There can be little doubt that Russia has some of the most agressive anti-piracy policies in the world.

After it became a member of the World Trade Organization (WTO) in 2012, the country made several promises to protect creators’ rights and take action against infringing websites.

In the years that followed, processes for website takedown policies were streamlined, and more recently Russia’s telecoms watchdog Roscomnadzor issued ISP blockades against thousands of pirate sites.

To ensure that it wouldn’t be easy to circumvent these blockades, Russia’s Government also implemented a law that outlaws all VPNs and anonymizers that bypass site blocking measures. Companies which violate this, risk a $12,000 fine.

To tighten things up even further, search engines are also prohibited from linking to blocked pirate sites and unauthorized VPNs and anonymizers.

These are rather tough measures, especially compared to the United States where site blocking is still a no-go. Still, a coalition of prominent rightsholder groups, including the RIAA and MPAA, is still not happy.

The groups are united in the International Intellectual Property Alliance (IIPA) which asked to testify during today’s US Trade Representative hearing on the implementation of Russia’s WTO Commitments.

In its application, IIPA recognizes the progress made thus far, but these recent changes are not enough. The rightsholder groups tell the US Government that they would like Russia’s actions to have an impact on Americans as well.

“Unfortunately, in recent years, these new procedures and processes have been directed only at online piracy by users within Russia. The result has been a substantial and persistent international copyright piracy problem of illegal sites and services accessed by users outside of Russia,” the IIPA writes.

“The Russian Government needs to engage in enforcement targeting illegal sites and streaming services that operate in Russia, even if the users are abroad.”

While Russian interference over the Internet is not always appreciated, in this case, it would be welcomed. And since the Russian Government can’t force US ISPs to start blocking, they will have to go after thousands of sites directly.

The IIPA would like to see more criminal investigations and prosecutions of pirate site operators, mentioning Rapidgator, Rutracker, vKontakte, and Sci-Hub as persistent offenders.

“In short, more enforcement is needed, targeting these and the myriad of other infringing websites. Proper enforcement actions would include steps to keep infringing sites down and taking criminal enforcement actions against the owners and operators of these sites that are causing significant economic harm to rights holders,” the IIPA writes.

There is no denying that there are pirate sites operating from Russia. However, considering Russia’s recent progress, it would be no surprise if Putin and his comrades pointed the finger right back at the US.

They only have to use The Pirate Bay as an example. The world’s most ‘notorious’ pirate site has been operating freely from a US-controlled .org domain, using the caching services of the US company Cloudflare, while earning most of its revenue from entirely unblocked American visitors.

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A copy of the IIPA’s full letter, sent to the Office of the United States Trade Representative, is available here (pdf).

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Founded in 1876, the American Chemical Society (ACS) is a leading source of chemistry-focused academic publications. Founded in 1880, Elsevier is one of the world’s largest academic publishers.

Both companies have been very active in recent times, suing various platforms (1,2) that facilitate unauthorized access to their papers.

This week, in a lawsuit filed at a U.S. federal court in Maryland, the pair accuse scientist and researcher networking site ResearchGate of committing the same offenses.

“This action arises from the massive infringement of peer-reviewed, published journal articles (‘PJAs’). Plaintiffs publish the articles in their journals and own the respective copyrights. Defendant deliberately uses infringing copies of those PJAs to drive its business,” the lawsuit reads.

Based in Germany, ResearchGate promotes itself as a professional network for scientists and researchers. The site claims 15 million members, who use the platform to “share, discover, and discuss research.” It’s mission is to make research “open to all.”

According to ACS and Elsevier, however, that openness had led to serious infringement of their rights.

“The lawsuit is not about researchers and scientists collaborating, asking and answering questions; promoting themselves, their projects, or their findings; or sharing research findings, raw data, or pre-prints of articles,” the complaint states.

“This lawsuit focuses on ResearchGate’s intentional misconduct vis-à-vis its online file-sharing / download service, where the dissemination of unauthorized copies of PJAs constitutes an enormous infringement of the copyrights owned by ACS, Elsevier and other journal publishers.”

The publishers claim that the alleged infringement taking place on ResearchGate isn’t an accident, since the platform utilizes plaintiffs’ content to grow its traffic, content, and revenues. Indeed, they claim that ResearchGate not only induces others to upload infringing works but also does so itself. As a result, ResearchGate has turned into a “focal point for massive copyright infringement.”

ACS and Elsevier claim that when users upload a copy of a PJA to ResearchGate, the company stores them on its servers where they are made available for viewing or download as a PDF file. Users are also able to share links to these works on social media platforms including Facebook, Twitter, and Reddit.

