celebrity. People loved her.

In a February interview with Wired, EMPRESS said she had been called to the purpose through dreams. A copy of Dark Souls 2 floated before her, wrapped up in chains made of numbers, and as she focused, she began to see what every number meant ‘universally’. Looking deeper still, she entered ‘The Zone’, which allowed her to ‘SEE MORE into everything’, and shatter the chains. When asked about her process, EMPRESS said, “By mixing philosophy with coding. It’s very complicated. I have a ‘Goal’ that no one else has. I have no need for Ego.” This is the kind of larger-than-life persona she adopted.

Of course, there were those who simply couldn’t believe Empress was a woman. She had to be a man – or even a group of men. To this, she said:

”to all the GENDER FREAKS out there who keep claiming out of their own ass that I am a male, I am so sorry to ruin your fantasy dreams of a trans cracker is false and yes I am actually a woman. Next time if you want to speak about your pathetic fetishes, you better look at yourself in the mirror.” She would later say, “i am 23 years old, and i am beautiful AS HELL. but i don't care 1 bit how i ‘look.’ i care of what i ‘Do.’”

The Wired interview is revealing and bizarre in equal measure.

“i think the main problem is that people ‘fail’ to see Video Games as the pinnacle and max potential of ‘art,’” Empress says that as a child she was a “very strange girl who did not like the ‘Real World’ as much as other people seem to.” More than the average gamer, she says, she has always taken games seriously not just as a way to pass the time, but as places to go and be. She loved Tetris on the NES, for when she wanted to “go ‘beyond’ the human limits in terms of ‘Response’ and ‘creativity.’” She loved Megaman 1, “for philosophical reasons that people do not understand.”

“i always keep in the ZONE till i crush their pathetic puzzle prisons,” she says. Cracking DRM has taught her that the only real way to view the games industry right now is through the lens of philosophy. Philosophy helps people discern what is valuable, she says. And to discern what is valuable, you must look for higher truths. The higher truth in gaming, she says, is that “wanting to preserve something you ‘Buy’ should NEVER be a ‘Crime.’”

Recently, she cracked Anno 1800, which layered three types of protection, Denuvo on top. “No one else does this because it requires insane amount of focus, dedication and endless passion. I was able to achieve this only in several months of research. it was HELL to say the least.”

The video game piracy community had long been a separate world to the Scene. Each understood the existence of the other, but didn’t care about their motivations, only their results. Gamers didn’t give a shit about the bizarre Warez industry or its search for clout; as long as cracks came out, that was all that mattered. And vice versa, as far as the Scene was concerned, gamers existed only to reinforce that clout. It was a confused but mutually beneficial relationship.

So when EMPRESS came along, espousing virtuous anti-corporate goals and beating the big publishers at their own game, the piracy community fell in love. In fact, her releases were sometimes even better than the official versions. Her fan-following rapidly grew into an almost cult-like obsession. She was half-jokingly called the messiah of video games. The community became full of her bizarre philosophical exercises, reviews, and even a few diss tracks.

“The reason why Ubisoft, EA and such companies never remove denuvo from their games is only because they LOVE feeling superior and ENJOY seeing you the customer as PIG under their control or worse.”

The corporations tried to use her fame against her. She announced her releases ahead of time with a lot of fanfare, and gave regular updates on her progress. So when news got out that EMPRESS was about to crack Assassin’s Creed Odyssey, Ubisoft sabotaged the game so that players couldn’t fight two of the bosses. Then when the crack released, they removed the bug. EMPRESS’s version had to be fixed by other crackers.

But they couldn’t hold her off forever. The revolution had arrived, and it had found its Robbespierre. When the coveted Red Dead Redemption 2 release came out, she was on top of the world.

But we all know what happened to Robbespierre.

Are we Pirates or are we Dancer?

EMPRESS first began to lose followers through her ‘philosophy’. She had come to believe she had a totally unique view on the world that no one could even begin to understand. As far as Empress was concerned, she had the ‘perfect and totally correct’ answer to all philosophical questions. Whether this sense of grandeur had its origin in drugs, or the praise she was getting, or something else, it’s hard to say. In her first major philosophy post, she said, “I have always had lots of universal philosophy knowledge inside my soul and it always opposes the famous philosophers and thinkers' theories, and pretty much "Everyone else" on this planet.”

Aside from balking at the audacity of using a platform for piracy as her own personal blog, the community was quick to knock her down a peg.

So I guess you read them all? The great thinkers? To verify how you are above and beyond their thinking?

Do you understand how utterly arrogant this post makes you? I will tell you why. To put yourself above thinkers like Arthur Schopenhauer, Adam Smith, John Locke, Charles-Louis de Secondat, Immanuel Kant, Thomas Hobbes, Baruch Spinoza, Francisco de Vitoria, Friedrich Nietzsche and so many others. Human beings who have helped shape the foundation of the world we live in today. I am talking about the most basic of basic stuff we now take for granted like property, human rights, democratic governance and rule of law. Without these ideas and those who dedicated their lives to refine them, our world could not be like it is today.

This was a strong argument, but as someone else jokingly pointed out:

bitch shut up, they pirated rdr2

Which, to be fair, Hobbes and Kant never did.

The next philosophy post came with a ‘shitlist’ of all the people who had opposed her.

many people has put their heart and soul in their replies, and some of them were "very close" to the truth , while others tried their best to be DICKHEADS and speak with a brain of a cockroach. i list them below.

This didn’t earn her any friends. There were discussions of banning her completely. In order to find a compromise, EMPRESS went and created her own platform, with blackjack and hookers. It wasn’t too successful, but her most ardent disciples happily made the jump, and most of the piracy community was happy to see the end of her bizarre posts.

But the bliss wouldn’t last. Empress was shortly suspended, her followers scattered. No one seemed to care much about that.

Fuck You, Pay Me

You might remember the part when I said EMPRESS accepted donations. That would become a pretty big part of this. The most important thing to EMPRESS was cracking games, but a girl gotta eat. She had a real job. When fans donated money, she was able to take time away from that job to spend on cracking. “How much time I spend in it depends on the amount of donations I receive.” In other words, fans could pay her to get pirated games faster. Empress knew the value of her work, and expected to be compensated for it.

requiring money to keep working on this cancer is something that is a "must", and its not my choice or anyone else's.

The undeniable truth is-- this life requires this whether we like it or not... because otherwise there is no human capable of just magically producing cracks for the most annoying cancer drm in this world.

the most talented crackers in the SCENE left and worked for DENUVO for this same reason ... and to avoid my fate ending up in any negative way too, i am requesting all of your help to keep struggling and crushing this drm with every new version they make.

In September 2020, she approached the piracy community with a confession. After ending her solo career and joining a more traditional Scene group, she was back. The Scene was dead, she proclaimed, and they wouldn’t be coming to help. In fact, many of the recent Denuvo releases by other groups had been mainly done by EMPRESS. There were even questions of whether the Scene was deliberately delaying crack releases because they were being paid off by the industry. Conspiracies ran wild.

If you had high hopes for the scene to make some miracle comeback, I have bad news for you. Even before the busts, the scene's state was already very rotten and most of the people inside are nothing but leechers of fake fame based on on some old ass "glory". I made the Planet Zoo crack in 1 week, I made crack for Total War Three Kingdoms in 4 days and they were both ready to go in early August. But the lack of even tiny bit action from the people who should have moved things forward, made me completely blocked in what it seem to be infinite stagnation. Because I had to wait them, almost 2 months... I couldn't do any progress on Denuvo AT ALL. And as a result I became very tired. And you wait those people to save you? Especially after the busts, 95% of the scene is in dead silence. My mistake was leaving you and going with them in promises of fake support , so I am sorry for that.

This all lead up to the pitch: there was a new Denuvo variant out there, and if it could be broken, pirates could get their hands on games like Death Stranding and Resident Evil 3. But she would need to dedicate herself wholly to it, and that meant relying fully on donations.

The Scene didn’t take this lying down. In the info files of their own releases, they slated EMPRESS’s greed and unsavoury motivations. In their crack for ‘Iron Harvest’, the group DARKSiDERS had this to say:

As we do this without profit from own pockets, we supply them games, buy em... EMPRESS you are asking money for piracy!!

We think thats more rotten then CODEX themselfs!!

We also have our real-life jobs todo and we would not ever ask money!

SHAME ON YOU! For starters piracys basic princible is...: FREE!"

*ALSO THiNG iS

You are calling scene toxic just cuz were on one

biggest groups. We re really chilled and let ppl

do things on their own pace. Most of sceners are

Ä bit angry at the fact that codex used/uses

MONEY for crackers, scene dont do that usually.

But EMPRESS was always ready with a response.

They must understand I do not care about their shitty competition. We are not talking here about making profit from cracking itself, we are talking about saving the right to preserve your games and own them, because in current days no matter how much money you have, you simply cannot buy true ownership anymore. Instead you have to install 3 launchers and go through several sever authorizations in order to play your games. This missions requires extreme dedication and time put into it. So, yes, naturally requires financing as well, one way or another. Don't you think I don't hate asking for money, but it's how the things are.

They said it themselves, they chill and do nothing, because are lazy old bastards, who only speak but never do anything. Also I know about several german groups making money through giving early pre information to p2p sites, so don't give me that scene morality again.

DARKSiDERS, you are bottom of the scene with SKIDROW and you know exactly what I am talking about.

No one had ever seen anything like it on the Scene before. Empress thought she was better than everyone else, and she kind of was (at least, as far as cracking was concerned). However the piracy community started to sour on her over time, partly because of her requests for money, and partly because of her weirdly preachy and arrogant philosophical ramblings, which people often felt forced to slog through because they sometimes held hints about future cracks. Plus some of these philosophical opinions came across as a little transphobic. She was starting to get a reputation as a bit of a nut job who had let the whole thing go to her head.

