Hacker News with Generative AI: Piracy

Cloudflare CEO: Football piracy blocks will claim lives (torrentfreak.com)
“It’s only a matter of time before a Spanish citizen can’t access a life-saving emergency resource because the rights holder in a football match refuses to send a limited request to block one resource versus a broad request to block a whole swath of the Internet,” Prince warned.
Piracy Operation COLLECTiVE Dismantled, Uploader 'Will1869' Arrested in UK (torrentfreak.com)
Popular torrent site uploader Will1869, known for releases tagged as 'COLLECTiVE', has been arrested by police in the UK. He specialized in distributing recent movies that were typically sourced elsewhere. COLLECTiVE torrents were shared on public portals including 1337x and also appeared on the home site, Laidbackmanor, which was also shut down by police.
EU Piracy Watchlist Adds IPFS, FitGirl and Njalla (torrentfreak.com)
The European Commission has published the fourth edition of its 'Counterfeit and Piracy Watch List', providing a detailed overview of piracy-linked sites and services located outside the EU.
Revenue effects of Denuvo digital rights management on PC video games (sciencedirect.com)
In the personal computer video game market, a digital rights management (DRM) technology called Denuvo has been used since 2014 to restrict software usage to legitimate buyers, thereby preventing piracy.
Empress (Cracker) (wikipedia.org)
Empress (sometimes stylized EMPRESS) is a video game cracker who specializes in breaking anti-piracy software.
Italy Fines over 2,200 Pirate IPTV Subscribers in New Crackdown (torrentfreak.com)
Italy has intensified its fight against IPTV piracy by issuing fines direct to subscribers whose details were linked to a criminal investigation.
Social Media 'Likes' Serve as Online Piracy Evidence, Judge Concludes (torrentfreak.com)
Sharing information on social media is common for many people nowadays, but it's not always without consequence. In some cases, simple 'likes' can be used as evidence in court, as a Florida man recently discovered. His Star Wars and Minion 'likes' were presented as evidence to support allegations he may be a prolific BitTorrent pirate.
Major VPN Providers Ordered to Block Pirate Sports Streaming Sites (torrentfreak.com)
The world's leading VPN providers have been ordered to block around 200 pirate site domains following legal action in France by Canal+ Group.
Sci-Net (sci-hub.se)
I regularly receive requests from Sci-Hub users to help them download some paper that cannot be opened through Sci-Hub. The number of such requests increased in the past two years, since Sci-Hub database updates were paused. The opposite also happens: users ask whether they can upload to Sci-Hub some paper that they have bought or downloaded via university subscription.
Nintendo warns that it can brick Switch consoles if it detects hacking, piracy (arstechnica.com)
Switch and Switch 2 users who try to hack their consoles or play pirated copies of games may find their devices rendered completely inoperable by Nintendo.
Nintendo reserves the right to brick your console following "unauthorised use" (eurogamer.net)
Nintendo has updated its Nintendo Account Agreement with a severe warning against "unauthorised use", in a bid to prevent emulation and piracy.
Twitch Blocked for Piracy as LaLiga and ISPs Prioritize Football over Everything (torrentfreak.com)
For almost three months, Spain's LaLiga and local ISPs have been blocking IP addresses en masse to prevent piracy, fully aware that thousands of innocent internet users are repeatedly blocked at the same time.
A critical bibliography about the pirate site LibGen (eve.gd)
Yesterday, academic social media went into overdrive as many intellectuals discovered LibGen (“Library Genesis”) for the first time, thanks to an article and tool in The Atlantic.
"You Wouldn't Steal a Car" But Would You Pirate a Font? (torrentfreak.com)
Twenty years ago, the statement "You Wouldn't Steal a Car" launched one of the most iconic anti-piracy campaigns. Through a memorable commercial, the movie industry forcefully equated digital piracy with physical theft. While the PSA became instantly recognizable, spawning countless parodies, it also attracted its own controversy. New revelations suggest that the campaign's distinctive font may have itself been copied, or dare we say 'stolen'.