“ResearchGate consistently and successfully attempts to encourage and trick authors into uploading copies of PJAs that it knows should not be posted on the RG Website. One tactic is the combination of creating author profiles, publication pages, and journal pages, along with the ‘Request full-text’ feature,” the complaint adds.

However, in addition to user uploads, the companies claim that ResearchGate also adds content itself, using scraping techniques to acquire copyrighted works which are them uploaded to its website for viewing or download. The publishers say that ResearchGate hints at its own involvement in providing content with a statement on its website.

“Proprietary content generally appears on ResearchGate only when it has been uploaded by an author,” the statement reads. “So, if there’s already a full-text of your publication available on ResearchGate, the most likely explanation is that it has been uploaded by one of your co-authors.” (emphasis as per complaint)

Furthermore, the plaintiffs note that ResearchGate previously published a job posting in which it attempted to hire someone “with hands-on experience in building and maintaining web crawlers” to “build web crawlers to discover and index university websites.”

ACS and Elsevier state that before filing this lawsuit, they attempted to negotiate with ResearchGate to have it operate “within the law.”

Working through a trade group called the International Association of Scientific Technical and Medical Publishers, the publishers say they asked ResearchGate sign up to a voluntary scheme to regulate article sharing but the company refused. The publishers do acknowledge that some infringing works were taken down but ResearchGate has not explained why.

With large numbers of allegedly-infringing works on the site, the publishers are now suing ResearchGate for direct copyright infringement, inducement of copyright infringement, contributory copyright infringement, and vicarious copyright infringement.

In conclusion, ACS and Elsevier ask the Court to order ResearchGate to cease-and-desist all infringement of their copyrights, delete all content owned by the plaintiffs, and award statutory damages of $150,000 per infringed work.

This isn’t the only lawsuit ACS and Elsevier have filed against ResearchGate. In October 2017, the companies took action in Germany, claiming that since ResearchGate knows files are infringing, it has an obligation to remove them, even when they haven’t received a specific takedown notice.

The lawsuit is available here (pdf)

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In tandem with many other copyright industry groups, the RIAA sent its overview of “notorious markets” to the US Trade Representative (USTR) this week.

The group lists more than two dozen pirate sites, categorized by stream-ripping, MP3 download and search portals, torrent indexers, cyberlockers, and unlicensed pay-for-download sites.

The RIAA’s overview is in many regards the same as last year’s, and the full list of the sites is provided below. What is new, however, is the focus on so-called “bulletproof” hosting providers.

These hosting companies have very lenient policies and protect the identities of their customers. As such, they are often used by spammers, scammers, and also pirate sites. This isn’t by any means a new phenomenon, but the RIAA has flagged it as an emerging threat.

“[I]nfringing sites are turning more towards offshore hosting ISPs that support the sites’ infringing activities,” the RIAA informs the USTR.

“These ‘Bulletproof’ ISPs support various types of criminality through considerable leniency in the kinds of materials they permit to be uploaded and distributed via their networks.”

The problem with these companies is obvious. Ideally, copyright holders want hosting providers to shut down blatantly infringing sites, but these outfits are not responsive to warning letters or infringement notices.

The RIAA highlights two of these bulletproof hosts. The first is the Ecatel/Quasi Networks pair, which are believed to be closely related. Both companies are known to law enforcement and were targeted in a lawsuit filed by anti-piracy group BREIN last year.

“Quasi Networks is responsible for hosting various sites engaged in the transmission of pre-release works, including dbr.ee, xclusivejams, nippyspace, mp3monkey.net, gosongs, and leakth.is.

“With little recourse to remove infringements, both Ecatel and Quasi represent a significant danger to our member companies,” the RIAA adds.

The second bulletproof hosting provider is FlokiNET, which offers servers in Romania, Iceland, and Finland. The RIAA recently uncovered that the host was listed as the registrant for the pre-release leak site musicmafia.to, likely to protect a customer. The site itself disappeared soon after.

FlokiNET

On its website, the hosting provider notes that customers don’t have to share any personal details or identification, which is appealing to a certain audience.

“As a result, many different types of websites hosted on the ISP host bestiality pornography and fraudulent sites, amongst others. Other infringing sites hosted on FlokiNet include avxhome.se, djnotorioussam.com, and x1337.to.

“The operator of FlokiNET is known to the authorities and resides in Romania but, to date, no action has been taken to close the service,” the RIAA adds.

Aside from bulletproof hosting services, the RIAA signals another trend. Over the past year, it has observed a sharp rise in the number of pre-release pirate sites hosted by Nigerians. Apparently, this number has grown to more than 400, and most use the Nigerian-operated ISP speedhost247.com.

