Internet — Peer to Peer (P2P) — August 12th, 2026

A years-long investigation just unmasked a major torrent pirate, the how remains unclear
The 56-year-old is accused of seeding nearly 1,000 NHK recordings
August 12th, 2026 — Source

Hollywood's UK "Omnibus” Pirate Site Blocking Order Surfaces Through Cloudflare
In May, the UK High Court granted several Hollywood studios a broad "omnibus" site blocking order, allowing them to block rotating networks of pirate sites, without the need to link them to known pirate brands. This breakthrough order was recently cited in a Canadian court order, but remained unavailable to the public, until now.
August 12th, 2026 — Source

Internet — Peer to Peer (P2P) — August 5th, 2026

Broadcaster Wins Broad U.S. Blocking Injunction Covering Pirate Sites That Don't Exist Yet
Mexican broadcaster TelevisaUnivision has obtained one of the broadest anti-piracy injunctions ever issued by a U.S. federal court. After initially targeting five pirate IPTV streaming operations, the case expanded to cover well over 500 domain names, requiring intermediaries including Cloudflare, GitHub, and a Mexican bank to comply. In addition, the injunction also covers pirate services and content that hasn't been created yet.
August 5th, 2026 — Source

Internet — Peer to Peer (P2P) — August 3rd, 2026

Record Labels Offer to Abandon $46.8 Million Piracy Case Against Grande
After the Supreme Court's Cox ruling reshaped ISPs piracy liability, the record labels behind a $46.8 million verdict against Grande Communications are ready to walk away from the case entirely. Grande won't let them, however. The Internet provider is holding out for a formal win and the millions in bond costs it says the appeal ran up.
August 3rd, 2026 — Source

Internet — Peer to Peer (P2P) — July 29th, 2026

Vietnam Uses HiAnime Arrests As Defense Against U.S. Trade Sanctions
Facing potential U.S. trade sanctions over online piracy, Vietnam is using the recent shutdown and its criminal prosecution of the HiAnime piracy ring as a key line of defense. Notably, Vietnam's response was submitted on the same day that the HiAnime prosecution was made public. While the enforcement action is notable, the outcome and potential sentences will be even more important.
July 29th, 2026 — Source

Internet — Peer to Peer (P2P) — July 27th, 2026

Copyright Scammers Weaponized Meta's Rights Manager with Backdating Exploit
Scammers are allegedly exploiting a flaw in Facebook's 'Edit Post' feature to backdate stolen videos and hijack copyright claims through Meta's Rights Manager. This allows them to monetize content of other creators, while also hitting them with strikes. The problem is at the center of several Indian lawsuits that want the American tech giant to close this surprisingly simple loophole.
July 27th, 2026 — Source

Internet — Peer to Peer (P2P) — July 24th, 2026

X and Music Publishers Settle Three-Year Copyright Clash After SpaceX IPO
Three years of litigation that triggered explosive allegations of DMCA "weaponization" and "maximum pain" pressure tactics quietly ended in coordinated settlements. X Corp and several music companies settled the copyright infringement lawsuit and X's antitrust counterstrike, with prejudice. The dismissals come shortly after X Corp.'s new parent company SpaceX went public, identifying the legal battle as a key threat.
July 24th, 2026 — Source

Internet — Peer to Peer (P2P) — July 23rd, 2026

Canada's 'Expanded Scope' Blocking Order Targets Existing and Future Pirate Sites
For the first time, a Canadian site-blocking order can target pirate sites that don't exist yet. The Federal Court has ordered ISPs to block thirteen piracy brands including 123Movies and FMovies, and its catch-all "Expanded Scope" allows Hollywood studios and broadcasters to add unrelated sites later, without having to go back to court.
July 23rd, 2026 — Source

Internet — Peer to Peer (P2P) — July 22nd, 2026

DNS Bypass Tweets Keep Uptobox Employee's €197K Frozen in Disney Piracy Case
Sharing instructions on how to bypass court-ordered ISP blocks can be enough to freeze someone's personal savings in a piracy case, a French appeals court has ruled. The order is a mixed victory for Disney, which failed to prove the defendant was the de facto operator of the now-defunct Uptobox site. His DNS workaround posts were enough to keep roughly €197,000 frozen.
July 22nd, 2026 — Source

Internet — Peer to Peer (P2P) — July 11th, 2026

Google Opposes Site Blocking in Europe as U.S. Piracy Blocking Plans Gain Momentum
Google has told the European Commission that pirate site blocking causes "significant harm" and should not target DNS resolvers, VPNs or shared IPs. The submission was filed days before a U.S. congressional hearing signaled that American site blocking legislation is closer than ever to introduction. Early drafts of the American plans included DNS blocking, which makes Google's EU comments even more relevant.
July 11th, 2026 — Source

Internet — Peer to Peer (P2P) — July 10th, 2026

Pearson's Anti-Piracy Vendor Takes Down Best-Selling Author's Own GitHub Repo
Pearson's anti-piracy vendor inadvertently used a DMCA notice to take down the official GitHub code repository of Pearson's own best-selling author, Paul Deitel. The prominent computer science educator pushed back, noting that the sender has "no idea of the damage they're doing" by taking down critical educational materials, requesting GitHub to restore access.
July 10th, 2026 — Source

Internet — Peer to Peer (P2P) — July 8th, 2026

Pirate Site Blocking Is Legally Impossible in Bulgaria, Supreme Court Ruled
Bulgaria's highest court has ruled that civil site blocking is legally impossible under current national law. Bulgaria failed to properly transpose the EU directives that authorize blocking injunctions. The decision is a major setback for rightsholders, including the association of music producers, which has asked the European Commission to intervene.
July 8th, 2026 — Source

Internet — Peer to Peer (P2P) — June 27th, 2026

13 Best Free and Open Source Graphical BitTorrent Clients
BitTorrent, also referred to as simply torrent, is an internet transfer protocol for peer-to-peer file sharing (P2P). It lets users download files from the internet. Unlike HTTP and FTTP, BitTorrent is a distributed transfer protocol.
June 27th, 2026 — Source

Tewi -- text-based interface for managing BitTorrent clients
Tewi is a text-based interface for managing BitTorrent clients from the terminal.
June 27th, 2026 — Source

