Continued Operation 404 success
November 30, 2023
By Colin Mann
Brazilian law enforcement authorities, together with authorities in Peru, have completed a further series of actions as part of the ongoing ‘Operation 404’, an initiative to tackle infringing services on the Internet, supported by IFPI and Pro-Música Brasil.
Operation 404 continues to be one of the largest campaigns of its kind and involves a range of actions in relation to unlicensed music services. To date, the operation has resulted in the suspension of nearly 1,500 domains, the removal of 780 infringing music apps and delivery of more than 100 search warrants.
These actions involved cooperation between the Brazilian Ministry of Justice and Public Security, local cybercrime police units, and the Peruvian Copyright Office, INDECOPI. The operation is also supported by Homeland Security Investigations (US) and the Police IP Crime Unit and City of London Police (UK).
In this sixth wave, INDECOPI participated for the second time – working with Brazilian authorities to block 157 domains dedicated to music piracy, including stream ripping sites. In parallel, the Brazilian authorities took action against 12 major stream ripping and MP3 download mobile apps – with collectively over 4.3 million downloads in Brazil – by ordering their removal from both the major app stores and other websites where the apps could be downloaded. This included the removal and blocking in Brazil of the VidMate stream ripping app which had more than 870 million downloads worldwide and over 1.1 million active users in Brazil.
“This sixth wave of actions by Operation 404 on infringing sites makes this one of the biggest and most concerted efforts in the world against music piracy,” commented Melissa Morgia, IFPI’s Director of Global Content Protection and Enforcement. “Not only does it make an impact on infringing websites, it has evolved to tackle the growing threat posed by mobile app-based piracy. This would not be possible without international cooperation and we thank the authorities in Brazil, Peru, the United States and the UK for their unstinting support in protecting the work of music creators.”
“With the cooperation of several enforcement agencies from countries like UK, US and Peru, and coordinated by the Ministry of Justice and Public Security of Brazil, the sixth wave of Operation 404 keeps tracking and fighting illegal online activities, with benefits for many sectors,” added Paulo Rosa, Director, Pro-Música Brasil. “The Brazilian recorded music industry thanks the efforts of everyone involved and recognises the vital importance