This wasn’t helped when when EMPRESS released the crack for ‘Immortals: Fenyx Rising’. Pirates noticed that they had extremely low download speeds, and figured out that she was deliberately throttling her own torrent. Why? Because she didn’t want any other pirates repacking and re-uploading her cracks. To clarify, a repacker takes a torrent, strips away the fluff, compresses it down to a tiny size, and releases it again. Repacks are made for people who struggle downloading large files. EMPRESS wanted a monopoly over the spotlight, and tried to prevent repackers getting hold of the game. This led to new beef with the person re-packing most of her releases, ‘FitGirl’, promising never to work with EMPRESS’s cracks again.

In July, she went as far as to hold cracks hostage. Following one of her regular polls, she said “the highest vote choice will not win if i don't receive 500$ for it. the people who will vote for the highest demanded game need to cooperate and collect 500$ for me to crack the game. this way it doesn't have to just be "1" single indvidual suffering for the entire thing when everyone else gets the game for free later.”

No money, no crack. Those were the terms.

Pirates were stingy at the best of times – that’s why they were pirates. But there were no alternatives. It was EMPRESS or nothing. It was a lot cheaper to throw a dollar or two her way than to buy a game at full price. All that talk of ‘saving video games’ was starting to ring hollow. The push-back against her was enormous.

if id wanted to pay money id just buy the game, this is retarded and you should be ashamed of this. you shouldnt crack games for the money you should do it for the ideology or for the competition. this is a disgrace. shame on you

There was also the problem of preference – people wouldn’t donate towards cracking games they didn’t even like. One fan pointed out: “people might still support you so you don't starve to death but you are probably gonna lose respect if your choice of games don't align with that of most people who follow you.”

“Every fu*cking time these kids vote for a childish anime game instead of an open world game.”

But EMPRESS wouldn’t be cowed by abuse. Far from backing down, she continued calling out to potential contributors and sponsors, and promised that if anyone had a specific game they were desperate to get cracked, a simple payment of $500 dollars would make it happen.

This was open to a lot of manipulation – all a company had to do to protect their newest release was pay EMPRESS to focus on something else instead.

“the entire ‘Scene’ rules that accept ‘no money/donations’ is 1 of the biggest problems which always push the crackers back, instead of forward,” says Empress. “if you’re going to do such INSANE EFFORT, you wouldn't just do it for and from ‘nothing’

EMPRESS would try to let her fans decide how they wanted the process of donating to go, but that quickly devolved into chaos, fuelled by her detractors. But her supporters gave as good as they got, and the resulting firestorm grew steadily more toxic until it overflowed into every piracy-related space. All the while, she continued preaching her philosophy and attacking anyone who opposed it.

i suggest you all go for a self re-check, you people have stinking shallow mind and souls... my philosophy is the "UNIVERSAL" type, and the term "Subjective" means NOTHING in my world. [if you STILL not convinced and disagree of anything i said in this post, i congratulate you because it means you didn't understand a SINGLE WORD from what i said. please enjoy an empty pathetic life].

Wanted Woman

The was a great danger looming over EMPRESS’s rise to stardom. The law. After all, there was a reason why members of the Scene kept a low profile. Companies couldn’t touch the torrents, but with just enough information, they could take down the people making them. Other pirates (such as one named Voksi) had been apprehended before, and sometimes the plea deal even involved working for Denuvo. It could happen again. Fans urged EMPRESS to be careful. They thought she was sticking her neck out far too much.

I hope you get all the support you want but keep safe.

EMPRESS promised she would, but it wasn’t enough. Or so it seemed.

In February 2021, she announced that thanks to her haters and rivals, who had leaked her address to the authorities, she had been well and truly nicked.

some serious people ON REDDIT managed to report me to authority with my real address, i am not quiet sure how it happened, but even with putting my philosophical side aside, i think i pissed off the entire internet just by trying to control "MY" own crack for 24 hour is actually something i am still not able to believe. in less than an hour, i will be dragged out of my home here with my lawyer, but considering i was caught red handed while preparing version 2 fix for my immortals crack, i don't think there will be much of hope against it at all.

Her message to those who had insulted her was totally not at all bitter – she thought they were ‘all beautiful people’ who she definitely didn’t hate, because they had just made a mistake. This was all somewhat rich for a woman who was rapidly developing hints of megalomania and power-madness.

And then she made an Obi-wan-esque speech about ‘remembering me’ and ‘contuing on my path’.

Everyone was quick to point out the flaws here. The police generally don’t bust down your door, catching you ‘red-handed’ cracking Denuvo, then call you to tell you they’re going to arrest you in an hour, so you have time to write out a long and dramatic letter blaming others for your woes.

”I will be there in less than an hour to take you in. please don't delete any incriminating data. thanks."

Other crackers weighed in on the hilarity of the whole thing, especially Fitgirl, whom EMPRESS mentioned by name. Some users went straight to mockery.

This infinity crackhead has really gone of the deep end.

But to much of the community, it was just kind of sad.

• Edit- I set the machine to work last night testing memtester and badblocks (read only) both tests came back clean, so I assumed I was in the clear. Today, wanting to be extra sure, i ran a read-write badblocks test and watched dmesg while it worked. I got the same errors, this time on ata3.00. Given that the memory test came back clean, and smartctl came back clean as well, I can only assume the problem is with the ata module, or somewhere between the CPU and the ata bus. i'll be doing a bios update this morning and then trying again, but seems to me like this machine was a bad purchase. I'll see what options I have with replacement.

• Edit-2- i retract my last statement. It appears that only one of the drives is still having issues, which is the SSD from the original build. All write interactions with the SSD produce I/O errors (including re-partitioning the drive), while there appear to be no errors reading or writing to the HDD. Still unsure what caused the issue on the HDD. Still conducting testing (running badblocks rw on the HDD, might try seeing if I can reproduce the issue under heavy load). Safe to say the SSD needs repair or to be pitched. I'm curious if the SD got damaged, which would explain why the issue remains after being zeroed out and re-written and why the HDD now seems fine. Or maybe multiple SATA ports have failed now?

---

I have no idea if this is the forum to ask these types of questions, but it felt a little like a murder mystery that would be a little fun to solve. Please let me know if this type of post is unwelcome and I will immediately take it down and return to lurking.

Background:

I am very new to linux. Last week I purchased a cheap refurbished headless desktop so I could build a home media server, as well as play around with vms and programming projects. This is my first ever exposure to linux, but I consider myself otherwise pretty tech-savvy (dabble in python scripting in my spare time, but not much beyond that).

This week, i finally got around to getting the server software installed and operating (see details of the build below). Plex was successfully pulling from my media storage and streaming with no problems. As i was getting the docker containers up, I started getting "not enough storage" errors for new installs. Tried purging docker a couple times, still couldn't proceed, so I attempted to expand the virtual storage in the VM. Definitely messed this up, and immediately Plex stops working, and no files are visible on the share anymore. To me, it looked as if it attempted taking storage from the SMB share to add to the system files partition. I/O errors on the OMV virtual machine for days.

Take two.

I got a new HDD (so i could keep working as I tried recovery on the SSD). I got everything back up (created a whole new VM for docker and OMV). Gave the docker VM more storage this time (I think i was just reckless with my package downloads anyway), made sure that the SMB share was properly mounted. As I got the download client running (it made a few downloads), I notice the OVM virtual machine redlining on memory from the proxmox window. Thought, (uh oh, i should fix that). Tried taking everything down so I could reboot the OVM with more memory allocation, but the shutdown process hung on the OVM. Made sure all my devices on the network were disconnected, then stopped the VM from the proxmox window.

On OVM reboot, i noticed all kinds of I/O errors on both the virtual boot drive and the mounted SSD. I could still see files in the share on my LAN devices, but any attempt to interact with the folder stalled and would error out.

I powered down all the VM's and now i'm trying to figure out where I went wrong. I'm tempted to just abandon the VM's and just install it all on a Ubuntu OS, but I like the flexibility of having the VM's to spin up new OS's and try things out. The added complexity is obviously over my head, but if I can understand it better I'll give it another go.

Here's the build info:

Build:

• HP prodesk 600g1
• intel i5
• upgraded 32gb after-market DDR3 1600mhz Patriot Ram
• KingFlash 250gb SSD
• WD 4T SSD (originally NTFS drive from my windows pc with ~2T of data existing)
• WD 4T HDD (bought this after the SSD corrupted, so i could get the server back up while i delt with the SSD)
• 500Mbps ethernet connection

Hypervisor

• Proxmox (latest), Ubuntu kernel
• VM110: Ubuntu-22.04.3-live server amd64, OpenMediaVault 6.5.0
• VM130: Ubuntu-22.04.3-live, docker engine, portainer
  • Containers: Gluetun, qBittorrent, Sonarr, Radarr, Prowlarr)
• LCX101: Ubuntu-22.04.3, Plex Server
• Allocations
• VM110: 4gb memory, 2 cores (balooning and swap ON)
• VM130: 30gb memory, 4 cores (ballooning and swap ON)

Shared Media Architecture (attempt 1)

• Direct-mounted the WD SSD to VM110. Partitioned and formatted the file system inside the GUI, created a folder share, set permissions for my share user. Shared as an SMB/CIFS
• bind-mounted the shared folder to a local folder in VM130 (/media/data)
• passed the mounted folder to the necessary docker containers as volumes in the docker-compose file (e.g. - volumes: /media/data:/data, ect)

No shame in being told I did something incredibly dumb, i'm here to learn, anyway. Maybe just not learn in a way that destroys 6 months of dvd rips in the process ___

