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The anime industry has experienced a surge in popularity, but this growth is not limited to legal streaming platforms.
A significant portion of the demand for anime arrives from unofficial channels, with several major pirate websites dedicated solely to anime content.
The Alliance for Creativity and Entertainment (ACE) recognizes this as a serious threat and is not sitting idly by.
ACE Crackdown
A few weeks ago, ACE booked one of its largest successes in history with the shutdown of the Fmovies piracy ring. As a result, roughly a billion monthly pirate site visits were wiped out overnight. This included Aniwave.to, previously one of the most popular anime piracy sites.
While Aniwave was immensely popular, the domain was still relatively new. It first appeared on the scene a year ago as a rebranding of 9anime, which was discontinued citing legal troubles. These problems didn't disappear with a new name, as the recent shutdown showed.
Following AniWave's demise, much of its traffic went to another popular anime pirate site; HiAnime.to. This portal also has experience with rebranding; it was previously known as Aniwatch, after taking over over from Zoro.to before that. The true motive behind these changes is unclear. However, we can say that it does very little to shake off any legal pressure.
HiAnime: 300 million visits
Today, HiAnime is the most visited pirate site on the web. According to the latest data from Similarweb, the site had more than 300 million visits in September, up from 210 million a month earlier. This massive increase is a direct result of the takedown of its major competitor.
HiAnime today
Anime is historically associated with Japan, but HiAnime attracts an international audience. Nearly 40% of its visits come from the United States, with India, the UK, Canada, and Australia completing the top five. The operators, meanwhile, are believed to be in Vietnam.
This traffic surge shouldn't come as a surprise to ACE. The anti-piracy alliance has targeted HiAnime's predecessors in the past, and it's determined to shut down the operation, when the opportunity arises.
Subpoena Targets HiAnime.to
Late last week, MPA requested several DMCA subpoenas at a federal court in California. These subpoenas are directed at Cloudflare and the Tonic domain registry, listing a variety of targets, including HiAnime.to.
The subpoenas were requested on behalf of ACE members with the aim of obtaining the personal details of the people who operate HiAnime.to, Pelisplus.to, Veronline.mov and dozens of other domains.
On behalf of ACE members, the MPA seeks any information that can help identify the infringers. This includes names, physical addresses, IP addresses, telephone numbers, e-mail addresses, payment information, account updates and account history.
Many More Targets
Three subpoenas were requested at the federal court last week. Two target Cloudflare and the other targets the Tonic registry. Both companies are known to comply with U.S. subpoenas once they are signed off by a court clerk.
The three subpoenas target 55 domain names in total and are not limited to streaming and torrent sites. They also list several storage platforms such as darkibox.com and streamtape.com, and IPTV services and apps including Fosto.tv and u-playtv.com.
While these subpoenas have resulted in actionable intelligence in the past, most of the larger site operators are aware that this information can be disclosed though court orders. As a result, several domain name owners have taken precautions to keep sensitive information private.
Whether that also applies to HiAnime has yet to be seen, but it's clear that the anime piracy site is among ACE's top targets today.
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Copies of the letters accompanying the subpoenas are available here (1, 2, 3). An alphabetical list of all the mentioned domain names is available below.
– 123-hd.com
– 24-hd.com
– anime-sama.fr
– animesaturn.mx
– animesaturn.tv
– assistirseries.gratis
– comandotorrents.to
– darkibox.com
– dlhd.so
– dwn.ycndownload.com
– fikper.com
– filman.cc
– filmesxp.com
– filmoflix.dad
– filmoflix.kim
– filmoflix.tel
– filmoflix.to
– filmowo.club
– fosto.tv
– gimy.video
– hianime.mn
– hianime.nz
– hianime.sx
– hianime.to
– imoviehds.com
– inwiptv.com
– kissanime.com.ru
– megacine.to
– megaflix.click
– mizhls.ru
– movielair.cc
– moviehdthai.com
– movierulztv.us
– new-hd.com
– overflixtv.com
– papadustream.to
– pelisflix.pink
– pelispedia.mov
– pelisplus.to
– pobreflix.global
– repelisplus.lat
– serie-day.com
– seriesflix.my
– seriesflixtv2.me
– soaper.live
– srstop.link
– streamtape.com
– superfilmes.blue
– tecflix.vip
– topflix.sh
– topsrs.day
– tuktukcima.com
– tvchak113.com
– u-playtv.com
– veronline.mov
From: _, for the latest news on copyright battles, piracy and more.
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By David Minister
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