{"id":888650,"date":"2026-01-29T00:14:36","date_gmt":"2026-01-29T06:14:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/2026\/01\/29\/major-labels-spotify-sue-annas-archive-over-alleged-scraping-scheme-multiple-domain-takedowns-follow-preliminary-injunction\/"},"modified":"2026-01-29T00:14:36","modified_gmt":"2026-01-29T06:14:36","slug":"major-labels-spotify-sue-annas-archive-over-alleged-scraping-scheme-multiple-domain-takedowns-follow-preliminary-injunction","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/2026\/01\/29\/major-labels-spotify-sue-annas-archive-over-alleged-scraping-scheme-multiple-domain-takedowns-follow-preliminary-injunction\/","title":{"rendered":"Major Labels, Spotify Sue Anna\u2019s Archive Over Alleged Scraping Scheme \u2014 Multiple Domain Takedowns Follow Preliminary Injunction"},"content":{"rendered":"

Music <\/p>\n

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\"music<\/p>\n

Another one bites the dust: Anna\u2019s Archive domains are being pulled down following a federal court\u2019s web-hosting-focused preliminary injunction.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Music It turns out allegedly scraping Spotify\u2019s entire library wasn\u2019t a great idea. Now, the major labels and the DSP itself have hit Anna\u2019s Archive, the alleged \u201cnotorious pirate website\u201d behind the purported \u201ctheft of millions of music files,\u201d with a lawsuit and an injunction.<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Universal Music, Sony Music, Warner Music, and Spotify just recently submitted that straightforward complaint<\/a> to a New York federal court. As many already know, Anna\u2019s Archive closed out 2025 by proclaiming<\/a> that it\u2019d \u201carchived around 86 million music files, representing around 99.6% of listens,\u201d from Spotify.<\/p>\n

Additionally, the involved hackers released the corresponding metadata and confirmed plans to drop the actual files \u201cin order of popularity.\u201d<\/p>\n

Unsurprisingly, the \u201cbrazen theft\u201d isn\u2019t sitting right with the industry powers that be, who\u2019ve criticized the episode as \u201ca calculated effort to flagrantly undermine and interfere with\u201d their rights en route to spurring \u201c\u2018donations\u2019 for Anna\u2019s Archive.\u201d<\/h4>\n

\u201cAnna\u2019s Archive also profits from its illegal conduct,\u201d the suit reads. \u201cIt solicits users to provide anonymous \u2018donations\u2019 of between $2 per month and $100 per month using untraceable methods\u2026 For the copyrighted content hosted directly by Anna\u2019s Archive, download speeds for free users on Anna\u2019s Archive are typically very slow. However, in exchange for a \u2018donation,\u2019 users receive \u2018fast downloads\u2019 and avoid waitlists.\u201d<\/p>\n

At the top level, the plaintiffs are litigating over the relevant recordings\u2019 alleged infringement. And on Spotify\u2019s end, the Anna\u2019s Archive hackers are said to have facilitated the alleged scraping scheme through \u201cthousands of accounts\u201d \u2013 thereby allegedly violating the DSP\u2019s terms and eliciting a breach of contract claim here.<\/p>\n

(Last month, Spotify told us that it\u2019d \u201cidentified and disabled the nefarious user accounts that engaged in unlawful scraping.\u201d A reasonable question in light of the Anna\u2019s Archive fiasco: how many other nefarious accounts are still lurking on the platform?)<\/p>\n

Spotify is also suing for an alleged violation of the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act; Anna\u2019s Archive allegedly \u201caccessed Spotify\u2019s protected computers without authorization\u201d while aiming \u201cto defraud.\u201d<\/p>\n

Finally, the DMCA\u2019s anti-circumvention provision<\/a> is once again taking center stage; all the plaintiffs maintain that Anna\u2019s Archive \u201ccircumvented technological measures that effectively control access to protected works, including by using thousands of accounts to mask its usage as ordinary user behavior and by decrypting encrypted audio files and removing DRM.\u201d<\/p>\n

Regarding relief, despite acknowledging that the hackers likely reside outside the States and that their identities aren\u2019t publicly known, the majors are seeking damages, the destruction of the allegedly scraped files, a multifaceted permanent injunction, and more.<\/h4>\n

In an order that hit the docket yesterday<\/a>, Judge Jed Rakoff in more words confirmed that the filing parties would likely prevail on the merits. Consequently, he expanded on a temporary restraining order with a sweeping preliminary injunction preventing any person or company from \u201chosting, linking to, distributing,\u201d or making available for download the allegedly scraped recordings.<\/p>\n

More interestingly, the court further barred \u201cany step that results in the transfer of the registration of any of the domain names of Anna\u2019s Archive\u201d sites \u201cto any other registrant or registrar.\u201d<\/p>\n

Plus, \u201call domain name registries and registrars of record for\u201d the sites, along with \u201call hosting and internet service providers for Anna\u2019s Archive,\u201d are prohibited from providing \u201cany hosting services\u201d to the defendant.<\/h4>\n

With Cloudflare, the National Internet Exchange of India, and others directly mentioned, known Anna\u2019s Archive hosts and ISPs must \u201creasonably assist in\u201d the order\u2019s implementation, Judge Rakoff spelled out.<\/p>\n

Bearing as much in mind, Redditors are noting the takedown of multiple Anna\u2019s Archive domains and lamenting organizers\u2019 decision to expand their focus beyond books and academic papers. Technically, the domain-name challenges surfaced closer to January\u2019s beginning<\/a>, but Anna\u2019s Archive at the time dismissed them as unrelated to the Spotify scrape.<\/p>\n<\/section>\n

Read More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Music Another one bites the dust: Anna\u2019s Archive domains are being pulled down following a federal court\u2019s web-hosting-focused preliminary injunction. Music It turns out allegedly scraping Spotify\u2019s entire library wasn\u2019t a great idea. Now, the major labels and the DSP itself have hit Anna\u2019s Archive, the alleged \u201cnotorious pirate website\u201d behind the purported \u201ctheft of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":888651,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[131522],"class_list":{"0":"post-888650","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-business-news","8":"tag-podcast-music"},"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/888650","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=888650"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/888650\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/888651"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=888650"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=888650"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=888650"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}