Internet — Peer to Peer (P2P) — June 23rd, 2026

Film Companies "Piggyback" on Other Lawsuits to Unmask BitTorrent Pirates
After 180 days, Comcast can no longer say which customer was linked to a given IP address. This retention limit has kept old piracy accusations out of reach for years, but that's beginning to change. A series of BitTorrent lawsuits from film companies targets alleged pirates whose identities Strike 3 Holdings, an adult-content producer, had already obtained in earlier suits over the same addresses.
June 23rd, 2026 — Source

Internet — Peer to Peer (P2P) — June 22nd, 2026

AI-Generated 'FIFA World Cup' DMCA Notices Ask Google to Delist Pirate Sites
In a series of DMCA takedown requests, "FIFA World Cup" is asking Google to permanently remove various pirate site domain names from its search results. While FIFA certainly is protective of its intellectual property, the seemingly AI-generated notices could be the work of a rival pirate site that's trying to take out some competition during the high-profile tournament.
June 22nd, 2026 — Source

Internet — Peer to Peer (P2P) — June 20th, 2026

WIPO Alert Pay Aims to Cut Off Piracy Profits with Help from Payment Providers
For years, WIPO has tried to starve pirate sites of advertising money. Now it wants to cut off their payments too. A new system called "WIPO Alert Pay" lets rightsholders flag pirate and counterfeit sites to payment providers such as PayPal and Mastercard, who can then act under their own rules. In an initial pilot, 71% of flagged sites were removed.
June 20th, 2026 — Source

Internet — Peer to Peer (P2P) — June 19th, 2026

Old-school crime: man gets suspended jail sentence for burning and selling pirated CDs
Streaming may have replaced discs, but selling pirated CDs can still carry serious consequences
June 19th, 2026 — Source

Internet — Peer to Peer (P2P) — June 16th, 2026

Music Labels Win Canadian Site Blocking Order Against Y2Mate, YTMP3, and Savefrom
For the first time in Canada, a site-blocking order has been issued that specifically targets YouTube rippers. The Federal Court has ordered major ISPs to block access to Y2Mate, YTMP3, and Savefrom domains. Interestingly, the order targets copycats, as the original Savefrom site preemptively started blocking Canadians years ago.
June 16th, 2026 — Source

Windows Central Podcast: A massive week for Windows and Xbox
On this week's episode: Daniel and Zac discuss Windows' massive week across Computex and Build, new NVIDIA RTX Spark, and the Xbox Showcase + drama.
June 16th, 2026 — Source

Internet — Peer to Peer (P2P) — June 15th, 2026

Meta Must Face Adult Film Piracy Lawsuit as Court Denies Dismissal
To keep their piracy lawsuit alive, adult film producers Strike 3 Holdings and Counterlife Media don't have to prove Meta used their films for AI training. A California federal judge has denied Meta's motion to dismiss, ruling that the alleged torrenting is itself the infringement. Additionally, the court did not accept the idea that the torrent downloads were merely for personal use.
June 15th, 2026 — Source

Internet — Peer to Peer (P2P) — June 10th, 2026

Best VPNs for torrenting: 5 top picks for speed, privacy, and security
Stay safe while torrenting with these top VPN picks.
June 10th, 2026 — Source

Internet — Peer to Peer (P2P) — June 8th, 2026

Z-Library Lets People Run White-Label, Login-Only Pirate Mirrors
In what's partly an effort to push back against domain seizures and blocking efforts, Z-Library has upgraded its mirror infrastructure. Users of the shadow library can now create custom-branded, login-only mirrors of the site, creating a network of stealthy, white-label pirate sites. Running a mirror site comes with costs and legal risk, but Z-Library offers to share a 20% cut of its donations as compensation.
June 8th, 2026 — Source

Internet — Peer to Peer (P2P) — June 6th, 2026

YouTube Processed 2.5 Billion Content ID Copyright Claims in 2025
YouTube's Content ID system processed a record 2.5 billion copyright claims in 2025, a 14% increase compared to a year before. While disputes remain rare, uploaders who challenged claims come out as the winner more often than not. Despite the increase in claims, the number of Content ID eligible rightsholders dropped.
June 6th, 2026 — Source

Internet — Peer to Peer (P2P) — June 5th, 2026

Vietnam's Online Piracy Failures Trigger Section 301 Investigation, Tariffs on the Table
A month after designating Vietnam as a "Priority Foreign Country" over its failure to deter online piracy, the U.S. Trade Representative has formally opened a trade investigation, opening the door to potential sanctions. Rightsholders are invited to submit comments, and the MPA, which pursued action against Fmovies, Sflix, 2embed, and other Vietnamese pirate operations, is expected to weigh in.
June 5th, 2026 — Source

Internet — Peer to Peer (P2P) — May 29th, 2026

Gay-Torrents Vanishes After Lawsuit, FlavaWorks Narrows Case from 325 to 39 Users
Adult entertainment company FlavaWorks filed an amended complaint against private torrent tracker Gay-Torrents, alleging that the operators suddenly disappeared, leaving users and staff in the dark. In a tactical shift, Flava significantly reduced the targeted users to a core group of 39, who allegedly used the same email addresses on the tracker and FlavaWorks' own sites.
May 29th, 2026 — Source

Internet — Peer to Peer (P2P) — May 24th, 2026

Premier League Wants Domain Registrar Tucows to Unmask Sports Streaming Pirates
The Premier League has requested a DMCA subpoena in an attempt to unmask the operators of 25 pirate sports streaming sites. The domain names were registered through Tucows, which is asked to hand over all personal details of the operators. Interestingly, the football league's own evidence shows the pirate streams are sourced from Amazon and Google.
May 24th, 2026 — Source

Internet — Peer to Peer (P2P) — May 22nd, 2026

Italian police seize a piracy app that streamed Sky, DAZN, and Netflix through hijacked real accounts
Operazione Tutto Chiaro hit more than 100 sites across Italy, France, and Germany, targeting a system that rebroadcast legitimate subscription codes every three minutes.
May 22nd, 2026 — Source

Spanish Court Declines to Fine NordVPN Over LaLiga Piracy Blocking Order
Three months after a Spanish court ordered NordVPN and ProtonVPN to block pirate football streams, NordVPN says the same court has refused to punish the provider for non-compliance. The VPN company says the Commercial Court of Córdoba rejected LaLiga's request for coercive fines, accepting that there was a genuine technical dispute over whether the blocking could be implemented.
May 22nd, 2026 — Source