351 matches today. Times in UTC

Argentina - Federal A Zona A

Club Cipolletti vs Germinal - 08.10.2023 21:00

Villa Mitre vs Olimpo - 08.10.2023 21:00

Argentina - Federal A Zona B

Huracan Las Heras vs Ciudad de Bolivar - 08.10.2023 21:30

San Martin Mendoza vs Club Sportivo Penarol - 08.10.2023 22:00

Sportivo Atenas vs Argentino Monte Maiz - 09.10.2023 00:30

Argentina - Federal A Zona C

Douglas Haig vs Defensores de Belgrano de Villa Ramallo - 08.10.2023 21:30

Gimnasia y Esgrima de Concepcion vs Defensores de Pronunciamiento - 08.10.2023 21:30

Independiente Chivilcoy vs El Linqueno - 08.10.2023 22:00

Union de Sunchales vs Sportivo Belgrano - 08.10.2023 22:00

Argentina - Federal A Zona D

Gimnasia y Tiro vs Sarmiento de Resistencia - 08.10.2023 20:00

Juventud Antoniana vs 9 de Julio Rafaela - 08.10.2023 22:00

Boca Unidos vs Sol de America Formosa - 08.10.2023 23:30

Argentina - Primera Nacional Zona A

San Martin de Tucuman vs Almirante Brown - 08.10.2023 20:00

CA Defensores Unidos vs Flandria - 08.10.2023 20:30

Argentina - Primera Nacional Zona B

Aldosivi vs Deportivo Maipu - 08.10.2023 20:30

Club Atletico Mitre vs Atletico Rafaela - 08.10.2023 20:30

Deportivo Riestra vs Ferro Carril Oeste - 08.10.2023 20:30

Chacarita Juniors vs Club Atletico Estudiantes - 08.10.2023 21:50

Racing de Cordoba vs Gimnasia Jujuy - 08.10.2023 23:00

Independiente Rivadavia vs Villa Dalmine - 09.10.2023 01:30

Austria - 2. Liga

FC Liefering vs Admira Moedling - 08.10.2023 10:30

Austria - Bundesliga

LASK vs Altach - 08.10.2023 14:30

Wolfsberger AC vs Sturm Graz - 08.10.2023 14:30

SK Austria Klagenfurt vs Salzburg - 08.10.2023 17:00

Azerbaijan - Premier League

Sumqayit vs FC Kapaz - 08.10.2023 14:30

FK Neftchi vs Qarabag FK - 08.10.2023 17:30

Belarus - Premier League

Naftan Novopolotsk vs Torpedo Zhodino - 08.10.2023 13:30

Gomel vs Dynamo Brest - 08.10.2023 15:30

Belgium - First Division A

Standard Liege vs Club Brugge - 08.10.2023 13:30

Royal Antwerp vs Eupen - 08.10.2023 16:00

Gent vs Genk - 08.10.2023 18:30

St.Truiden vs Union St.Gilloise - 08.10.2023 19:15

Brazil - Serie A

Fluminense vs Botafogo - 08.10.2023 21:00

Internacional vs Gremio - 08.10.2023 21:00

Palmeiras vs Santos FC - 08.10.2023 21:00

Athletico Paranaense vs Red Bull Bragantino - 08.10.2023 23:30

Atletico MG vs Coritiba - 08.10.2023 23:30

Fortaleza vs America MG - 08.10.2023 23:30

Brazil - Serie B

Criciuma vs Vitoria - 08.10.2023 23:00

Brazil - Serie C 2nd Stage Group B

Brusque vs EC Sao Jose - 08.10.2023 21:00

Operario Ferroviario vs Sao Bernardo - 08.10.2023 21:00

Bulgaria - First Professional League

Etar vs Hebar - 08.10.2023 14:15

CSKA 1948 vs Botev Plovdiv - 08.10.2023 16:45

Ludogorets Razgrad vs Pirin Blagoevgrad - 08.10.2023 19:15

Chile - Primera Division

Deportes Copiapo vs Magallanes - 08.10.2023 17:30

Palestino vs Colo Colo - 08.10.2023 20:00

Audax Italiano vs CD Nublense - 09.10.2023 01:00

Croatia - HNL

NK Lokomotiva vs HNK Gorica - 08.10.2023 15:00

Dinamo Zagreb vs NK Istra 1961 - 08.10.2023 17:15

Denmark - Superligaen

Nordsjælland vs Odense - 08.10.2023 14:00

Vejle Boldklub vs Hvidovre - 08.10.2023 14:00

Brøndby IF vs Viborg - 08.10.2023 16:00

Midtjylland vs Randers FC - 08.10.2023 18:00

AGF Aarhus vs FC København - 08.10.2023 20:00

Egypt - Premier League

Al Ahly SC vs Ismaily SC - 08.10.2023 18:00

Pyramids FC vs ENPPI - 08.10.2023 18:00

England - Premier League

Brighton vs Liverpool - 08.10.2023 15:00

West Ham vs Newcastle - 08.10.2023 15:00

Wolves vs Aston Villa - 08.10.2023 15:00

Arsenal vs Man City - 08.10.2023 17:30

England - WSL

Brighton Women (W) vs West Ham Women (W) - 08.10.2023 13:00

Man City Women (W) vs Chelsea Women (W) - 08.10.2023 13:30

Tottenham Women (W) vs Bristol City WFC (W) - 08.10.2023 15:00

Leicester City WFC (W) vs Everton Women (W) - 08.10.2023 16:00

Liverpool Women (W) vs Aston Villa Women (W) - 08.10.2023 19:45

England - Women's Championship

Charlton Athletic (W) vs Durham Women FC (W) - 08.10.2023 13:00

Reading FC Women (W) vs Lewes (W) - 08.10.2023 14:00

Birmingham City Women (W) vs Sunderland AFC Ladies (W) - 08.10.2023 15:00

Blackburn Rovers LFC (W) vs Crystal Palace FC (W) - 08.10.2023 15:00

Watford (W) vs Southampton FC Women (W) - 08.10.2023 15:00

Estonia - Meistriliiga

Paide Linnameeskond vs Harju Jalgpallikool - 08.10.2023 13:30

Finland - Kakkonen - Lohko C

GBK vs JBK - 08.10.2023 13:00

JS Hercules vs VIFK - 08.10.2023 13:00

Närpes Kraft vs OTP - 08.10.2023 13:00

RoPS vs KuPS Akatemia - 08.10.2023 13:00

Finland - Veikkausliiga Championship Group

KuPS vs Honka - 08.10.2023 15:00

VPS vs HJK - 08.10.2023 15:00

Finland - Veikkausliiga Relegation Group

IFK Mariehamn vs FC Lahti - 08.10.2023 14:00

France - Ligue 1

Marseille vs Le Havre - 08.10.2023 13:00

Brest vs Toulouse - 08.10.2023 15:00

Lyon vs Lorient - 08.10.2023 15:00

Montpellier vs Clermont Foot - 08.10.2023 15:00

Lens vs Lille - 08.10.2023 17:05

Rennes vs PSG - 08.10.2023 20:45

Germany - 2. Bundesliga

Eintracht Braunschweig vs Paderborn - 08.10.2023 13:30

Holstein Kiel vs Elversberg - 08.10.2023 13:30

Schalke 04 vs Hertha BSC - 08.10.2023 13:30

Germany - 3. Liga

Lübeck vs Freiburg II - 08.10.2023 13:30

Hallescher FC vs Preussen Münster - 08.10.2023 16:30

FC Ingolstadt vs Jahn Regensburg - 08.10.2023 19:30

Germany - Bundesliga

Leverkusen vs Köln - 08.10.2023 15:30

Bayern München vs Freiburg - 08.10.2023 17:30

Frankfurt vs FC Heidenheim - 08.10.2023 19:30

Germany - Frauen-Bundesliga

SGS Essen (W) vs Bayern München (W) - 08.10.2023 14:00

SC Freiburg (W) vs Werder Bremen (W) - 08.10.2023 18:30

Germany - Regionalliga Bayern

Greuther Fürth II vs FC Memmingen - 08.10.2023 14:00

TSV Buchbach vs Augsburg II - 08.10.2023 14:00

Türkgücü München vs SpVgg Bayreuth - 08.10.2023 14:00

Germany - Regionalliga North

Eintracht Norderstedt vs St. Pauli II - 08.10.2023 14:00

Teutonia Ottensen vs Eimsbutteler TV - 08.10.2023 14:00

Bremer SV vs VfB Oldenburg - 08.10.2023 15:00

Spelle-Venhaus vs TSV Havelse - 08.10.2023 15:00

SV Drochtersen/Assel vs SSV Jeddeloh - 08.10.2023 15:00

Germany - Regionalliga Northeast

BFC Dynamo vs FSV Luckenwalde - 08.10.2023 13:00

ZFC Meuselwitz vs BSG Chemie Leipzig - 08.10.2023 13:30

FSV Zwickau vs Chemnitzer FC - 08.10.2023 14:00

Germany - Regionalliga Southwest

Hoffenheim II vs TSG Balingen - 08.10.2023 14:00

SG Barockstadt Fulda Lehnerz vs Eintracht Frankfurt II - 08.10.2023 14:00

TSV Schott Mainz vs Aalen - 08.10.2023 14:00

VfB Stuttgart II vs Mainz 05 II - 08.10.2023 14:00

Greece - Super League

AEK Athens vs Panetolikos - 08.10.2023 18:30

Panathinaikos vs Atromitos - 08.10.2023 20:30

Hungary - NB I

