Accessing regular websites in order to stream copies of the latest movies and TV shows is still popular among Internet users but the rise of set-top boxes and portable devices has fueled the uptake of app-based piracy tools.

It’s a cramped marketplace but last year TeaTV gained notable traction and was installed by hundreds of thousands, maybe even millions, of pirates looking to access video at zero cost. This momentum earned TeaTV a place in an October 2019 CNBC feature, something which triggered even more interest in the tool and its disappearance from the web.

In the wake of that piece, a source close to TeaTV informed TF that the software (which is available for Android, Windows and macOS) would be back, a promise that was later fulfilled. However, it now transpires that Hollywood is attempting to disrupt access to the tool via complaints filed with code development platform Github.

A notice filed by the Motion Picture Association (MPA) this week begins by referencing the CNBC article, noting that TeaTV “is an app notoriously devoted to copyright infringement.” It reveals previous correspondence with Github during October and November 2019, and January 2020, and thanks Github “for its additional guidance” offered by the Microsoft-owned platform late December 2019.

“We previously provided you links to the Github repositories that TeaTV is using and are now providing you with the attached file titled ‘GitHub-Code’ which shows code hosted on Github that provides links to pirate sites with infringing copies of motion pictures and television shows that are scraped by the TeaTV app to provide access to the infringing content users are looking for,” the complaint reads.

Four repositories listed by the MPA in previous notices have already been taken down but the MPA has now taken further action by demanding the deletion of repos carrying the three executable files for the Android, Windows, and macOS variants of TeaTV.

“Also attached is a file titled ‘GitHub-Executables’ which shows that the final version of the app is available for download from the GitHub platform. These executable files are pre-configured to infringe copyright-protected motion pictures and television shows that are owned or controlled by our Members,” the MPA writes.

Additionally, the Hollywood group says it carried out a network traffic analysis on the TeaTV app and found that its API connected to accounts on Github, located at three URLs, all of which should be removed.

After the MPA reminded Github of the 2005 MGM v. Grokster decision, noting that “the distribution of a product can itself give rise to liability where evidence shows that the distributor intended and encouraged the product to be used to infringe”, Github removed all of the URLs listed in the complaint, leaving the familiar “unavailable” notice behind.

While the MPA will be satisfied with the suspension of the pages, its takedown notice also asks Github to consider 17 U.S.C. § 512(i)(1)(A), which grants an exemption from liability for service providers when they take action against repeat infringers.

“The limitations on liability established by this section shall apply to a service provider only if the service provider…has adopted and reasonably implemented, and informs subscribers and account holders of the service provider’s system or network of, a policy that provides for the termination in appropriate circumstances of subscribers and account holders of the service provider’s system or network who are repeat infringers,” the code reads.

The main TeaTV account and repository are currently active but with no content available. TeaTV.net, however, is still online, as is the .XYZ domain from where the clients can be downloaded and movies and TV shows streamed, albeit in a cumbersome fashion when compared to the app.

TorrentFreak requested comment from the operators of TeaTV as to whether the MPA had been in touch directly. At the time of publishing, we were yet to receive a response.

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A group of movie companies, operating under the parent company Millennium Funding, is pursuing legal action against key piracy players.

Through various copyright infringement lawsuits and DMCA subpoenas they have gone after targets ranging from Popcorn Time through YTS, to Showbox and MKVCage.

The case against MKVCage, filed last summer, had an immediate effect. Not long after the complaint was submitted to a Hawaii District Court, MKVCage became unreachable. At the same time, the uploader stopped pushing torrents to other sites as well.

Aside from a brief comeback, the site remains missing in action today. However, that doesn’t mean that the lawsuit is over too. A few days ago, the makers of the film Hellboy submitted an amended complaint against the alleged operator, a Pakistani man named Muhammad Faizan.

Hellboy Productions accuses Faizan of promoting and distributing pirated copies of its movie. The complaint also lists 35 John Doe defendants, who presumably downloaded the film.

While many of these allegations were already present in the original complaint, the new version does introduce a new name into the mix. According to Hellboy Productions, MKVCage is linked to a ‘notorious copyright thief.’

The movie company writes that Faizan began “operating the website mkvcage.nl” together with 1337 Services LLC, which is associated with Pirate Bay co-founder Peter Sunde.

“1337 was created and is controlled by Peter Sunde Kolmisoppi,” Hellboy writes, adding that “Peter Sunde Kolmisoppi is a notorious copyright thief who was sentenced to prison in Sweden for his creation of The Pirate Bay.”

This sounds rather ominous. However, the complaint fails to mention that 1337 Services LLC is the company behind Njalla, which is a service that allows people to privately register domain names. And indeed, a Whois lookup for MKVCage.nl shows 1337 Services as the registrant.

This pushes the joint operation claim into an entirely different light. Njalla has many customers, including the Catalonian government, but it doesn’t operate the sites which are tied to these domains.

