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The French Senate has passed a new anti-piracy bill that opens the door to automated IP-address blocking. This legislative push is bolstered by a parallel, "secret" agreement between sports rightsholders and major ISPs, which aims to automate anti-piracy efforts and streamline direct blocking requests. Rightsholders hope these new powers will help to tackle the "mafia-like" piracy economy. Traditional site-blocking measures that require local ISPs to block subscriber access to popular pirate sites, have been utilized by rightsholders in for years. The aim is to deter piracy by making sites more difficult to find, but these measures are only partially effective. More recently, site blocking requests have targeted other intermediaries. DNS providers including Google and Cloudflare, plus several of the largest VPN providers, were all ordered to make pirate websites unavailable through their services. While several of these orders are still under appeal, rightsholders and lawmakers are pressing ahead. They believe that more can and should be done to tackle online piracy; sports streaming piracy in particular. New Bill Enables Automated Real-Time Blocking A new bill amending Article L. 333-10 of the French Sports Code passed the Senate this week. The ‘Lafon’ bill allows rightsholders to use a fully automated system to block piracy targets, without having to go through the French telecoms regulator Arcom for updates to the blacklisted sites. Targeted intermediaries are required to implement these blockades ‘without delay’. That speeds up the blocking process, which is particularly important when dealing with constantly updating livestreams of pirated sports. Similar blocking regimes are already active in Italy, Spain, and the UK. The proposed bill doesn’t specify any concrete blocking methods, but by allowing judges to target server IP addresses it logically paves the way for IP-address blocking. Blocking IP-addresses Speaking with the French news publication L’Informé, Xavier Spender of the Association for the Protection of Sports Programs (APPS), which represents beIN Sports, Canal+, Eurosport and others, says the aim is to reinforce existing blocking measures. “We want to bring ourselves up to the level of the English, Spanish, and Italians, by implementing IP blocking adapted to the French context. Our goal is to block servers at the head of the network, that is, at the highest possible level of the pirate architecture.” Other stakeholders also view automated and real-time IP address blocking as a must to tackle the country’s pirate streaming epidemic. An estimated 37% of Ligue 1 viewers currently watch football matches illegally. “The adoption of this new system is vital to effectively protect our competitions and our economic model, especially as the LFP is about to launch its own channel,” the Professional Football League (LFP) commented. Brice Daumin, general manager of Ligue 1 broadcaster DAZN notes that “Arcom doesn’t work weekends,” so something had to be done to more effectively tackle the problem. “In England, we can block 10,000 links in two days; in Italy, it’s 18,000. And with Arcom, it’s 5,000 per year.” A ‘Secret’ Blocking Agreement While the bill has yet to pass into law, stakeholders are already preparing a complementary agreement. According to a report from L’Informé’s Marc Rees, sports rightsholder group APPS has reached a private agreement in principle with Internet providers Orange, SFR, Bouygues Télécom, and Free. Reportedly in the works since 2023, the agreement covers the finer details of a new blocking system, including the technical implementation and who will pay for the costs. Thus far, specific details of the blocking system, including any plans for independent oversight, remain unclear. However, a source said that overblocking risks are being taken into account, adding that rightsholders remain responsible for their mistakes. Overblocking and the Mafia Calls for extended blocking powers arrive at a sensitive time, as recent expansions in Spain and Italy have resulted in several overblocking incidents. However, according to APPS general delegate Xavier Spender, there is little to worry about as “everything will be put in place to ensure that there is no risk of over-blocking.” Time will tell whether will be able to prevent collateral damage, but it’s clear that APPS and its rightsholders are eager to implement broader blocking powers to deal with the piracy ‘mafia’. “Today, we are facing mafia groups at the head of a piracy economy, with a model that resembles drug trafficking. To deal in particular with illicit IPTV offers, sold on every street corner, we need to adapt to enable real-time blocking,” Spender says. Source Hope you enjoyed this news post. Thank you for appreciating my time and effort posting news every day for many years. News posts... 2023: 5,800+ | 2024: 5,700+ | 2025 (till end of May): 2,377 RIP Matrix | Farewell my friend