Internet — Peer to Peer (P2P) — May 17th, 2026

Lithuania Pitches Pirate Site Blocking as Defense Against "Hybrid Warfare," Including Russian Disinformation
Lithuania's media watchdog LRTK will present an overview of its strategic anti-piracy enforcement at an upcoming WIPO meeting in Geneva. The organization notes that combining pirate site blocking measures with OSINT tools has been helpful in countering hybrid pirate site threats, including the distribution of Russian disinformation. However, the Netherlands found out that blindly copying these blocklists isn't always the best idea.
May 17th, 2026 — Source

Internet — Peer to Peer (P2P) — May 16th, 2026

Russian hackers turn Kazuar backdoor into modular P2P botnet
The Russian hacker group Secret Blizzard has developed its long-running Kazuar backdoor into a modular peer-to-peer (P2P) botnet designed for long-term persistence, stealth, and data collection.
May 16th, 2026 — Source

Internet — Peer to Peer (P2P) — May 11th, 2026

Publishers Seek $19.5 Million and Domain Takedown Order Against Anna's Archive
A group of high-profile publishing companies is seeking a $19.5 million default judgment against shadow library Anna's Archive. The proposed order comes with an injunction that would compel more than twenty named international domain registries, hosts, and service providers, including Cloudflare and Njalla, to disable access to the pirate site's three remaining domains.
May 11th, 2026 — Source

Sony's failed war against Internet piracy may doom other copyright lawsuits
Cable firm Cox's Supreme Court win may help all tech providers, not just ISPs.
May 11th, 2026 — Source

Internet — Peer to Peer (P2P) — May 10th, 2026

Court Awards Aylo $4.2 Million, Not $84 Million, in Pornhits Piracy Case
Aylo asked a Washington federal court for an $84 million default judgment against the operator of pirate site Pornhits, citing the same $15,000-per-work formula the court had previously approved in similar cases. This time, Judge Benjamin Settle denied the request, awarding the statutory minimum instead, while warning that anything more would be a "windfall." The porn company did secure a domain transfer order, however, which may be the most important of all.
May 10th, 2026 — Source

Internet — Peer to Peer (P2P) — May 7th, 2026

Nvidia's ISP piracy defense backfires as judge refuses to dismiss copyright lawsuit over more than 197,000 pirated books — scripts in NeMo Framework allegedly 'have no other purpose' than to speed up infringement
Nvidia argues that its NeMo Megatron Framework has non-infringing uses, too.
May 7th, 2026 — Source

Internet — Peer to Peer (P2P) — May 4th, 2026

U.S. Brands Vietnam as a Rare 'Priority Foreign Country' Over Online Piracy Concerns
For the first time in thirteen years, the U.S. government has placed a trading partner in its most serious category for intellectual property concerns. The USTR's latest Special 301 Report classifies Vietnam as a "Priority Foreign Country," opening the door to potential trade sanctions. The country's failure to combat pirate sites and services, including Fmovies, is cited as a key reason.
May 4th, 2026 — Source

Internet — Peer to Peer (P2P) — April 26th, 2026

Google Uses Cox Ruling to Kill Last Copyright Claim in Textbook Piracy Lawsuit
Google is trying to put an end to the copyright liability claim in its textbook piracy battle with several academic publishers. In a motion for partial judgment filed in a New York federal court, Google argues that the recent Supreme Court ruling in Cox v. Sony has effectively killed the copyright liability arguments. That is, unless the publishers can prove Google specifically "induced" infringement or built a service "tailored" exclusively for piracy.
April 24th, 2026 — Source

Internet — Peer to Peer (P2P) — April 24th, 2026

Spanish Film Archivist Faces Prison and €870,000 Fine Over 'Non-Commercial' Movie Site
A Spanish content creator who ran a film preservation website together with more than a dozen others, is now the sole defendant in a prosecution where he faces a two-and-a-half-year prison sentence and €870,000 in damages. "El Feo," as the defendant is known online, fought back at trial. Among other things, he stressed that the film archive was a non-commercial project he was no longer actively involved in at the time of his arrest.
April 24th, 2026 — Source

Internet — Peer to Peer (P2P) — April 23rd, 2026

Sflix, Myflixerz, HDtoday, and other Pirate Sites Go Dark as Backend Infrastructure Fails
Dozens of pirate sites using popular brands such as Sflix, Watchseries, HDtoday, and Fmovies have become unreachable this week. The targeted domains all return a Cloudflare 521 error message, suggesting that the origin server refused the connection. Many of the sites in question are linked to a popular "Piracy-as-a-Service" operation that also acts as a hosting platform.
April 23rd, 2026 — Source

Internet — Peer to Peer (P2P) — April 17th, 2026

Korean Rights Holders Behind Takedown of Manga Piracy Giant TuMangaOnline
The Spanish-speaking manga community was in disarray last month when TuMangaOnline, also known as ZonaTMO, suddenly disappeared. When the site's main domain was put on clienthold by its registrar, it was clear that legal pressure was mounting. Today, Korean copyright enforcement organization COA and the global anti-piracy firm IP House have confirmed their role in the takedown, revealing that Spanish police took action against the site's operators.
April 17th, 2026 — Source

Internet — Peer to Peer (P2P) — April 13th, 2026

Paris Court Issued Simultaneous Site Blocking Orders Against ISPs, DNS Resolvers and VPNs
In a series of simultaneous rulings, the Paris Judicial Court ordered ISPs, VPN providers, and DNS resolvers to block access to 35 sports piracy sites. The orders were requested by Spanish football league LaLiga, which lacked standing as a foreign entity under French law. LaLiga licensee beIN Sports France had to intervene in the cases and secure the blocks in its own name.
April 13th, 2026 — Source

Internet — Peer to Peer (P2P) — April 11th, 2026

RapidIPTV Kingpin 'Dash the Iranian' Gets Two Years Prison Under Spanish Plea Deal
Six years after international police units searched houses and server farms across Europe, the alleged mastermind had his day in court. A.Z., known to colleagues as "Dash the Iranian," faced 22.5 years in prison alongside four co-defendants. However, after they all pleaded guilty, the ringleader was sentenced to just over two years.
April 11th, 2026 — Source

Internet — Peer to Peer (P2P) — April 9th, 2026

YouTuber Receives Copyright Strikes For Silent Hill 2 Playthrough From Makers Of Two AI-Generated Silent Hill 2 Songs
YouTube seems to think that taking music from Silent Hill 2 and putting AI vocals over it lets you claim the rights to that music
April 9th, 2026 — Source or Watch Video

