Month: February 2024

Berichten zufolge wackelt Microsofts Exklusivitäts-Strategie für die Xbox. Profitieren könnten PS5-Besitzer. (Xbox, Microsoft)

In recent years, copyright holders have paid close attention to a growing number of large piracy services with connections to Vietnam.

Representatives of the Motion Picture Association (MPA) and the Alliance for Creativity and Entertainment (ACE), went as far as traveling to the Asian country to discuss the problem with local authorities.

The problematic sites and services, which include Fmovies, AniWave, 123movies, BestBuyIPTV, 2embed, and Y2mate, have many millions of monthly users globally. Several attempts have been made to alert the authorities to these ‘criminal’ platforms but to date, criminal convictions have proven elusive.

IIPA Flags Vietnam as a Piracy Haven

To strengthen its call for action, the International Intellectual Property Alliance (IIPA) urges the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) to assist. The IIPA represents the interests of prominent rightsholder groups, including the MPA, RIAA, and ESA, and highlights the Vietnam problem in its recent “Special 301” recommendation.

“Vietnam has become a leading global exporter of piracy services and Vietnamese operators have been associated with some of the world’s most pervasive piracy websites, causing significant damage to both the local and international marketplaces,” IIPA writes.

It’s no secret that many large pirate sites and services have links to Vietnam and local authorities are aware of at least some of them. While this has resulted in some enforcement action, the first piracy-related criminal conviction has yet to take place.

A high-profile conviction would reassure rightsholders and other companies considering investments in the country, IIPA reasons, while noting that the country is currently seen as a “piracy haven”.

“The Government of Vietnam should recognize that securing the country’s ‘first’ criminal copyright conviction would provide significant reassurance to companies that are considering investing in local content and provide rights holders with a better understanding and assurance regarding the required criminal process,” the IIPA notes.

“The criminal enforcement path available against these sites and their operators remains excessively long and lacks transparency.”

Music Pirates

The IIPA highlights several concrete piracy challenges, which aren’t limited to video entertainment. Recent survey data released by music industry group IFPI showed that roughly two-thirds (66%) of Vietnamese respondents between the age of 16-44 regularly pirate music. That’s well above the global average.

A popular option to obtain copyrighted music is through YouTube-ripping platforms such as Y2Mate, which reportedly has links to Vietnam. The site blocked visitors from the US and UK in 2021, but that decision was recently reversed.

“Importantly, Y2Mate is one of a network of seven globally popular stream-ripping sites believed to be operating from Vietnam,” IFPI writes.

“Although the operator of Y2mate.com voluntarily geo-blocked access from the United States, United Kingdom, France, and Germany, the site is once again accessible from these countries, and while the site was geoblocked the operator set up alternative stream-ripping sites.”

Persistent Movie/TV Pirates

Y2mate isn’t the only site persisting with its piracy activities. There’s a pattern of Vietnamese sites and services ostensibly giving in to legal pressure, only to later reappear with a twist.

As reported here earlier, ACE previously tracked down the operators of 2embed and zoro.to, who appeared cooperative after they were paid a visit. However, those actions didn’t have a lasting effect.

Zoro.to was reportedly ‘acquired‘ by a new team, who kept the site online under the Aniwatch brand. Similarly, 2embed’s ‘shutdown‘ had little effect as a new 2embed swiftly replaced it, presumably with links to the old team.

Zoro -> Aniwatch

In its recommendation to the USTR, the IIPA highlights both events as key examples of the enforcement challenges rightsholders face in Vietnam.

“Both 2embed and zoro.to were being operated by the same network of identified operators. In a Knock-and-Talk operation in July 2023 undertaken by the Alliance for Creativity and Entertainment (ACE) the operators of these sites handed over administrative control of the primary and associated domains.”

“However, in a matter of weeks a new domain (aniwatch.to) replaced zoro.to and thereafter a new domain (2mbed.me) replaced 2embed.to. Criminal enforcement action by the [Ministry of Public Security] is needed to close such expansive piracy networks,” IIPA adds.

Criminal Enforcement, Please

Legally, Vietnamese authorities have the power to act against these piracy moguls. In 2018, copyright infringement offenses were added to the country’s Criminal Code. Practical challenges remain, however.

In 2021, there was some hope when Vietnamese police questioned the alleged founder and two employees of the notorious piracy site Phimmoi.net. However, no charges were filed as a result and local authorities eventually suspended the investigation.

More recently, ACE submitted criminal referrals targeting Fmovies and BestBuyIPTV to Vietnam’s Ministry of Public Security (MPS). Thus far, these cases are still ‘stuck’ in processing, IIPA says, with little sign of progress.

“[T]here remains a lack of transparency and clarity with the MPS continuing to request additional evidence without explanation or reasoning, potentially using the opaque process as a pretext to delay the investigation or not pursue a prosecution,” IIPA writes.

It’s clear that rightsholders are becoming increasingly frustrated with the situation. The IIPA suggests a more robust enforcement framework should be a top priority for 2024.

“Establish a robust enforcement framework and ensure enforcement officials […]investigate and criminally prosecute commercial-scale piracy sites and services as well as bring administrative actions.”

The above is just a small selection of IIPA’s comments and suggestions for Vietnam, which go far beyond the need for criminal action.

The ultimate conclusion is that Vietnam deserves to be called out on the USTR’s “Priority Watch List” in the upcoming Special 301 Review.

