Cloudflare and RIAA Agree on Tailored Site Blocking Process

[steven36]

Cloudflare and the RIAA have agreed to a tailored process through which the music labels can expand their blocking efforts against the piracy site MP3Skull, if needed. The deal is part of a lengthy legal battle during which both sides dug in their heels, to secure their bottom lines.

 

 

Representing various major record labels, the RIAA filed a lawsuit against pirate site MP3Skull three years ago.

 

With millions of visitors per month, the MP3 download portal had been one of the prime sources of pirated music for a long time.

 

In 2016, the record labels won their case , but the site initially ignored the court order and continued to operate. This prompted the RIAA to go after third-party services including Cloudflare, demanding that they block associated domain names.

 

Cloudflare objected and argued that the DMCA shielded the company from the broad blocking requirements. However, the court ruled that the DMCA doesn’t apply in this case, opening the door to widespread anti-piracy filtering.

 

 

The court stressed that, before issuing an injunction against Cloudflare, it still had to be determined whether the CDN provider is “in active concert or participation” with the pirate site. This has yet to happen. Since MP3Skull has ceased its operations, the RIAA has shown little interest in pursuing the matter any further.

 

While there is no longer an immediate site blocking threat, the order opened the door to similar blocking requests in the future. Cloudflare, therefore, asked the court to throw the order out, arguing that since MP3Skull is no longer available the issue is moot.

 

A month ago, US District Court Judge Marcia Cooke denied that request, urging the parties to go back to the negotiating table and find a solution both sides can live with.

 

In short, the solution that Cloudflare and the RIAA agreed on is that the record labels can file an emergency motion requiring the CDN provider to block new domain names of MP3Skull, if the site resurfaces.

 

“Plaintiffs may request in such an amendment a specific direction to Cloudflare to cease providing services to websites at specified domains without needing to show that Cloudflare is in active concert or participation with the Defendants with respect to such services,” the order reads.

 

The RIAA must inform Cloudflare in advance if it plans to file such a request, which then has the option to respond. If there are no objections, the CDN provider is required to take action within 24 hours, or a full business day, whichever is longer.

 

This is essentially what the RIAA was after, but Cloudflare was sure to make it clear that the ruling does not mean that they are seen as operating “in active concert or participation” with the pirate site.

“For the sake of clarity, the Court’s direction to Cloudflare […] is not a finding that Cloudflare is ‘in active concert or participation’ with Defendants as provided in Rule 65(d) of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure,” it reads.

 

This means that the order, as with the previous injunction, leaves many options open and questions unanswered. It is specifically tailored to one site, without setting in stone how similar cases will be dealt with in the future.

 

But considering the recent pressure from rightsholders on Cloudflare, it wouldn’t be a surprise if this battle is renewed in a new arena in the future.

 

Meanwhile, MP3Skull, the site which got this all started, hasn’t been seen online for over a year.

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A copy of US District Court Judge Marcia Cooke’s order is available here (pdf).

 

Source

 

[Karlston]

Whack-a-mole is even more futile if the moles disappeared over a year ago.

[steven36]

30 minutes ago, Karlston said:

Whack-a-mole is even more futile if the moles disappeared over a year ago.

Yes they don't know were the  best moles are anymore, because the sites not in English  now days they going after these sites that use the Youtube api for mp3 while i  stream  and dl 320s  from  some big fat moles that have a bigger library than spotify. 

[straycat19]

MP3s are so prehistoric.  FLAC is the only way to go and there are several excellent flac only sites available.  But the best way to get music is to create a group and share by ftp servers.  Only members of the group know about it and they are vetted before being allowed to join, you just don't let any Tom, Dick, or Mary in to the group.

[steven36]

1 hour ago, straycat19 said:

MP3s are so prehistoric.  FLAC is the only way to go and there are several excellent flac only sites available.  But the best way to get music is to create a group and share by ftp servers.  Only members of the group know about it and they are vetted before being allowed to join, you just don't let any Tom, Dick, or Mary in to the group.

Flac is not hard  to get if you keep up with the methods that's used today , you don't need to belong to no private site, but there is serval private sites that are just dedicated to this genre .. I download flac  to convert my files over to  Itunes rips aac m4a .Flacs take up lots of storage and i have lots of other stuff i collect and  i rather use my storage for my other stuff because i stream music more than i listen to it on my drives local.  I'm talking about free streaming  while the masses are listening to those 193 kb/s  aac streams from YouTube and 128 kb/s from spotify for free i be using non english sites in kodi , smplayer and my browser and streaming 320 kb/s from non english sties overseas witch is great streaming quality for free you want even find many internet radio stations with that kind of quality even most of those that come in radio player apps are only 128 kb/s but some are better but  some are worse even  . 

 

128 kb/s was used back in the dial up days so people could download them and what these sites give for free tiers, This  is not even  acceptable with today's internet speeds but millions are using these  sites  and are  listening legal,  it goes to show you that  it may be a  measurable difference,  not a big audible one when listening to them on PCs ,and smartphones .  And whats prehistoric like Vinyl has cameback and artist release it again now .Now when i make CDs  i use flac for my car  and my home stereo, but for my ipod  and my pc  i  convert flac to itunes rips or download itunes plus.