By reporting these sites and companies, the RIAA hopes to have them placed on the USTR’s final list of notorious markets. This can then be used as a political pressure tool against the countries from where they operate.

The full list of the RIAA’s “notorious” pirate sites can be found below. The full report, as submitted to the USTR, is available here (pdf).

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Stream-Ripping Sites

– Flvto.biz and 2conv.com
– Mp3juices.cc
– Convert2mp3.net
– Ytmp3.cc
– Onlinevideoconverter.com
– Peggo.tv
– H2converter.com
– Y2mate.com
– Convertmp3.io

Search-and-Download Sites

– Newalbumreleases.net
– Rnbxclusive1.com
– Leakth.is

BitTorrent Indexing and Tracker Sites

– Thepiratebay.org
– Torrentz2.eu
– Rarbg.to
– 1337x.to

Cyberlockers

– Nippyspace.com
– Hitfile.net
– Suprafiles.me and cloudyfiles.me
– Dbr.ee
– Turbobit.net
– Zippyshare.com
– Rapidgator.net
– Chomikuj.pl

Unlicensed Pay-for-Download Sites

– Mp3va.com
– Mp3fiesta.com

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Responding to a request from the Office of the US Trade Representative (USTR), various copyright holder groups have submitted their annual overviews of ‘notorious’ markets.

These submissions help to guide the U.S. Government’s position toward foreign countries when it comes to copyright enforcement.

Earlier today we covered how ESA reported several game-specific threats, including ROM sites and cheater portals, and on the heels of that comes the MPAA’s submission.

In its letter, Hollywood’s industry group notes that its list is not meant to be comprehensive, it’s mostly an overview of pirate sources that are prime examples of the rampant copyright infringement problems that exist on the Internet.

Browsing through the submission, we see many of the usual targets, including torrent sites such as The Pirate Bay, RARBG, 1337x, Rutracker, and Torrentz2. The Chinese P2P client Xunlei also makes a comeback, after it failed to reach an agreement with the MPAA.

What’s new this year is a focus on IPTV services, which are seen as an emerging threat. The MPAA notes that it has identified more than a thousand of these platforms around the world.

“An emerging global threat is piracy from illegal internet protocol television (IPTV) services that provide stolen telecommunication signals/channels to a global audience via dedicated web portals, third-party applications and piracy devices configured to access the service,” the industry group writes.

The MPAA specifically highlights BestBuyIPTV.com, GoIPTV.me, and TVMucho.com, adding that most of these services generate their revenue through subscriptions. They provide access to hundreds, if not thousands, of TV-channels as well as video on demand content.

Another category covers linking and streaming websites. These operate from various countries around the world and include B9good.com, Cda.pl, Dytt8.net, Dy2018.com, Filmeseseriesonline.net, Fmovies.is, Indoxx1.com, Kinogo.cc, and Pelispedia.tv.

Fmovies

Direct download sites and video hosting services also get a mention. Openload.co, Rapidgator.net, Uploaded.net, Rapidvideo.com, Streamango.com, Uploaded.net, Uptobox.com, and the Russian social network VK.com are all listed.

Many of these services refuse to properly process takedown notices, the MPAA claims.

The final category covers piracy devices and apps, including streaming boxes. These allow users to conveniently stream pirated content, and include 3DBoBoVR, TVPlus, TVBrowser, and KuaiKan, which are particularly popular in Asia.

In addition to sites and services that directly offer access to pirated content, the Hollywood group also points a finger towards third-party intermediaries, including hosting providers and advertising networks.

The Panama-based host Private Layer is called out specifically and the same is true for the Canadian advertising network WWWPromoter. Both were also highlighted in the MPAA’s submission last year.

The MPAA’s full report is available here (pdf). The USTR will use this input above to make up its own list of notorious markets. This will help to identify current threats and call on foreign governments to take appropriate action.

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In response to a request from the Office of the US Trade Representative (USTR), the Entertainment Software Association has submitted a list of so-called ‘Notorious Markets’ that undermine the interactive gaming market in the United States.

The ESA represents some of the biggest names in video gaming. From Activision, EA, Nintendo, and Ubisoft, to Capcom, Microsoft, Konami, and Square Enix, the group acts as a voice for companies turning out billions of dollars worth of content. All are reportedly under multi-directional threat, from sites that facilitate direct copying to those who undermine business models and the actual gaming experience.

Linking and Hosting

According to the ESA, linking websites (those that link to content hosted on third-party cyberlocker-type sites) are a key threat.

