Earlier this week registrar 101domain suspended the Popcorntime.sh domain name.

The grounds for the suspension initially remained unclear. However, after asking for clarification, 101domain explained to the site operator that it had received an injunction from a US court.

The injunction in question appeared to have been sent by the Motion Picture Association (MPA). It was signed by a federal judge at the US District Court for the District of Columbia and indeed targeted Popcorntime.sh.

Since the MPA had gone after various Popcorn Time forks in the past, this sounded somewhat plausible. However, the document clearly isn’t real.

At TorrentFreak, we received a copy of the same injunction two weeks ago. It was sent in by an anonymous tipster who urged us to report on it. While the story made some sense, on closer inspection we found that the injunction was obviously falsified.

For example, the court stamp and the signed date are from May 2019 while the document itself was filed in November 2019, according to the header. The case reference number also identifies a completely unrelated lawsuit and the paperwork shows several other signs of tampering.

Most telling, perhaps, is that the associated injunction is supposed to prevent “the immediate and irreparable harm will result to Microsoft.” Microsoft?

Some more digging showed that, while there is no such filing from the MPA, there is an almost identical order from last May in a case between Microsoft and several John Does who operated domains such as identity-verificationservice.info.

This case has nothing to do with Popcorn Time. Someone simply took the document and changed several details, making it look as if it came from the MPA targeting Popcorntime.sh.

Use slider to compare the original (pdf) and fake (pdf)

Although this didn’t take much effort for us to uncover, the fabricated document was apparently sufficient to convince 101domain to suspend the domain. Popcorn Time shared a copy of the response it received from the registrar’s abuse team, which attached the falsified document.

We reached out to the registrar to verify this and also pointed out our suspicions but unfortunately, we didn’t hear back. Interestingly, a few hours later 101domain suddenly realized that the document was fabricated.

A Popcorn Time representative informs TorrentFreak that the domain suspension was lifted after 101domain confirmed with the US District Court that the injunction wasn’t legitimate.

While this is good news for Popcorn Time, it may never have happened if people had started asking questions sooner.

Perhaps surprisingly, 101domain was not the only registrar to fall for the falsified court document either. When Popcorn Time had its .sh domain suspended it switched to Popcorntime.app, a domain they registered through 1API.

It didn’t take long before that registrar received a similarly altered ‘injunction’ (pdf). The same Microsoft order was used as the basis again, but this time targeted the new domain Popcorntime.app.

In an email, which the Popcorn Time representative shared with TorrentFreak, 1API explained that Popcorn Time had 48 hours to respond, adding that the domain name may eventually be put on hold.

1API also revealed the request from the original complainant, which was sent from a protonmail.ch address, supposedly by a member of MPA’s legal team named ‘John Gibetstan’.

“Hello 1API, I am a representative of the MPA’s Legal Team. We have obtained an injunction to take control of a domain under your system. The domain in question would be popcorntime.app. You have 5 business days to take action on the injunction,” it reads.

Aside from the various flaws in the underlying document, this email doesn’t appear to be very professional. The MPA doesn’t use Protonmail addresses either, and there’s not even a John Gibetstan working there.

For now, the PopcornTime.app domain remains available but 1API’s 48-hour window hasn’t expired yet. We reached out to 1API requesting additional details and comment on the issue but, at the time of writing, we have yet to hear back.

All in all the whole episode shows that it’s surprisingly easy for malicious actors to fool some domain registrars, at least initially. Who the fake complainant is and why he or she wants Popcorn Time offline, remains a mystery.

Source: TF, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, torrent sites and more. We also have VPN reviews, discounts, offers and coupons.

Alongside the mass uptake of digital readers such as Kindles, phones and tablets, plus a relatively small filesize, downloading of eBook and magazine content has gained in popularity over recent years.

There are plenty of sites catering to this popular niche but in common with platforms specializing in other areas, a handful of dedicated sites have found their way onto the preferred lists of many pirates.

One of those is eBookee, a download platform that doesn’t appear to carry content itself but indexes content hosted on other sites, notably file-hosting services. Indeed, a cursory review of eBookee’s traffic referral stats reveals that large volumes of users are directed to platforms such as Rapidgator and Nitroflare, for example.

During the past 24 hours, however, visitors to eBookee.org (the site’s main domain) were greeted not by links to eBooks or magazines (and less frequently videos and audio), but by a blank page. While temporary site downtime is nothing new in this space, it appears that eBookee has experienced a more significant problem relating to its main domain.

In common with The Pirate Bay’s main domain, eBookee’s .org domain is ultimately overseen by the Public Interest Registry with day-to-day business controlled by India-based Public Domain Registry. As the image below shows, the latter has suspended the domain.

