David Beckham briefly ranked as world’s second-worst manga pirate site operator

A prominent piracy ranking

In February 2025, a website registered by someone using the name “David Beckham” was the second-most-visited source of pirated Japanese manga, according to the report. Publishers say the case underscores the need to verify the identities of domain-name registrants.

Ninoseki, a lawyer, said unauthorized English translations of manga are routinely posted on sites carrying advertising. He said such sites can draw hundreds of millions of users and cost publishers $17 billion in revenue each year.

JPMAC targets commercial operators

JPMAC has chosen to pursue commercial-scale piracy rather than copyright abusers generally. Its efforts include sending legal letters to pirate websites, including sites registered under the name “Beckham,” and using other legal measures.

Ninoseki spoke during an ICANN session about DNS abuse. ICANN defines DNS abuse as using domain names to facilitate malware, botnets, phishing, pharming and spam.

Pirates shift across domains

Ninoseki said pirate manga sites keep multiple domain names and have registered names across 158 top-level domains. They also frequently move between domains, a practice known as “domain hopping.” Some sites redirect visitors from domains that do not host content to others carrying pirated comics. Operators may also run several sites at once and distribute traffic among them, keeping the numbers at each site low enough to avoid suspicion.