App Store Curation (lapcatsoftware.com)
I was looking at a nasty free (pirate?) video streaming website for a potential StopTheMadness Pro customer. You know the kind of site that opens a new browser tab with an advertisement every time you click on something? The things I do for a sale! Anyway, my verdict was that while StopTheMadness Pro could help with some annoyances on the site, the situation was hopeless overall. There are some problems that even I can't solve.
Vercel Slams LaLiga Piracy Blocks as "Unaccountable Internet Censorship" (torrentfreak.com)
Cloud-based web application platform Vercel is among the latest companies to find their servers blocked in Spain due to LaLiga's ongoing IPTV anti-piracy campaign.
OpenDNS Quits Belgium Under Threat of Piracy Blocks or Fines of €100K per Day (torrentfreak.com)
In a brief statement citing a court order in Belgium but providing no other details, Cisco says that its OpenDNS service is no longer available to users in Belgium.
LaLiga/Cloudflare Crisis: ISPs Urged to Action Amid Mass Overblocking (torrentfreak.com)
With assistance from Spain's leading ISPs, LaLiga continues to block pirate sites, Cloudflare, and thousands of innocents caught in the crossfire. Legal action by Cloudflare and hacking collective RootedCON tried to bring the chaos to an end but their requests were dismissed last month. Meanwhile, a non-profit group is demanding that all ISPs participate in nationwide blocking.
LaLiga/Cloudflare Crisis: ISPs Urged to Action Amid Mass Overblocking (torrentfreak.com)
With assistance from Spain's leading ISPs, LaLiga continues to block pirate sites, Cloudflare, and thousands of innocents caught in the crossfire.
French Court Orders Cloudflare to 'Dynamically' Block MotoGP Streaming Piracy (torrentfreak.com)
In the seemingly endless game of online piracy whack-a-mole, a French court has ordered Cloudflare to block several sites illegally streaming MotoGP.
Torrent Site Uploader and Member of 'The Scene' Sentenced to Prison in Denmark (torrentfreak.com)
Danish authorities have claimed two new victories in the ongoing battle against online piracy. A 46-year-old man, who allegedly uploaded content to the Danish torrent trackers "SuperBits" and "DanishBytes", was sentenced to nine months in prison. The other defendant, a 48-year-old man, was linked to 'The Scene'. He received a twelve-month sentence for hosting two servers and sharing pirated content in one of the most elusive piracy groups.
I have fought and won against the piracy of my books as an indie author (kerkour.com)
France Mulls Instant Blocks, 7 Year Prison and New Piracy Crime of Incitement (torrentfreak.com)
Two senators have presented a bill to address what is now openly described as a crisis in French football. The draft envisions sweeping reform to tackle "structural" issues, including broadcasting rights and the ever-present threat from illegal streaming services. On the table, seven years in prison and a €750,000 fine for pirate IPTV suppliers operating as a group, three years and €300,000 for those not, and a new crime of inciting use of pirate IPTV services or software.
Director Uses Takedowns to Remove Pirate Bay Docu "TPB-AFK" from YouTube (torrentfreak.com)
In an unexpected turn of events, the director of the Pirate Bay documentary TPB-AFK has sent takedown notices to YouTube requesting its removal. The director states that he sees the streaming portal as a radicalizing platform full of hate. The takedowns are not without controversy, however, as TPB-AFK was published under a Creative Commons license.
Italy demands Google poison DNS under strict Piracy Shield law (arstechnica.com)
Italy is using its Piracy Shield law to go after Google, with a court ordering the Internet giant to immediately begin poisoning its public DNS servers.
The Day Piracy Changed (remysharp.com)
It certainly wasn't today. It was some time ago, but I wanted to mark this in my blog as a reminder that once, long ago, piracy was, well, stealing.
The Unbelievable Scale of AI's Pirated-Books Problem (theatlantic.com)
Meta pirated millions of books to train its AI. Search through them here.
Italian Court Orders Google to Poison Public DNS to Prevent IPTV Piracy (torrentfreak.com)
A decision issued by the same court now requires Google to poison its Public DNS to prevent access to pirate sites.
The Scale of AI's Pirated-Books Problem (theatlantic.com)
Meta pirated millions of books to train its AI. Search through them here.
Search LibGen, the Pirated-Books Database That Meta Used to Train AI (theatlantic.com)
Millions of books and scientific papers are captured in the collection’s current iteration.