Fehervar FC vs MTK Budapest - 08.10.2023 13:00

Ferencvaros vs Debrecen - 08.10.2023 16:30

Iceland - Besta deildin Championship Group

Breidablik vs Stjarnan - 08.10.2023 16:00

India - Indian Super League

Mumbai City FC vs Kerala Blasters FC - 08.10.2023 16:30

Iran - Azadegan League

Darya Caspian Babol vs Mes Kerman - 08.10.2023 14:30

Ario Islamshahr vs Pars Jonoubi - 08.10.2023 15:30

Mes Shahr Babak vs Mes Sungun - 08.10.2023 15:30

Kheybar vs Naft MS - 08.10.2023 15:45

Khalij Fars Mahshahr vs Saipa - 08.10.2023 17:00

Iran - Persian Gulf Pro League

Malavan vs Nassaji - 08.10.2023 15:45

Persepolis vs Gol Gohar - 08.10.2023 17:45

Israel - Ligat HaAl

Hapoel Jerusalem FC vs Maccabi Tel Aviv - 08.10.2023 19:00

Maccabi Haifa vs Hapoel Beer Sheva - 08.10.2023 19:30

Italy - Serie A

Monza vs Salernitana - 08.10.2023 12:30

Frosinone vs Hellas Verona - 08.10.2023 15:00

Lazio vs Atalanta - 08.10.2023 15:00

Cagliari vs Roma - 08.10.2023 18:00

Napoli vs Fiorentina - 08.10.2023 20:45

Italy - Serie B

Como vs Cremonese - 08.10.2023 16:15

Spezia vs Pisa - 08.10.2023 16:15

Italy - Serie C Grp. A

Fiorenzuola vs Pergolettese - 08.10.2023 20:45

Italy - Serie C Grp. B

Torres vs Lucchese - 08.10.2023 14:00

Virtus Entella vs Olbia - 08.10.2023 14:00

ASD Pineto vs Pontedera - 08.10.2023 18:30

SPAL vs Pescara - 08.10.2023 18:30

Ancona vs Vis Pesaro - 08.10.2023 20:45

Rimini vs Recanatese - 08.10.2023 20:45

Sestri Levante vs Juventus Next Gen - 08.10.2023 20:45

Italy - Serie C Grp. C

Monterosi vs Casertana - 08.10.2023 14:00

Sorrento vs Messina - 08.10.2023 14:00

Catania vs Latina - 08.10.2023 16:15

Crotone vs AZ Picerno - 08.10.2023 16:15

Giugliano vs Taranto - 08.10.2023 18:30

Turris vs Virtus Francavilla - 08.10.2023 18:30

Audace Cerignola vs Benevento - 08.10.2023 20:45

Monopoli vs Foggia - 08.10.2023 20:45

Japan - J. League 2

Iwaki FC vs Vegalta Sendai - 08.10.2023 07:00

JEF United Chiba vs Mito Hollyhock - 08.10.2023 07:00

Machida Zelvia vs Ventforet Kofu - 08.10.2023 07:00

Montedio Yamagata vs Tochigi SC - 08.10.2023 07:00

Zweigen Kanazawa vs Blaublitz Akita - 08.10.2023 07:00

Thespakusatsu Gunma vs Fagiano Okayama FC - 08.10.2023 12:00

Japan - J. League 3

Fukushima United vs Imabari FC - 08.10.2023 06:00

Gainare Tottori vs SC Sagamihara - 08.10.2023 06:00

YSCC vs Nara Club - 08.10.2023 06:00

FC Gifu vs Azul Claro Numazu - 08.10.2023 07:00

Giravanz Kitakyushu vs Kataller Toyama - 08.10.2023 07:00

Matsumoto Yamaga vs Grulla Morioka - 08.10.2023 07:00

Nagano Parceiro vs Vanraure Hachinohe - 08.10.2023 07:00

Ehime FC vs Tegevajaro Miyazaki - 08.10.2023 08:00

Latvia - Virsliga

FS Metta/LU vs SK Super Nova - 08.10.2023 12:00

Luxembourg - National Division

AS Jeunesse Esch vs F91 Dudelange - 08.10.2023 16:00

FC Schëffleng 95 vs US Mondorf les Bains - 08.10.2023 16:00

FC Victoria Rosport vs Racing FC Union Luxembourg - 08.10.2023 16:00

FC Wiltz 71 vs Una Strassen - 08.10.2023 16:00

Marisca Miersch vs FC Differdange 03 - 08.10.2023 16:00

Swift Hesperange vs UN Käerjeng 97 - 08.10.2023 16:00

Union Titus Pétange vs FC Mondercange - 08.10.2023 16:00

FC Progrès Niederkorn vs CS Fola Esch - 08.10.2023 18:30

Mexico - Liga MX Apertura

Toluca vs Querétaro - 08.10.2023 20:00

Necaxa vs Puebla - 09.10.2023 01:00

Santos vs León - 09.10.2023 03:05

Tijuana vs San Luis - 09.10.2023 05:00

Moldova - Super Liga

CF Sparta Selemet vs FC Floresti - 08.10.2023 14:00

FC Sheriff vs CS Petrocub - 08.10.2023 17:00

Netherlands - Eredivisie

PEC Zwolle vs Feyenoord - 08.10.2023 12:15

Ajax vs AZ Alkmaar - 08.10.2023 14:30

Fortuna Sittard vs FC Twente - 08.10.2023 14:30

Sparta Rotterdam vs PSV Eindhoven - 08.10.2023 16:45

North Macedonia - Prva Liga

FK Struga vs FK Sileks - 08.10.2023 14:00

FK Vardar Skopje vs KF Shkendija - 08.10.2023 14:00

Norway - 1. Divisjon

Åsane vs Fredrikstad - 08.10.2023 15:00

KFUM vs Bryne - 08.10.2023 15:00

Ranheim vs Jerv - 08.10.2023 15:00

Start vs Kongsvinger - 08.10.2023 15:00

Norway - 2. Divisjon Avd. 1

Egersund vs Notodden - 08.10.2023 13:00

Brattvåg vs Fram Larvik - 08.10.2023 15:30

Ørn Horten vs Træff - 08.10.2023 17:00

Norway - 2. Divisjon Avd. 2

Levanger vs Tromsdalen - 08.10.2023 14:00

Sotra SK vs Junkeren - 08.10.2023 16:00

Norway - Eliteserien

FK Haugesund vs Strømsgodset - 08.10.2023 17:00

Molde vs Bodø/Glimt - 08.10.2023 17:00

Sandefjord vs HamKam - 08.10.2023 17:00

Sarpsborg 08 vs Rosenborg - 08.10.2023 17:00

Stabæk vs Lillestrøm - 08.10.2023 17:00

Tromsø vs Aalesund - 08.10.2023 17:00

Vålerenga vs Brann - 08.10.2023 19:15

Poland - Ekstraklasa

Slask Wroclaw vs Gornik Zabrze - 08.10.2023 12:30

Cracovia vs Jagiellonia Bialystok - 08.10.2023 15:00

Legia Warszawa vs Rakow Czestochowa - 08.10.2023 17:30

Poland - I Liga

Motor Lublin vs Miedz Legnica - 08.10.2023 12:40

Resovia vs GKS Tychy - 08.10.2023 15:00

GKS Katowice vs Termalica Nieciecza - 08.10.2023 18:00

Zaglebie Sosnowiec vs Polonia Warszawa - 08.10.2023 18:00

Portugal - Liga Portugal

Casa Pia AC vs Estrela da Amadora - 08.10.2023 16:30

Famalicao vs Vitoria de Guimaraes - 08.10.2023 16:30

FC Porto vs Portimonense - 08.10.2023 19:00

Sporting CP vs Arouca - 08.10.2023 21:30

Portugal - Liga Portugal 2

FC Porto B vs Torreense - 08.10.2023 12:00

Mafra vs Uniao de Leiria - 08.10.2023 12:00

CF Os Belenenses vs Maritimo - 08.10.2023 15:00

Benfica B vs Feirense - 08.10.2023 19:00

Romania - Liga II

Comunal Selimbar vs FC Unirea Slobozia - 08.10.2023 10:30

Romania - Superliga

Otelul Galati vs FCV Farul Constanta - 08.10.2023 15:00

Dinamo Bucuresti vs CFR Cluj - 08.10.2023 20:30

Russia - First League

Dynamo Makhachkala vs Akron Togliatti - 08.10.2023 15:00

Arsenal vs Sokol Saratov - 08.10.2023 16:00

FC Volgar vs KamAZ - 08.10.2023 16:00

Neftekhimik vs SKA-Khabarovsk - 08.10.2023 16:00

PFC Kuban vs Rodina - 08.10.2023 16:30

Leningradets vs Chernomorets Novorossiysk - 08.10.2023 17:00

Russia - Premier League

Nizhny Novgorod vs Krylya Sovetov - 08.10.2023 13:00

Dinamo vs Fakel - 08.10.2023 15:30

Akhmat vs Rubin - 08.10.2023 18:00

Spartak vs CSKA - 08.10.2023 18:00

Russia - Second League Division A Gold Group First Stage

Irtysh vs Ufa - 08.10.2023 13:00

Veles Moscow vs Spartak Kostroma - 08.10.2023 13:00

Dinamo Briansk vs Chayka - 08.10.2023 15:00

Volga Ulyanovsk vs Murom - 08.10.2023 15:00

FC Krasnodar II vs FC Rotor Volgograd - 08.10.2023 16:00

Russia - Second League Division B Group 1 Subgroup 2

FC Alania Vladikavkaz II vs Astrakhan - 08.10.2023 14:00

Legion Makhachkala vs Pobeda Khasavyurt - 08.10.2023 14:00

Russia - Second League Division B Group 2

FC Yenisey Krasnoyarsk II vs Tver FC - 08.10.2023 09:00

