‘Pirate Site Blocking is a Privatized Paid Service in Egypt’

Pirate site-blocking schemes have become more common around the world but there are some notable regional differences. In Egypt, not all rightsholders are happy with the local implementation. According to sports broadcaster beIN, pirate site blocking is privatized in Egypt with the 'licensed' party requesting a blocking fee that's not proportional to what's being offered.

In recent years, rightsholders have repeatedly teamed up with Egyptian law enforcement to tackle several large pirate sites and services.

The Alliance for Creativity and Entertainment (ACE) booked several successes, shutting down domains related to popular piracy rings, streaming portals such as MyCima and, more recently, Cima4U.

Several of these actions took place in coordination with sports broadcaster beIN. The company is very active in the Middle East and North Africa (the MENA region) where a large part of its subscriber base resides. Traditionally, this is a region with plenty of enforcement challenges.

Despite recent successes, these challenges remain. A few days ago, beIN and subsidiary Miramax submitted an overview to the U.S. Trade Representative, as input for the annual “Special 301” review. The submission focuses exclusively on the MENA region.

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