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Another issue for the music industry are cyberlockers, which are deliberately designed to encourage and reward users to upload music and other valuable copyright material, and illegally share links to it with others who can then illegally download it.
The sites that are now banned include 2conv, flvto, 2Convert, H2Converter, H2Download, Flv2mp3, Flvtool and Ytbapi. Cyberlocker Nitroflare was also included in the block. Of course, blocking a cloud storage solution could have far-reaching consequences for widely-used options like Apple’s iCloud, Google Drive, Microsoft OneDrive, Dropbox and more, however, the record labels argued that Nitroflare is “essentially structured for infringement” and therefore an exception had to be made.
High Court rules ISPs should block major music piracy sites
01-03-2021
06-01-2017
The UK music industry has secured blocking injunctions against the UK’s most notorious music stream-ripping sites and a related cyberlocker service.
The English High Court heard arguments from record label umbrellas the British Phonographic Industry (BPI) and Phonographic Performance Ltd (PPL) on February 3, relating to the damage major music piracy websites have on the legal music streaming business.
It ruled that the websites infringed on record label copyrights and ordered internet service providers (ISPs) to block access to them.
Key offenders cited in the case were cyberlocker Nitroflare and popular stream-ripping sites Flyto and 2Conv. Together, the websites attract more than a billion visits a year.
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Under the umbrella of the BPI, major and independent recording labels in the UK have announced a key victory in their fight against so-called stream-ripping sites and tools. Following a two-year process, this morning a judge at London s High Court ordered major ISPs to block access to several platforms, including two of the most popular - Flvto and 2Conv.
As reported earlier this month, a group of record labels under the umbrella of the British Recorded Music Industry Ltd (BPI) and Phonographic Performance Ltd (PPL), appeared at the High Court with a request for the country’s major ISPs to block several stream-ripping sites.
However, as it stands, there are no automatic blocks in place for so-called “stream rippers”. These websites allow users to download videos streamed online, like those available to watch on YouTube, to keep on their computer. With a dizzying number of music videos, concert footage, film trailers, sporting highlights, and more all available to watch on YouTube – there’s a lot of potential for copyright infringement. After all, while a number of these videos can be viewed online from official channels managed by the rights holders – that doesn’t mean viewers have free reign to download an offline version to keep on their hard-drive, smartphone, or likewise.
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Major labels including Sony and Warner have appeared in the High Court in London, requesting that the country s leading ISPs block access to several stream-ripping sites. Among the targets are flvto.biz and 2conv.com, a pair of sites currently embroiled in legal action initiated by record companies in the United States.
After years of battling peer-to-peer sharing carried out on networks including BitTorrent, the major record labels now view stream-ripping as the major piracy threat.
Broadly speaking, stream-ripping is carried out in two ways – either by using tools such as youtube-dl (which allow users to rip content from YouTube directly to their machines) or via dedicated websites that simplify the process. Some of these sites have become extremely popular, attracting the attention of the labels on the way.