Magis TV IPTV Crackdown Blocks 70 Domains, Hundreds Already Wiped Out
Last December when the MPA and other rightsholders renewed calls for site-blocking measures to be implemented in the United States, much of the focus was placed on Fmovies.
Before its recent sudden demise, Fmovies was considered the world’s largest illegal movie and TV show streaming site, yet some lawmakers in attendance at last year’s hearing had never heard of it before.
Fewer still would’ve heard of pirate IPTV service Magis TV, but for the MPA and enforcement coalition Alliance for Creativity and Entertainment, Magis TV is the source of a persistent headache for which there’s currently no cure.
China and Latin America
According to the MPA, Magis TV is believed to operate out of China. Its focus is on the Latin American market where millions consume content mostly via the platform’s ubiquitous, subscription-based Android app.
Cybersecurity firm ESET has linked the popular app to malware and botnets, but that doesn’t appear to have had any negative effect on Magis TV’s continued popularity.
Indeed, despite being under significant pressure from anti-piracy measures across the entire region, limiting Magis TV’s ability to operate has proven quite the challenge.
An order published in Argentina dated September 13, 2024, reveals that the country’s Internet Service Providers are now required to block dozens of Magis TV-linked domains for violating intellectual property law.
Telecoms body ENACOM is responsible for arranging the blocks
The original order in Spanish (translation above) runs to four pages, most of which list Magis TV-linked domains. As screenshots of those domains shows, there’s no obvious design consistency, which suggests that whoever operates them have received no specific instructions from the owners of the IPTV service.
Some domains on the list claim to offer services to those considering becoming a reseller, so at least in theory they may have closer links to the service itself. In other cases, site operators may not have any direct connections beyond buying subscription credits at one price and then selling them on at another. That’s not to downplay their importance, but it does highlight the difficulties when it comes to enforcement.
In total, 69 domains (full list below) must be blocked to ensure they’re inaccessible from Argentinian territory but how effective that will be at limiting access to the service remains to be seen.
ACE Has Already Seized or Shut Down as Many Domains
The Alliance for Creativity and Entertainment has been working on the Magis TV problem for at least a couple of years. In the summer of 2022, a series of DMCA subpoenas targeting dozens of illegal streaming sites aimed to unmask their operators, including whoever is behind Magis TV.
In November that same year, another subpoena sought information from Zenlayer. Whether any, all, or none of these efforts bore fruit is unknown, but ACE soon started to take possession or exercise some type of control over dozens of domains with links to Magis TV. As is usually the case, many began diverting to the ACE anti-piracy portal.
Quietly commandeered, no official announcement from ACE
The lack of an official announcement to celebrate such a big haul was somewhat unusual. However, it seems likely that having assessed the situation, ACE may have concluded that the seizures wouldn’t provide the clean kill the coalition is known for.
The true scale of the problem hasn’t been revealed in public but an ACE report seen by TorrentFreak suggests a continent-wide problem.
Focused on piracy in Latin America, the report reveals that by the end of 2023, the anti-piracy coalition had taken down around 50 Magis TV websites in the region. Starting in Chile and heading north, up through Peru, into Ecuador, then Colombia, Venezuela, Dominican Republic, and finally back on home turf in the United States, sites were systematically taken down.
The only issue, albeit quite a significant one, is that ACE concluded that Magis TV and/or its affiliates, including an unknown number of resellers, were together operating over 370 websites.
Inevitable Site-Blocking
Ecuador has been blocking pirate sites since 2019 and earlier this year it began blocking Magis TV.
In August, ISPs in Ecuador added a further 183 Magis TV-linked IP addresses to the existing blocklist, followed by a dynamic blocking order last week, which allows a rightsholder to add new blocking targets without a court intervention.
As the image below shows (right), Ecuador has also managed to place warnings directly on the screens of pirates watching illegal streams, while Bolivia (left) issued direct warnings as far back as July 2022.
Limited blocking also takes place in Peru (magis-tv.app, magstv.com, tvmagis.com, magistv.news, magistv-app.net) and other countries in the region. But with domains both cheap and easy to replace, pirates at the consumer end of what is effectively a pyramid sales operation, will always be one step ahead.
ACE has been keeping up the pressure by obtaining new DMCA subpoenas in March and June 2024, so presumably intends to tackle this problem by taking out those at the top.
If they are indeed based in China, that’s unlikely to be straightforward; yet, with enough patience and the right leverage, nothing is impossible.
The domains listed for blocking in the Argentinian order read as follows:
magistv-la.com, magistv.net, tvmagis.pro, magistv-app.net, magistv.video, magistvplus.com, magistv.app, tvmagis.com, magistvonline.com, magis123.com, magistv.film, magistvoficial.net, magistviptv.com, magistv.live, magistvlatin.com, magistvlatino.es, fullmagistv.com, magistvv.com – redirects to > tvsnipers.com, magistv-ecuador.com, magistv.agency, soportemagistv.com, panelmagistv.com, magistvstream.net, magistvmas.com, magistv-venezuela.com, comprarmagistv.app, magistv.ai, descarga-magistv.com, magispro.com, magistvgo.com, magislatamtv.net, magistvecuador.app, magistvinternational.com, magiscr.org, magistv.mx, magistvmexico.net, oficialmagistv.com, magistv.so – redirects to > magistv.film, magistvapk.app – redirects to> magis-tv.vip, comprarmagistv.com, magistvmex.com, magisapp.app, magistvperu.org, magistvusa.net, magistvoficial.com, magistv-app.net, renovarmagistv.net, panelmagistv.net, magistvgratis.com, magistvpty.com, getmagistv.com, magistve.com, magistvoficial.org, magistvpc.com, magistv.la, magistv.club, tvmagis.pro, magistv.stream, magis.com.ec, magistvtv.com, planesmagistv.com, magistvpremium.com, magistv-latino.net, magistvhn.com, magistvplus.com.co, magisapk.com, magis-cr.com, magistvoficialchile.com, magistvapp.app
To our knowledge, ACE has shut down at minimum the following domains:
magistvgroup.com, magistv.global, magistv.org.pe, magistvnicaragua.com, magistvperu.com, magistvusa.com, magistvapk.com, magistvecuador.com, magistvlatino.app, magistvdemo.com, magistvargentina.com, magistvrepublicadominicana.com, magistvchile.com, magistvpanama.com, magistvfacil.com, magistvbrasil.com, magisglobal.net, magistvcostarica.com, magistvpuertorico.com, magistvmexico.com, magistvuruguay.com, magistvglobal.com, magistvoficial.vip, magistvparaguay.com, magistvbolivia.com, magistvcolombia.com, bolivia.magistvgroup.com, cuba.magistvgroup.com, colombia.magistvgroup.com, argentina.magistvgroup.com, magistvfull.com, magistv.biz, magistv.services, magistv.solutions, magistv.fyi, magistv.us, magistvoficial.online, magistv.group, magistv.social, magistvoficial.digital, magist.vg, magistvvenezuela.com, magistv.es, magistvglobal.co, magistv.place, magistvrepublishedadomenica.com, magistv.store, magistv.asia, magistvoficial.services, magistv.life, magistvoficial.info
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