Peter Sunde informs TorrentFreak that he’d never heard of MKVcage until now. He is also not aware of any abuse emails regarding the domain name.

“As far as I know we haven’t even received an abuse e-mail regarding MKVcage, but I guess that’s their strategy. If they send abuse e-mails they might get services suspended and thus not being able to sue people,” Sunde says.

The Pirate Bay co-founder stresses that 1337 Services LLC is owned by a foundation, which is information they would have gladly shared if asked. The company is operated by many people who may feel left out now, as they may also want to be labeled as copyright thieves.

“My co-workers may be upset that they don’t get any credit for 1337’s work now, so I’m so sorry. They also want to be notorious copyright thieves,” Sunde notes.

Neither Sunde nor 1337 Services are defendants in the case. They are little more than a passing mention, perhaps to make it appear as if there’s something more going on than there is.

In earlier court filings the movie company actually referred to 1337 Services as a privacy service, which wasn’t clarified in the most recent filing.

Finally, Sunde points out that he’s not really a copyright thief. While he may have duplicated a file or two, he never ‘stole’ anyone’s copyright, which is simply impossible. This is something the US Copyright Office can confirm.

While Sunde is not in any trouble, in this case, Faizan is. Hellboy Productions accuses him of direct and contributory copyright infringement. The movie company claims to have suffered $270,902.58 in damages and would like to have that compensated.

—

A copy of the amended complaint Hellboy Productions filed against Muhammad Faizan is available here (pdf).

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Sometime last week, speculation that a new Call of Duty ‘battle royale’ mode might be due for a March launch began to intensify.

Noted leaker TheGamingRevoYT (TheGamingRevolution) posted footage on YouTube claiming to be from the ‘Warzone’ mode and as VGC reported, players were able to glitch into menus following the Season 2 update.

It didn’t take long to work out that Activision was unhappy with the leaks. The video posted by TheGamingRevoYT was taken down, leaving a notice behind declaring that the video was no longer available due to a copyright claim by the gaming giant.

Around the same time – perhaps earlier, perhaps a little later – a Reddit user called Assyrian2410 took to Reddit’s /r/modernwarfare to post a new thread. “I found this image online. Not sure what it is. Possibly Battle Royale,” he or she wrote.

The thread linked to an image, hosted by Reddit. According to a source detailing the captured image and crediting it to the user, it shows Call of Duty soldiers standing on top of a downed chopper. Most strikingly, the text in the background shouts “CALL OF DUTY: WARZONE.”

According to a user who participated in the Reddit thread, TheGamingRevolution confirmed on Twitter that the image was “legit”. However, the tweet was removed and according to Twitter, that account has now been suspended. Another tweet, published by a moderator of the /r/modernwarfare sub-Reddit, was also “withheld in response to a report from the copyright holder.”

Whether any further action is being taken against most of the alleged leakers listed above or indeed the many others around the web remains unclear. However, documents obtained by TorrentFreak show that Activision has taken to a US court in an effort to discover the identity of Reddit user Assyrian2410.

In a filing on February 14, 2020 at a California district court, attorneys acting for Activision requested a DMCA subpoena against Reddit.

“Petitioner, Activision Publishing, Inc. through its undersigned counsel of record, hereby requests that the Clerk of this Court issue a subpoena to Reddit, Inc. to identify alleged infringers at issue, pursuant to the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (‘DMCA’), 17 U.S.C. § 512(h),” the request reads.

“The DMCA Subpoena is directed to Reddit, Inc. Reddit is the service provider to which the subject of the subpoena – Reddit user ‘Assyrian241O’ – posted infringing Activision content.”

As the image shows, the proposed subpoena provides a Reddit URL where the supposedly infringing content was published. However, rather than listing the specific Reddit URL where the actual image was hosted, it instead references the Reddit discussion thread.

No infringing content was posted in the thread itself and the actual image URL isn’t mentioned at all in the subpoena request. In any event, the image was deleted days ago.

Nevertheless, Activision claims that the image content infringes its exclusive rights under copyright law, “Specifically, it infringes Activision’s rights in its popular video game “Call of Duty: Modern Warfare,” the request adds.

The image in question is currently being used on many gaming sites in articles discussing Warzone but it’s unclear whether the Reddit user was the source of the original material. However, an aggravating factor can be found in the thread itself.

Contrary to the initial claim, that the user “found this image online”, he or she later confessed to it being sent to them by an “inside source”. That raises the question of who Activision is more interested in – the Reddit user or the person who sent them the image, possibly from inside Activision or a related company.

Despite the URL issue, the seemingly deficient subpoena request was signed off by the clerk of the court and will now be delivered to Reddit, which is required to hand over the personal details of its user by February 29, 2020.

Whether it will or can comply is currently unknown. The Assyrian241O account was deleted days ago but it’s not clear what data Reddit retains on users after such an event, particularly in light of a legal issue.