“These sites typically generate revenue from user donations and/or online advertisements,” the ESA writes. “The following links sites are notable due to their heavy traffic, high volume of infringing video game file links that are indexed, and non-responsiveness to rights holder [takedown] notices.”

First up is a site that most gaming pirates won’t have heard of, which could prove a little counter-productive. P30Download.com is based in Iran, a country that’s rarely linked with a sympathetic attitude towards United States copyright enforcement.

According to the ESA, in August 2018 the platform made available more than 3,000 links to infringing content belonging to ESA members, of which just 2.64% were taken down. Hosted in Iran and published in Persian (not an obstacle for Google Translate), the site is most popular in its home territory and is Iran’s 25th most popular site.

Another site that’s off the radars of most casual pirates is DarkSoftware.net. According to the ESA, the platform indexed almost 4,800 new links in August and is enjoying an upsurge in traffic due to its focus on “circumventing the technical protection measures” in games consoles.

The ESA notes that DarkSoftware uses the “services of a U.S.-based content delivery network” but doesn’t mention CloudFlare by name. It doesn’t mention where the actual site or its owners are based either but publicly available information points to an address in Florida, which may or may not be legitimate.

Of course, linking sites cannot function if they have nothing to link to so it’s no surprise that file-hosting sites are high on the ESA’s list. Its main candidate is the fairly low profile Rapidu.net, which is popular in Poland and also uses Cloudflare, although the ESA again hesitates to name the platform.

1Fichier, on the other hand, is a site with a much greater following. Hosted in France, the site has a global rank of 1,093 and reportedly hosts at least 2,700 links to ESA member content. This cyberlocker-type site is reluctant to respond to takedown notices, with just 0.59% of content removed following complaint, the ESA notes.

ESA Members

ROMs

Given the recent furore surrounding classic gaming ROMs (1,2,3,4), it’s perhaps no surprise that ROMUniverse.com appears in the ESA’s submission to the USTR. Claiming a catalog of 60,000 ROMS serving 375,000 members, the ESA says the site has enjoyed “significant traffic increases” recently due to offering downloads for the latest video games consoles.

Interestingly, given the fact that the USTR’s report focuses on overseas sites, the ESA notes that ROMUniverse is hosted in the United States at Frontier Communications. Similar US-based hosting is provided by GoDaddy for ISOsLand.net, another platform on the ESA’s list.

Torrent Sites

Few submissions to the USTR would be complete without a complaint about The Pirate Bay, and this entry from the ESA is no different.

“Despite some recent downtime, this site continues to be a major source of infringing copies of ESA member company video games,” the ESA notes. “Over 2,200 infringing URLs were found on the site in August 2018. It currently operates with the assistance of the U.S.-based CDN referenced above,” the trade groups adds, without directly naming CloudFlare.

While The Pirate Bay is certainly the highest-profile torrent site, the ESA appears to have bigger problems with a site called PeerTorrents. In August, the group found 8,100 infringing downloads available via the site, which the ESA notes is similar in appearance to LimeTorrents.cc. The site also uses CloudFlare.

Private gaming servers

In this section of its report, the ESA highlights threats to “free-to-play” games that generate revenue from micro-transactions, advertising, and subscriptions. Unauthorized third-party ‘private’ servers allow users to play such games, bypassing the original revenue model and stopping publishers from monetizing their content.

“Establishing and maintaining unauthorized game servers often involves multiple acts of copyright infringement as well as the circumvention of technological protection measures,” the ESA notes, citing Warmane.com and Firestorm-servers.com (World of Warcraft) as culprits.

Cheats and other digital goods

Over the past year, lawsuits against those who maintain and distribute game cheating tools have been frequently reported (1,2,3) so similar complaints in the ESA’s filing are not unexpected.

Established in 2000, Unknowncheats.me heads the ESA’s list, offering up to 10,000 cheats for around 100 gaming titles while generating advertising revenue from its 2.4 million users. Fellow cheat site MPGH.net is said to offer “several hundred thousand” cheats to more than four million users while Iwantcheats.net and Artificialaiming.net service around 720,000 users between them.

Several other platforms are listed in the report as locations to purchase in-game items, CD keys, skins, accounts, and even CD keys, with others offering online subscriptions sourced in cheaper regions of the world and sold in the US.

“We would like to underscore our appreciation to the U.S. officials who drive and administer the out-of-cycle review of notorious markets,” the ESA says in its summing up.

“The resulting Notorious Markets List provides important insights that allow national and local policymakers, as well as law enforcement officials, to evaluate and fairly demand accountability from those marketplaces and the services that support them,” the trade group concludes.

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