While FIFA has even gone as far as taking action against Twitter avatars, news today shows that its affiliates are also prepared to disrupt the activities of hundreds of sites and countless millions of Internet users if that means protecting their copyrights.

The development follows legal action initiated by Multi Screen Media PVT Ltd, a Sony Entertainment Television subsidiary in India. Earlier this year the company obtained a license from FIFA to broadcast the 2014 World Cup to Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka. Of course, content is now being made available elsewhere without permission, so the company has decided to do something about that.

In a statement to the High Court in Delhi, counsel for Multi Screen Media explained that “various websites are indulging in hosting, streaming, providing access to” infringing content causing substantial loss of revenue not just for the company, but also to the government due to lost tax on TV subscription fees.

The list of ‘infringing’ sites supplied to the High Court is huge – 479 sites in all – and contains well known sharing sites including The Pirate Bay, torrent storage site Torrage, 1337x, Demonoid, and dozens of file-hosting sites.

Quite amazingly, however, the list also contains entirely legitimate sites including Google Docs, Google Video, Google URL shortener Goo.gl, and Kim Dotcom’s Mega.co.nz. None escape the criticism of Sony or the High Court.

“Learned counsel for the plaintiff submits that many of the websites [in the list] are anonymous in nature and it is virtually impossible to locate the owners of such websites or contact details of such owners. It is further submitted that many of these Rogue Websites also hide behind domain privacy services offered by various domain name Registrars,” the judge wrote in his decision.

“[Websites] listed below, or any other website identified by the Plaintiff are restrained, from in any manner hosting, streaming, broadcasting, rebroadcasting, retransmitting, exhibiting, making available for viewing and downloading, providing access to and / or communicating to the public, displaying, uploading, modifying, publishing, updating and/or sharing (including to its subscribers and users), through the internet, in any manner whatsoever,” he continued.

With that Judge V. Kameswar Rao issued an order for the country’s ISPs to block the 479 sites in question – Google’s included – plus “such other websites that may subsequently be notified by the Plaintiff to be infringing of its exclusive rights.”

While the Judge granting a blocking order against Google is bad enough, one has to question how the company’s services ended up on the High Court application in the first place. That is the responsibility of local anti-piracy company Markscan, who compiled the list for Multi Screen Media. Markscan were featured in a TorrentFreak article last month when they sent dozens of erroneous takedown notices to Google, again on behalf of a Sony company.

“We want to assure you that we deploy technology, in addition to best efforts of our teams, to ensure that we do not impact legal content on yours, or any other website,” they told us at the time. Users of Google Docs, Goo.gl and Google Video may beg to differ.

While some local ISPs have already initiated blockades, Google told Indian news outlet Medianama that there had been “no interruption of our services mentioned in the order.”

The High Court order was issued June 23, alongside an instruction to distribute the summons to the defendant sites by July 22, 2014.

Update: MediaNama is reporting that it has obtained a copy of an updated court order that isn’t yet available on the Delhi High Court website. The update reveals blocking requests for 219 sites, down from the 472 in the original order. No Google websites are in the updated list but many torrent and other file-sharing sites remain.