Internet — Peer to Peer (P2P) — April 6th, 2026

Music Publishers Ask Court to Dismiss X's 'Weaponized DMCA' Antitrust Suit
Major music publishers and the NMPA are asking a Texas federal court to throw out X's antitrust lawsuit, calling it a baseless attempt at retaliation. The music companies argue that X's conspiracy theory rests on a single word in an email, while adding that their massive DMCA takedown campaign was not a sham but fully protected by the First Amendment.
April 6th, 2026 — Source

Internet — Peer to Peer (P2P) — April 3rd, 2026

Yout.com Hopes Supreme Court's Cox Ruling Helps Its Case; RIAA Disagrees
The Supreme Court's recent reversal of the billion-dollar Cox Communications verdict also makes an appearance in the long-running legal battle between Yout.com and the RIAA. The streamripper's counsel argues that the ruling's treatment of noninfringing uses is relevant to its case against the RIAA. The music group disagrees, suggesting that it is not relevant.
April 3rd, 2026 — Source

Internet — Peer to Peer (P2P) — March 31st, 2026

Game Pirates Beat Denuvo with Hypervisor Bypasses — Irdeto Promises Countermeasure
A new breed of hypervisor-based bypasses can 'crack' Denuvo-protected games on the day of release, marking a fundamental shift in the piracy landscape. Denuvo parent company Irdeto informs TorrentFreak that it is working on a countermeasure while warning that the new cracks are a security concern. Popular repacker FitGirl initially flagged security concerns as well, but embraced the new cracks as they improved.
March 31st, 2026 — Source

Internet — Peer to Peer (P2P) — March 24th, 2026

GitHub Nukes 900+ Anime Piracy Repos and Forks, But Rejects 'Circumvention' Claims
GitHub has removed more than 900 repositories and forks linked to anime streaming tools following a takedown notice from Remove Your Media LLC. Representing rightsholders including Crunchyroll and VIZ Media, the anti-piracy firm claims the repositories "traffic" in circumvention technology by scraping pirate sites. GitHub complied but rejected the attempt to frame the code as DMCA 1201 violations.
March 24th, 2026 — Source

Internet — Peer to Peer (P2P) — March 21st, 2026

DISH Seeks $28.65 Million Default Judgment in Lemo/Kemo IPTV Lawsuit
DISH Network is doubling down on its legal offensive against pirate IPTV services. Despite a setback earlier this month, the pay TV provider is asking a Florida federal court for a $28.65 million default judgment against the operators of Kemo IPTV and Lemo TV, and one of their U.S.-based resellers. In addition, the company requests a broad injunction targeting hosting companies and nineteen domain names.
March 21st, 2026 — Source

Internet — Peer to Peer (P2P) — March 20th, 2026

Musician admits to $10M streaming royalty fraud using AI bots
North Carolina musician Michael Smith has pleaded guilty to collecting over $10 million in royalty payments through a massive streaming royalty fraud scheme on Spotify, Apple Music, Amazon Music, and YouTube Music.
March 20th, 2026 — Source

Oscar Winner 'One Battle After Another' Sees Piracy Surge, While 'Sinners' Stays Flat
Winning the Best Picture Oscar is usually a reliable piracy trigger, and this year is no exception. The estimated pirated downloads of 'One Battle After Another' tripled on torrent sites, leaving all other contenders behind. Surprisingly, 'Sinners' saw no piracy boost post-ceremony despite four Oscar wins and a record sixteen nominations.
March 20th, 2026 — Source

Internet — Peer to Peer (P2P) — March 18th, 2026

Cloudflare Challenges Legality of Italy's "Piracy Shield", Appeals €14 Million Fine
Italy's "Piracy Shield" was designed to stop pirated live sports streams in 30 minutes, but Cloudflare says the "black box" system also puts the open Internet at risk. The American company was fined €14 million by Italian regulator AGCOM in january, for refusing to filter through its 1.1.1.1 DNS resolver. This week, Cloudflare announced that it formally appealed the fine while it continues to challenge the legality of the Piracy Shield system.
March 18th, 2026 — Source

Internet — Peer to Peer (P2P) — March 16th, 2026

Bankruptcy Court Clears Path for $100 Million Sale of Redbox's Piracy Lawsuit Rights
A Delaware bankruptcy court approved the legal framework for a $100 million+ sale of Redbox' piracy litigation rights. While a final deal is still being negotiated, the intended buyer of these rights plans to use them to sue Internet providers for failing to disconnect accounts of alleged BitTorrent pirates. Whether this strategy will pay off is highly dependent on a pending Supreme Court decision.
March 16th, 2026 — Source

Internet — Peer to Peer (P2P) — March 13th, 2026

Piracy Giant HiAnime.to Announces Mysterious 'Goodbye'
Since 2024, HiAnime.to has been a primary destination for millions of anime viewers. Today, this reign appears to come to an end as a message shown across its official domain names says that it's "time to say goodbye". However, not everyone is convinced that this is indeed a final farewell.
March 13th, 2026 — Source

Internet — Peer to Peer (P2P) — March 12th, 2026

Court Dismisses DISH's $25 Million IPTV Piracy Lawsuit Against UK Hosting Provider
A California federal court dismissed the copyright infringement lawsuit DISH Network filed against hosting provider Innetra, finding it lacked personal jurisdiction over the UK company. DISH accused the company of providing infrastructure to pirate IPTV operations while ignoring DMCA takedown requests. The case was dismissed without prejudice, leaving open the possibility of future action elsewhere.
March 12, 2026 — Source

Internet — Peer to Peer (P2P) — March 4th, 2026

YggTorrent Shuts Down After Hack, Leak and Stolen Crypto
YggTorrent, the largest francophone torrent community, has shut down permanently following a devastating hack. The cyberattack compromised YggTorrent's infrastructure, wiped key information, and drained the site's crypto wallets. The hacker publicly published the site's data online in a massive 11+ GB archive, noting that this could be of interest to law enforcement.
March 4, 2026 — Source

Internet — Peer to Peer (P2P) — March 2nd, 2026

Anna's Archive Loses .LI Domain As Legal Pressure Mounts
Anna's Archive lost its .li domain a few hours ago, likely due to legal pressure. The shadow library's domain name was outright deleted instead of suspended. Whether the domain registrar or registry is responsible is unknown, but the latter seems more plausible. Anna's Archive was briefly down to one remaining domain name, but several new ones were swiftly added.
March 2, 2026 — Source

