Openload was a

file-sharing File sharing is the practice of distributing or providing access to digital media, such as computer programs, multimedia (audio, images and video), documents or electronic books. Common methods of storage, transmission and dispersion include re ...

website that shut down in 2019 after legal action by the

Alliance for Creativity and Entertainment Alliance for Creativity and Entertainment (ACE) is a coalition of more than 50 major global entertainment companies and film studios, aimed at reducing online piracy of copyrighted material. ACE was launched on June 13, 2017. The stated missio ...

. The site was highly-used before its shutdown, making most of its money from

advertising Advertising is the practice and techniques employed to bring attention to a Product (business), product or Service (economics), service. Advertising aims to present a product or service in terms of utility, advantages, and qualities of int ...

and

cryptojacking Cryptojacking is the act of exploiting a computer to mine cryptocurrencies, often through websites, against the user's will or while the user is unaware. One notable piece of software used for cryptojacking was Coinhive, which was used in over two ...

. The site was designated as a

notorious market A notorious market is a website or physical market where, according to the Office of the United States Trade Representative (USTR), large-scale intellectual property infringement takes place. Officially termed Notorious Markets for Counterfeiting ...

and often used for

copyright infringement Copyright infringement (at times referred to as piracy) is the use of Copyright#Scope, works protected by copyright without permission for a usage where such permission is required, thereby infringing certain exclusive rights granted to the c ...

History

Openload was available as an open alpha in July 2015, and fully launched as of October 2015. In 2016, Openload's domain was suspended by

Namecheap Namecheap is an American ICANN-accredited domain name registrar and web hosting company, based in Phoenix, Arizona. The company was founded in 2000 by Richard Kirkendall and has since grown to become one of the largest independent domain registra ...

due to the large number of

DMCA The Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) is a 1998 United States copyright law that implements two 1996 treaties of the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO). It criminalizes production and dissemination of technology, devices, or ...

reports they generated. The domain was later reinstated by Namecheap. In 2017, Openload was criticized for using their users' browsers to mine the

cryptocurrency A cryptocurrency (colloquially crypto) is a digital currency designed to work through a computer network that is not reliant on any central authority, such as a government or bank, to uphold or maintain it. Individual coin ownership record ...

Monero Monero (; Abbreviation: XMR) is a cryptocurrency which uses a blockchain with privacy-enhancing technologies to obfuscate transactions to achieve anonymity and fungibility. Observers cannot decipher addresses trading Monero, transaction amount ...

, using code similar to

Coinhive Monero (; Abbreviation: XMR) is a cryptocurrency which uses a blockchain with privacy-enhancing technologies to obfuscate transactions to achieve anonymity and fungibility. Observers cannot decipher addresses trading Monero, transaction amount ...

. Openload earned an estimated $95,000 per month from the mining, while their suspected subsidiary Streamango earned an estimated $7,200 per month. In 2018, Openload was listed as a

. Openload accounted for more network usage than services such as

Hulu Hulu (, ) is an American Subscription business model, subscription streaming media service owned by Disney Streaming, a subsidiary of the Disney Entertainment segment of the Walt Disney Company. It was launched on October 29, 2007, initially as ...

. In February 2019,

Reddit Reddit ( ) is an American Proprietary software, proprietary social news news aggregator, aggregation and Internet forum, forum Social media, social media platform. Registered users (commonly referred to as "redditors") submit content to the ...

was found to be shadowbanning links to Openload. In April 2019, Openload stopped paying uploaders as part of its affiliate program. In June 2019, Openload's main

domain name In the Internet, a domain name is a string that identifies a realm of administrative autonomy, authority, or control. Domain names are often used to identify services provided through the Internet, such as websites, email services, and more. ...

, openload.co, was suspended. In October 2019, Openload agreed to shut down after the Alliance for Creativity and Entertainment (ACE) took legal action against them in Germany. ACE then acquired all of Openload's domains, which now redirect to a page stating that the site is no longer available due to copyright infringement, along with a warning against subscribing or using illegal streaming services. After a ten second countdown, the page redirects to a page on ACE's website on watching content legally.

Streamango

Streamango was a similar streaming website, long believed to be operated by Openload. Streamango shut down at the same time as Openload, with the same reasons given. Streamango domains also redirect to ACE's website.

References

{{Video digital distribution platforms Defunct websites Former video hosting services File sharing services Internet properties disestablished in 2019 Internet services shut down by a legal challenge Notorious markets One-click hosting

History

Streamango

See also

References