More than 1,700 people were killed and nearly 200,000 more displaced in the July 2025 massacres in Sweida, Syria, UN human rights investigators said on Friday in a report that called for greater action towards accountability.
Author: tio
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Myanmar: WFP reports fragile recovery one year after deadly earthquake
A “new wave of global instability is hitting Myanmar at the worst possible moment,” a UN official in the country warned on Friday, as increases in fuel, food, and fertilizer prices due to the ongoing Middle East conflict push vulnerable families closer to hunger one year after a devastating earthquake. -
Weekly Roundup: March 27
On Monday, Sam Moyn responded to Beau Baumann’s recent call for legislatively supremacy. While broadly endorsing Baumann’s vision, he questions whether liberals and progressives will be able to resist the siren song of juristocracy and presidentialism when back in power. In his newsletter, Jamelle Bouie likewise endorsed a constitutional politics of legislative supremacy…
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Sky Wins Irish Court Order to Unmask 300+ Pirate IPTV Users via Revolut Bank
Last August, we reported on the case of David Dunbar, a Wexford man who consented to a €480,000 damages judgment after Sky exposed his illegal IPTV operation.
The initially defiant IPTV operator had destroyed evidence and was fined €30,000 for contempt of court. This penalty followed Dunbar’s refusal to allow investigators to search his home, despite a High Court-sanctioned Anton Piller order.
While much of the internal service data was reportedly lost, the man’s Revolut account revealed that he received €118,992 from resellers over a period of three and a half years. During this time, subscribers also paid €72,414 and £9,256.
While Sky was pleased with the actions against the man who they describe as a “top level” pirate, the company was not done yet.
Revolut Must Unmask IPTV Pirates
This week, the story moved to the next stage. On Wednesday, Ireland’s High Court granted Sky a Norwich Pharmacal order requiring Revolut Bank UAB to hand over the names, addresses, and banking details of 304 IPTV subscribers and 10 resellers connected to Dunbar’s service, “IPTV is Easy.”
The application was supported by Premier Sports, GAA+, LOITV, and Clubber TV, which shows that the affected content extends well beyond Sky’s own channels.
To obtain the identities of these IPTV resellers and subscribers, Sky initially approached Revolut directly. However, the bank said it could only disclose information following a court order, and on Wednesday Judge Brian Cregan granted one.
Sky’s barrister, Theo Donnelly, told the court that it expects to use the personal information to take legal action against the resellers and some of the end users of these pirate boxes.
For Sky, it would not be possible to take legal action against all 304 subscribers, he said. However, legal action against IPTV users is new in Ireland, which makes this a key change in tactics.
Deterrent Effect
By unmasking the IPTV subscribers, Sky hopes to create a deterrent effect on the country’s estimated 400,000 pirate IPTV users, or “dodgy boxes,” as they are known in Ireland. At the same time, some of the resellers are arguably in more trouble.
In an affidavit, Sky investigator Damien Gilmore notes that there is information suggesting that at least five of the resellers continue to sell the IPTV services to this day. The company expects to take action against all these active resellers.
The timing is also no accident; with the Premier League season nearing its climax and major golf and Formula 1 events on the horizon, Gilmore said that Sky is anxious to take “decisive action” while interest in premium sport is at its peak.
Broadening IPTV Subscriber Crackdown
For Ireland’s pirate IPTV users, this is the first time that they have come in the crosshairs of rightsholders. While only a few will face legal action, Sky hopes that the looming threat will have a deterrent effect.
On paper, Ireland’s Copyright and Related Rights Act 2000 allows fines of up to €127,000 and up to five years imprisonment for those who use illegal streaming services. However, it’s worth stressing that there is no jurisprudence for action against subscribers.
The Irish action appears to be part of a trend to hold IPTV subscribers accountable. Earlier this week, a French Public Prosecutor’s Office fined 19 IPTV subscribers between €300 and €400 after their identities were exposed through a reseller bust.
In Italy, the Guardia di Finanza identified thousands of subscribers following the dismantling of a pirate network, and rights holders subsequently sent civil damages demands on top of the criminal fines.
In Ireland, it appears that Sky can’t simply demand money without any oversight, as the judge’s order restricts use of the personal details to start legal proceedings against alleged infringers.
