The Federal Court has finally ordered Australian internet service providers (ISPs) to start blocking access to popular torrenting sites; including The Pirate Bay, TorrentHound and SolarMovie. In around a fortnight it will be much more difficult for the average person to access these sites and others like them in Australia.
With that in mind, we think it’s worth revisiting the original court documents that reveal the sites, services and URLs that Foxtel and Village Roadshow are seeking to block in Australia. Here is the full list along with the reasoning behind the ban.
The war on online piracy just got more interesting with Foxtel and Village Roadshow successfully blocking five popular torrent websites through the courts. The five sites on the ban list are The Pirate Bay, Torrentz, TorrentHound, IsoHunt and SolarMovie. Australian ISPs – including Telstra, Optus, TPG, M2, Dodo and iiNet – have just 15 days to comply with the order.
We originally reported the below list back in February but figured many of you would want to take another look in light of yesterday’s announcement. Interestingly, Foxtel and Village Roadshow took a two-pronged approach with their legal actions: Foxtel’s application targeted the four aforementioned torrent sites, while Village Roadshow went after the streaming site SolarMovie.
Both companies have also named multiple URLs for the sites they are seeking to block. In other words, a simple suffix change will not be enough to circumvent the ban. Here’s the full list:
| Domain name | IP address |
|---|---|
| thepiratebay.se | 141.101.118.194,141.101.118.195 |
| bayproxy.pw | 104.27.167.96,104.27.166.96 |
| downloadbay.eu | 104.28.1.53,104.28.0.53 |
| fastpiratebay.co.uk | 104.27.174.252,104.27.175.252 |
| fastpiratebay.eu | 104.28.26.119,104.28.27.119 |
| magnetsearch.org | 104.24.122.173,104.24.123.173 |
| mypirateproxy.com | 104.28.20.2,104.28.21.2 |
| pirate.guru | 104.28.17.148,104.28.16.148 |
| pirateahoy.eu | 104.28.30.50,104.28.31.50 |
| piratebay.host | 198.41.249.68,162.159.240.69 |
| piratebaymirror.eu | 104.28.2.19,104.28.3.19 |
| piratebayproxy.be | 104.24.118.137,104.24.119.137 |
| piratebays.co | 104.27.168.249,104.27.169.249 |
| piratebays.co.uk | 104.31.76.114,104.31.77.114 |
| pirateproxy.ca | 104.28.2.122,104.28.3.122 |
| pirateproxy.tf | 104.25.209.20,104.25.208.20 |
| pirateproxy.wf | 104.28.4.182,104.28.5.182 |
| pirateproxy.yt | 104.27.138.238,104.27.139.238 |
| thebay.tv | 104.28.6.185,104.28.7.185 |
| thepiratebay.am | 198.105.254.11 |
| thepiratebay.casa | 104.27.154.76,104.27.155.76 |
| thepiratebay.cd | 104.31.76.84,104.31.77.84 |
| thepiratebay.cr | 104.28.4.236,104.28.5.236 |
| thepiratebay.expert | 104.18.32.141,104.18.33.141 |
| thepiratebay.gd | 104.24.100.99 |
| thepiratebay.gs | 104.24.99.150 |
| thepiratebay.la | 104.28.2.115 |
| thepiratebay.mn | 104.27.156.189 |
| thepiratebay.org | 104.18.40.167,104.18.41.167 |
| thepiratebay.uk.net | 104.18.58.238,104.18.59.238 |
| thepiratebay.vg | 104.28.4.121 |
| thepiratebay.xn--fiqs8s | 104.28.2.96,104.28.3.96 |
| thepiratebay.xn--q9jyb4c | 104.27.144.26,104.27.145.26 |
| thepiratebay-proxy.com | 104.28.10.55,104.28.11.55 |
| thepirateboat.eu | 104.28.6.62,104.28.7.62 |
| tpbmirror.us | 104.28.7.41,104.28.6.41 |
| urbanproxy.eu | 104.28.13.69,104.28.12.69 |
| torrentz.eu | 185.87.144.3,185.87.144.4,185.87.147.3,185.87.147.4 |
| torrentsmirror.com | 104.28.29.56,104.28.28.56 |
| torrentz.ch | 185.87.144.3,185.87.144.4,185.87.147.3,185.87.147.4 |
| torrentz.com | 72.52.4.119 |
| torrentz.hk | 185.87.147.4,185.87.144.3,185.87.144.4,185.87.147.3 |
| torrentz.in | 185.87.147.3,185.87.147.4,185.87.144.3,185.87.144.4 |
| torrentz.li | 185.87.147.4,185.87.144.3,185.87.144.4,185.87.147.3 |
| torrentz.me | 185.87.144.3,185.87.144.4,185.87.147.3,185.87.147.4 |
| torrentz.ph | 185.87.147.4,185.87.144.3,185.87.144.4,185.87.147.3 |
