The Future of Aussie Pirate Site Blocking: Six Additional Facts

[Ernesto]

It took a change in the law and significant effort from rightsholders but this week the Aussie content industry’s dreams of website blockades came to fruition.

In a ruling handed down by Justice John Nicholas of the Federal Court, The Pirate Bay, Torrentz, TorrentHound, IsoHunt, SolarMovie, and dozens of proxies and mirrors were ordered to be blocked by ISPs including Telstra, Optus, TPG and iiNet.

While this process has certainly taken a long time and been somewhat controversial, if nothing else the ruling of the Federal Court is comprehensive. It’s clear that every conceivable loophole has been closed to not only tackle fluid pirate sites but also to protect rightsholders and ISPs from liability.

Firstly, it’s worth pointing out that the Federal Court has stated clearly that all blocks can be challenged. Any website operator negatively affected by the blocks, whether that’s a ‘pirate’ site owner or some ancillary actor, can appeal to the Court to have the block overturned.

They must provide evidence as to their status and the reasoning behind their request to qualify but that’s normal in any case. Of course, it’s extremely unlikely that any “overseas” pirate site operator will file an appeal but if an innocent party is affected, they have a chance to get things put right.

One of the lessons learned from injunctions in other jurisdictions is that when sites have been blocked, proxies, mirrors, and other workarounds have quickly appeared to evade the bans. The Australian court order deals with that eventuality in a very streamlined manner.

When copyright holders spot domains, URLs or IP addresses that facilitate access to blocked sites, they merely have to file an affidavit with the Court stating which locations the sites are attempting to operate from. The ISPs listed in the original court order will be required to block these new additions within 15 days.

In an effort towards balancing things up, the Court has also built in a mechanism designed to limit over-blocking.

If the copyright holders have a “good faith belief” that any target IP address, domain name or URL has permanently stopped infringing or facilitating the infringement of copyright, they must advise the ISPs within 15 days, in writing. From that point, ISPs will no longer have to block the locations in question. Whether copyright holders will advise ISPs promptly will remain to be seen, however.

Clearly, ISPs are required by law to block the domains detailed in the order. However, should they need to unblock them temporarily to maintain their regular systems or the blocking mechanism itself, that is permitted. Also, abandoning site-blocking in the face of a security threat is also allowed.

That being said, the ISPs can’t suspend blockades without taking action. In the event of a suspension, ISPs must advise the copyright holders of the issues being faced by 5:00pm of the next business day. They then have three days to reblock the sites or obtain permission for a further extension.

Finally, the blocking order handed down this week against The Pirate Bay and others is not indefinite. Initially, it will be in effect for a period of three years. However, six months before it’s due to expire the copyright holders can ask for an extension.

In common with having additional proxies, mirrors, and IP addresses added to the order, all they have to do is file an affidavit with the Court stating that the sites are still infringing. That should be enough to obtain a further three years’ worth of blocking.

New injunctions will need to be obtained to block additional sites not mentioned in the original order but with a system as apparently streamlined as this, there doesn’t appear to be too many roadblocks ahead.

The full judgment can be found here.


Source: TF, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, torrent sites and  ANONYMOUS VPN services.


Originally Published: Sun, 18 Dec 2016 19:14:19 +0000
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[Ernesto]

Following a case brought by rightsholders including Roadshow Films, Foxtel, Disney, Paramount, Columbia, and 20th Century Fox, more than fifty Internet service providers in Australia are now required to start barring subscriber access to selected ‘pirate’ sites.

In a ruling last week, the Federal Court decided that by the end of the year, The Pirate Bay, Torrentz, TorrentHound, IsoHunt and streaming service SolarMovie will all have to be rendered inaccessible to subscribers in Australia. The same also applies to dozens of proxy and mirror sites.

With just under two weeks before the deadline expires, ISP Telstra has decided to move quickly. During the past few hours the service provider began its blocking regime, starting with The Pirate Bay. As ordered by the Federal Court, visitors to the site are now being met by a landing page which explains why they can no longer access it.

As previously reported, the order from the Court allows ISPs to choose how to implement the blockade, including DNS blocking, IP address blocking (or IP re-routing), URL blocking, or “any alternative technical means” approved by a rightsholder.

It appears that Telstra has chosen to implement a DNS block, the weakest option available. As a result, it is defeated in a matter of seconds with a just a few clicks and not a penny spent. Many users are already choosing to configure their computers to use Google’s DNS instead of Telstra’s, which simply means adding a few digits to a setting in Windows.

Others are using OpenDNS since there is a belief that the Cisco-owned company logs less data than Google does. However, since accessing The Pirate Bay itself isn’t a crime, any data held in this circumstance is likely to hold little value.

Of course, those concerned about privacy can still turn to VPNs, which are already proving of greater interest to Australians since news of the court order landed last week. It’s also worth noting that while a simple DNS tweak defeat’s Telstra’s blocking efforts, other ISPs may choose a more secure option for which DNS won’t provide a solution. In that case a VPN is the only all-round secure option.

Nevertheless, as it stands today a head-shaking situation prevails. For years, rightsholders have lobbied for site-blocking in Australia. They even managed to have the law changed to allow it to happen. They then went to court and dragged themselves and ISPs through thousands of hours of legal work, culminating in the Federal Court itself ordering a blockade.

And Internet users got round it all in less time than it took to read this article.



Source: TF, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, torrent sites and  ANONYMOUS VPN services.


Originally Published: Tue, 20 Dec 2016 09:03:24 +0000
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[SpaceCadet6969754]

Im not doing all that shit.
Although its blocked there is many PB proxies, I didn't even google one, just used my own free proxy anyway.
Im from Aus, and im currently downloading and uploading heaps of shit!