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ISPs and Movie Industry Prepare Canadian Pirate Site Blocking Deal (torrentfreak.com)

An anonymous reader quotes a report from TorrentFreak: A coalition of movie industry companies and ISPs, including Bell, Rogers, and Cineplex are discussing a proposal to implement a plan to allow for website blockades without judicial oversight. The Canadian blocklist would be maintained by a new non-profit organization called "Internet Piracy Review Agency" (IPRA) and enforced through the CTRC, Canadaland reports. The plan doesn't come as a total surprise as Bell alluded to a nationwide blocking mechanism during a recent Government hearing. What becomes clear from the new plans, however, is that the telco is not alone. The new proposal is being discussed by various stakeholders including ISPs and local movie companies. As in other countries, major American movie companies are also in the loop, but they will not be listed as official applicants when the plan is submitted to the CRTC. Canadian law professor Micheal Geist is very critical of the plans. Although the proposal would only cover sites that "blatantly, overwhelmingly or structurally" engage in or facilitate copyright infringement, this can be a blurry line.

"Recent history suggests that the list will quickly grow to cover tougher judgment calls. For example, Bell has targeted TVAddons, a site that contains considerable non-infringing content," Geist notes. "It can be expected that many other sites disliked by rights holders or broadcasters would find their way onto the block list," he adds. While the full list of applicants is not ready yet, it is expected that the coalition will file its proposal to the CRTC before the end of the month.

3 of 86 comments (clear)

  1. Re:You Canadians love your censorship by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Wrong - this is American Imperialism in action

  2. SJW will be listing sites too? by AHuxley · · Score: 4, Insightful

    How long before every well funded group of SJW will demand to add sites to that ban list?
    Copyright infringement often starts with all kinds of talk about books, movies, reviews, comments on the internet.
    Movie review sites?
    Books about faith and cults?
    History sites?
    Political sites?
    Law sites that list details about a nations crime rate?
    Sites that review political books?

    That could induce a person to consider copyright infringement after reading about a problematic book or movie.
    Block the problematic site and the temptation for copyright infringement is removed.
    The SJW get to ban sites they don't like and the risk of copyright infringement is removed.
    Win, win for censorship.

    --
    Domestic spying is now "Benign Information Gathering"
  3. Re: Lead Balloon by Reverend+Green · · Score: 5, Insightful

    So you advocate supporting the culture industry through taxation. Fair enough. But hadn't we ought to nationalize them first?

    I'm sure I'm not the only one who finds it abhorrent to support oligarch-controlled, for-profit, not democratically accountable, "private" "businesses" through taxation.