| . torrentz-proxy.com | 185.87.144.3,185.87.144.4,185.87.147.3,185.87.147.4 |
| tz.ai | 185.87.144.3,185.87.144.4,185.87.147.3,185.87.147.4 |
| torrenthound.com | 88.80.6.5 |
| torrenthound.at | 104.31.88.28,104.31.89.28 |
| torrenthound.cm | 104.31.80.128,104.31.81.128 |
| torrenthound.immunicity.info | 104.28.2.124,104.28.3.124 |
| torrenthound.ru | 104.24.100.232,104.24.101.232 |
| torrenthound.to | 88.196.31.41 |
| torrenthound.unlocktor.eu | 5.45.77.184 |
| torrenthound-proxy.com | 104.18.58.145,104.18.59.145 |
| isohunt.to | 198.41.189.233,198.41.190.233 |
| isohunt.duhsoft.com | 5.45.75.223 |
| isohunt.kooaba.net | 5.45.64.109 |
| isohunt.st | 173.236.194.74 |
| isohunters.net | 78.142.19.12 |
In the same document, Foxtel explained the reason it was filing legal action as follows:
A significant factor in Foxtel’s ability to attract subscribers is the exclusivity in Australia of a proportion of the programming it offers, including the Programs, the Australian premieres of which were exclusive to Foxtel’s subscription television services.
Foxtel’s programs have been, and continue to be, available without charge outside Foxtel’s subscription packages, and Foxtel has thereby suffered and will suffer loss and damage, including lost subscription fees, lost opportunity to earn subscription fees, lost opportunity to earn licensing fees, and other damage from loss of control over copyright in episodes of the Programs.
The reason for the primary purpose of The Pirate Bay [et al] is to infringe or facilitate the infringement of copyright (whether or not in Australia).
Foxtel also accused The Pirate Bay, et al, of encouraging internet users to infringe copyright by using their websites.
“[These sites] had and have the power to prevent the infringements by Internet Users including
the infringing acts pleaded above; and… have chosen not to take any or any sufficient steps to prevent such infringements or continuing infringements,” Foxtel said in the particulars of the document.
Village Roadshow’s legal action was quite similar. It also mentioned specific movies including Jurassic World, Straight Outta Compton and The Lego Movie. You may recall that the theatrical release of the latter was controversially delayed in Australia, a decision that Village Roadshow explicitly blamed for the movie’s high piracy levels. (Despite this,
it’s doing the same thing with the LEGO movie sequel.)
We strongly doubt that Foxtel and Village Roadshow will rest idle after this victory. You can expect more torrent and streaming sites to be added to the ban list, pending approval from the court. Now that a legal precedent has been set, subsequent URL blocks will likely pass without problem. If a website lets you view material that Foxtel or Village Roadshow own the rights to, it probably isn’t safe.
Tell us what you think about these developments in the comments.
Further reading:
- It’s Official: Australian ISPs Will Be Forced To Block The Pirate Bay And Other Torrent Sites
- How To Bypass ISP Blocking Of The Pirate Bay And Other Torrent Sites For Free
- Ask LH: Will I Be Fined For Torrenting Season Six Of Game Of Thrones?
Comments
14 responses to “Here Are All The URLs Foxtel Is Blocking In Australia (So Far)”
No the one I currently use, so whatever
Totally absurd how internet service providers are reacting to this. Some old school businesses wants to save some bucks loss to piracy without realizing the ramifications of such an act.
Well this would not stop piracy. Most of use VPN service to bypass that daily. I personally access BBC iPlayer very often without any hassle through PureVPN. I won’t mind using the same for torrents/download. This restriction will help these VPN service providers like Express & Pure get more sales and thats it.
So what happens when the torrents are banned and Foxtel’s numbers don’t improve?