The August judgment had already pointed in this direction. Mr Justice Sanfey warned that anyone running similar operations should consider how vulnerable they are to discovery and exposure, “with potentially calamitous consequences.”
This week’s ruling suggests those consequences now extend to subscribers too.
From: TF, for the latest news on copyright battles, piracy and more.
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IED
This poem speaks from the body of someone living in enduring relational threat. Rather than explaining or diagnosing, it stays with the physical reality of vigilance, exposure, and survival, where language falls away and instinct takes over.
IED
I breathe out, step on eggshells, hold my breath
Tiny tack sharp barbs scattered everywhere
Like improvised explosive devices
Hidden behind closed doors and in plain sight
A homespun emotional carpet of red alerts I am a naked opponent exposed
Against an armoured foe disguised as friend
I breathe out, step off, hold my breath Retread my own footprints on the threadbare parts, the parts without the dirt of meanness and
the stains of vitriol
Clean weave, hate free
Who goes there I know you, you know me too
Let me pass. unhurt. please let me through No answer. only the deafening cracks of tiny shells exploding madness in my wake. no cover Wrong warp wrong weft, coordinates awry No visible injuries, but I am torn to shreds.
****
Mad in the UK hosts blogs by a diverse group of writers. The opinions expressed are the writers’ own.
The post IED appeared first on Mad in the UK.
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The Covid Amnesia Project and the Plot to Erase 2020
It’s up to those of us who experienced the pandemic in the real-world to make sure that what actually happened in 2020 isn’t deliberately erased by sheltered disinformation agents who experienced it all from their laptops.
The post The Covid Amnesia Project and the Plot to Erase 2020 first appeared on Science-Based Medicine.
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Screen time for under-fives should be limited to one hour a day, parents told
New government guidance also suggests children under-two should not be watching screens alone. -
Our daughter battled Meningitis B despite being vaccinated in ‘very rare’ case
After Noa-Rose became critically ill, the four-year-old spent two weeks fighting for her life. -
“We’re All Just Open Targets Now”: Rania Khalek on Expanding War in Lebanon
Rania Khalek is a Lebanese-American journalist and host of the Dispatches podcast from BreakThrough News. Khalek spoke to Current Affairs from Beirut—amid ongoing airstrikes—to discuss the brutal on-the-ground reality of Israel’s attacks, the complicity of U.S. politicians, and the responsibility of ordinary Americans to speak out against the bloodshed. Although war may seem distant, she warns, it is closer than people think: “People need to treat this as being serious,” says Khalek. “Because there is something called an imperial boomerang, and this will come home.”
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Traffic Violation! License Plate Reader Mission Creep Is Already Here
A new report from 404 Media sheds light on how automated license plate readers (ALPRs) could be used beyond the press releases and glossy marketing materials put out by law enforcement agencies and ALPR vendors. In December 2025, Georgia State Patrol ticketed a motorcyclist for holding a cell phone in his hand. According to the report, the ticket read, “CAPTURED ON FLOCK CAMERA 31 MM 1 HOLDING PHONE IN LEFT HAND.”
If you’re thinking that this sounds outside of the scope of what ALPRs are supposed to do, you’re right. In November 2025, Flock Safety, the maker of the ALPR in question, wrote a post about how they definitely are in compliance with the Fourth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. In this post, which highlighted what ALPRs are and what they are not, the company writes: “What it is not: Flock ALPR does not perform facial recognition, does not store biometrics, cannot be queried to find people, and is not used to enforce traffic violations.” (emphasis added)
Well, apparently their customers never got the memo and apparently the technology’s design does not explicitly prevent behavior the company officially and publicly disavows.
Or at least this used to be the case: Flock now lists six different companies providing traffic enforcement technology on its “Partner program” site. Public records also show that speed enforcement cameras have been connected to Flock’s ALPR network.
EFF and other privacy advocates have long warned about mission creep when it comes to surveillance infrastructure. Police often swear that a piece of technology will only be used in a particular set of circumstances or to fight only the most serious crimes only to utilize it to fight petty crimes or watch protests.
We continue to urge cities, states, and even companies to end their relationship with Flock Safety because of the incompatibility between the mass surveillance it enables and its inability to protect civil liberties—including preventing mission creep.