Home Technology Australian judge orders ISPs to block piracy sites at the ISP level

Australian judge orders ISPs to block piracy sites at the ISP level

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Steam

Software Piracy isn’t a good thing. No matter how you try and justify it, there’s just no real justifiable reason to illicitly download games and media. One of the most oft-used excuses, especially for PC games, is “I just want to see if it works on my system before buying it.” Steam now offers full refunds if you only play games for less than two hours.

With media, it’s a little trickier – but there’s a reason that reviews exist. Anyway, Piracy isn’t great, and Australia’s courts agree. An Australian Judge has ordered ISPs down under to take reasonable steps to make sure that they block access to sits known for enabling piracy, namechecking ones like Pirate Bay, Torrentz, TorrentHound, IsoHunt and streaming service SolarMovie.

Says Peter Tonagh, the chief executive of Foxtel, one of the complainants against the piracy-enabling sites:

“This judgment is a major step in both directly combating piracy and educating the public that accessing content through these sites is not OK, in fact it is theft.

“This judgment gives us another tool to fight the international criminals who seek to profit from the hard work of actors, writers, directors and other creators the world over.”

It’s a tricky thing. While I’m no fan of piracy, I’m also not a fan of internet freedoms being curtailed, and judgements like this are a slippery slope towards heavy-handed internet regulation – the sort of thing China’s infamous for, and the sort of thing we may be in for if the FPB has its way.

Of course, even ISP level blocking like this will end up being pointless, because people will always, always find a way.

Last Updated: January 3, 2017

8 Comments

  1. Alien Emperor Trevor

    December 15, 2016 at 14:33

    “irate Bay” must be pretty angry about this.

    Reply

  2. Ottokie

    December 15, 2016 at 14:43

    Never heard of SolarMovie

    Reply

    • VampyreSquirrel

      December 15, 2016 at 14:58

      Me neither

      Reply

  3. VampyreSquirrel

    December 15, 2016 at 14:47

  4. 40 Insane Frogs

    December 15, 2016 at 16:46

    This is one aspect of Australia that’s unbelievably retarded. They take the “nanny state” idea to sickening levels. Same thing with their bikie (motorbike gang) laws. Just stupid!

    http://s2.quickmeme.com/img/56/566081237da7e3ddb6653b47b4cde69f331f2d297db94dfb8ab77e6d6214243e.jpg

    Reply

  5. Sovereign

    December 17, 2016 at 00:31

    legitmate excuses:
    -Content is banned in person’s country.
    -DRM made the legitimate copy too inconvenient (funny how that works).
    -Original copy has been damaged.
    -Reviewers are becoming more and more out of touch with what the public deems good and bad (rotten tomatoes critics are #1 example).
    -Want a more portable version of your dvd or bluray.
    -Forgot to set your DVR.
    -For the lulz

    If any judge says they do not care about a person’s legitimate reasons for piracy, then I’d counter with “I don’t care about your order that can be bypassed via vpn. Suck it, your honor.”

    Reply

  6. Captain JJ

    January 10, 2017 at 09:18

    I spoke to an Australian guy who told me most of them pirate, but for specific reasons. Firstly because they get their tv shows MUCH later than other countries, and secondly because games are taxed so heavily that the price becomes stupid.

    Reply

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