—

IIPA’s 2024 Special 301 Report on Copyright Protection and Enforcement, which includes all Vietnam references, is available here (pdf)

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

Den Entwurf des Cyber Resilience Acts haben viele Open-Source-Entwickler als Gefahr benannt. Die Risiken seien nun aber gebannt, schreibt die OSI. (Open Source, OSI)

Quelle der Daten ist nach aktuellen Erkenntnissen wohl nicht der jüngste Sicherheitsvorfall bei Anydesk. Ein Passwortwechsel wird dennoch empfohlen. (Darknet, Security)

Bloodmoon wäre die Serie gewesen, die vor House of the Dragon als erster Spin-off von Game of Thrones kommen sollte. Jetzt gibt es erste Bilder zu sehen. (Game of Thrones, HBO)

Der Tripod X von Edelkrone soll mit motorisierten, selbstnivellierenden Beinen und App-Anbindung das Filmen und Fotografieren erleichtern. (Foto, Kameras)

Die Einwohner der französischen Hauptstadt Paris wollen, dass SUV-Besitzer mehr fürs Parken zahlen. Bis zu 18 Euro pro Stunde sind geplant. (Parken, Auto)

Ein strukturiertes Erstreaktionsmanagement kann die Auswirkungen von Cyberbedrohungen entscheidend mindern. Dieser praxisorientierte Workshop beschreibt das richtige Vorgehen. (Golem Karrierewelt, Server-Applikationen)

From the launch of its online streaming service fifteen years ago, Netflix positioned itself as a piracy competitor.

The idea was to take market share away from piracy sites, by offering a legal and more convenient streaming platform.

Initially, this seemed to work. Netflix amassed hundreds of millions of subscribers, some of whom left their piracy habits behind. However, as the ‘streaming wars’ turned legal and convenient streaming platforms into isolated and pricey content silos, momentum started to shift.

In recent years piracy started to grow again, including in well-served markets such as the United States. In theory, this may help Netflix in its battle with other legal platforms, but that’s a consolation prize if the war against piracy is lost.

There are no concrete signs that Netflix is crumbling, but piracy is a concern. This isn’t breaking news; piracy has been repeatedly highlighted as tough competition in the company’s 10-K filings at the SEC.

Piracy is a Tough Competitor

Earlier this week, Netflix submitted its latest 10-K filing. The mandatory document provides information that helps investors to gather key information about publicly traded companies. In the “competition” section of the annual overview, piracy is again mentioned several times.

Netflix explains that the online video landscape is a competitive business. New services and distribution models could impact the business of the leading video streaming platform. This includes legal competitors as well as piracy.

“The various economic models underlying these channels include subscription, transactional, ad-supported and piracy-based models. All of these have the potential to capture meaningful segments of the entertainment video market,” Netflix writes.

These are in part standard disclosures, as every company faces competition. However, Netflix believes that online piracy is particularly compelling because it’s free for consumers. That makes it very hard to compete against.

“Piracy also threatens to damage our business, as its fundamental proposition to consumers is so compelling and difficult to compete against: virtually all content for free,” Netflix writes.

Growing and Hard to Stop

When Netflix launched, its on-demand streaming experience was more convenient than most pirate sites. At the time, torrent sites were dominant but still required users to have some technical knowledge and the patience to wait for content to download.

Today, most pirate sites use on-demand streaming, taking away a major edge for Netflix. And because piracy is so compelling for consumers, it is growing rapidly worldwide, threatening legal services.

“In light of the compelling consumer proposition, piracy services are subject to rapid global growth, and our efforts to prevent that growth may be insufficient,” Netflix notes.

“If we are unable to successfully or profitably compete with current and new competitors, our business will be adversely affected, and we may not be able to increase or maintain market share, revenues or profitability.”

(Un)authorized Copying?

The concerns voiced by Netflix are real, but the company isn’t near its demise. These 10-K filings are supposed to detail risks and Netflix is not the only company mentioning piracy as a potential threat.

A Netflix Competitor

When we started looking for similar mentions by other businesses, we stumbled upon similar concerns and, strangely enough, some identical ones. Apparently, there’s quite a bit of copying going on, as SEC filings from several companies include identical passages.

Netflix: “In light of the compelling consumer proposition, piracy services are subject to rapid global growth”

Triller Corp: “In light of the compelling consumer proposition, piracy services are subject to rapid global growth”

FuboTV: “In light of the compelling consumer proposition, piracy services are subject to rapid global growth”

Redbox Entertainment: “In light of the compelling consumer proposition, piracy services are subject to rapid global growth”

IMAQ: “In light of the compelling consumer proposition, piracy services are subject to rapid global growth”

CuriosityStream: “In light of the compelling consumer proposition, piracy services are subject to rapid global growth”

We don’t know where these references originate. Netflix has mentioned it for a while, that’s for sure, and apparently, the use of this language is widespread and subject to rapid global growth.

It’s clear, however, that piracy is a concern for Netflix. While Reed Hastings wasn’t worried about piracy a decade ago, the company now spends millions of dollars tackling the problem.

The streaming giant joined the MPA a few years ago and is also a member of anti-piracy coalition ACE. In addition, Netflix also has an in-house anti-piracy department that keeps an eye on piracy threats.

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

Last year we learned that the company behind the Orange Pi line of single-board computers planned to branch out into the handheld gaming PC market. This week at FOSDEM in Belgium, developers from the Manjaro Linux team are showing off the first Orange Pi handheld running their GNU/Linux-based operating system. The Orange Pi Neo has a […]

The post Orange Pi Neo is a Linux handheld gaming PC with Ryzen 7 7840U appeared first on Liliputing.