Original List of 472 Sites to Be Blocked

1. cdn.playwire.com

2. embedupload.com

3. 1fichier.com

4. crocko.com

5. multiupload.nl

6. uppit.com

7. solidfiles.com

8. bayfiles.net

9. tusfiles.net

10. bitshare.com

11. muchshare.net

12. mega.co.nz

13. share-online.biz

14. sendspace.com

15. real4download.com

16. telugump3.biz

17. wapkafiles.com

18. telugumasthi.wapka.me

19. telugustar.net

20. myteluguwap.net

21. s1.myteluguwap.net

22. s2.myteluguwap.net

23. filestube.to

24. ul.to

25. mightyupload.com

26. uploaded.net

27. freakshare.com

28. putlocker.com

29. uploadable.ch

30. safelinking.net

31. ultramegabit.com

32. terafile.co

33. fileom.com

34. d01.megashares.com

35. dizzcloud.com

36. lumfile.com

37. fileparadox.in

38. nitrobits.com

39. filemonkey.in

40. fastshare.cz

41. keep2share.cc

42. k2s.cc

43. sharerepo.com

44. depositfiles.com

45. rapidshare.com

46. filerio.com

47. goo.gl

48. fcore.eu

49. anonfiles.com

50. adf.ly

51. megafiles.se

52. exashare.com

53. primeshare.tv

54. uploadc.com

55. epicshare.net

56. dwn.so

57. uploadhero.com

58. dfiles.eu

59. thefile.me

60. nosupload.com

61. uploadsat.com

62. shareflare.net

63. letitbit.net

64. filesfrog.net

65. unlimitzone.com

66. uploadrocket.net

67. secureupload.eu

68. hulkfile.eu

69. tusfiles.co.nz

70. filehoot.com

71. jumbofiles.com

72. usefile.com

73. clicktoview.org

74. 180upload.nl

75. hitfile.net

76. easybytez.com

77. crisshare.com

78. vip-file.com

79. ufile.eu

80. jheberg.net

81. dl.free.fr

82. 2shared.com

83. sharebeast.com

84. cramit.in

85. ryushare.com

86. teluguworld.asia

87. twap.in

88. vshare.eu

89. 108.59.3.225:182

90. megafilesfactory.com

91. 199.91.152.94

92. 205.196.121.39

93. 199.91.152.86

94. 199.91.154.157

95. 205.196.123.194

96. 205.196.123.8

97. 205.196.123.182

98. mhnwap.wapka.me

99. mhnwap.wapka.mobi

100. realitytelevisionportal.eu

101. dorabuzz.in

102. foncity.in

103. toonvideos.in

104. bestcartoon.wapka.mobi

105. wap.dorabuzz.in

106. playpanda.net

107. play44.net

108. shared.sx

109. mega-vids.com

110. promptfile.com

111. 4upfiles.com

112. filemoney.com

113. lemuploads.com

114. anysend.com

115. luckyshare.net

116. filedap.com

117. junocloud.me

118. filevice.com

119. v-vids.com

120. quickyshare.net

121. tumi.tv

122. mp4star.com

123. sockshare.ws

124. uploadcrazy.net

125. uploadboy.com

126. putlocker.ws

127. filenuke.net

128. docs.google.com

129. dotsemper.com

130. upload.com

131. cloudyvideos.com

132. v.youku.com

133. movzap.com

134. googlevideo.com

135. vertor.eu

136. dramautubes.com

137. nosvideo.com

138. vreer.com

139. vidxden.com

140. divxstage.eu

141. rapidvideo.tv

142. vidspot.net

143. freshvideo.net

144. vidbux.com

145. vidplay.net

146. vidup.me

147. video.tt

148. modovideo.com

149. youwatch.org

150. magnovideo.com

151. videobam.com

152. sharexvid.com

153. videoslasher.com

154. nowvideo.ch

155. donevideo.com

156. videozed.net

157. vidhog.com

158. vidzi.tv

159. streamin.to

160. thevideo.me

161. vidzbeez.com

162. divxpress.com

163. nubestream.com

164. divxstream.net

165. videobb.com

166. divxden.com

167. mixturecloud.com

168. divxstage.net

169. videowood.tv

170. hostingbulk.com

171. playit.pk

172. movpod.net

173. daclips.com

174. slickvid.com

175. videofun.me

176. video44.net

177. yucache.net

178. moevideos.net

179. videomega.tv

180. vidpaid.com

181. sharevid.org

182. zuzvideo.com

183. video.vidcrazy.net

184. videovalley.net

185. videoboxone.com

186. vidcrazy.net

187. vodu.ch

188. watchfreeinhd.com

189. veehd.com

190. movdivx.com

191. blip.tv

192. animeuploads.com

193. videohub.ws

194. hdwide.co

195. stormvid.co

196. neovid.me

197. hawkhd.me

198. streamland.cc

199. vidshark.ws

200. vidspace.cc

201. vids.bz

202. play.flashx.tv

203. videoweed.es

204. torrenthound.com

205. nowvideo.sx

206. limetorrents.com

207. novamov.com

208. torrentfunk.com

209. torrents.net

210. wapkafile.com

211. thepiratebay.org

212. torlock.com

213. movshare.net

214. unblockedpiratebay-proxy.com

215. thetorrent.org

216. torrentz.sx