While it seems likely that a significant action caused the suspension, the specific issue (such as a complaint from a third-party, for example) hasn’t been revealed in public. PDR did not immediately respond to TF’s request for comment but it certainly wouldn’t be a surprise if the issue was copyright related.

Companies including Penguin Random House, Harper Collins, Cambridge University Press, Amazon, and National Geographic have all filed copyright infringement complaints against the platform with Google during the first few weeks of this year.

Overall, Google’s Transparency Report reveals that over the past several years, it has processed requests from rightsholders and anti-piracy groups to have 858,782 eBookee.org URLs deleted from its search results. Just 52% resulted in content being taken down, with the remainder either not in Google’s indexes or duplicate requests.

The eBookee.org domain was first registered way back in 2007 but it hasn’t been a trouble-free ride. In 2015, publishers obtained an injunction from the High Court in England to have the site’s domain blocked by local ISPs. That resulted in many proxy sites springing up to service the platform, none of which appear to be working today.

Finally, several social media pages claiming to be connected to or operated by eBookee.org are suggesting a new domain for the site. Checks carried out by TF suggest that the site is probably not connected with the official platform.

Source: TF, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, torrent sites and more. We also have VPN reviews, discounts, offers and coupons.

People who operate or even get involved with pirate release groups take major risks. Those who release screeners of unreleased movies up the ante further still.

The movie screeners that are sent out to film insiders to be considered for various awards come with all sorts of protection mechanisms. These include visible and invisible watermarks as well as other tracers that can lead directly to the source.

These extensive protections are supposed to deter people from leaking screeners. This is important, as some of the films have yet to air in theaters. For example, ‘Color Out of Space’ is widely available on pirate sites at the moment, but will officially premiere in the US this Friday.

Apart from the deterrence factor, the watermarks also help to track down people involved in the leaks. They allow Hollywood to pinpoint the source and call in the feds who have helped to bring several people to justice.

Over the past decade, Hive-CM8 has been a constant factor. Rival group EVO has also shared several screeners in the last three years but most others stay away from the practice.

However, a few days ago another group joined in. Out of nowhere, TOPKEK released six screeners in the span of a few hours, including ‘1917,’ and the aforementioned ‘Color Out of Space.’

While the pirate audience was happy with this new material, it appears that Hive-CM8 didn’t appreciate the form in which it was offered. In the release notes of its most recent screener leak of the film “Just Mercy,” the group accuses TOPKEK of putting people at risk by leaving watermarks and tracers in its releases.

“Bet you all seen the topkek scr flood 2 days ago, we have nothing to do with them btw. We are not happy that they got out like this, with watermarks and tracers still in it. careless and unprofessional it was, its a shame for the community [sic],” Hive-CM8 writes.

“Whoever owned that bunch will regret sharing this for the rest of his life. Dont you think this will not get back to you, wish you luck. Dont trust the wrong people,” the group adds in its notes.

Verifying Hive-CM8’s claims independently would require a specific form of technical expertise mostly unavailable to the public. If they’re true, however, we can expect some legal action to follow soon.

After all, Hollywood sees screener leaks as one as the worst threats to their business. Not only because of the potential revenue losses but also because the screener leaks originate from within the industry.

If Hollywood, with help from law enforcement, can pinpoint a source and perhaps even a release group, they certainly won’t hesitate.

Hive-CM8, meanwhile, is attempting to play nice with Hollywood. The group has been criticized for holding back releases for too long, as they want to give films time to recoup their investments on the silver screen.

Not everyone appreciates that but the release group stands by the decision taken after it received heavy criticism for its early leaks in 2015.

“Some might say us delaying some titles is good, some will think this is stupid. Either way, but we think its more fair like this for everyone under the circumstances.

“We watch the gross in relation to budget so that the movie has a fair chance in cinemas and at the same time make some people happy at home who are not able to visit the cinema [sic],” Hive-CM8 adds.

Although the group appears to be sincere in its motivations, the major movie studios won’t hesitate to bring them down if they get the chance.

That said, it seems that the group is good at covering its tracks, as it’s been releasing screeners for a decade without getting busted. That would have been impossible if the group didn’t have its security in order.

Source: TF, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, torrent sites and more. We also have VPN reviews, discounts, offers and coupons.

Half a decade ago, Popcorn Time was the first application to bridge the gap between torrenting and streaming.

The software amassed millions of users by offering an easy-to-use Netflix-style interface, providing access to the latest pirated movies and TV-shows.

In recent years many other pirate streaming alternatives have outgrown Popcorn Time in terms of popularity. However, the various forks of the app still have a significant user base.