The world's leading VPN providers have been ordered to block around 200 pirate site domains following legal action in by Canal+ Group. The broadcaster argued that users of NordVPN, CyberGhost, Surfshark, ExpressVPN and ProtonVPN, use those services to access illegal football and rugby matches to which it also owns the rights. The VPN companies resisted on various grounds, but to no avail. Article L. 333-10 of the French Sport Code enables rightsholders to request blocking measures against named pirate sites if they can demonstrate “serious and repeated infringement” of their exploitation rights. To prevent pirate sites from being accessed on French soil, rightsholders may request that “all proportionate measures” are implemented by any online entity in a position to help. The scope of Article L. 333-10 was always meant to be broad. The first logical targets were local ISPs which easily fell within scope. Then, when inevitable circumvention raised its head, utilizing infrastructure beyond the reach of regular ISPs, Article L. 333-10 already had that covered. Following a Canal+ complaint, use of third party DNS resolvers at Cloudflare and Google headed to court in 2024. Both were labeled intermediaries by the Court, and under the still unstressed scope of Article L. 333-10, both were considered capable of contributing to the suppression of piracy. Canal+ / LFP Target Major VPN Providers Having effectively added public DNS resolvers to the French blocking machine, attention turned to the next targets. In February 2025, it emerged that Groupe Canal + and Société d’édition de Canal Plus (SECP) had filed a case in November 2024 against NordVPN, CyberGhost, ProtonVPN, ExpressVPN, and Surfshark. The Canal companies alleged that “numerous” websites, accessible from within , illegally streamed matches from various sporting competitions to which they hold the rights. Since the VPNs’ subscribers were among those viewing the infringing streams, the Canal companies asked the court to compel the providers to implement “all measures likely to prevent access [to the illegal streams] from French territory,” including in all French overseas territories, “by any effective means”. The VPN providers objected to the application on various grounds. Nord and Surfshark requested a declaration that the Canal companies lacked standing to act; as such, their application should be declared inadmissible. Proton sought a similar declaration while noting that the company lacked the ability to defend the requested blocking measures. The same assertion was made by CyberGhost and Express; all argued that Article L. 333-10 does not apply to VPN providers. Other objections concerned jurisdiction and whether French law is compatible with EU legislation. CyberGhost and Express suggested a stay of proceedings pending a response from the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) in the Dutch case, AFS et al. Court Rejects VPN Providers’ Objections In its decision published Thursday, the Court found that matters concerning the CJEU would have no impact on the current case. Calls for the Canal companies’ application to be declared inadmissible due to a lack of standing, were also dismissed, while a review of the allocation of rights pertaining to the various sports competitions raised no concerns. Arguments that the VPN providers had no standing to defend themselves, due to Article L. 333-10 of the French Sports Code being inapplicable to VPN providers, fared no better. The court notes that Article L.333-10 does not impose any restrictions on the targeted entity, adding that VPN providers are expressly covered under the Digital Services Act. “Blocking such a service for certain domain names means that the provider of this service prevents its users from accessing the disputed domain names when using their VPN tool. Internet users using these virtual private networks would therefore no longer be able to access the disputed sites through this intermediary,” the decision reads. “Consequently, the defendant companies, in their capacity