217. thepiratebay.se.unblock.to

218. nowdownload.ch

219. sockshare.com

220. bittorrent.pm

221. uptobox.com

222. torrage.com

223. vidbux.com

224. muchshare.net

225. sumotorrent.sx

226. torrentdownload.ws

227. vidup.me

228. btmon.com

229. ryushare.com

230. uploadable.ch

231. thepiratebay.se

232. 1337x.to

233. video.tt

234. bthunter.org

235. tusfiles.net

236. 1337x.org

237. swankshare.com

238. 1337xproxy.in

239. torrentz.dj

240. torrentcrazy.ee

241. filesbomb.in

242. torrentz.is

243. torrentz.am

244. kickassunblock.net

245. torrent.tm

246. uploadboy.com

247. oc.o2.vc

248. ineedtorrent.net

249. torrenthoundproxy.com

250. torcache.kickassunblock.net

251. kickasstor.net

252. streamupload.org

253. arabloads.net

254. torrentsnet.come.in

255. torrentz.to

256. filesfrog.net

257. 3gparena.in

258. dl.free.fr

259. divxstage.eu

260. play.flashx.tv

261. download-abc.com

262. filmsmaza.com

263. glotorrents.com

264. coolmoviez.com

265. 62.210.201.55:81

266. fuckyourcrew.org

267. mimti1.moviesmobile.net

268. sandy1.moviesmobile.net

269. sandy3.moviesmobile.net

270. sandy4.moviesmobile.net

271. thepiratebay.mk

272. dev.torrentz.pro

273. uploaded.net

274. torrentmoviemafia.com

275. 1337x.pw

276. share1.moviesmobile.net

277. share2.moviesmobile.net

278. share3.moviesmobile.net

279. share4.moviesmobile.net

280. bayproxy.me

281. sarthaktv.in

282. p2p4ever.com

283. tny.cz

284. torrent-loco.com.ar

285. piraattilahti.org

286. punjabwap.com

287. torrent.ee

288. torrentz.asia

289. fromplay.org

290. proxybay.pw

291. vertor.com

292. katshore.org

293. nl.malaysiabay.org

294. demonoid.ph

295. kickasstorrents.come.in

296. putlocker.cz

297. proxybay.eu

298. vertor.eu

299. 3gparina.in

300. 89.248.162.148

301. fromplay.com

302. etorrent.co.kr

303. fun4buddy.com

304. livetvindian.com

305. ontohinbd.com

306. pc.rdxhd.com

307. seedpeer.me

308. ukcast.tv

309. ezcast.tv

310. xuscacamusca.se

311. crichd.in

312. 122.155.203.9

313. http://www.0dian8.com/

314. http://www.114nba.com/

315. http://360bo.com/

316. http://51live.com/

317. http://www.52waha.com/

318. http://bf.5xzb.com/

319. http://allsport-live.net/

320. http://www.antibookers.ru/

321. http://www.assistirtvonlineaovivo.tv/

322. http://atdhe.eu/

323. http://atdhe.so/

324. http://atdhe.xxx/

325. http://www.atdhe24.net/

326. http://www.azhibo.com/

327. http://barcelonastream.com/

328. http://www.coolsport.tv/schedule-coolsport-tv.html

329. http://www.tvole.com/

330. http://www.drakulastream.eu/

331. http://esportesaovivo.com/

332. http://www.feed2all.eu/type/football.html

333. http://gofirstrowuk.eu/

334. http://www.footballstreaming.info/

335. http://www.frombar.com/

336. http://www.futebolaovivo.net/inicio.php

337. http://www.online.futebolaovivogratis.org/

338. http://gooool.org/

339. http://www.rajangan.me/

340. http://www.hahasport.com/

341. http://hdzhibo.com/

342. http://neolive.net/

343. http://www.kanqiu.tv/

344. http://livesport4u.com/

345. http://livetv.sx/

346. http://meczelive.tv/

347. http://www.megatvonline.co/

348. http://tvonline.megavertvonline.net/live/

349. http://myp2p.pw/

350. http://nogomya.ch/

351. http://www.p2p-hd.com/

352. http://qmzhibo.com/

353. http://rntplayer.com/

354. http://www.rojadirecta.me/

355. http://www.seezb.net/

356. http://www.sport.net/

357. http://sport5online.com/

358. http://sportlemon.ge/

359. http://sportlemontv.eu/

360. http://sportlive.lt/

361. http://www.sportlv.info/

362. http://www.sportp2p.com/

363. http://www.stopstream.tv/

364. http://thefirstrow.biz/

365. http://www.feed4u.net/

366. http://www.time4tv.com/

367. http://torrent-tv.ru/

368. http://tvaovivogratis.net/

369. http://tvonlinexat.com/

370. http://www.usagoals.tv/

371. http://vipbox.net/

372. http://www.vipboxuk.co/

373. http://www.wasu.cn/

374. http://www.wiziwig.tv/

375. http://wszhibo.com/

376. http://www.look-tvs.com/

377. http://www.yaomtv.com.cn/

378. http://www.zhiboche.com/

379. http://zqnow.com/

380. http://www.24livestreamtv.com/brazil-2014-fifa-world-cup-football-
live-streaming-online-tv/

