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Seven Film Studios Want 41 Web Sites Blocked By Australian ISPs (computerworld.com.au)

Posted by EditorDavid on from the pirates-of-the-Australasian dept.

angry tapir writes: A group of film studios is undertaking what is set to be the most significant use so far of Australia's anti-piracy laws, which allow rights holders to apply for court orders that can compel ISPs to block their customers from accessing certain piracy-linked sites. A pair of rights holders last year successfully obtained court orders forcing Australia's most popular ISPs to block a handful of sites including The Pirate Bay. Now Village Roadshow wants to have 41 more sites blocked.
Village Roadshow joined six other studios in requesting an injunction Friday in federal court, reports Computerworld. And meanwhile, "a separate site-blocking application has been launched by Australian music labels, which are seeking to have Telstra, Optus, TPG and Foxtel's broadband arm block access to Kickass Torrents."

26 of 43 comments (clear)

  1. Have they talked with network engineers? Once? by sandbagger · · Score: 1

    The internet, as designed, will treat this like damage to be routed around. Most people probably won't notice or at best will encounter temporary outages. Yes, of course people should get paid, however this is playing whack a mole and not coming to a practical economic solution.

    How often do must we go over the same terrain. I guess, like masochists, they like it?

    --
    ---- The above post was generated by the Turing Institute. Maybe.
    1. Re:Have they talked with network engineers? Once? by sheramil · · Score: 5, Insightful

      I'm guessing this is one of those situations where they need to be seen to be addressing the problem, even if their solution won't work. Hey, Village Roadshow - stop forcing people to sit through forty minutes of advertisements (most of them for the Village Roadshow Advertising service) and copyright warnings AT CINEMAS before you grudgingly display the content we paid for, and then we can talk.

    2. Re:Have they talked with network engineers? Once? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      Total time it took me to get past last block. 30 seconds.

      Changed DNS servers. I shit you not.

    3. Re:Have they talked with network engineers? Once? by Gussington · · Score: 1

      however this is playing whack a mole and not coming to a practical economic solution.

      Like speeding laws, this type of policy is not designed eliminate a particular behaviour altogether. Even with radar, speed cameras and random speed traps, people still speed right? Do you think the police should give up and just let everyone do what they like because people still speed?
      By making it harder, you change the behaviour of the average person from casual offender, to premeditated, thus reducing the overall number of offenders. You also set a wider community expectation that this is not normal behaviour which which also has positive flow on effects.
      Removing easier access has proven to reduce consumption, whether it be alcohol, drugs, cigarettes, speeding or torrents. Why wouldn't you as a rights holder being infringed upon try to implement such a strategy that has shown to reduce such behaviour?

    4. Re:Have they talked with network engineers? Once? by rtb61 · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Content is so crap at the moment, most people wont notice because it is hardly worth bothering even for free. Why waste the bandwidth ;D. Sure share the good stuff but the crap, just let it die, ugh.

      --
      Chaos - everything, everywhere, everywhen
    5. Re:Have they talked with network engineers? Once? by fluffernutter · · Score: 1

      So now downloading a movie is being compared to threats of public safety?

      --
      Laws are rules for the court, but merely a bottom bar to hit for life. Think beyond laws in your actions always.
    6. Re:Have they talked with network engineers? Once? by Gussington · · Score: 1

      So now downloading a movie is being compared to threats of public safety?

      Good old internet, there's always someone looking for a fight for no reason...

  2. Big fat deal by Hognoxious · · Score: 4, Funny

    I want a pony.

    --
    Confucius say, "Find worm in apple - bad. Find half a worm - worse."
    1. Re:Big fat deal by DontBeAMoran · · Score: 2

      There you go.

      --
      #DeleteFacebook
    2. Re:Big fat deal by SeaFox · · Score: 1

      Why is that in a directory labeled "streetfighter"?