as providers of virtual private network services, are technical intermediaries capable of contributing to remedying the harm that Groupe Canal+, SECP and Canal+ Rights claim to have suffered.” Blocking Order Issued The Court’s instructions and the full list of domains can be found below. The cost of blocking will be shared between the parties, with the details to be agreed at a later date. A request by the plaintiffs to compel the VPN providers to publish details of the case on their homepages for publicity purposes, was described as “inappropriate” and rejected by the Court. The decision reveals that many of the domain names submitted by Canal for blocking, are already subject to blocking measures by French ISPs following notification by telecoms regulator ARCOM. Familiar brands include Footy Bite, Cric HD, Buffstreams, Futbollibre, Rojadirecta, and Crackstreams, among dozens of others. In these cases widespread piracy has already been established, but it appears that in-depth proof of infringement may not be a hard requirement. “Since the burden of proof should not be unnecessarily complex and costly, the court cannot require the claimants to demonstrate access to the disputed IPTV sites and services by using each of the defendants’ virtual private networks, just as it does not request findings by using each of the internet service providers’ networks when a blocking is requested of them on the basis of Article L. 333-10 of the Sports Code,” the court notes. Had comprehensive checks been carried out, questions may have been raised over the need to block pirate domains previously seized by the Alliance for Creativity and Entertainment. Other domains from the Canal+ list below were seized by ACE during the last few days, so blocking those domains will be unnecessary too. The decision of the Court of Paris is available here (pdf, French) aliezstream.pro antenasport.shop antenasports.ru antenasports.shop antenatv.online antenatv.store antennasport.ru asportv.shop livetv802.me toparena.store emb.ap1357.me embx224539.ap1357.me 1.qwebplay.xyz livetv807.me cdn.livetv807.me boxtv60.com infinity-ott.com vbnl23.com footy-bite.com freesportstime.com livestreamlinks.cc crichdplayer.com crichd.sc crichd.mobi crichd.sx crichd.tv me.crichd.tv nbabite.to reddit.nbabite.to s2watch.link soccerinhd.com sportlemons.to sports-prime.com topevents.us buffsports.me buffstreams.sx vipbox.sx vipbox.bz freestreams-live.top alkooratv.onlinekora-tv.com onlinekora-tv.com futbollibre.ws kooracity.cc ok.tvkora-online.com tvkora-online.com pirlotv.football ramsportl .com roja.football rojadirectaenvivo.life rojadirectaenvivo.site rojadirectatv.at rojadirectatv.la rojadirectaz.top rojadiretta.me soccerlive.app thesport.live futbollibre.ws hesgoal.watch hesgoall .net librefutbol.su myp2p.tv myp2ptv.org myp2px.xyz partidosenvivo.gratis pirlotvenhd.org rojadirecta.org.pl rojadirectaenhd.live rojadirectaenhd.net rojadirectaenvivo.com rojadirectaenvivo.watch rojadirecta.tv rojadirectas.org rojadirectatv.at rojadirectatv.top rojadirectatvhd.site rojadirectatvs.com soccerstreams.cc soccerstreams.unblockedstream.online streameast.soccer tarjetarojaonline.org tarjetarojatv.run totalsportek.one totalsportk.org viperplay.net viperplay.online viperplayhd.com vipleague.app vipleagues.org vip-league.net livetv806.me rojadirectahdenvivo.com streamsthunder.tv rojadirectenvivo.me methstreams.me antenasports.ru asportv.shop toparena.store Ishunter.net tv1337.buzz livetv.sx sporttuna.pro livetv807.me embx224539.ap1366.me cdn.livetv807.me locatedinfain.com tvhd.tutvlive.info stream-24.net speci41eagle.com vl.methstreams.me klubsports.fun weblivehdplay.ru buddycenters.shop olalivehdplay.ru 1 qwebplay.xyz sporttvls.com eur02024direct.ru librarywhispering.com cdn.livetv808.me watch.sporttuna.pro sporttuna.sx sporttuna.online lewblivehdplay.ru viwlivehdplay.ru r365.city fmytv.com yalla-shootv.live sportlemo.net sportlemon.be antenasport.site sportlemons.tv directatvhd.me sportlemon.info koora365.io sport365.live live.esportivos.one sportlemonx.com mip2p.top bein-live.tv yalla-shoot.fun sportlemone.top sportlemont.org thedaddy.to abbasport.site h5.365streams.world stad.yallashoot.vip crickfree.org drakulatv.eu sportlemon.net footdirect.ru hdmatch.link livehd7i.live noblockaabbdd-xcktb.xyz sportp2p.com crichd.info crichd-player.top crichd. to telerium.lol rojatv.tv mundialqatar2022tv.tv hesgoal.website redditsoccerstreams.one redditsoccerstreams.watch soccerbite.net hesgoal.one cricfree.be cricfree.me cricfree.pw crickfree.net cricfrees.com crackstreams.dev ronald07.me draculastream.org drakulastream.tv drakulastream.org drakulastream.xyz drakula.top drakula.stream elitegoltv.run firstrowl.xyz thesportsl.org livetv813.me sportp2p.com directatvhd.me Ishunter.net antenasport.shop antenasports.ru antenasports.shop ilovetoplay.xyz hoca2.com livetv814.me cdn.livetv814.me streamingon.org emb.ap1357.me livetv815.me cdn.livetv815.me noblockaabbdd-xcktb.xyz embx222304.ap1357.me tutvlive.info sporttvls.com quest4play.xyz antenasport.online wfzrbhp.luxevpn.xyz smart.lionsmart.cc Source Hope you enjoyed this news post. 