381. http://acefootball.eu/

382. http://al3ablive.info/

383. http://atdhe.ru/

384. http://atdhe.ge/

385. http://atdhe.sx/

386. http://atdhe.ws/

387. http://bongdatructuyen.info/

388. http://www.bongdatructuyen.vn/

389. http://bongdatv.net/

390. http://bongdaup.com/

391. http://www.majika.biz/

392. http://btvsports.com/

393. http://canalesdetv.com/

394. http://capodeportes.net/

395. http://www.catedralhd.tk/

396. http://www.cv55.eu/

397. http://desistreams.tv/

398. http://desportogratis.com/

399. http://dinozap.com/

400. http://drhtv.com.pl/

401. http://epctv.com/

402. http://zonasports.to/

403. http://fancylive.com/

404. http://feed2all.eu/

405. http://www.firstrows.eu/

406. http://firstrows.biz/

407. http://firstrowsports.ge/

408. http://footballhd.ru/

409. http://footdirect24.com/

410. http://freefootball.ws/

411. http://freehdspor.com/

412. http://freelivefussball.de/

413. http://freelivesport.eu/

414. http://fsicrew.info/

415. http://fussball-live-streams.com/

416. http://futbolarg.tv/

417. http://www.futbol-envivo.com/

418. http://futbolsinlimites.pw/

419. http://futebolaovivogratis.org/

420. http://goatd.net/

421. http://hdembed.com/

422. http://funkeysports.com/

423. http://hdsports.me/

424. http://www.hdstreams.tv/index.php

425. http://iraqgoals.in/

426. http://jokerplanete.com/

427. http://lesoleildelanuit.wf/

428. http://life-sport.org/

429. http://livesportv.com/

430. http://max-deportv.com/

431. http://megaviptv.net/

432. http://milloxtv.me/

433. http://myp2p.cm/

434. http://myp2p.ec/

435. http://newsoccertv.com/

436. http://nowwatchtvlive.com/

437. http://onlinemoviesportsandtv.com/

438. http://online–soccer.eu/

439. http://portugaldesportivo.com/

440. http://premier-league-live.net/

441. http://qxzhibo.com/

442. http://realtvsport.com/

443. http://real-tv-sport.com/

444. http://www.redzer.tv/

445. http://s247.tv/

446. http://sambasoccer.pw/

447. http://skysport.tv/

448. http://soccerembed.com/

449. http://soccertoall.net/

450. http://softsportstv.eu/

451. http://www.sportsbeech.tv/

452. http://sports-x.net/

453. http://sportz-hd.eu/

454. http://stadium-live.com/

455. http://stream-foot.tv/

456. http://streamhd.eu/

457. http://streamking.org/

458. http://todaytv.me/

459. http://www.tvonlinepc.eu/

460. http://totbet.net/

461. http://tructiepbongda.com/

462. http://tvembed.com/

463. http://tvembed.eu/

464. http://tv-link.in/

465. http://tv-porinternet.com/

466. http://tvsport24.info/

467. http://u-peak.me/

468. http://vipbox.co/

469. http://vipracing.co.in/

470. http://vtv4u.eu/

471. http://whoopwhoop.tv/

472. http://wiziwigfootball.com/

Source: TorrentFreak, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing and anonymous VPN services.

Stopping pirated live streams is one of the main priorities, but there is another concern. In all the excitement many social media users have added World Cup related logos and other pictures as their avatars, something that’s strictly forbidden by FIFA.

The football organization fears that use of their logos and emblems by others may cause serious damage. FIFA believes that this endangers the entire worldwide football community.

“Any unauthorized use of the Official Marks not only undermines the integrity of the FIFA World Cup™ and its marketing programme, but also puts the interests of the worldwide football community at stake,” FIFA says in an official statement.

Social media is particularly worrisome because the official logos may lead followers to believe that the user is somehow related to FIFA.

“FIFA’s official logos, symbols and other graphic trade marks may not be used on any social media platform. FIFA’s Protected Terms may not be used to create the impression that a page is officially related to the 2014 FIFA World Cup,” FIFA notes.

Considering the above FIFA sees no other option than to crackdown on Twitter users with official FIFA logos and images as avatars. In recent weeks Twitter has been asked to take action against several of its users, by removing their infringing profile pictures.

The requests were made for a wide variety of images including the World Cup emblem, logo and even the trophy. Twitter appears to have honored the requests and has replaced the infringing avatars with the default egg.

Most of the targeted accounts seem to be specifically related to football. However FIFA has also asked Twitter to remove the profile picture of @afobajee, a relatively random user.

Most of the affected users have changed their profile pictures to something non-infringing. However, others appear to have simply switched back to using official FIFA material.