Dinamo Moscow II vs Velikiy Novgorod - 08.10.2023 12:00

Irkutsk vs Torpedo Moscow 2 - 08.10.2023 13:00

Zvezda Saint Petersburg vs Znamya - 08.10.2023 13:30

Luki-Energiya vs Dinamo Kirov - 08.10.2023 14:00

Baltika-BFU Kaliningrad vs Dynamo Saint Petersburg - 08.10.2023 15:00

Torpedo Vladimir vs Khimik Dzerzhinsk - 08.10.2023 15:00

Zenit St. Petersburg II vs Rodina-M - 08.10.2023 16:00

Russia - Second League Division B Group 3

Khimki 2 vs Sakhalin - 08.10.2023 12:00

FC Kosmos Dolgoprudny vs Arsenal Tula II - 08.10.2023 13:00

Kvant Obninsk vs Kolomna - 08.10.2023 13:00

Zenit Penza vs Kompozit - 08.10.2023 13:00

Saturn Ramenskoye vs FC Sakhalinets - 08.10.2023 14:00

Russia - Second League Division B Group 4

Ural II vs Uralets Nizhny Tagil - 08.10.2023 10:00

FC Orenburg II vs NoSta - 08.10.2023 13:00

Rubin Kazan 2 vs Torpedo Miass - 08.10.2023 13:00

Akron Togliatti 2 vs FC Khimik August - 08.10.2023 15:00

Zenit Izhevsk vs Dinamo Barnaul - 08.10.2023 16:00

Scotland - Premiership

St. Mirren vs Rangers - 08.10.2023 13:00

Aberdeen vs St. Johnstone - 08.10.2023 16:00

Serbia - Super Liga

FK Radnicki 1923 vs FK Crvena Zvezda - 08.10.2023 15:00

Cukaricki vs Vozdovac - 08.10.2023 17:30

TSC Backa Topola vs FK Spartak Subotica - 08.10.2023 17:30

Slovenia - Prva Liga

Domzale vs Rogaska - 08.10.2023 15:00

Olimpija Ljubljana vs Radomlje - 08.10.2023 17:30

Koper vs Aluminij - 08.10.2023 20:15

South Korea - K-League 1

Daegu FC vs Suwon FC - 08.10.2023 08:00

Daejeon Citizen vs Jeju United - 08.10.2023 08:00

FC Seoul vs Jeonbuk FC - 08.10.2023 08:00

Gwangju FC vs Gangwon FC - 08.10.2023 08:00

Suwon Bluewings vs Pohang Steelers - 08.10.2023 08:00

Ulsan Hyundai vs Incheon United - 08.10.2023 08:00

Spain - LaLiga

Villarreal vs Las Palmas - 08.10.2023 14:00

Atlético Madrid vs Real Sociedad - 08.10.2023 16:15

Celta Vigo vs Getafe - 08.10.2023 18:30

Deportivo Alaves vs Real Betis - 08.10.2023 18:30

Granada vs Barcelona - 08.10.2023 21:00

Spain - LaLiga2

SD Amorebieta vs Eibar - 08.10.2023 14:00

Real Valladolid vs CD Mirandes - 08.10.2023 16:15

Racing de Ferrol vs Cartagena - 08.10.2023 18:30

Tenerife vs Burgos CF - 08.10.2023 18:30

Real Zaragoza vs Alcorcon - 08.10.2023 21:00

Spain - Liga F

Eibar (W) vs UDG Tenerife (W) - 08.10.2023 12:00

Real Betis Feminas (W) vs Levante (W) - 08.10.2023 12:00

Madrid Femenino (W) vs Granada Feminino (W) - 08.10.2023 16:30

Barcelona (W) vs Real Sociedad (W) - 08.10.2023 18:30

Spain - Primera Federacion - Group 1

Real Union vs SD Tarazona - 08.10.2023 12:00

Cultural Leonesa vs Rayo Majadahonda - 08.10.2023 16:00

Sabadell vs Fuenlabrada - 08.10.2023 17:00

Deportivo La Coruna vs Celta Vigo B - 08.10.2023 19:00

Osasuna B vs Lugo - 08.10.2023 20:00

Real Sociedad B vs Barca Atletic - 08.10.2023 20:00

Spain - Primera Federacion - Group 2

Atletico Baleares vs Real Murcia - 08.10.2023 12:00

Linares Deportivo vs AD Ceuta FC - 08.10.2023 12:00

Melilla vs CF Intercity - 08.10.2023 12:00

Granada B vs Alcoyano - 08.10.2023 16:00

Atlético Madrid B vs San Fernando CD - 08.10.2023 18:00

Recreativo Huelva vs Malaga - 08.10.2023 20:00

Spain - Segunda Federacion - Group 1

Real Valladolid B vs Marino Luanco - 08.10.2023 12:00

RC Villalbes vs CD Covadonga - 08.10.2023 12:30

CD Cayon vs Real Aviles CF - 08.10.2023 17:00

Coruxo FC vs Pontevedra - 08.10.2023 17:00

RS Gimnastica vs Arandina CF - 08.10.2023 17:00

UP Langreo vs Rayo Cantabria - 08.10.2023 17:00

Spain - Segunda Federacion - Group 2

Deportivo Aragon vs Logrones - 08.10.2023 11:30

Deportivo Alaves B vs Athletic Club B - 08.10.2023 12:00

CD Calahorra vs Tudelano - 08.10.2023 17:00

Izarra vs Utebo - 08.10.2023 17:00

Barakaldo vs Naxara - 08.10.2023 18:00

San Juan vs SD Gernika - 08.10.2023 18:00

Spain - Segunda Federacion - Group 3

SD Formentera vs Atletico Saguntino - 08.10.2023 11:00

CE Andratx vs La Nucia - 08.10.2023 12:00

Lleida Esportiu vs Pena Dep. Santa Eulalia - 08.10.2023 12:00

Penya Independent vs Hercules - 08.10.2023 12:00

Torrent CF vs Alzira - 08.10.2023 12:00

Cerdanyola del Valles FC vs CE Europa - 08.10.2023 18:00

Sant Andreu vs Terrassa - 08.10.2023 18:00

CF Badalona Futur vs Valencia B - 08.10.2023 18:30

Spain - Segunda Federacion - Group 4

CD San Roque de Lepe vs CDA Aguilas FC - 08.10.2023 12:00

EL Palo vs CA Antoniano - 08.10.2023 12:00

Racing Cartagena Mar Menor vs CD Manchego Ciudad Real - 08.10.2023 12:00

Sevilla Atletico vs Yeclano - 08.10.2023 12:00

UCAM Murcia vs La Union CF - 08.10.2023 12:00

Velez CF vs Betis Deportivo Balompie - 08.10.2023 12:00

Cadiz CF Mirandilla vs Marbella FC - 08.10.2023 17:00

RB Linense vs CD Estepona - 08.10.2023 17:00

Orihuela vs Cartagena B - 08.10.2023 18:30

Spain - Segunda Federacion - Group 5

AD Union Adarve vs Cacereno - 08.10.2023 12:00

Guadalajara vs CF Talavera de la Reina - 08.10.2023 12:00

Numancia vs CD Badajoz - 08.10.2023 12:00

San Sebastian de los Reyes vs Gimnastica Segoviana - 08.10.2023 12:00

Villanovense vs CD Atletico Paso - 08.10.2023 12:00

Mensajero vs UD Montijo - 08.10.2023 13:00

UD San Fernando vs CDE Ursaria - 08.10.2023 13:00

Navalcarnero vs Illescas - 08.10.2023 16:30

Sweden - Allsvenskan

Brommapojkarna vs Elfsborg - 08.10.2023 15:00

IFK Värnamo vs IFK Norrköping - 08.10.2023 15:00

Kalmar FF vs Malmö FF - 08.10.2023 15:00

Hammarby vs Häcken - 08.10.2023 17:30

Varbergs BoIS FC vs Djurgården - 08.10.2023 17:30

Sweden - Superettan

AFC Eskilstuna vs Landskrona BoIS - 08.10.2023 13:00

Trelleborgs FF vs GAIS - 08.10.2023 13:00

GIF Sundsvall vs IK Brage - 08.10.2023 15:00

Örgryte vs Utsiktens BK - 08.10.2023 15:00

Switzerland - Challenge League

Aarau vs Bellinzona - 08.10.2023 14:15

Switzerland - Super League

Lugano vs Servette - 08.10.2023 14:15

Lausanne vs Luzern - 08.10.2023 16:30

Young Boys vs Basel - 08.10.2023 16:30

Turkiye - Super Lig

Rizespor vs Samsunspor - 08.10.2023 12:30

Beşiktaş vs Istanbulspor - 08.10.2023 15:00

Hatayspor vs Konyaspor - 08.10.2023 18:00

Kasımpaşa vs Fenerbahçe - 08.10.2023 18:00

Ukraine - Premier League

Obolon-Brovar vs Metalist 1925 - 08.10.2023 12:00

Rukh Lviv vs FC Minaj - 08.10.2023 14:00

Kryvbas vs Chornomorets Odessa - 08.10.2023 16:00

United States - NWSL

Houston Dash (W) vs Angel City FC (W) - 09.10.2023 01:00

United States - USL Championship

Birmingham Legion FC vs Monterey Bay F.C. - 08.10.2023 23:00

Data from fotmob.com

359 matches today. Times in UTC

Argentina - Federal A Zona A

Circulo Deportivo vs Sansinena BB - 01.10.2023 16:00

Olimpo vs CA Liniers Bahia Blanca - 01.10.2023 21:00

Argentina - Federal A Zona C

Defensores de Belgrano de Villa Ramallo vs Gimnasia y Esgrima de Concepcion - 01.10.2023 21:30