On a related note, I’ve heard that by changing your DNS from your ISP’s to google’s, you can bypass these sort of bans. Does it work this easily?
Depends on how your ISP implements this mandate. If it’s a simple DNS lookup redirect, then yes that would work.
But there are many other ways an ISP could block access for which this wouldn’t. And for each of those, there are workarounds. The most reliable “catch-all” would be either using a VPN service or the Tor network.
On a side note, the instigators of this are assuming that people won’t use VPNs since there is a cost attached. Which is great in theory, except there are free services available. While those might not have the same speed/servers as the paid options, all that’s required is to grab the .torrent file. Thereafter the VPN isn’t necessary.
Part of the issue is that Foxtel et al have a monopoly, and the entertainment landscape has changed. All I ever wanted was to watch the winter sports on Eurosport (about $10 per month). If you have rocks in your head you get Foxtel or some other sub with 95% of junk for $100 a month. Bring on the Uber of entertainment, all consumers want is the choice of what I want to see at a fair price…not likely with ‘free trade’…at least we may see the death of the TPP.
I’m sure they’d love to block sites like stan.com.au and
netflix.com.au as well. Shouldn’t it be the copyright owner rather than the rights holder that is request this?
It’s hilarious how out of touch these “Lawmakers” are. The Piracy rates of Foxtel’s content are high because they have a Service problem. Foxtel/Cable TV are old and outdated service platforms. People want on-demand streaming at affordable prices and Foxtel is unable to provide that service. Usually for service providers adapt or die holds true, however because Foxtel has such a monopoly and is majority owned by Telstra/Newscorp they’ll just try and change all the rules to try and stay relevant instead of actually supplying a service people want.
Everyone freaked when China blocked Google….this sure does sound like China to me?
WTH is wrong with the people in AU to go along with this censorship???
Foxtel / Village Roadshow have been making donations mostly to the liberal party. This simple act of donating effectively applies pressure on the party to indirectly implement their will.
Here is a political party donations list from the FY13 year. which was released in 2016, search for “village roadshow” to see what donations were made.
The total sum exceeds 1/4 million dollarydoos!
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2016-10-24/aec-political-donations-table/7959394
Here’s to wonder what the list for (this / last) fiscal year looks like.
But it would appear that legislation can indirectly be bought, you just need the moolah.
This whole blocking the Pirate Bay business is a real conundrum, no doubt about it.
What happens if I use those IP addresses – on my home network?
Would the address be hidden by my router / gateway?
Or would the ISP detect it, and block traffic coming back to me?
This is only going to encourage the use of VPN’s which will hamper the spying efforts of other government departments. Also it wipes off a lot of the value of Australia’s “internet” since its not really internet if half of it is blocked.
Just use Opera Browser and turn on VPN mode – gets you to the torrent sites regardless of your ISP.
I then uses PureVPN to download (split tunnelling, so just torrent traffic via VPN or specific browser)
The end result of these bans will be the demise of Foxtel and Village Roadshow. Both are just plain stupid to see reality.
The LNP screwed up pay TV as they did with Digital radio and every other communication service in this country. All for two entities.
Arrogant, ignorant morons.
Foxtel is a flop. It has failed to attract enough subscribers to make it viable. They have barely attracted 25% of their original business plan. Most of those subscribers joins specifically for AFL football, without which Foxtel would have shut down years ago. Now they blame so called illegal down loaders for their masses of business errors.
The main blame is with the total stuff up the Howard Government made on all radio/tv. They screwed up digital radio which barely exists, prevented free to air TV stations from creating extra channels (It was the Labor Government that gave it the go ahead). The Howard Government prevented Telstra from laying optic fiber to homes 23 years ago. All to protect a handful of media moguls.
Now we have the same idiots that have totally screwed NBN, again to protect the same media buddies. Over priced, obsolete, and costing 100 times more if the original Telstra plan was allowed.
Australia could have had the most advanced communications system in the world. Now we are close to the worse.
The actual cost to business in in the billions.
This LNP makes the Whitlam Government look like geniuses.
What a slippery slope, i own a company selling software which pops up on filesharing sites. Will the government block all of them if i request it?
I honestly hope not because it’s stripping peoples freedoms, so why should Foxtel and Village Roadshow get special treatment? Who will be next? Will all big corporations get to take turns in banning 50 sites they dont like until nothings left?