The DMCA subpoena request and related documents can be found here (1,2,3 pdf)

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Last summer the pirate IPTV market was thrown into turmoil when Italian authorities took down Xtream-Codes.

The IPTV management service was believed to be connected to 5,000 pirate services that catered to around 50 million end-users.

The enforcement actions caused problems at many IPTV services, with IPTV traffic dropping by half, but in the weeks that followed many providers managed to recover. That doesn’t mean, however, that law enforcement authorities are giving up.

This week the Guardia di Finanza (GdF), the law enforcement agency connected to the Italian Ministry of Economy and Finance, announced another IPTV-related enforcement operation. This time, it is targeted at customers of these pirate IPTV services.

Following an in-depth investigation, Guardia di Finanza tracked down 223 subscribers of illegal IPTV services. These people were subsequently reported to the judicial authorities, where they face further prosecution.

According to the law enforcement agency, the investigation remains ongoing. This means that more IPTV subscribers may be identified and reported in the future.

The subscribers in question are being held responsible for the crime of “receiving stolen goods.” If found guilty, they risk a penalty of 25,000 euros as well as an eight-year prison sentence, the authorities state.

The investigations were carried out with help from Italian anti-piracy group FAPAV, which provided technical assistance. FAPAV sees IPTV piracy as a major and growing threat to the entertainment industries.

Federico Bagnoli Rossi, Secretary-General of FAPAV, thanks Guardia di Finanza for its operation which he believes is needed to show that end users are also at risk.

“The operation is crucial because, for the first time in Italy, it doesn’t only focus on the operators of the pirate portals but also the users of these services,” Rossi says.

FAPAV hopes that these enforcement actions will continue. It believes that the growing problems pirate IPTV services cause are underestimated, so clamping down on all aspects is essential.

“In just one year we have seen an increase of over a million [pirate IPTV] users,” Rossi notes, adding that copyright holders are severely affected by these illegal services.

If and how many of the reported IPTV subscribers will indeed be prosecuted is unknown. However, the operation does show that subscribers are not untouchable, which will likely be used as a warning message to others.

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The unlicensed streaming of live sporting events has presented problems for rightsholders for years but more recently, with the rise of ‘pirate’ IPTV services, it has become a worldwide issue.

The phenomenon is being tackled from multiple directions, from targeting third-party Kodi add-on and app developers to attacking systems such as Xtream-Codes. The overall aim, however, is to prevent end-users from accessing streams, primarily via web-blocking mechanisms.

Following a lawsuit filed last November and a ruling handed down by the Madrid Commerical Court, Spanish broadcaster Telefónica Audiovisual Digital hopes it can benefit from this approach. A copy of the decision, handed down on February 11, 2019, and obtained by Cinco Días, reveals a broad injunction that targets many of the country’s Internet service providers.

The injunction targets prominent operators such as Vodafone, Orange, MásMóvil, Euskaltel, Lycamobile, and also Telefónica Audiovisual Digital’s own ISP, Telefónica. As a starting point, it identifies 44 pirate sites and services (reportedly managed by 30 ‘known piracy groups’), requiring that their URLs, domain names, and IP addresses are blocked within 72 hours.

All ISPs will be required to notify Telefónica Audiovisual Digital when they have blocked these resources, stating the day, hour and minute in each case. In addition, the inunction has a trick up its sleeve, in that it allows the broadcaster to notify new sites, URLs, domains and IP addresses to the ISPs every week for blocking, without having to refer to the court for permission.

The ISPs will be advised of the new online locations at exactly the same and they will be expected to act expeditiously in order to prevent their customers from accessing their pirated streams.

“The blocking of the new web resources (URLs, domains or IP addresses) must be done under access in HTTP and HTTP protocols, and within a maximum period of three hours from the notification of the new listing,” the decision reads, as cited by Cinco Días.

This part of the injunction is an obvious move designed to mitigate the threat posed by pirate services that implement their own technical measures to prevent being blocked. The theory is that if live data can be relayed to ISPs regarding the services’ current locations, they can be tackled more efficiently, a mechanism often referred to as ‘dynamic’ blocking.

Dynamic blocking orders can take several forms, with the most basic targeting relatively static services such as torrent and web-based streaming portals.

One such injunction was handed down in Sweden recently against The Pirate Bay and several other sites, targeting the platforms themselves plus any new URLs or IP addresses that may subsequently appear. A similar one was obtained by Foxtel in Australia last August.

However, given the fluid nature of live stream providers, it seems likely that the injunction just handed down in Spain will be more comparable to those previously obtained by the Premier League covering the UK market and La Liga, active in Denmark.

The new injunction obtained by Telefónica Audiovisual Digital is reportedly valid until May 25, 2022, and covers three football seasons. The company was awarded football broadcasting rights in June 2018 and that license is set to expire in 2022.

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