Defensores de Pronunciamiento vs Independiente Chivilcoy - 01.10.2023 21:30

Argentina - Federal A Zona D

Sarmiento de Resistencia vs San Martin de Formosa - 01.10.2023 21:30

9 de Julio Rafaela vs Crucero del Norte - 01.10.2023 23:15

Sol de America Formosa vs Juventud Antoniana - 01.10.2023 23:15

Central Norte vs Gimnasia y Tiro - 01.10.2023 23:35

Argentina - Primera B Metropolitana Clausura

Argentino de Quilmes vs CA Fenix - 01.10.2023 16:00

Los Andes vs Argentino de Merlo - 01.10.2023 16:00

Argentina - Primera Nacional Zona A

Gimnasia Mendoza vs Almagro - 01.10.2023 21:30

Argentina - Primera Nacional Zona B

Deportivo Madryn vs Independiente Rivadavia - 01.10.2023 21:00

Gimnasia Jujuy vs Atlanta - 01.10.2023 21:00

Atletico Rafaela vs CA Chaco For Ever - 01.10.2023 23:30

Austria - 2. Liga

Sturm Graz II vs Amstetten - 01.10.2023 10:30

SV Lafnitz vs First Vienna FC - 01.10.2023 10:30

Austria - Bundesliga

Hartberg vs Altach - 01.10.2023 14:30

Sturm Graz vs WSG Tirol - 01.10.2023 14:30

Austria Wien vs Rapid Wien - 01.10.2023 17:00

Azerbaijan - Premier League

FC Kapaz vs FK Qabala - 01.10.2023 14:00

Araz PFK vs Zira - 01.10.2023 16:30

Belarus - Premier League

Isloch vs FK Slutsk - 01.10.2023 13:00

FC Smorgon vs Neman Grodno - 01.10.2023 15:00

Dynamo Brest vs Shakhtyor Soligorsk - 01.10.2023 17:30

Belgium - First Division A

Union St.Gilloise vs Sporting Charleroi - 01.10.2023 13:30

Genk vs Westerlo - 01.10.2023 16:00

Club Brugge vs St.Truiden - 01.10.2023 18:30

RWD Molenbeek vs Gent - 01.10.2023 19:15

Brazil - Serie A

Coritiba vs Athletico Paranaense - 01.10.2023 21:00

Cruzeiro vs America MG - 01.10.2023 21:00

Santos FC vs Vasco da Gama - 01.10.2023 21:00

Red Bull Bragantino vs Palmeiras - 01.10.2023 23:30

Brazil - Serie B

Vila Nova vs Chapecoense AF - 01.10.2023 20:45

Ceara vs Atletico GO - 01.10.2023 23:00

Brazil - Serie C 2nd Stage Group B

EC Sao Jose vs Operario Ferroviario - 01.10.2023 21:00

Brazil - Serie C 2nd Stage Group C

Paysandu vs Amazonas FC - 01.10.2023 22:30

Bulgaria - First Professional League

Arda Kardzhali vs Etar - 01.10.2023 14:15

PFC Lokomotiv Sofia 1929 vs Cherno More Varna - 01.10.2023 16:45

Levski Sofia vs Ludogorets Razgrad - 01.10.2023 19:30

Canada - Premier League

York United FC vs Atletico Ottawa - 01.10.2023 19:00

Chile - Primera Division

O'Higgins vs Union La Calera - 01.10.2023 16:15

Colo Colo vs Universidad Catolica - 01.10.2023 20:00

Cobresal vs Palestino - 01.10.2023 23:00

Croatia - HNL

Rudes vs Rijeka - 01.10.2023 15:15

Hajduk Split vs Dinamo Zagreb - 01.10.2023 18:00

Denmark - Superligaen

Randers FC vs Silkeborg - 01.10.2023 14:00

Vejle Boldklub vs Nordsjælland - 01.10.2023 14:00

Hvidovre vs Brøndby IF - 01.10.2023 16:00

Viborg vs AGF Aarhus - 01.10.2023 18:00

England - Championship

Blackburn vs Leicester - 01.10.2023 13:00

England - Premier League

Nottm Forest vs Brentford - 01.10.2023 15:00

England - Premier League 2

Norwich City Academy vs West Bromwich Albion Academy - 01.10.2023 14:00

Crystal Palace Academy vs Liverpool Academy - 01.10.2023 15:00

England - WSL

Aston Villa Women (W) vs Man United Women (W) - 01.10.2023 13:30

Everton Women (W) vs Brighton Women (W) - 01.10.2023 14:00

Arsenal Women (W) vs Liverpool Women (W) - 01.10.2023 15:00

Bristol City WFC (W) vs Leicester City WFC (W) - 01.10.2023 15:00

West Ham Women (W) vs Man City Women (W) - 01.10.2023 16:00

Chelsea Women (W) vs Tottenham Women (W) - 01.10.2023 18:30

England - Women's Championship

Durham Women FC (W) vs Reading FC Women (W) - 01.10.2023 13:00

Lewes (W) vs Blackburn Rovers LFC (W) - 01.10.2023 13:00

London City Lionesses (W) vs Charlton Athletic (W) - 01.10.2023 15:00

Southampton FC Women (W) vs Birmingham City Women (W) - 01.10.2023 15:00

Sunderland AFC Ladies (W) vs Watford (W) - 01.10.2023 15:00

Estonia - Meistriliiga

FC Kuressaare vs Talinna Kalev - 01.10.2023 13:30

Parnu JK Vaprus vs Flora Tallinn - 01.10.2023 16:00

FCI Levadia vs Narva Trans - 01.10.2023 18:00

Finland - Kakkonen - Lohko A

FC Reipas vs FC Futura - 01.10.2023 13:00

NJS vs PK-35 - 01.10.2023 13:00

TiPS vs Atlantis Academy - 01.10.2023 13:00

PEPO Lappeenranta vs PK Keski-Uusimaa - 01.10.2023 15:00

FC Kiffen vs PPJ - 01.10.2023 16:00

Finland - Kakkonen - Lohko B

Ilves-Kissat vs Ilves II - 01.10.2023 13:00

GrIFK vs HJS Akatemia - 01.10.2023 15:00

Pöxyt vs Pargas IF - 01.10.2023 15:00

Honka (A) vs Pallo-Iirot - 01.10.2023 16:00

Finland - Kakkonen - Lohko C

KuPS Akatemia vs FC Vaajakoski - 01.10.2023 10:30

OTP vs RoPS - 01.10.2023 12:00

VIFK vs Närpes Kraft - 01.10.2023 13:00

JBK vs Kuopion Elo - 01.10.2023 14:00

TP-47 vs GBK - 01.10.2023 14:00

OLS vs JS Hercules - 01.10.2023 16:00

Finland - Veikkausliiga Championship Group

KuPS vs SJK - 01.10.2023 17:00

Finland - Veikkausliiga Relegation Group

Haka vs FC Lahti - 01.10.2023 15:00

Finland - Ykkonen Championship Group

IF Gnistan vs SJK Akatemia - 01.10.2023 16:00

Finland - Ykkonen Relegation Group

JäPS vs KPV - 01.10.2023 15:00

JJK Jyväskylä vs FF Jaro - 01.10.2023 15:00

KäPa vs SalPa - 01.10.2023 15:00

France - Ligue 1

Reims vs Lyon - 01.10.2023 13:00

Le Havre vs Lille - 01.10.2023 15:00

Nice vs Brest - 01.10.2023 15:00

Toulouse vs Metz - 01.10.2023 15:00

Lorient vs Montpellier - 01.10.2023 17:05

Rennes vs Nantes - 01.10.2023 20:45

Germany - 2. Bundesliga

Elversberg vs Greuther Fürth - 01.10.2023 13:30

1.FC Nürnberg vs 1.FC Magdeburg - 01.10.2023 13:30

VfL Osnabrück vs 1.FC Kaiserslautern - 01.10.2023 13:30

Germany - 3. Liga

RW Essen vs Dynamo Dresden - 01.10.2023 13:30

Borussia Dortmund II vs Unterhaching - 01.10.2023 16:30

Erzgebirge Aue vs Jahn Regensburg - 01.10.2023 19:30

Germany - Bundesliga

SV Darmstadt vs Werder Bremen - 01.10.2023 15:30

Freiburg vs Augsburg - 01.10.2023 17:30

Germany - Frauen-Bundesliga

Eintracht Frankfurt (W) vs VfL Wolfsburg (W) - 01.10.2023 14:00

MSV Duisburg (W) vs SC Freiburg (W) - 01.10.2023 18:30

Germany - Regionalliga North

Eimsbutteler TV vs Eintracht Norderstedt - 01.10.2023 13:00

VfB Oldenburg vs Holstein Kiel II - 01.10.2023 15:00

Germany - Regionalliga Northeast

Berliner AK 07 vs FSV Zwickau - 01.10.2023 13:00

Hansa Rostock II vs FC Eilenburg - 01.10.2023 13:00

Rot-Weiss Erfurt vs Carl Zeiss Jena - 01.10.2023 16:00

Greece - Super League

Lamia vs Panetolikos - 01.10.2023 14:00

NFC Volos vs Panserraikos FC - 01.10.2023 15:30

Aris Thessaloniki FC vs Kifisia FC - 01.10.2023 16:30

Panathinaikos vs PAOK Thessaloniki FC - 01.10.2023 18:30

PAS Giannina vs Olympiacos - 01.10.2023 19:30

Hungary - NB I

Fehervar FC vs Kisvarda - 01.10.2023 15:00

Diosgyori VTK vs Kecskemeti TE - 01.10.2023 17:30

Iceland - Besta deildin Championship Group

KR Reykjavik vs Breidablik - 01.10.2023 16:00