We expect that FIFA still has their eye on the ball, so these infringing profile pictures probably won’t stay online for very long.

Source: TorrentFreak, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing and anonymous VPN services.

These so-called “pirate” streams are available through dozens of sites, including Firstrow and Rojadirecta, which generate a lot of traffic during popular sporting events.

Before the World Cup started FIFA reached out to several of these sites, asking their operators to make sure that content is removed as soon as possible. Despite these requests, there are still plenty of illegal streams available for each game.

Content protection firm Viaccess-Orca, one of the companies that monitors these unauthorized broadcasts, is also tasked with sending takedown notices for some of the matches. The company informs TorrentFreak that up to last Friday they have sent 2,000 takedown notices to various sites.

One of the problems with live events is that takedown requests only have an effect when they are processed before the match ends. According to David Leporini, Viaccess-Orca Executive Vice President of Marketing, Products and Security, the linking sites have been rather cooperative on this front.

“The success rate varies per content platform but overall we manage to get 35 percent of the streaming links disabled before the game ends. I think this is a great success rate, especially compared to direct download sites,” Leporini informs us.

A success rate of 35% is pretty decent indeed, considering that the notices have to be sent and processed in a very small time frame. Also, the process is further complicated because many sites don’t publish the links to the streams until a few minutes before the game starts.

The content protection company also targets traditional social media sites where links to live streams are posted. Here, the success rate was the best at Facebook where half of all infringing links were taken down before the game ended.

“For the first ten days we have sent around 150 takedown notices to Facebook and Twitter pages. Among all content platforms notified, we measured a success rate of about 51% for link removals from Facebook pages.”

While Viaccess-Orca’s efforts may limit the availability of pirated live streams, there are still hundreds of thousands of people getting through. The company estimates that between 100,000 and 500,000 people tune in to an average game. Up until last week, Belgium versus Russia was the most-watched match with 471,541 unauthorized viewers.

Viaccess-Orca can measure part of the audience directly though P2P streaming services such as Sopcast and Acestream. This also allows the company to see from what location people are watching. As the overview above shows, Belgium vs. Russia was particularly popular in Europe and Asia.

The remainder of the streams go through centralized streaming services, with Hdcast and Iguide being the most frequently used. Rojadirecta and Wiziwig are the sites where Viaccess-Orca found the most infringing links.

Looking ahead, the content protection firm expects that the number of viewers per match will continue to increase, as will the enforcement actions.

Source: TorrentFreak, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing and anonymous VPN services.

Currently, Irish pay-TV broadcaster Setanta has the rights to broadcast live matches to its 4 million subscribers, of which a maximum of 1.5 million watch the matches, such as England’s World Cup qualifier with Croatia last week. Terrestrial channels, available to most in the UK, have to strike a deal with Setanta to get the match highlights to show to their viewers after the live match has finished. Last week, they failed to reach a deal which meant that football-mad England fans who wanted to view on terrestrial TV were unable to watch their own national team.

In the end, a deal was struck with the ITV network to show match highlights the next day, but by which time everyone knew that England had won 4-1 and although most fans were pleased, all the surprises were ruined. However, those prepared to pirate their favorite sport managed to cut through the satellite/terrestrial split and all the boardroom and financial politics at the click of a mouse.

The majority of the pirates got their England vs Croatia fix from streaming services. Most of them are easy to view with a software client but other streams can be viewed directly in a regular web browser, and there appears to be no shortage to choose from. Ok, the picture quality might not be all that and the commentary might be in Chinese on some streams but since the matches can be heard live on national radio, understandable commentary is accessible, if out of sync.

A much smaller number, around 15,000, downloaded the full match via BitTorrent, which ordinarily would only be available via a subscription to Setanta. Even if a deal had been struck with terrestrial channels, only the highlights would have been available to the masses. But of course, pirates don’t care about subscriptions or the reasons why companies fail to make a deal to enable fans to watch their national team participate in their national sport. They want media and they want it now – and they get it too, either for free via Internet piracy, or at a discount via other less obvious gray-area sources.

The message to media companies is simple – provide wide access to media at a reasonable price and no fuss, and the majority (who can afford it) will be happy to pay. Start aggressively restricting things that people love – like watching football – and then fail to reach agreements to let the fans have even a diluted version in a timely organized fashion, and you’re asking for trouble. Once people start pirating and realize just how much easier, convenient and cheaper it is, it will be hard to get them back, especially once BitTorrent and streaming media devices start to be found in the average living room.

Source: TorrentFreak, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing and anonymous VPN services.