Movie Pirates of the Caribbean: Exploring Illegal Streaming Cyberlockers

Authors

  • Damilola Ibosiola Queen Mary University of London
  • Benjamin Steer Queen Mary University of London
  • Alvaro Garcia-Recuero Queen Mary University of London
  • Gianluca Stringhini University College London
  • Steve Uhlig Queen Mary University of London
  • Gareth Tyson Queen Mary University of London

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.1609/icwsm.v12i1.15008

Keywords:

video streaming, Cyberlockers, Piracy

Abstract

Online video piracy (OVP) is a contentious topic, with strong proponents on both sides of the argument. Recently, a number of illegal websites, called streaming cyberlockers, have begun to dominate OVP. These websites specialise in distributing pirated content, underpinned by third party indexing services offering easy-to-access directories of content. This paper performs the first exploration of this new ecosystem. It characterises the content, as well the streaming cyberlockers' individual attributes. We find a remarkably centralised system with just a few networks, countries and cyberlockers underpinning most provisioning. We also investigate the actions of copyright enforcers. We find they tend to target small subsets of the ecosystem, although they appear quite successful. 84% of copyright notices see content removed.

ICWSM-2018 Cover

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Published

2018-06-15

How to Cite

Ibosiola, D., Steer, B., Garcia-Recuero, A., Stringhini, G., Uhlig, S., & Tyson, G. (2018). Movie Pirates of the Caribbean: Exploring Illegal Streaming Cyberlockers. Proceedings of the International AAAI Conference on Web and Social Media, 12(1). https://doi.org/10.1609/icwsm.v12i1.15008

Issue

Vol. 12 No. 1 (2018): Twelfth International AAAI Conference on Web and Social Media

Section

Full Papers