Hollywood, Amazon & Netflix Set to Secure $18.75 Million Damages in IPTV Lawsuit
Nearly two years after several Hollywood studios, Amazon, and Netflix sued a Dallas IPTV operator for running a pirate streaming network, a magistrate judge now recommends an $18.75 million default judgment. The defendant tried various unorthodox methods to make the case go away, including a demand for money from the movie companies, but these efforts all failed.
March 2, 2026 — Source

Internet — Peer to Peer (P2P) — February 24th, 2026

Meta Employee Deleted 9TB of Torrented Files, Adult Film Producers Claim
The high-stakes lawsuit between adult content producers and tech giant Meta over the alleged downloads of copyright-infringing videos is heating up. In a new filing, Strike 3 claims that a Meta employee allegedly deleted over 9 terabytes of torrented files. Meta notes that this claim, which originates from an unrelated case, is mischaracterized and irrelevant. Regardless of the outcome of these and other ongoing discovery disputes, both parties aim for a trial in 2028.
February 24, 2026 — Source

Internet — Peer to Peer (P2P) — February 17th, 2026

ACE Targets Pirate Streaming Site 'HDFull' Through Cloudflare and Discord Subpoenas
Through the Motion Picture Association, anti-piracy group ACE has requested two DMCA subpoenas at California federal courts, asking Cloudflare and Discord to identify the operators of pirate streaming sites. Spanish-language veteran HDFull is targeted in both, with ACE seeking to unmask several people connected to the site and its popular Discord server, which was abruptly shut down.
February 17, 2026 — Source

Internet — Peer to Peer (P2P) — February 11th, 2026

Anna's Archive Quietly 'Releases' Millions of Spotify Tracks, Despite Legal Pushback
Despite being sued by Spotify and several record labels, Anna's Archive has silently begun releasing the actual music files from its massive Spotify scrape. The shadow library's backend torrent index now lists dozens of new torrents containing approximately 2.8 million tracks totaling roughly 6 terabytes of audio data. This marks a significant escalation in the already historic standoff with the music industry.
February 11, 2026 — Source

Best VPN for Torrenting 2026: Download and Upload in Private
Torrenting has many legal uses, from public domain movies to Linux distributions. Here are the best VPNs for torrenting to help keep your downloading and uploading activity private.
February 11, 2026 — Source

Internet — Peer to Peer (P2P) — February 6th, 2026

Anna's Archive Loses .PM Domain, Adds Greenland (.GL) Backup
The popular shadow library Anna's Archive has lost yet another domain name. The site's .pm domain was taken offline after international pressure on intermediaries continued to mount. That initially left the .li domain as the only option, but a Greenland-based backup was swiftly added.
February 6, 2026 — Source

Internet — Peer to Peer (P2P) — February 4th, 2026

NVIDIA: Contact With Anna's Archive Doesn't Prove Copyright Infringement
NVIDIA has asked a federal court to dismiss an expanded copyright lawsuit, arguing that authors failed to prove their books were actually used to train AI models. The chip giant says merely contacting Anna's Archive doesn't constitute infringement and challenges virtually every new claim in the amended complaint.
February 4, 2026 — Source

Internet — Peer to Peer (P2P) — February 2nd, 2026

Danish Students Face Legal Action and Fines Over Textbook Piracy
After "awareness" campaigns that failed to move the needle for years, Denmark's leading anti-piracy group is shifting to a more aggressive litigation strategy. The Rights Alliance confirmed it will begin filing civil lawsuits against individual students who are caught sharing even a single digital textbook. The anti-piracy group prefers not to mention the targeted platforms but says it uses undercover monitoring of private groups to gather evidence.
February 2, 2026 — Source

Internet — Peer to Peer (P2P) — January 31st, 2026

Piracy Crackdown in Italy Shuts Down IPTV Services Ahead of Winter Olympics
In a massive international operation a week before the opening ceremony of the 2026 Winter Olympics, Italian authorities have announced the dismantling of a global IPTV network. Dubbed "Operation Switch Off," the action targeted key infrastructure and a hierarchy of resellers that allegedly served millions of users worldwide.
January 31, 2026 — Source

Internet — Peer to Peer (P2P) — January 30th, 2026

Operation Switch Off dismantles major pirate TV streaming services
The latest phase of the global law enforcement action resulted in seizing three industrial-scale illegal IPTV services.
January 30, 2026 — Source

Music publishers accuse Anthropic of pirating 20,000 songs in $3 billion lawsuit
Publishers call the alleged infringement "flagrant piracy"
January 30, 2026 — Source

One of the biggest manga piracy networks has been shut down
Bato's operator was reportedly making over $57,000 a month in illicit advertising revenue.
January 30, 2026 — Source

Internet — Peer to Peer (P2P) — January 15th, 2026

'NVIDIA Contacted Anna's Archive to Secure Access to Millions of Pirated Books'
NVIDIA executives allegedly authorized the use of millions of pirated books from Anna's Archive to fuel its AI training. In an expanded class-action lawsuit that cites internal NVIDIA documents, several book authors claim that the trillion-dollar company directly reached out to Anna's Archive, seeking high-speed access to the shadow library data.
January 19, 2026 — Source

Internet — Peer to Peer (P2P) — January 9th, 2026

Italy Fines Cloudflare €14 Million for Refusing to Block Pirate Sites on Public 1.1.1.1 DNS
Italy's communications regulator AGCOM imposed a record-breaking €14.2 million fine on Cloudflare after the company failed to implement the required piracy blocking measures. Cloudflare argued that filtering its global 1.1.1.1 DNS resolver would be "impossible" without hurting overall performance. AGCOM disagreed, noting that Cloudflare is not necessarily a neutral intermediary either.
January 9, 2026 — Source

X Sues Music Publishers Over "Weaponized" DMCA Takedown Conspiracy
Elon Musk's X Corp. filed a landmark antitrust complaint against the NMPA, Sony, Universal, and other major music publishers, claiming that they used a coordinated "extortionate campaign" to force licensing deals. The lawsuit alleges that a flood of "baseless" DMCA notices targeted over 200,000 posts and suspended 50,000 users, allegedly to coerce X to sign industry-wide agreements.
January 9, 2026 — Source