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In response to several court orders, Cloudflare geoblocked more than 400 sports streaming piracy domain names on its pass-through service in last year. Notably. Cloudflare says that, despite requests, it has not blocked any websites through the 1.1.1.1 Public DNS Resolver. That last comment is relevant to the renewed site blocking push in the United States. Internet infrastructure company Cloudflare provides a range of connectivity and security services to customers around the globe. As a result of its growing impact, the American company increasingly finds itself at the center of copyright complaints and pirate site blocking disputes. In Spain, for example, this resulted in court-sanctioned blockades of Cloudflare’s infrastructure, without it being actively involved in the legal process. These broad blockades, that also affected legitimate customers, are legally challenged by Cloudflare which believes that they go too far. This doesn’t mean that the company has not taken any action. If Cloudflare is involved as a party in legal proceedings, it has shown to comply with court orders. The company previously blocked domains of its pass-through service customers in Japan and Italy, for example. And these blocking measures continue to be expanded. 402 Blocked Domains in Cloudflare’s latest Transparency Report, published last week, shows that the company geo-blocked 402 domain names in in 2024, based on 9 different court orders. These apply to customers of its pass-through (CDN) service and all are linked to sports streaming piracy. The domain names in question are geo-blocked, which means that they remain available outside . Cloudflare took a similar approach in Italy last year, where a court ordered it to block 30 pirate site domains. Geoblocking Pirates While Cloudflare cooperates in these cases, it doesn’t see itself as the most logical candidate to enforce anti-piracy measures and continues to defend itself against these blocking requests. “Because Cloudflare cannot remove content it does not host, other service providers are better positioned to address these issues,” the company notes. “Among other things, any blocking by Cloudflare is of limited effectiveness, as a website will be accessible if it stops using Cloudflare’s network. Cloudflare therefore regularly pushes back against attempts to seek blocking orders.” 1.1.1.1 Blocking? When it comes to blocking, Cloudflare makes a clear distinction between pass-through services and its publicly available DNS resolver 1.1.1.1. The latter can be used by people from anywhere in the world and due to the technical setup, geo-blocking isn’t straightforward. Cloudflare therefore treats these DNS blocking efforts as requests to block content globally, even outside the jurisdiction of the originating courts and governments. This means that recent French and Italian court orders to block pirate sites through Cloudflare’s DNS could be noticed worldwide. Despite these orders, Cloudflare says that, to date, it hasn’t blocked any content through the 1.1.1.1 DNS resolver. The company’s explanation is short on detail, but says that it found “alternate mechanisms” to comply with these court orders. “Given the extraterritorial effect as well as the different global approaches to DNS-based blocking, Cloudflare has pursued legal remedies before complying with requests to block access to domains or content through the 1.1.1.1 Public DNS Resolver or identified alternate mechanisms to comply with relevant court orders. “To date, Cloudflare has not blocked content through the 1.1.1.1 Public DNS Resolver,” Cloudflare adds. Not Blocked U.S. Site Blocking Impact Cloudflare didn’t reply to our request for additional context and detail on these “alternate” blocking mechanisms. However, the Transparency Report does note that the company sometimes geoblocks domains on its pass-through service, in