Valur vs FH Hafnarfjordur - 01.10.2023 21:15

Iceland - Besta deildin Relegation Group

Keflavik vs Fylkir - 01.10.2023 16:00

Fram Reykjavik vs KA Akureyri - 01.10.2023 19:00

HK Kopavogs vs IBV Vestmannaeyjar - 01.10.2023 19:00

India - Indian Super League

Kerala Blasters FC vs Jamshedpur FC - 01.10.2023 16:30

Iran - Azadegan League

Khooshe Talaei vs Shahrdari Astara - 01.10.2023 14:30

Mes Sungun vs Arman Gohar - 01.10.2023 14:30

Saipa vs Esteghlal Molasani - 01.10.2023 14:45

Damash vs Darya Caspian Babol - 01.10.2023 15:45

Chadormalu Ardakan SC vs Kheybar - 01.10.2023 16:30

Naft Gachsaran vs Ario Islamshahr - 01.10.2023 17:00

Iran - Persian Gulf Pro League

Shams Azar vs Nassaji - 01.10.2023 17:30

Persepolis vs Esteghlal - 01.10.2023 19:30

Sepahan vs Foolad - 01.10.2023 19:30

Israel - Ligat HaAl

Maccabi Netanya vs Maccabi Haifa - 01.10.2023 19:15

Italy - Serie A

Bologna vs Empoli - 01.10.2023 12:30

Udinese vs Genoa - 01.10.2023 15:00

Atalanta vs Juventus - 01.10.2023 18:00

Roma vs Frosinone - 01.10.2023 20:45

Italy - Serie B

Bari vs Como - 01.10.2023 16:15

Cittadella vs Lecco - 01.10.2023 16:15

Palermo vs Sudtirol - 01.10.2023 16:15

Sampdoria vs Catanzaro - 01.10.2023 16:15

Cremonese vs Parma - 01.10.2023 18:30

Italy - Serie C Grp. A

Lumezzane vs Renate - 01.10.2023 18:30

Italy - Serie C Grp. B

Juventus Next Gen vs Torres - 01.10.2023 14:00

Olbia vs Ancona - 01.10.2023 14:00

Cesena vs Rimini - 01.10.2023 16:15

Perugia vs Sestri Levante - 01.10.2023 18:30

Recanatese vs SPAL - 01.10.2023 20:45

Italy - Serie C Grp. C

Casertana vs Catania - 01.10.2023 14:00

Messina vs Avellino - 01.10.2023 14:00

Virtus Francavilla vs Giugliano - 01.10.2023 16:15

Benevento vs Crotone - 01.10.2023 18:30

Foggia vs Turris - 01.10.2023 18:30

Juve Stabia vs Monopoli - 01.10.2023 18:30

AZ Picerno vs Sorrento - 01.10.2023 20:45

Japan - J. League

FC Tokyo vs Gamba Osaka - 01.10.2023 08:00

Japan - J. League 2

Fagiano Okayama FC vs JEF United Chiba - 01.10.2023 07:00

Jubilo Iwata vs V-Varen Nagasaki - 01.10.2023 07:00

Machida Zelvia vs Iwaki FC - 01.10.2023 07:00

Montedio Yamagata vs Tokushima Vortis - 01.10.2023 07:00

Renofa Yamaguchi vs Zweigen Kanazawa - 01.10.2023 07:00

Tochigi SC vs Blaublitz Akita - 01.10.2023 07:00

Thespakusatsu Gunma vs Tokyo Verdy - 01.10.2023 10:00

Japan - J. League 3

Gainare Tottori vs Imabari FC - 01.10.2023 06:00

Kataller Toyama vs Ehime FC - 01.10.2023 06:00

Azul Claro Numazu vs Grulla Morioka - 01.10.2023 07:00

FC Gifu vs Fukushima United - 01.10.2023 07:00

Kamatamare Sanuki vs FC Osaka - 01.10.2023 07:00

Tegevajaro Miyazaki vs Nara Club - 01.10.2023 07:00

Kagoshima United vs YSCC - 01.10.2023 10:00

Kazakhstan - Premier League

Aksu vs Kaisar Kyzylorda - 01.10.2023 11:00

FC Kyzylzhar Petropavlovsk vs Okzhetpes Kokshetau - 01.10.2023 11:00

Zhetysu Taldykorgan vs Ordabasy Shymkent - 01.10.2023 12:00

Atyrau vs Maktaaral FC - 01.10.2023 13:00

Kaspiy Aktau vs Kairat Almaty - 01.10.2023 13:00

Latvia - Virsliga

SK Super Nova vs FK Jelgava - 01.10.2023 13:00

FK Tukums 2000 vs Valmiera FC - 01.10.2023 15:00

Mexico - Liga MX Apertura

Toluca vs Chivas - 02.10.2023 01:20

Mexico - Liga de Expansion MX Apertura

UDG vs Mineros - 02.10.2023 03:00

Moldova - Super Liga

Dacia Buiucani vs Zimbru - 01.10.2023 15:00

FC Milsami Orhei vs FC Floresti - 01.10.2023 17:00

Netherlands - Eerste Divisie

VVV-Venlo vs Helmond Sport - 01.10.2023 12:15

Netherlands - Eredivisie

NEC Nijmegen vs Vitesse - 01.10.2023 12:15

Excelsior vs Sparta Rotterdam - 01.10.2023 14:30

Heracles vs PEC Zwolle - 01.10.2023 14:30

AZ Alkmaar vs Fortuna Sittard - 01.10.2023 16:45

Netherlands - Tweede Divisie

AFC vs ADO '20 - 01.10.2023 15:00

North Macedonia - Prva Liga

FK Bregalnica Stip vs FK Vardar Skopje - 01.10.2023 14:00

FK Sileks vs Voska Sport - 01.10.2023 14:00

KF Gostivari vs KF Shkendija - 01.10.2023 14:00

Rabotnicki vs GFK Tikves Kavadarci - 01.10.2023 14:00

Shkupi vs FK Struga - 01.10.2023 14:00

Norway - 1. Divisjon

Åsane vs Ranheim - 01.10.2023 15:00

Fredrikstad vs Raufoss - 01.10.2023 15:00

Kongsvinger vs Bryne - 01.10.2023 15:00

Moss vs Hødd - 01.10.2023 15:00

Norway - 2. Divisjon Avd. 1

Flekkerøy vs Brattvåg - 01.10.2023 13:00

Træff vs Egersund - 01.10.2023 14:00

Aalesund 2 vs Arendal - 01.10.2023 17:00

Norway - 2. Divisjon Avd. 2

Junkeren vs Bærum - 01.10.2023 15:00

Tromsdalen vs Kvik Halden - 01.10.2023 16:00

Norway - Eliteserien

Lillestrøm vs Brann - 01.10.2023 15:00

Molde vs Viking - 01.10.2023 17:00

Sandefjord vs Vålerenga - 01.10.2023 17:00

Bodø/Glimt vs Strømsgodset - 01.10.2023 19:15

Poland - Ekstraklasa

Rakow Czestochowa vs Radomiak Radom - 01.10.2023 15:00

Pogon Szczecin vs Lech Poznan - 01.10.2023 17:30

Jagiellonia Bialystok vs Legia Warszawa - 01.10.2023 20:00

Poland - I Liga

Wisla Krakow vs Wisla Plock - 01.10.2023 12:40

Termalica Nieciecza vs Lechia Gdansk - 01.10.2023 15:00

GKS Tychy vs Znicz Pruszkow - 01.10.2023 18:00

Portugal - Liga Portugal

Arouca vs Chaves - 01.10.2023 16:30

Vitoria de Guimaraes vs Estoril - 01.10.2023 19:00

Rio Ave vs Moreirense - 01.10.2023 21:30

Portugal - Liga Portugal 2

Academico Viseu vs AVS Futebol SAD - 01.10.2023 12:00

Leixoes vs FC Porto B - 01.10.2023 15:00

Feirense vs Pacos de Ferreira - 01.10.2023 19:00

Uniao de Leiria vs Tondela - 01.10.2023 21:30

Romania - Liga II

FC Unirea Slobozia vs CSM Alexandria - 01.10.2023 10:00

FC Gloria Buzau vs Steaua Bucuresti - 01.10.2023 11:30

Romania - Superliga

Universitatea Craiova vs Botosani - 01.10.2023 14:00

Hermannstadt vs Rapid Bucuresti - 01.10.2023 17:00

CFR Cluj vs U Craiova 1948 - 01.10.2023 20:00

Russia - First League

SKA-Khabarovsk vs PFC Kuban - 01.10.2023 06:00

FC Yenisey Krasnoyarsk vs Dynamo Makhachkala - 01.10.2023 12:00

Torpedo Moscow vs Leningradets - 01.10.2023 12:00

Shinnik Yaroslavl vs Tyumen - 01.10.2023 15:00

Chernomorets Novorossiysk vs FC Volgar - 01.10.2023 16:00

Neftekhimik vs Arsenal - 01.10.2023 17:00

Russia - Premier League

Fakel vs Sochi - 01.10.2023 13:00

Krylya Sovetov vs Spartak - 01.10.2023 15:30

Akhmat vs Dinamo - 01.10.2023 18:00

Russia - Second League Division A Gold Group First Stage

Ufa vs Veles Moscow - 01.10.2023 13:00

Spartak Kostroma vs Dinamo Briansk - 01.10.2023 13:00

Chayka vs Volga Ulyanovsk - 01.10.2023 14:00

FC Rotor Volgograd vs Irtysh - 01.10.2023 16:00

Murom vs FC Krasnodar II - 01.10.2023 17:00

Russia - Second League Division A Silver Group First Stage

Amkar-Perm vs Tekstilshchik - 01.10.2023 11:00

FC Chelyabinsk vs Forte Taganrog - 01.10.2023 12:00

Novosibirsk FK vs Avangard Kursk - 01.10.2023 12:00

Metalurg Lypetsk vs Chertanovo Moscow - 01.10.2023 14:00

Salyut Belgorod vs Rodina 2 - 01.10.2023 14:00