Internet — Peer to Peer (P2P) — January 6th, 2026

GitHub Restores Repo of GTA Mod 'Multi Theft Auto' After Take-Two Fails to Sue
Multi Theft Auto (MTA), one of the longest-running and best known modding projects in gaming history, has officially returned to GitHub. The official repository disappeared last month following a takedown notice allegedly sent by Rockstar Games' parent company, Take-Two Interactive, which alleged that the GTA project shared "leaked source code."
January 7, 2026 — Source

Internet — Peer to Peer (P2P) — January 5th, 2026

Anna's Archive loses .org domain, says suspension likely unrelated to Spotify piracy
The primary domain of Shadow library Anna's Archive was taken offline, with annas-archive.org being put under the serverHold status. While Anna's Archive recently made waves with a massive "backup" of Spotify, the shadow library's operator said the music pirating doesn't appear to be connected to the .org domain suspension. Anna's Archive remains available at several other domains.
January 5, 2026 — Source

Internet — Peer to Peer (P2P) — January 2nd, 2026

Hollywood, Netflix, and Apple Are Behind Latest Pirate 'Brand' Blockades in Belgium
New information obtained through a transparency request reveals that major movie industry players, including Disney, Apple, and Netflix, are behind the latest site-blocking effort in Belgium. While the involvement of these companies is hardly surprising, details in the previously unpublished court order show a targeted site-blocking strategy without the involvement of DNS resolvers.
January 2, 2026 — Source

Internet — Peer to Peer (P2P) — January 1st, 2026

Strike 3's Piracy Litigation Campaign Broke More Records in 2025
Strike 3's piracy litigation campaign reached new milestones in 2025, with over 4,000 cases filed in twelve months. While the vast majority of these still target individual BitTorrent users, the porn producer has also set its sights on Meta, one of the world's biggest tech firms. With hundreds of millions in potential damages, this case significantly raises the stakes.
January 1, 2026 — Source

Internet — Peer to Peer (P2P) — December 26th, 2025

Legal Push to Unmask Minions 3 Leaker Targets YouTube and Reddit
NBCUniversal is doing all it can to identify the person(s) behind a series of high-profile leaks of the film Minions 3, which is scheduled to come out on July 1, 2026. Through DMCA subpoenas, both Google and Reddit are compelled to hand over the personal details of several account holders.
December 26, 2025 — Source

Internet — Peer to Peer (P2P) — December 21st, 2025

Video Game Giants Suddenly Have RuTracker in their Crosshairs Again
RuTracker is not only Russia's largest torrent site, it's one of the oldest and most resilient pirate sites anywhere in the world. Most major entertainment companies have had issues with RuTracker at some point during its 21 years online, and those in the videogame sector are no exception. Under the umbrella of The ESA, some of the largest are now showing renewed interest in the torrent site veteran.
December 21, 2025 — Source

Internet — Peer to Peer (P2P) — December 20th, 2025

9to5Mac Top Stories: iOS 26.3 beta, App Store changes, Apple Music features
Welcome to 9to5Mac's top stories of the week, where we recap the biggest news in the Apple world every Saturday. This week, we have the first beta of iOS 26.3, new details on the iPhone 18 and iPhone Fold, and more changes to the App Store.
December 20, 2025 — Source

A DMCA "Bot War": Google Search Processed 5 Billion Takedown Requests in 2025
Google Search has reached a staggering new DMCA takedown milestone, processing over five billion copyright removal requests in 2025. Driven by a massive automated reporting spike, mostly from Link-Busters, the total all-time count has now eclipsed 15.8 billion. Not all reported URLs are actually removed, however. In fact, many were not even indexed by Google to begin with, which is another side effect of the 'bot war'.
December 20, 2025 — Source

Internet — Peer to Peer (P2P) — December 15th, 2025

Hollywood Warns: 'Extortionary' Codec Patent Fees Could Hike Streaming Subscription Prices
For decades, the Motion Picture Association (MPA) has been Hollywood's main protector of intellectual property rights, especially when it relates to piracy. In a recent federal lawsuit, however, the roles are reversed. Siding with Disney, the MPA calls out alleged IP abuse and "extortionary" patent demands linked to the H.264 and H.265 codecs, which they fear might inflate subscription fees of streaming services.
December 15, 2025 — Source

Internet — Peer to Peer (P2P) — December 12th, 2025

Google Removes Sci-Hub Domains from U.S. Search Results Due to Dated Court Order
Google has removed dozens of new Sci-Hub domain names from its search results in the United States. Unlike typical DMCA takedowns, the removals were triggered by a dated court order that was not enforced for several years. This appears to be one of the first times Google has deindexed an entire pirate site in the U.S. based on a 'site blocking' style injunction.
December 12, 2025 — Source

MKVCinemas: ACE Anti-Piracy Coalition Takes Credit For Sudden Shutdown
The Alliance for Creativity and Entertainment says it was behind the sudden closure of MKVCinemas, a popular India-based streaming site that disappeared unexpectedly last month. As part of the same operation, ACE says it also shut down a "cloning tool" that enabled pirates to share content in private while evading takedowns. Factor in drama from the iBomma shutdown, and Indian pirates have had quite the month.
December 12, 2025 — Source

Internet — Peer to Peer (P2P) — December 5th, 2025

Belgium's Latest Pirate Site-Blocking Order Spares DNS Providers
The Brussels Business Court has issued a new site-blocking order, targeting popular pirate sites including 1337x and Soap2day. Surprisingly, this latest order only requires major ISPs to take action. This is a notable change, as the initial blocking order under this regime also required DNS resolvers to take action. Whether this is a formal retreat or merely a pause has yet to be seen.
December 5, 2025 — Source

Internet — Peer to Peer (P2P) — December 3rd, 2025

DDoS Guard: LaLiga's Piracy Blocks Test Whether Anyone Will Protect the Internet
Internet infrastructure company DDoS-Guard is concerned by the power granted to Spain's LaLiga in its fight against piracy. Describing the scale of over-blocking as "astonishing", Dmitry Nikonov, Head of Web Application Protection, believes that LaLiga is becoming a private regulator, one with the authority to interfere with internet infrastructure. "Football matches have become the pretext for a large-scale internet experiment, testing whether there is anyone to protect its freedom."
December 3, 2025 — Source

