CODA has confirmed that on May 22, 2023, the malicious piracy site 13DL (13dl.to), which had attracted the largest traffic of any Japanese publication leech site, was closed.
CODA has continued to investigate 13DL as a target site for the ” Cross-Border Enforcement Project (CBEP) (※1）” based on requests from publishers, including the Council of Five Publishers Anti-Piracy Committee(※2).
13DL is a leech site that posted a large number of links to multiple cyberlockers(※3). Since the closure and exposure of “Haruka Yume no Ato” in 2017, which was the largest Japanese site at the time , access has increased(13dl.net at the time), and illegal uploads to cyberlockers are believed to have been done by the site operator himself. In order for users to download works from cyberlockers, it is necessary to subscribe to a paid service such as a “premium membership” (or a paid subscription enables smooth and mass downloading), and it is believed that the operator was earning illegal income through a system in which it receives compensation from cyberlockers.
At the request of publishers, including the Five Publishers Anti-Piracy Council, CODA, with the help of ethical hackers(※4), preserved infringing material as evidence of illegal uploading. We then requested CBEP Legal Director Hiroyuki Nakajima to act, and on May 3, 2023, we sent a DMCA notice to Cloudflare, which was used by 13DL and cyberlockers, citing infringement of Shueisha’s works. Furthermore, on May 10, we filed a motion for disclosure of sender information with the U.S. Court of Appeals. After the disclosure order was issued on May 12, around May 15, 13DL stopped posting infringing material on its site, with the message: ’13DL is closed, thank you for all you have done.’ However, it was later confirmed that from May 17, they had been distributing a file with download links to over 180,000 manga works uploaded to the two cyberlockers as a “final present to apologize to those who had bought premium memberships” (on May 22, access to the site itself was disabled).
Cloudflare is expected to disclose information on 13DL and several cyberlockers subscribers in June. Furthermore, CODA, in cooperation with the rights holders, attorney Nakajima, and ethical hackers, is currently requesting procedures from a local law firm in Scandinavia, where cyberlockers are believed to operate, in order to promptly file a sender information disclosure request regarding the distribution of the “final present” as well. We will use every means at our disposal to identify the operator.
Attention
- There are copycat sites using the name 13DL or similar domain names. Not only this, but other pirate sites, including leech sites, are operated by criminals, and you may be infected with malicious malware by clicking on ads or downloading infringing material. Please be careful not to access these sites.
- If you have received a link to illegal content as a “final present,” please do not download from the link, as knowingly downloading pirated content is prohibited by law and you may be charged with a crime.
※1：KADOKAWA CORPORATION / KODANSHA LTD. / SHUEISHA Inc. / SHOGAKUKAN Inc. / SQUARE ENIX CO., LTD.
※2：A project being conducted by CODA since April 2021 with the support of the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry, in cooperation with ethical hackers and others to identify the operators of pirate websites
※3：Online data storage service
※4：Engineers with high ethical and moral standards who do activities such as preventing attacks from malicious hackers (crackers) using advanced technology and knowledge of computers and networks
(translated by automatic translation system)