3 Count: Olympic Bans

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1: Twitch Streamers Hit with DMCA Copyright Bans for Streaming Near Olympics

First off today, the Manchester Evening News is reporting that several Twitch streamers have expressed frustration over Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) takedown notices that have shuttered their streams for simply livestreaming in public places near the Olympics.

The Olympics are taking place right now in Tokyo, Japan and, as one might expect, many livestreamers have descended on the area. However, some of t hose streamers have reported having their streams cut and their channels receiving copyright strikes even though they were mere livestreaming from public places near the games.

Whether these takedowns were deliberate or a case of mistaken identity is unclear as neither Twitch nor the International Olympic Committee have responded.

2: Ireland Pledges to Implement New EU Copyright Laws in Weeks After Failing to Meet Deadline

Next up today, Sarah Collins at the Irish Independent reports that the Irish government has agreed to pass the new EU copyright laws into their national code within the next few weeks. The move comes after the European Commission began legal proceedings against some 23 nations, including Ireland, that failed to meet the two-year deadline to do so.

Back in 2019, the EU passed a series of controversial copyright reforms including requiring certain service providers to block the re-upload of infringing material and to require search engines to pay for the use of news content. After the legislation passed, member nations had 2 years to implement the code in their laws but, after the deadline passed on June 7, nearly two dozen nations had not.

So far, only Germany, the Netherlands, Hungary and Malta have managed to apply the new laws fully. However, Ireland has said that they are actively working on implementing the new laws and may even have it done in the coming weeks.

3: Registrar Suspends Domain of Popular Torrent Site YTS

Finally today, Ernesto Van der Sar at Torrentfreak writes that YTS, one of the most popular BitTorrent sites in the world, has lost control of its main domain as its registrar has put it on “ClientHold” status, rendering it inactive.

The move was undertaken by the site’s registrar, Gandi, and, though this is a common pattern for domains seized for copyright reasons, it has not been confirmed whether that is the reason. The site, however, is continuing to function on a series of other domains that are operating, even though their main one is down.

The current YTS site is an unofficial relaunch of the name after the original team shuttered in 2015. Since then, it has faced a series of legal issues related to piracy on its site, however, this is the first time it’s had one of its main domains seized.

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