Internet — Peer to Peer (P2P) — November 30th, 2025

Pirate IPTV Box Evades Blocking But is Also Critically Vulnerable to Attack
Following Amazon's announcement that it won't allow the new Firestick to become a piracy free-for-all, some people are seeking out new devices to bridge the gap. Offering lifetime access to movies, TV shows and live sports, an already popular device that claims to evade site-blocking measures may seem like the perfect fit. Unfortunately, mandatory free extras include critical security issues and potential exposure to copyright lawsuits.
November 30, 2025 — Source

Supreme Court to look at big music piracy case
Should people lose internet access for pirating music?
November 30, 2025 — Source

Internet — Peer to Peer (P2P) — November 29th, 2025

Yout and RIAA Clash in Court Over YouTube's Alleged Copyright Barriers
Is downloading a YouTube video a violation of the DMCA's anti-circumvention provision? That is the key question in the legal battle between stream-ripper Yout and the RIAA. Yout argues that because YouTube videos are freely accessible to anyone with a web browser, there are no restrictions. The RIAA counters that Yout is confusing the right to watch a stream with the right to download a copy of the music file.
November 29, 2025 — Source

Internet — Peer to Peer (P2P) — November 26th, 2025

Share-Online Operator Gets Two Years Probation in Landmark 'Cyberlocker' Verdict
Six years after massive raids shut down the German cyberlocker Share-Online.biz, this week the site's operator was sentenced to a two-year suspended prison term. The case is seen as a landmark victory in Germany, as it indicates that operators of seemingly "neutral" cyberlocker platforms can be held liable. At the same time, €50 million in revenue and evaporated threats against users leave unanswered questions.
November 23, 2025 — Source

Internet — Peer to Peer (P2P) — November 23rd, 2025

Cloudflare Says Piracy Liability Ruling Has Global Implications; Publishers Disagree
A ruling by a Tokyo court which holds Cloudflare liable for manga piracy is serious and could have global implications, the company says. Filed by manga publishers in 2022, the lawsuit criticized Cloudflare for providing services to the sites, despite the publishers' allegations. Cloudflare says the ruling undermines fairness and due process, but speaking with TorrentFreak, the publishers strongly disagree. They say their aims are straightforward, and the outcome is aligned with Cloudflare's pledge to combat piracy.
November 23, 2025 — Source

Internet — Peer to Peer (P2P) — November 22nd, 2025

Anna's Archive 'WorldCat Scrape' Lawsuit Drops $5M Claim, Pivots to Takedown Tactic
OCLC is no longer looking for millions in damages from Anna's Archive, but has adopted a tactical "takedown" strategy instead. In a renewed motion for default judgment, the organization requests a permanent injunction, to restrain the shadow library from sharing WorldCat data. OCLC believes that an injunction would motivate third-party intermediaries to pull the plug on the site's infrastructure.
November 22, 2025 — Source

Internet — Peer to Peer (P2P) — November 20th, 2025

EUIPO Study: Major Brand Ads on Pirate Sites Surged 567%
A new report published by the EU Intellectual Property Office reveals an alarming 567% surge in major brand advertising on pirate sites, which is linked to the termination of industry outreach programs. However, a closer look at the data reveals an even more spectacular finding that's largely overlooked. Since 2021, total ad impressions on pirate sites have plummeted by 80%.
November 20, 2025 — Source

Internet — Peer to Peer (P2P) — November 14th, 2025

DISH Wins $42M Default Judgment Against "DMCA-Ignored" Host Virtual Systems
A complaint coordinated by anti-piracy group IBCAP and filed at a Seattle court by DISH Network in 2024, saw Ukraine-based hosting provider Virtual Systems accused of inaction against pirate IPTV services, despite receiving over 500 DMCA notices. In a judgment handed down this week against Virtual Systems and its owner individually, ignoring DMCA notices and failing to appear came at a high price; $42 million, a significant but reasonable amount according to the judge.
November 14, 2025 — Source

Internet — Peer to Peer (P2P) — November 13th, 2025

Happy Fire Stick Crackdown Malware Armageddon Month
It appears that Fire Stick Crackdown Malware Armageddon Month is upon us once again. While there is legitimate news, including Amazon's updated anti-piracy policy, a steady stream of clickbait makes it difficult to properly value every announcement. Unfortunately, desensitization is real, and when people decide to block out the noise, it may take years before they start listening again. By then, it may be too late.
November 13, 2025 — Source

Internet — Peer to Peer (P2P) — November 7th, 2025

Judge Eviscerates Motions For ISPs to Unmask 2,400 Alleged Hellboy Pirates
Despite setbacks in similar cases, movie companies keep returning to Canada's Federal Court hoping to unmask alleged BitTorrent pirates before pursuing cash settlements. A claim filed in March 2025 aimed to identify over 2,400 customers of ISPs Bell, Cogeco and Telus, after they allegedly pirated the movie Hellboy: The Crooked Man. Citing a series of critical failures, a Federal Court judge has declined to issue an unmasking order.
November 7, 2025 — Source

Internet — Peer to Peer (P2P) — November 6th, 2025

Cloudflare Tells U.S. Govt That Foreign Site Blocking Efforts Are Digital Trade Barriers
In a submission for the 2026 National Trade Estimate Report, Cloudflare warns the U.S. government that site blocking efforts cause widespread disruption to legitimate services. The complaint points to Italy's automated Piracy Shield system, which reportedly blocked "tens of thousands" of legitimate sites. Meanwhile, overbroad IP address blocks in Spain and new automated blocking proposals in France are serious concerns that harm U.S. business interests, Cloudflare reports.
November 6, 2025 — Source

Internet — Peer to Peer (P2P) — November 5th, 2025

Pirate IPTV Empire Goes Dark in Brazil, Marketing the Common Denominator
Early September, a massive law enforcement operation in Argentina targeted a global IPTV piracy network's business in Latin America. The aim was to shut down dozens of branded services including My Family Cinema, TV Express and Eppi Cinema, that were being targeted at the Brazilian market. With surprisingly few concerns that reliability of IPTV services could nosedive, last weekend that's exactly what happened in Brazil.
November 5, 2025 — Source

Internet — Peer to Peer (P2P) — October 31st, 2025

IPTV Anti-Piracy Demands Are Bad For ISPs, Spell Disaster for User Privacy & Security
A huge coalition of rightsholders with collective revenues running to hundreds of billions of euros, is demanding legislative action to tackle live event piracy in the EU. In a letter to the European Commission, major rightsholders and broadcasters demand three legislative measures. They represent new burdens and liabilities for intermediaries, a potential disaster for privacy-first VPN providers, and risk undermining privacy and security for everyone in EU member states.
October 31, 2025 — Source