response to DNS blocking orders “Cloudflare has sometimes taken action to geoblock access to websites through Cloudflare’s pass-through CDN and security services, in response to orders directing Cloudflare to block through its public DNS resolver.” However, if the targeted website does not use Cloudflare’s services, this approach cannot be implemented. What the company does in these instances is unclear. Cloudflare’s stance is particularly relevant in the light of new legislative developments in the United States, where a site blocking bill was introduced late January. This bill specifically mentions DNS resolvers as potential blocking enforcers. Based on comments in the latest Transparency Report, Cloudflare clearly objects to this role, and it will likely protest the proposal when it’s considered in more detail by lawmakers. Source Hope you enjoyed this news post. Thank you for appreciating my time and effort posting news every day for many years. News posts... 2023: 5,800+ | 2024: 5,700+ | 2025 (till end of February): 874 RIP Matrix | Farewell my friend

The ACE anti-piracy coalition sidelined dozens of sports streaming sites this week with action against dozens of domain names including Crackstream and various Streameast clones. The official Streameast was targeted by the U.S. Government earlier this year, but the copycat takedowns are just as important, as these sites drew more traffic than the original. In August, Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) seized several domain names linked to Streameast, a popular live sports piracy site with millions of users. The seizures were carried out by the book but did not achieve the desired effect, as Streameast remains available through alternative domains. According to the site’s operators, they won’t stop until sports streaming is more affordable to the public. That message appeals to pirates, but also to opportunistic pirate site operators, who’ve successfully cloned the Streameast brand. When users search for “Streameast” on Google, the top result is often the copycat site ‘streameast.to’. Official Streameast domains, like streameast.co, are buried deep in search results, making it difficult for users to find the official streaming service. This is a major problem for Streameast but one that may ease, due to the anti-piracy group ACE recently taking action against these copycats. ACE Seizes Sports Streaming Domains Over the past few days, dozens of sports streaming domains became unreachable. This includes streameast.to, but also other cloned pirate brands such as crackstreams.dev, crackstreams.biz, nflstreams.gg, nflbite.io, nbastreams.gg, markkystreams.com, methstreams.me, and many others. Streameast.to can’t be reached ACE has not yet commented on the domain seizures, but TorrentFreak is informed that the Motion Picture Association’s (MPA) anti-piracy unit is indeed responsible. This is also apparent from the ‘ns*.films.org’ nameservers used by the seized domains, which are registered to the MPA. Streameast.to nameservers Clones & Copycats Most of the seized domains, listed at the bottom of the article, are unaffiliated copycats of known brands. This includes thecrackstreams.to, previously known as crackstreams.dev and crackstreams.biz. This is one of the most popular domains with roughly three million monthly visits. Streameast.to had by far the most traffic. With over 15 million monthly visits, it had more traffic than the official Streameast domains, partly due to the domain ranking higher in search engines. Clones can be so convincing that even people who hang out in the official Streameast Discord channel can be misled. Yesterday, some people were wondering why the site was down, referring to the seized copycat domain, not the real Streameast. Down? Streameast Must be Pleased While the ACE crackdown is a blow to the copycat sites, it’s also a surprising victory for Streameast itself. Weeks ago, Streameast operator ‘quick’ compared these copycats to criminal gangs and pleaded for action against them. “It’s perplexing that while the real Streameast domain names are being seized, the sites created by gangs who set up fake Streameast sites are still operational. These gangs replicate every major streaming site, employing spam tactics to rank high on Google, and they have no ethical values,” quick told us at the time. “I wish the USA would choose to deal with these gangs instead of targeting us,” ‘quick’ added. Although the U.S. Government was not involved in these seizures, ACE inadvertently