Gov't expands moves to block resurfacing illegal streaming site

Seen is the landing page of illegal streaming site Noonoo TV Season 2. The Ministry of Science and ICT said Sunday that it is working with government agencies and internet service providers to block domestic access to the site. Captured from the site

By Baek Byung-yeul

The government is stepping up its crackdown on Noonoo TV, which illegally provides content of domestic video streaming services such as Wavve and Tving as well as overseas platform Netflix, by blocking access to the site, applying the latest detecting technology, according to the ICT ministry, Sunday.

Launched in 2021, Noonoo TV is an illegal streaming site with servers in the Dominican Republic, Paraguay and other foreign countries. It had disrupted the local video streaming ecosystem by streaming movies, dramas and animations for free. Instead of providing free services, the site has made a profit by advertising illegal gambling sites.

Noonoo TV's monthly active users once exceeded 10 million and domestic streaming platform providers claimed that the economic loss to the content industry was estimated to be close to 5 trillion won ($3.9 billion).

In response, the ICT ministry had blocked access to Noonoo TV once a day since December last year in cooperation with local streaming companies, internet service providers and the Radio Promotion Association of Korea (RAPA).

In April, Noonoo TV announced that it was shutting down due to a police investigation following a complaint from a streaming company. However, two months later, the service was recently relaunched under the name Season 2.

It is unclear whether Noonoo TV Season 2 and Noonoo TV are run by the same operator. Noonoo TV Season 2 is described on the website as a “free over-the-top (OTT) service established in Ethiopia. The design of its layout is based on Noonoo TV, but it's not related to it.”

Based on its experience in blocking access to Noonoo TV, the Ministry of Science and ICT said, “We will actively respond to illegal OTT distribution sites such as Noonoo TV Season 2.”

As part of its response measure, the ICT ministry requested the Korea Communications Commission (KCC) on June 14 to expedite its decision on the illegality and copyright infringement of Noonoo TV Season 2 site.

Once the KCC's decision is made, the ministry said it will work with RAPA to block access to Noonoo TV Season 2 multiple times a day, significantly increased from once a day when they tried to prevent access to Noonoo TV.

In addition, as these illegal sites are continuously maintaining their services by changing only the site address, the ICT ministry said that it will also promote technology development that can automatically detect new or alternative illegal sites by utilizing artificial intelligence (AI) technology.

“Video content is valuable property created with the blood and sweat of many people and is a growth engine that will be responsible for the future of our nation. So it is important for mature citizens to refrain from using such illegal sites,” a spokesperson at the ministry said.