Internet — Peer to Peer (P2P) — October 30th, 2025

Nintendo Wins Lawsuit Against Defiant 'Pirate' Streamer 'EveryGameGuru'
Nintendo has secured a final default judgment against Jesse Keighin, aka 'EveryGameGuru'. The gaming giant sued Keighin in 2024 after he streamed pirated copies of pre-release games. In correspondence with Nintendo's legal team, Keighin was initially defiant, but failed to defend the case against him. A Colorado federal court has now ordered the streamer to pay $17,500 in damages but refused to issue an injunction against unnamed "third parties" or order the "destruction" of circumvention devices.
October 30, 2025 — Source

Internet — Peer to Peer (P2P) — October 26th, 2025

The Streaming Piracy Crisis Suppressant That Nobody Wants To Discuss
History has shown that if the source of pirated content isn't eliminated, one way or another it will simply reappear somewhere else. Targeting consumer-facing streaming sites does cause disruption, but not as much as targeting the supplier of their streams. Or targeting that supplier's supplier and then hitting the supplier above them. Effective in theory, perhaps, but in the world of 'CDN leeching', pirate streams and legal streams share the same supplier.
October 26, 2025 — Source

Internet — Peer to Peer (P2P) — October 25th, 2025

Proposal to Prevent LaLiga Site-Blocking Hurting Innocent Sites Rejected in Spain
A proposal calling for the Spanish government to protect innocent websites from pirate site overblocking has been rejected. The proposal before the Congressional Committee on Economy, Trade, and Digital Transformation, recognized that football league LaLiga needs to protect its rights, but said safeguards are necessary after the wrongful blocking of thousands of third-party websites.
October 25, 2025 — Source

Internet — Peer to Peer (P2P) — October 24th, 2025

UEFA Joins Anti-Piracy Coalition ACE to Protect Growing Revenues from Piracy Surge
European football's governing body, UEFA, has joined global anti-piracy coalition ACE. The move will help the Champions League organizer to more effectively tackle live streaming piracy. While sports piracy is a growing problem, UEFA has also seen a spectacular increase in revenues. This has resulted in costly, fragmented subscriptions for fans, which some see as a primary driver for the very piracy UEFA is trying to defeat.
October 24, 2025 — Source

Internet — Peer to Peer (P2P) — October 20th, 2025

IPTV Pirates May Soon Be Named and Shamed, Italian Minister Says
Having established itself as a moving and unpredictable target, it's widely accepted that piracy cannot be defeated using a single tool. Italy's toolbox is one of the most comprehensive available, having just added the ability to effectively fine IPTV pirates twice for the same offense. According to Italy's Minister for Sport and Youth, pirates may soon face the prospect of being named and shamed.
October 20, 2025 — Source

Internet — Peer to Peer (P2P) — October 15th, 2025

Reddit Banned 709 Subreddits for Repeat Copyright Violations in First Half of 2025
Reddit banned 709 subreddits for repeat copyright infringement in the first half of the year. While this is more than double compared to the same period last year, in the grander scheme of removals it's just a speck on the radar. The same holds true for the 837 redditors whose accounts were terminated over copyright violations.
October 15, 2025 — Source

Y2Mate.com Among a Dozen YouTube Rippers Shut Down By IFP
The International Federation of the Phonographic Industry is celebrating the shutdown of YouTube-ripping giant Y2Mate.com and 11 similar platforms. IFPI says that during the last 12 months alone, the twelve domains received over 620 million visits from a global audience. The Y2Mate brand has been a thorn in the side of the record labels for years and has been 'permanently' shut down at least once before. Circumstances suggest that the final curtain may prove elusive.
October 15, 2025 — Source

Internet — Peer to Peer (P2P) — October 13th, 2025

Anti-Piracy Firm Threatens ICANN with Lawsuit Over .to Domain Piracy
Anti-piracy firm Warezio is threatening Internet governance body ICANN with an unfair competition lawsuit for failing to take action against alleged piracy-enabling domain registries. The Czech outfit specifically highlights the .to registry as problematic, noting that it lacks transparency and accountability. The legal threat challenges ICANN's long-standing position that it lacks authority over ccTLD operators.
October 13, 2025 — Source

Internet — Peer to Peer (P2P) — October 10th, 2025

Pinterest Accused of Sending 'False' DMCA Claims to Delist Downloader From Google
With the aim of making popular Pinterest downloader Pintere.com more difficult to find, the social media giant sent DMCA anti-circumvention notices to Google Search. Pintere.com URLs subsequently disappeared from Google's indexes, provoking a response from the site's operator. In correspondence with Google, Pintere.com accuses Pinterest of filing "false" claims and requests that its domain is immediately restored.
October 10, 2025 — Source

Internet — Peer to Peer (P2P) — October 8th, 2025

Internet Archive Ordered to Block Books in Belgium After Talks With Publishers Fail
After initially avoiding external blocking measures, the Internet Archive must block access to various books in its Open Library project under the orders of a Belgian government department. While the final decision avoids a full site blockade, it forces the U.S. non-profit to implement country-specific censorship or face a €500,000 penalty, raising questions about the use of anti-piracy frameworks to settle complex copyright disputes.
October 8, 2025 — Source

Internet — Peer to Peer (P2P) — October 3rd, 2025

MPA Highlights Rapidly Expanding "Hydra Sites" as an Emerging Piracy Problem
The Motion Picture Association (MPA) has released its 2025 overview of the world's most notorious piracy markets, presenting a detailed picture of an ever-evolving landscape. In its submission to the U.S. Trade Representative, the Hollywood group coins the term "hydra sites" to describe a new wave of one-stop-shop piracy websites that offer frictionless, browser-based access to pirated content, free of charge.
October 3, 2025 — Source

Database of U.S. Internet Pirates will be Decentralized
Starting in a few months, millions of online 'pirates' will be monitored as part of an agreement between the MPAA, RIAA and all major U.S. Internet providers. Alleged infringers will be notified about their misbehavior, and repeat offenders will eventually be punished. Thus far the details on the operation have been very slim, but TorrentFreak has learned that unlike in France, the U.S. database of Internet pirates will be decentralized.
Provides Products — Source

UTorrent
is an efficient and feature rich BitTorrent client for Windows sporting a very small footprint.
Provides a Service — Source