3 Count: Robot Newspapers

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1: AI-Powered News Piracy Site Blocked By ISPs After Court Sides With Publishers

First, today, Andy Maxwell at Torrentfreak writes that a group of French media outlets has successfully secured a site blocking order against news.dayfr.com, a “parasitic” news platform.

According to the news outlets, the site has operated since 2021. The seemingly automated site grabs content from legitimate news organizations and, with the assistance of AI, rewrites and republishes up to 6,000 articles per day.

In February, the news outlets petitioned the courts to order local ISPs to block the site. This process has historically been used to target traditional pirate sites, not AI news sites. However, a May 7 decision by the Paris Court ordered local ISPs to block the site, ruling that it is covered under the current site-blocking agreement between ISPs and rightsholders.

2: MangaDex Hit With DMCA Takedowns in Latest Anti-Manga Piracy Efforts

Next up today, Joseph Brogan at Sportskeeda reports that the manga website MangaDex was hit with hundreds of DMCA takedown notices, which have resulted in the removal of hundreds of unlicensed series that were hosted on the site.

The takedown represents the second major such takedown as manga publishers have ramped up their anti-piracy efforts. This latest one resulted in the removal of over 300 series from the site, which identifies itself as a manga reading website.

This notice is especially unusual because it involves multiple publishers, including several of the major ones. It indicates that the publishers are working together to draft and submit notices simultaneously in a bid to combat manga piracy.

3: Crew Union Calls for the Reinstatement of U.S. Copyright Office Head

Finally, today, Katie Kilkenny at The Hollywood Reporter writes that the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees (IATSE) has released a statement calling for U.S. Copyright Office head Shira Perlmutter to be reinstated following her abrupt firing by the Trump administration.

IATSE is a union representing over 170,000 artisans and craftspersons working in the entertainment industry, including live theater, motion picture and television production. The union called for Perlmutter to be “reinstated at the behest of Congress.” The union highlighted the timing of the firing, noting it came one day after the Copyright Office released a report seen as damaging to the AI companies.

The Trump administration has not provided a reason for its decision. The position of Register of Copyrights is currently vacant.

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