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French Court Orders Search Engines, ISPs To Block Pirate Sites
rtoz sends word that a French court has ordered Google, Yahoo, and Microsoft to remove 16 unauthorized video streaming sites from their search results. Many ISPs were also ordered to block access to the sites. According to TorrentFreak,
"The court ruled that the film industry had clearly demonstrated that the sites in question are 'dedicated or virtually dedicated to the distribution of audiovisual works without the consent of their creators,' thus violating their copyrights. As a result the search services of Google, Microsoft, Yahoo and local company Orange are now under orders to 'take all necessary measures to prevent the occurrence on their services of any results referring to any of the pages' on these sites. Several ISPs – Orange, Free, Bouygues Télécom, SFR, Numéricable and Darty Télécom were also ordered to 'implement all appropriate means including blocking' to prevent access to the infringing sites."
In fact, the order is not as bad as some of the similar ones from the past. The original article is here (in French):
http://www.pcinpact.com/news/84642-la-justice-ordonne-blocage-galaxie-allostreaming.htm
The court ruled that the ISPs and search engines have 15 days to block the sites listed in the article and the order is in force for 12 months afterwards.
However, here is the kicker: the court ruled that the right holders are to pay the bill for the implementation of the blocks, the ISPs are not being asked to do it on their own dime. So carpet bombing the courts with poorly researched URLs to block could get really expensive ...
People use what's available. How many 50 year old films are available in digital copies? Kids may be hoarding the current crap, but that's because it's there, just like games on cassette in the 80s. Besides, you're wrong. Most downloaded content is TV shows, shows that are free to air with a few exceptions.