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Feds Seize Pirate Sports Streaming Domains in ‘Super Bowl Crackdown’
US authorities have initiated a new round of domain name seizures, targeting dozens of pirate sports streaming sites. Most likely by design, the enforcement action coincided with the Super Bowl. While the seizures may have frustrated many 'pirate' viewers, pirate streaming operations are not necessarily throwing in the towel just yet.
footballLast night, well over hundred million people tuned in to the Super Bowl, which is traditionally the most watched television broadcast in the United States.
In addition to the impressive number of legal views, some prefer to watch the game through unauthorized live streams, which presents a major problem for rightsholders.
This type of piracy isn’t a new concern. Fourteen years ago, the Department of Justice (DOJ) and Homeland Security’s Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) were already on task, seizing major sports streaming domain names, coinciding with the Super Bowl.
While a lot has changed since then, sports streaming piracy remains a problem. In fact, it’s arguably bigger than it ever was. Rightsholders and authorities are aware of this and over the past 24-hours, the feds took dozens of domains offline.
Super Bowl Seizures
This latest round of seizures took place as the Philadelphia Eagles played the Kansas City Chiefs. While all eyes were on the game, the feds were cutting off unauthorized viewers.
At the time of writing, there is no press release from the authorities, but at least 40 domain names of popular brands such as Streameast, Crackstreams, and Totalsportek, all became inaccessible overnight.
Some of these sites have millions of monthly visitors who stream sports content for free. That is no longer an option from these domains. Instead, visitors are welcomed by a seizure banner, displaying the seals of U.S. law enforcement outfits.
“This domain name has been seized by Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) pursuant to a warrant issued by the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana under the authority of, inter alia, Title 18, United States Code, Section 2323.”
“It is unlawful to reproduce or distribute copyrighted material including sporting events, television shows, movies, music, software, or games without authorization,” the message adds.
It’s not immediately clear whether the seizures were carried out through domain registrars, which include some foreign companies, or associated domain name registries. The latter seems more plausible, as these include American companies like Verisign and Registry Services.
Familiar Targets
The seized domains are now pointing to the SEIZEDSERVERS.COM nameservers, which are controlled by the U.S. Department of Justice and often used to shut down websites as part of criminal proceedings.
The same nameservers were also used in similar crackdowns against Streameast last summer. Despite losing several domain names, the site remained online, vowing to appeal the seizures. Likewise, the latest actions show the feds have no intention of reconsidering their enforcement efforts.
Other sports streaming brands have also been targeted by U.S. law enforcement actions, but eventually recovered and reappeared online. This cycle seems to repeat itself, as many targets continue to operate from backup domain names despite the threat of criminal action.
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This is a breaking story. We have thus far linked the following domain names to the latest seizure rounds, but there might be many more. If additional information becomes available we’ll update this article accordingly.
– boxingstreams.buzz
– buffstream.buzz
– cfbstreams.biz
– crackstream.buzz
– crackstreamss.biz
– f1streams.biz
– gostreameast.biz
– gostreameast.club
– gostreameast.live
– gostreameast.my
– gostreameast.net
– methstreams.buzz
– mlb66.biz
– mmastreams.club
– mystreameast.biz
– nba66.biz
– nbabite.biz
– nbastreamlinks.biz
– nbastreams.blog
– nflstreams.blog
– nhl66.biz
– nhlbite.biz
– mystreameast.app
– mystreameast.cc
– mystreameast.co
– mystreameast.live
– mystreameast.my
– mystreameast.xyz
– papahd.biz
– soccerlive.biz
– streamgate.biz
– streameast.co
– streameast.sh
– thestreameast.live
– thestreameast.me
– thestreameast.cc
– thestreameast.net
– thestreameast.org
– totalsporteks.biz
– vipboxtv.biz