gave Streameast’s operator what he wanted. — Information gathered by TorrentFreak suggests that the following domain names were seized. The complete list may be longer. These domains will likely be redirected to the “Watch it Legally” page in the near future. thestreameast.vip, thestreameast.pro, thestreameast.gg, thestreameast.club, streameast.to, sportsurge.io, rnbastreams.net, redditmlbstreams.cc, nhibite.io, nflstreams.gg, nflbite.io, nbastreams.gg, nbabite.io, mmastreams.to, mmastreams.io, methstreams.me, methstreams.club, methstreams.cc, givemeredditstreams.me, footybite.io, boxingstreams.to, boxingstreams.io, crackstreams.club, crackstreams.dev, crackstreams.biz, thecrackstreams.to, streameast.to, markkystreams.com. Update: we found some more… methstreams.app , nba-streams.app, nfl-streams.app, nhl-streams.app, soccerstreams.app, nflbite.biz, nflstreams.biz, hesgoals.club, nflstreams.club, thestreameast.club, vipbox.club, viprow.club, bestsolaris.co, boxingstreamlinks.com, boxingstreamshd.com, cfbstreams.com, f1streamlinks.com, mlbstreamlinks.com, mlbstreamshd.com, mmastreamlinks.com, mmastreamshd.com, nba-bite.com, nbastreamshd.com, nflstreamlinks.com, nflstreamshd.com, nhl-bite.com, nhlstreamlinks.com, nhlstreamshd.com, soccerstreamlinks.com, soccerstreamshd.com, sport-surge.com, stream2watches.com, thebuffstreams.com, methstreams.info, buff-streams.net, meth-streams.net, vip-league.net, boxingstream.org, mlb66.org, nbastreams.org, nhl66.org, rnflstreams.org, rsoccerstreams.org, thebuffstreams.org, vipleagues.org, thestreameast.pro, streameast.stream, streameast.tech, nflstreams.top, thestreameast.vip, cfbstreams.xyz, redditsoccerstreams.xyz, soccerstreamlinks.xyz, viprow.xyz, crackstreams.biz, markkystreams.biz, crackstreams.club, crack-streams.com, crackstreams.dev, markkystreams.live, markkystreams.org, crackstreams.soccer Source Hope you enjoyed this news post. 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Canada's piracy-blocking efforts continue, with rightsholders applying for a new court order aimed at preventing live sports piracy. Bell, Rogers, Fubo TV and others request new measures to block infringing IP addresses during NHL, NBA, and Premier League games. With a new approach, they hope to have broad and flexible blocking measures in place before the end of the 2023/2024 seasons. Three years ago, Canada’s Federal Court of Appeal upheld the first pirate site-blocking order in the country. The landmark decision opened the door to additional and more advanced blocking requests. Indeed, it didn’t take long before NHL broadcasters asked the court for a pirate streaming blocking order of their own. This NHL blocking action was followed by a FIFA World Cup blocking order, which was also granted without further hassle. Following up on these successes, sports rightsholders added MLB among their targets. These blocking injunctions were not filed in isolation. Instead, the interlocutory orders are part of lawsuits against the operators of the pirate streaming servers. On paper, the goal of the lawsuits is to pursue claims against these defendants and the blockades are a temporary measure to limit the damage these services cause. This approach made sense, as filing a lawsuit simply for blocking purposes wasn’t common. However, after several injunctions were granted over the past three years, change is on the horizon. NHL, NBA and Premier League Piracy Blockade Last Friday, rightsholders including Bell, Fubo TV, Rogers, and The Sports Network, filed a notice of application at Canada’s Federal Court. This time, they seek an order requiring Internet providers to block live streams of NHL, NBA, and Premier League games. This is a notable change compared to earlier blocking requests, which all focused on single sports. Combining multiple sports leagues and events makes sense, the rightsholders argue, as the targeted piracy servers typically offer a broad selection of sports as well. “This process is also more efficient for the parties and the Court than initiating separate proceedings for each professional sports league and every time new content is broadcast…,” the rightsholders write in their application. This isn’t the only change in this blocking proceeding. The defendants, the protected content, and the procedural blocking approach are also subject to change. Defendants Unlimited? None of the blocking targets listed in the application includes a name. Instead, it targets three “John Doe” defendants who are identified by their IP addresses. These