Category
Piracy and intellectual property seizures
Criminal enforcement against streaming services, file sharing sites, torrent indexes, and shadow libraries.
Records
6
2010 to 2026
Infrastructure
3
Items recorded as acted on
People named
10
Distinct people in these records
Sources
8
Cited across the category
What this category covers
Domain seizures and prosecutions brought by the state. Civil copyright disputes and platform content removal are a different thing and are not recorded here.
Every entry below is an action that was carried out, not an announcement of intent. The counting rules and the inclusion definition apply to this category exactly as they apply to the rest of the index.
What the record does not settle
- 0 of 6 records have a documented successor. Silence in the other rows is not evidence that a service stayed down.
- Reported figures come from the acting authorities. Named figures come from people recorded individually here. The two are never added together.
Chronology
| Date | Takedown | Target | Led by | Jurisdictions |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jun 30, 2010 | Operation In Our Sites (initial phase) | Nine domains offering pirated first-run films | ICE-HSI and IPR Center | Not established |
| Jan 19, 2012 | Megaupload seizure | Megaupload | DOJ | Not established |
| Jul 20, 2016 | Kickass Torrents takedown | Kickass Torrents (KAT) | HSI | Not established |
| Nov 3, 2022 | Z-Library domain seizure | Z-Library | FBI | Not established |
| Nov 27, 2024 | European illegal IPTV enforcement action | Multiple illegal IPTV networks | Not established | Not established |
| Jun 26, 2026 | Operation Offsides (2026 FIFA World Cup streaming domains) | More than 1,000 unauthorized World Cup streaming domains | ICE-HSI and IPR Center | Not established |
Who leads these actions
- IPR Center 2 records
- ICE-HSI 2 records
- FBI 1 record
- HSI 1 record
- DOJ 1 record