Anna’s Archive said Spotify scrape didn’t cause domain suspension; it was wrong

In early January, Anna’s Archive, a shadow library known for its contentious operations, unexpectedly lost its .org domain. Initially, the site's operators posited that the suspension was unrelated to their recent extensive scraping of Spotify. However, new court documents reveal that the domain loss was indeed tied to a legal battle initiated by Spotify in conjunction with major record labels such as Sony, Warner, and Universal Music Group (UMG). The lawsuit, filed in late December in the Southern District of New York, was initially sealed but was made public on January 16 after a judge determined that the reasons for sealing had been met. The court filings clarify the sequence of events leading up to the domain suspension. On January 2, the music companies sought a temporary restraining order against Anna’s Archive, which the court granted on the same day. This order required the Public Interest Registry (PIR), which manages .org domains, and Cloudflare to take action. The music companies argued that PIR and Cloudflare held the power to restrict access to Anna’s Archive’s web domains, which they claimed were being used to illegally distribute copyrighted materials. They requested that the court issue an order mandating Anna’s Archive to immediately halt all reproduction and distribution of the copyrighted works owned by the record labels. Additionally, the plaintiffs insisted that Anna’s Archive be notified of the lawsuit only after the court's order was enacted to prevent the library from proceeding with plans to release millions of unlawfully obtained sound recordings. The operator of Anna’s Archive had previously remarked that domain suspensions were an unfortunate but common occurrence for shadow libraries, asserting that this incident was unrelated to their activities involving Spotify.