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IFPI Austria calls for web-blocks citing European ruling
By Chris Cooke | Published on Wednesday 6 August 2014
The record industry in Austria has called on five internet service providers in the country to block a number of file-sharing sites, including the old favourite The Pirate Bay, following a long running legal battle to block another copyright infringing site that actually went offline during the proceedings.
As previously reported, movie companies Constantin Film and Wega took legal action against Austrian net firm UPC Telekabel Wien in a bid to force it to block its customers from accessing a movie website called Kino.to.
Web-blocking is being used by the copyright industries in an increasing number of countries in a bid to combat illegal file-sharing. In some jurisdictions, including the UK, the courts have relatively quickly ruled that such blocks are possible under existing copyright rules. In other places bespoke new laws or plenty of legal debate in the courts has been required.
In Austria, the case seeking a web-block against Kino.to even went to the European Courts Of Justice. But, as previously reported, that court concluded that web-blocks did not contravene European law, which was just as well for the record industries in other European Union jurisdictions that had already secured web blockades.
On the back of the rulings in the Kino.to case, IFPI Austria, acting for the country’s record industry, has now written to five local ISPs demanding they start blocking access to sites including The Pirate Bay, Isohunt.to, 1337x and H33t.
The record industry trade group’s Franz Medwenitsch told reporters: “The foundation for website-blocking in Austria was created following a four year process involving the European Court of Justice. These sites are all internationally known, structurally-infringing BitTorrent portals”.
Web-blocking, of course, is not without its critics, who usually point out how easy it is to circumvent the blocks via Google. Though the content industries are working hard to try and persuade or force the big search engines to do their bit to uphold such blockades.