Russia - Second League Division B Group 1 Subgroup 1

FC Kuban-Holding vs Biolog Novokubansk - 01.10.2023 13:00

Rubin Yalta vs Dinamo Stavropol - 01.10.2023 14:00

Russia - Second League Division B Group 1 Subgroup 2

FC Alania Vladikavkaz II vs Pobeda Khasavyurt - 01.10.2023 14:00

Spartak Nalchik vs Astrakhan - 01.10.2023 14:00

Russia - Second League Division B Group 2

Dinamo Kirov vs Zenit St. Petersburg II - 01.10.2023 13:00

Dinamo Vologda vs Baltika-BFU Kaliningrad - 01.10.2023 13:00

Rodina-M vs Irkutsk - 01.10.2023 13:00

Tver FC vs Dinamo Moscow II - 01.10.2023 13:00

Zorky Krasnogorsk vs Zvezda Saint Petersburg - 01.10.2023 13:00

Dynamo Saint Petersburg vs Torpedo Vladimir - 01.10.2023 14:00

Khimik Dzerzhinsk vs Luki-Energiya - 01.10.2023 14:00

Russia - Second League Division B Group 3

Strogino vs Saturn Ramenskoye - 01.10.2023 12:00

Kompozit vs Kolomna - 01.10.2023 13:00

Peresvet Domodedovo vs Zenit Penza - 01.10.2023 13:00

Arsenal Tula II vs Kaluga - 01.10.2023 14:00

FC Sakhalinets vs FC Kosmos Dolgoprudny - 01.10.2023 14:00

Spartak Tambov vs Khimki 2 - 01.10.2023 16:00

Russia - Second League Division B Group 4

Dinamo Barnaul vs Ural II - 01.10.2023 10:00

NoSta vs Rubin Kazan 2 - 01.10.2023 11:00

FC Khimik August vs FC Orenburg II - 01.10.2023 12:00

Uralets Nizhny Tagil vs Akron Togliatti 2 - 01.10.2023 12:00

Torpedo Miass vs Zenit Izhevsk - 01.10.2023 16:00

Serbia - Super Liga

FK Radnik Surdulica vs Javor - 01.10.2023 16:00

Napredak vs Partizan Beograd - 01.10.2023 17:00

Zeleznicar Pancevo vs FK Radnicki 1923 - 01.10.2023 18:00

Slovenia - Prva Liga

Rogaska vs Olimpija Ljubljana - 01.10.2023 15:00

Radomlje vs Koper - 01.10.2023 17:30

Aluminij vs Maribor - 01.10.2023 20:15

South Korea - K-League 1

Gangwon FC vs Daejeon Citizen - 01.10.2023 07:00

Jeju United vs Gwangju FC - 01.10.2023 09:30

Spain - LaLiga

Almeria vs Granada - 01.10.2023 14:00

Deportivo Alaves vs Osasuna - 01.10.2023 16:15

Atletico Madrid vs Cadiz - 01.10.2023 21:00

Real Betis vs Valencia - 01.10.2023 21:00

Spain - LaLiga2

Eldense vs Real Oviedo - 01.10.2023 14:00

Real Valladolid vs Burgos CF - 01.10.2023 18:30

Real Zaragoza vs CD Mirandes - 01.10.2023 18:30

SD Amorebieta vs Cartagena - 01.10.2023 18:30

SD Huesca vs Sporting Gijon - 01.10.2023 21:00

Spain - Liga F

Real Sociedad (W) vs Real Betis Feminas (W) - 01.10.2023 12:00

UDG Tenerife (W) vs Real Madrid Femenino (W) - 01.10.2023 12:00

Levante Las Planas (W) vs Athletic Bilbao (W) - 01.10.2023 17:00

Huelva (W) vs Barcelona (W) - 01.10.2023 19:00

Spain - Primera Federacion - Group 1

Fuenlabrada vs Deportivo La Coruna - 01.10.2023 12:00

UE Cornella vs Real Sociedad B - 01.10.2023 12:00

Sabadell vs Sestao - 01.10.2023 16:00

Barca Atletic vs Celta Vigo B - 01.10.2023 17:00

Unionistas de Salamanca vs Real Union - 01.10.2023 18:00

CD Arenteiro vs SD Tarazona - 01.10.2023 19:00

Spain - Primera Federacion - Group 2

Algeciras vs Atletico Sanluqueno CF - 01.10.2023 12:00

Antequera vs Atletico Baleares - 01.10.2023 12:00

UD Ibiza vs Linares Deportivo - 01.10.2023 12:00

CF Intercity vs Atletico Madrid B - 01.10.2023 16:00

AD Ceuta FC vs Melilla - 01.10.2023 18:00

Real Murcia vs Alcoyano - 01.10.2023 18:00

Malaga vs San Fernando CD - 01.10.2023 20:00

Spain - Segunda Federacion - Group 1

Rayo Cantabria vs Real Valladolid B - 01.10.2023 16:30

CD Covadonga vs RC Deportivo Fabril - 01.10.2023 17:00

Marino Luanco vs RS Gimnastica - 01.10.2023 17:00

Pontevedra vs Guijuelo - 01.10.2023 17:00

Real Aviles CF vs UP Langreo - 01.10.2023 17:00

Zamora vs Coruxo FC - 01.10.2023 18:00

Compostela vs Ourense - 01.10.2023 19:00

Spain - Segunda Federacion - Group 2

CD Brea vs Deportivo Aragon - 01.10.2023 16:30

Barbastro vs Izarra - 01.10.2023 17:00

Naxara vs Arenas Getxo - 01.10.2023 17:00

SD Gernika vs UD Mutilvera - 01.10.2023 17:00

Logrones vs Deportivo Alaves B - 01.10.2023 18:00

Tudelano vs Barakaldo - 01.10.2023 18:00

Spain - Segunda Federacion - Group 3

Alzira vs SD Formentera - 01.10.2023 11:30

Atletico Saguntino vs Espanyol B - 01.10.2023 12:00

CE Europa vs Penya Independent - 01.10.2023 12:00

CE Manresa vs Lleida Esportiu - 01.10.2023 12:00

Pena Dep. Santa Eulalia vs CF Badalona Futur - 01.10.2023 12:00

Terrassa vs Torrent CF - 01.10.2023 17:00

La Nucia vs Sant Andreu - 01.10.2023 19:00

Spain - Segunda Federacion - Group 4

Betis Deportivo Balompie vs Sevilla Atletico - 01.10.2023 11:00

La Union CF vs Velez CF - 01.10.2023 11:30

CA Antoniano vs UCAM Murcia - 01.10.2023 12:00

CD Estepona vs Cadiz CF Mirandilla - 01.10.2023 12:00

Marbella FC vs Orihuela - 01.10.2023 17:00

CDA Aguilas FC vs Mar Menor - 01.10.2023 18:00

Spain - Segunda Federacion - Group 5

Cacereno vs San Sebastian de los Reyes - 01.10.2023 12:00

CD Badajoz vs UD San Fernando - 01.10.2023 12:00

CDE Ursaria vs Guadalajara - 01.10.2023 12:00

Gimnastica Segoviana vs Mensajero - 01.10.2023 12:00

CD Atletico Paso vs Navalcarnero - 01.10.2023 13:00

AD Llerenense vs Villanovense - 01.10.2023 17:00

Illescas vs Numancia - 01.10.2023 17:00

CF Talavera de la Reina vs AD Union Adarve - 01.10.2023 18:00

Sweden - Allsvenskan

Häcken vs AIK - 01.10.2023 15:00

Sirius vs Degerfors - 01.10.2023 15:00

Hammarby vs IFK Göteborg - 01.10.2023 17:30

Mjällby vs IFK Värnamo - 01.10.2023 17:30

Sweden - Damallsvenskan

Brommapojkarna (W) vs Kristianstads DFF (W) - 01.10.2023 13:00

Hammarby IF (W) vs IK Uppsala Fotboll (W) - 01.10.2023 13:00

Djurgården (W) vs IFK Kalmar (W) - 01.10.2023 15:00

KIF Örebro (W) vs Piteå IF (W) - 01.10.2023 15:00

Vittsjö GIK (W) vs Linköpings FC (W) - 01.10.2023 15:00

Sweden - Superettan

Västerås SK vs Trelleborgs FF - 01.10.2023 15:00

Switzerland - Challenge League

Baden vs Schaffhausen - 01.10.2023 14:15

Bellinzona vs Stade Nyonnais - 01.10.2023 14:15

FC Vaduz vs Thun - 01.10.2023 14:15

Switzerland - Super League

Yverdon vs St. Gallen - 01.10.2023 14:15

Basel vs FC Stade Lausanne-Ouchy - 01.10.2023 16:30

Luzern vs FC Zürich - 01.10.2023 16:30

Turkiye - Super Lig

Karagümrük vs Kasımpaşa - 01.10.2023 12:30

Fenerbahçe vs Rizespor - 01.10.2023 15:00

Demirspor vs Alanyaspor - 01.10.2023 18:00

Konyaspor vs Beşiktaş - 01.10.2023 18:00

Ukraine - Premier League

FC Minaj vs Obolon-Brovar - 01.10.2023 12:00

Kryvbas vs Rukh Lviv - 01.10.2023 14:00

FC Kolos Kovalivka vs Polissya Zhytomyr - 01.10.2023 16:00

Dynamo Kyiv vs FC Olexandriya - 01.10.2023 18:00

United States - Major League Soccer

LAFC vs Salt Lake - 02.10.2023 02:00

United States - NWSL

NJ/NY Gotham FC (W) vs Houston Dash (W) - 02.10.2023 00:30

OL Reign (W) vs North Carolina Courage (W) - 02.10.2023 02:00

United States - USL Championship

Sacramento Republic FC vs Las Vegas Lights FC - 02.10.2023 01:00

Data from fotmob.com