Knowledge base All about DMCA Sender and Copyright
About DMCA
What is DMCA? Popular Who can send DMCA Copyright Infringement Notices? Are DMCA Copyright Infringement Notices efficient? Does the Digital Millennium Copyright Act apply outside of United States? What can I do if the web host/site owner doesn't remove the unauthorized links?
Getting started
Instructions for use Popular How to stop illegal downloading? How to know if my product is available on free download sites? Who can I contact to ask for illegal content removal? How to remove unauthorized links from Google's Search results?
General Questions/Informations
How to make a complete list of urls linking to illegal downloads of my product/software? Where can I find a DMCA Takedown Notice email template? How can I find abuse emails? What are the requirements to send DMCA Takedown Notices? I've got a question and can't find the answer here

How can I find abuse emails?

To whom do I send my requests?

To find the abuse email addresses from a domain name or URL, you have to:

  1. Resolve the domain name using a DNS (Domain Name System) search to find the corresponding IP address (Internet Protocol address)
  2. Try to find the original IP address if the domain is hosted on a CDN (Content delivery network: Cloudflare, MaxCDN, Cachefly,...)
  3. Determine the origin (region) of the IP address
  4. Perform a WHOIS search on the RIR (Regional Internet Registry) corresponding to the origin of the IP address

  1. Resolving the domain name

    The gethostbyname() PHP function allows you to get the IPv4 address corresponding to a host. The same function exists in Python or other languages.

    There are many free online tools available to perform this search, including:

  2. Find the original IP address hosted on a CDN

    If the previous search returns an IP address from a CDN, it means that the server is a relay between the original server and the visitor.

    CDN servers are located all over the world, and are used to duplicate content from an original server.

    For example: my site is hosted in the United States (the original host). I use a CDN, this one will duplicate my content on servers spread over all continents. A visitor located in France will have access to the content distributed by a server located in France, and belonging to the CDN network.

    It is not always possible to retrieve the IP address of the original server. Some users voluntarily hide the necessary information (especially hackers).

    Our Abuse Email Lookup tool performs the appropriate research.

  3. Determine the origin (region) of the IP address

    To locate the origin of an IP address, it is necessary to search a public database providing this data.
    There are several. http://freegeoip.net is a trusted and reputable source.

  4. Perform a WHOIS search on the Regional Internet Registry

    Once the source of the IP address has been determined, the corresponding REGIONAL INTERNET REGISTERY will have to be queried.

    RIPE NCC
    Europe - Asia (north) - Groeland
    AFRINIC
    Africa
    APNIC
    Australia - Asia (South)
    ARIN
    North America
    LACNIC
    Central America - South America
    REGIONAL INTERNET REGISTRIES
    REGIONAL INTERNET REGISTRIES

    The WHOIS search on the Regional Internet Registry corresponding to the origin of the IP address will give you the available abuse email addresses.