addresses were offering pirated sports streams in the past. Does 1-3 The IP addresses are not linked to a single service. They appear to be used by several piracy operations, including publicly available pirate streaming site ‘epllive.net’ and paid subscription platforms including ‘TVSmarters’ which are mentioned by name. Pirate streaming example Before requesting this blockade, the rightsholders identified thousands of illicit streaming instances. They subsequently alerted the associated hosting providers, asking them to forward the notices to their customers, but that didn’t yield the desired response. With seemingly no other viable option to target the problem, the rightsholders believe that a blocking order is warranted. Notably, this applies to the three “John Doe” defendants, but also “Other John Doe Respondents” who are linked to streaming servers for which the IP addresses are not mentioned. “The other John Doe Respondents are other unidentified persons unknown to the Applicants who operate Unauthorized Streaming Servers providing unauthorized access in Canada to Protected Live Content, and that are located at a large number of IP addresses that change continuously,” the rightsholders write. This means that there could, in theory, be thousands of IP addresses that are subject to the request. Not just that, the list can change over time because rightsholders are seeking a “dynamic” injunction. New ‘Streamlined’ Blocking Approach Thus far, all Canadian site-blocking measures have come in the form of interlocutory injunctions as part of ongoing legal procedures against the alleged pirate operators. That’s about to change as well, if the recent request is granted. The court previously noted that the lawsuits against the operators lingered on while the blocking orders were in place. To address this, and streamline the blocking procedure, the rightsholders now request a permanent and final injunction. “The Applicants seek a permanent injunction in order to bring finality to the proceedings and propose to proceed by way of application instead of by action, as it is a more streamlined process,” they write. ‘Flexible’ Blockades Covering ‘Future’ Content This procedural “streamlining” and the fact that multiple sports leagues are covered in the application are clear deviations from earlier blocking requests. However, it doesn’t end there. Other tweaks could have broad implications too. For example, the proposed order doesn’t only apply to content that’s listed in the application. If the rightsholders acquire new content in the future, that may be added in as well, expanding the blocking scope. A broad injunction would make it possible to add new seasons for existing sports leagues, but also completely new sports, or other content for which they obtain the rights in the coming two years. “This process is also more efficient for the parties and the Court than initiating separate proceedings for each professional sports league and every time new content is broadcast and/or when the Applicants secure new rights,” the rightsholders add. One Universal IP-address Blocklist If granted, the blockades will only be active for specified time windows surrounding the live sports events. This is similar to earlier injunctions and in part put in place to prevent overblocking. However, another key change is that the rightsholders now ask for a single IP-address blocklist during all ‘live’ windows, regardless of whether that server was previously used to stream pirated broadcasts of the specific event. “Given that the same IP addresses are associated with the infringement of multiple sporting leagues and events, the use of a common IP address list for blocking would be more efficient in implementing the Order sought,” they write. Universal Blocklist The above logically means that an IP address that streamed pirated copies of an NBA game will also be blocked during Premier League matches. Overall, it is clear that the rightsholders are trying to make the blocking process more streamlined and efficient, while also expanding the scope of the process. The application has yet to be approved by the Federal Court. The rightsholders hope that, by abridging the deadlines, an order will be issued before the current sports seasons end. Several ISPs have indicated that they don’t plan to object, but others still have room to do so, which could slow down the proceeding. — A copy of the Application filed at the Federal Court by Rogers, Bell, Fubo, et al. is available here (pdf) Source