One of the most popular ones is Popcorntime.sh. Like all other forks, it’s not linked to the original developers, who have long moved on. However, that doesn’t mean it’s spared from legal issues.

Several movie companies previously targeted the app by obtaining a subpoena which directed Cloudflare to reveal the identity of the operator. The same companies also targeted alleged Popcorn Time users in court.

A few hours ago another problem emerged. Without prior warning, the Popcorntime.sh domain name was suspended by its registrar. A quick Whois search shows the associated “clienthold” status.

This clienthold status is set by the domain registrar, 101domain in this case, and informs the registry not to activate the DNS. As a result, the website had been rendered inaccessible to the public at large.

A spokesperson from Popcorntime.sh confirmed the problems and informs TorrentFreak that they were not warned in advance about the issue. Nor was it made clear by the registrar what the precise reason for this suspension is.

“They have sent zero notice before the suspension, neither did they explain why it’s suspended,” Popcorn Time’s spokesperson says.

The 101domain support team did inform Popcorn Time that a complaint had been received, the spokesperson says. However, who this complaint is from and what it’s about remains a guess.

This isn’t the first time that the registrar has taken action. Last November a similar problem occurred. However, according to Popcorn Time, this was the result of a payment issue. This time it appears to be an external complaint.

Given the nature of the Popcorn Time application and repeated complaints from rightsholders in the past about this type of software, it’s likely that a movie or TV outfit sent a complaint.

We reached out to 101domains with a request for further information but, at the time of writing, we have yet to hear back.

The Popcorn Time spokesperson says that they have switched to Popcorntime.app for the time being.
If they are unable to resolve the domain issue this change could become permanent.

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In common with several top football leagues around Europe, Italy’s Serie A has an ongoing problem with piracy of its live broadcasts.

Sites with embedded streaming players regularly show Serie A matches but perhaps the biggest threat is posed by unlicensed IPTV services. These offer subscription packages that closely mimic and can even outdo those delivered by Serie A’s official broadcasting partners.

This has provoked a range of anti-piracy actions, such as the one now being reported by anti-piracy group FAPAV (Federazione Anti-Pirateria Audiovisiva). Following a complaint by Serie A and a request from the public prosecutor’s office, the Court of Rome has handed down a preventative ruling that requires 15 websites offering ‘pirate’ IPTV services to be blocked in Italy.

“Among the methods of access to pirated content, illegal IPTVs are a phenomenon of great importance and with a growing incidence linked not only to audiovisual content but also to live sporting events,” says FAPAV Secretary-General, Federico Bagnoli Rossi.

“According to FAPAV / Ipsos research, five million people use this method to watch movies, series and TV shows. As regards sports content in particular, 4.7 million people watched live sports events in a non-legal manner, a figure that has increased compared to 2017.”

FAPAV says that these types of pirate services not only cause damage to the entertainment industries but also to the economy as a whole. As a result, those affected cannot wait any longer before taking action to stem the tide.

While the ruling from the Court of Rome is yet to be published, the big question here is how effective these types of blockades can be, given the way that IPTV services are set up.

As previously reported, Sky has been working hard to have IPTV service management platform URLs removed from Google search. However, other than a reduction in search traffic, the tactic does little if anything to affect the underlying IPTV services which are generally not run from the domains in question.

Furthermore, the effect of blocking sales portal domains does nothing to counter the thousands of resellers funneling customers to the platforms either. It’s an important point that FAPAV appears to recognize, even going as far as suggesting that customers themselves could become part of their inquiries.

“The ongoing investigations have as a main objective the identification of the complex structure of the organization made up of dozens of ‘resellers’ as well as the hundreds of customers who, by purchasing the subscriptions, not only illegally take advantage of the vision of sporting events and pay-per-view television schedules, but also feed the criminal circuit,” the group says.

“The piracy market represents a very thriving business that rests on a large number of customers who feed it, probably unaware of the consequences to which they expose themselves and of the economic damage to the rights holders when compared to citizens who honestly buy regular products.”

It’s clear that no single aspect of anti-piracy activity, whether that’s sales site blocking or targeting some resellers, will bring all pirate IPTV services to their knees. Instead, groups like FAPAV are deploying a multi-pronged strategy that attempts to disrupt activity wherever it can, thus making life more difficult for pirates and their customers.

Blocking of IPTV services has been taking place in Italy since at least 2017 and in the summer of 2019, a “high-level” provider was taken down after providing Sky programming to the public.

Italian authorities were also heavily involved in the raids that targeted Xtream-Codes and others last year, an operation that caused the most disruption the IPTV scene has ever seen, even if it did eventually recover.

Source: TF, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, torrent sites and more. We also have VPN reviews, discounts, offers and coupons.