Romania Seized Leading Pirate Website Domain

The country with the fastest average Internet connection speeds in the region has intensified its anti-piracy efforts, with the government seizing the domain of one of the most popular streaming websites in the country for copyright infringement.

rom-seized.th.jpg

Hollywood continues its efforts to pressure countries in mainly Western Europe to act against online piracy. As a result, some countries passed anti-piracy legislation but largely it has been left to national courts and entertainment industry to decide how to deal with file-sharing. For example, the Romanian government has seized the domain of a popular streaming portal 990.ro, which made available almost any TV show on the planet and about 90% of the latest movies without the permission of the rights owners. Now its domain is under the control of the Ministry of Justice.

Although the site didn’t receive any notice of the seizure, this was expected: 4 years ago, Romania’s Audiovisual Council reported pirate movie and TV show websites (including 990.ro) to the local police, demanding action to shut them down. The list also included Vplay.ro, the largest site of its type at the time, and it was also seized by the Ministry of Justice. Many of other websites from that list have since shut down, moved to new domains or had old ones seized.

A similar crackdown was carried out a year ago with the assistance from the FBI: it resulted in 3 sites shutdown and arrest of several people. So far, no arrests connected with 990.ri seizure were announced, but more serious breaches of Romanian copyright law can be punishable by fines and jail sentences. It is also known that 990.ro carried a lot of paid advertising, so the chances are that tax evasion and money laundering offenses are being investigated, just like in the last year’s raids.

According to media reports, 990.ro was owned by the Romanian news and entertainment portal Romania Online, but the latter denied the allegations. Media reports also stated that 990.ro was one of many customers of the FASTUPLOAD.ro free service that allows to store, transfer and view files. The hosting service is known as the largest storage service in the country, operating under Romanian law. A direct IP address for the streaming site has ceased to function, and its operators haven’t announced its return so far.