An American government organization has just published a study on sites and online services promoting piracy and counterfeiting. A very informative analysis which highlights the most popular platforms!
Will we one day put an end to piracy and counterfeiting? Nothing is less sure. Luxury manufacturers know this well, having fought for ages against the countless manufacturers of copies of their expensive products. Relentlessly and unsuccessfully. Because despite the seizures – and destruction – of imitations and legal proceedings against copiers, the problem persists with new players taking over from those who have disappeared.
And it’s exactly the same in the digital world. And simpler, because, in essence, this technology allows the identical and infinite copy of all kinds of content, whether documents, software, games, books, music or of videos. And the distribution of these pirated copies is facilitated by the Internet, via a host of specialized online sites and services that are much more difficult to contain than physical goods.
Piracy: the fierce battle of rights holders
However, it is in this endless fight that several organizations have engaged that protect the interests of rights holders. In France, it is the now famous Arcom which is responsible for playing the digital policeman in the wake of the late Hadopi. Despite its recent creation, the institution has already distinguished itself on several occasions, notably in the fight against pirate IPTV (streaming television via Internet) services which broadcast sporting events without authorization, to the great dismay of specialized channels like Canal+, Eurosport or beIN Sports (see our article). An increasingly popular practice, as noted by the Association of Conventioned Service Publishing Channels (ACCES) in a report published in November 2023, and which affects other European countries, such as Spain, Italy or the Netherlands where several pirate networks have been dismantled in recent months with the help of local police and Europol. It must be said that we do not joke about the shortfall in the world of television and sport, especially when it comes to football…
The same is true in other countries, particularly in the United States. We obviously think of the famous Alliance for Creativity and Entertainment (ACE), this global coalition of rights holders bringing together audiovisual giants such as Apple TV+, Amazon, Disney, Warner Bros, Netflix, Sony Pictures Entertainment, Paramount and Amazon. In its ongoing fight against content piracy, the organization regularly closes sites around the world. It is also she who is at the origin of the sudden disappearance of Uptobox, the famous file storage site having closed the door without warning in September 2023 (see our article).
Piracy: the USTR’s ranking
But it is not the only organization to act in this direction. So, a few days ago, it was very serious Office of the United States Trade Representative (USTR or Office of the American Trade Representative in French) which stood out with a very informative study. In a press release published on January 30this government agency specializing in commerce analyzed the impact of piracy and counterfeiting around the world by drawing up the list of sites and online services infringing intellectual property in all its forms. In doing so, it has established a real list of the most active and popular platforms, particularly for everything related to IPTV, streaming, direct downloading and torrent sharing. In other words, the list of the best piracy sites in the world!
There are well-known international sites, such as The Pirate Bay, RuTracker, YTS and 1337X for torrents, Rapidgator for file storage, Libgenet Sci-Hub for books, or BestBuyIPTV, Aniwatch, Shabakat, Spider and Fmovies for streaming and IPTV. But we especially note the arrival of many new additions like TorrentGalaxy for torrents, Krakenfiles and Savefrom for storage, or Aniwatch, Cuevana3, GenIPTV, Pelisplus, Streamtape and VegaMovies for IPTV and streaming. France has not escaped the USTR’s sleuths since the 1fichier storage service figures prominently in this list.
Surprisingly, many French-speaking sites go under the radar, even though they are very popular: this is the case of the famous and very active Dearkino (see our article), as well as Wawacity, Tirexo, Annuaire Téléchargement and Flixcord, which offer a multitude of various content (films, series, software, music, games, books, etc.) for direct download (see our article), or even Wiflix, Fullstream, Filmze, Novoflix, Skstream, Stream De Ouf, Voirseries and others for illegal streaming.
Piracy: a growing practice and a bottomless pit
The report also does not mention the stream ripping, this technique which consists of retrieving streams from platforms like YouTube to convert them into files. This popular practice allows many to download music (see our article) and videos (see our article) using simple and free tools and sites like flvt flux, 2conv, SSYoutube or NoTube, again to the detriment legal solutions. However, a recent study carried out by firms MUSO and Kearney show that pirate downloading has been on the rise for several years in many countries. What is also observed Bloomberg which even notes a spectacular increase of 39% in film piracy in 2022.
There are several reasons for these trends; starting with generalized inflation which is reducing the purchasing power of consumers around the world, and the significant increases in the prices of video services (Netflix, Prime Video, Disney+, etc.) which are encouraging fans to cancel their subscriptions to profit from illegal, but free solutions.
Certainly, all of these sites and services must constantly play cat and mouse with the organizations that track them, regularly changing addresses to get around the blocks. But by carrying out searches and changing DNS servers, they remain very easy to find, even for non-specialists. Even more so if institutions like the USTR give their name clearly in their rankings! Above all, like hydras, they constantly reappear in other forms as soon as they are banned. It is clearly a never-ending fight that the authorities are waging.