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Belgian Supreme Court upholds web-block-plus injunction
By Chris Cooke | Published on Thursday 21 November 2013
The Supreme Court in Belgium has upheld an earlier ruling that forces internet service providers in the country to put web-blocks in place against all “current and future domains” utilised by The Pirate Bay. It’s an attempt to ensure a speedier blocking of the proxies that enable web-users to circumvent the original TPB block.
The Belgian Anti-Piracy Foundation began legal action to force ISPs in the country to block access to the Bay on copyright grounds in 2011, securing an injunction against net firms Belgacom and Telenet on second attempt.
However, as with web-blocks elsewhere, including those secured by the BPI in the UK, as soon as the initial blockade was in place numerous proxies went live which allow file-sharers to still reach the often controversial TPB website. These proxies can be found via various routes, though often come high up in Google searches, so are pretty much available to all.
Rights owners can, of course, secure new injunctions against the proxy sites, but doing so can be time consuming, and by the time additional blocks are in place new proxies will have been launched. Thus, it’s a never-ending battle.
Though, while it’s a battle that ultimately can’t be won, if ISPs are obligated to block all new proxies as a matter of course, then it will make relying on proxy access to the Bay a little more irritating for users, and, for the anti-piracy brigade, every extra irritant is good news.
The BAF initially secured its web-block-plus injunction last year, though appeals and other legal-wranglings delayed things. However, with the Supreme Court ruling all appeals are exhausted and the ISPs will now be forced to act.
The exact wording of the verdict is yet to be published, but it is thought ISPs will not only have to block Pirate Bay proxies on the fly, but will be obliged to play a “proactive” role in monitoring new URLs that provide access to the site. The ruling may also apply to other popular file-sharing services such as ExtraTorrent and Kickass.to.