    3. Re:Big fat deal by antdude · · Score: 1

      Lisa Simpson, is that you? :P

      --
      Ant(Dude) @ Quality Foraged Links (AQFL.net) & The Ant Farm (antfarm.ma.cx / antfarm.home.dhs.org).
  3. Those idiots won't be happy until it's all darknet by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    Me neither.

  4. What a coincidence! by Gravis+Zero · · Score: 3, Insightful

    I want theaters to block movies from seven film studios. I'm sure the studios will respect that, right?

    --
    Anons need not reply. Questions end with a question mark.
  5. Twitch is one of them? by JDeane · · Score: 1

    I bet twitch is one? lol

    https://www.twitch.tv/depravo

  6. Ever notice how Hollywood by Crashmarik · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Is the tail that wags the dog ? At least when it comes to trade and foreign policy ?

    I have no trouble defending people's property rights but just how much does it cost to defend Hollywood's business model ?

    1. Re:Ever notice how Hollywood by currently_awake · · Score: 1

      Enough that they should be charging property taxes to pay for it. After all, it's the copyright cartel that wants copyright treated the same as real estate.

    2. Re:Ever notice how Hollywood by Solandri · · Score: 1

      I posted a brief analysis in a previous article (using the RIAA and MPAA's own numbers) showing how Hollywood tries to hamstring industries with a much larger economic contribution than theirs. And provided accounting evidence (using Sony's own annual reports) how their music division almost single-handedly killed their audio electronics division by forcing them to use DRM.

      I'm sure someone could do the same for global sales.

    3. Re:Ever notice how Hollywood by Crashmarik · · Score: 1

      Thanks intuition is nice, but numbers are much better.

  7. Re: That's too many torrent sites to look at. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    Rarbg is worthy.

  8. Why this won't work ... by CaptainDork · · Score: 1

    ... the maths:

    Seven Film Studios Want 41 Web Sites Blocked By Australian ISPs [about 20 ]

    Know what's smarter than seven film studios and about 20 major ISPs?

    20,268,164 Australians with a goddam computer.

    --
    It little behooves the best of us to comment on the rest of us.
  9. Trainspotting by bigtreeman · · Score: 1

    has anyone seen a torrent link for Trainspotting II
    I can't afford a cinema ticket

    --
    Go well
    1. Re:Trainspotting by tlhIngan · · Score: 1

      has anyone seen a torrent link for Trainspotting II
      I can't afford a cinema ticket

      Then just wait. If you can't afford a cinema ticket, you can wait until it hits the video rental places and then rent it. If that's too expensive, and you have Netflix, you can wait for that too. If you still can't afford that, wait for it to be shown on TV for free.

  10. Kickass? by l0n3s0m3phr34k · · Score: 1

    That site went away quite some time ago! There is a "new" one, but it's NOTHING like the original. From what I've seen of it, block away.

  11. Have you talked to a high school geography student by dbIII · · Score: 1

    The internet, as designed, will treat this like damage to be routed around

    Australia is an island continent with a very small number of cables transferring data to Asia, across the Pacific and one across the Indian Ocean.
    Given that, go talk to a network engineer and ask them how trivial it would be to block things going via half a dozen gateways owned by something like three companies, two of which have substantial ownership by governments. The people on satellite links will be exceptions but there are not a lot of those. Even state to state links go through tight bottlenecks.

    The only reason things are not blocked properly is because nobody has put in enough effort (eg. pirate bay is blocked but some proxies are not), mainly because the people that know how to do it (apart from the DSD who want to block all encrypted traffic) do not want to block everything properly (and in the process piss off everyone using a VPN etc). It would be many times easier to implement than "the great firewall of China".


    A similar situation will apply to a rural area near you where everyone is at the mercy of the policies of whoever owns the single way in or out.

  12. Australia was by Neuronwelder · · Score: 1

    You know, there was a time when I used to look up to Australia, and admired the way the used to treat people. Then came the corporations..

  13. Wasting their time by Joolz50 · · Score: 1

    The ISPs just do DNS blocking. Switch to the google DNS and you are gold