beIN Says Issues at RIPE NCC Help Piracy-as-a-Service Entities Stay Online
In a recent submission to the U.S. Trade Representative’s 2025 “Notorious Markets” review, beIN (in partnership with Miramax) argues that anti-piracy enforcement focused solely on consumer-facing pirate sites is insufficient.
Instead, they contend enforcement should target “piracy-as-a-service” (PaaS) providers — the backend infrastructure that enables pirates — but face a major obstacle: weaknesses in the registry operations of RIPE NCC (the European IP address registry).
beIN claims that “bulletproof” hosting firms abuse RIPE NCC’s registration rules (e.g. supplying false contact info, anonymity) to mask their identities and evade takedown requests.
They warn that resolving domain names or IP addresses often leads only to anonymous or untraceable providers, making enforcement against PaaS operators nearly impossible.
beIN also criticizes the cycle of blocking domains and launching new ones, and suggests rights holders need to shift focus upstream in the piracy supply chain.
