Last month, it was reported that Village Roadshow, the company that spearheaded the court case that forced Australian ISPs to block a handful of torrent websites, was on the warpath again. It wanted to block an additional 40 sites. That number has since swelled to 74. Here’s what you need to know.
See also: Here’s The Entire ‘Block List’ Of Torrent Sites In Australia (So Far)
In December last year, Village Roadshow, representing a bunch of Hollywood copyright holders, won a case against Australian ISPs that would see the latter group block its subscribers from accessing five torrent websites (61 domains in total) that have been known to be associated with pirated movies and TV shows.
The Federal Court ruling allowed Village Roadshow to request for more websites to be blocked. It was previously reported that the company wanted to block an additional 40 torrent sites but it seems that number has jumped to around 74.
On February 24, Village Roadshow lodged a new case with the Federal Court. According to a report by The Sydney Morning Herald, the case is an application to expand the number of blocked websites by 74:
The list of 74 new sites includes KissCartoon, WatchFree, PrimeWire, Phimmoi, 123Movies, FMovies, EYNY and Spacemov. The web addresses indicate they are registered in places such as Antigua and Barbuda, Estonia, Sweden, Tonga, and the Cocos Keeling Islands.
It should be noted that one website could have multiple domains names. For example, in the court ruling last year, 27 The Pirate Bay domain names/URLs were blocked.
We’re looking to obtain a full list of the new websites that Village Roadshow wants to block. Stay tuned. A Federal Court hearing on the matter has been scheduled for March 23.
In the meantime, we just want to remind everyone that it’s piss easy to bypass the ISP blocks placed on these torrent sites and it’s completely legal to circumvent those restrictions.
[referenced url=”https://www.lifehacker.com.au/2016/12/how-to-bypass-isp-blocking-of-the-pirate-bay-and-other-torrent-sites-for-free/” thumb=”https://www.lifehacker.com.au/wp-content/uploads/sites/4/2016/12/iStock-468088541-410×231.jpg” title=”How To Bypass ISP Blocking Of The Pirate Bay And Other Torrent Sites For Free” excerpt=”At the end of last year, the Federal Court ordered ISPs to block five popular torrent websites including The Pirate Bay, TorrentHound and IsoHunt within 15 business days. Foxtel and Village Roadshow initiated the court case in a bid to curb piracy.”]
Comments
8 responses to “Here We Go Again: Village Roadshow Wants To Block 74 More Torrent Sites In Australia”
I’d like to thank Village for highlighting some sites I wasn’t aware of (*connects VPN to Sweden*)
I was just thinking the same thing. Thanks Village for saving me looking for a solid torrent site.
If poor old Village and mates want parliament to impose even greater restrictions, they’ll just have to donate a few more million to both sides of politics.
Who was it said “We’ve got the best politicians money can buy.”?
Someone should point Village that maybe all that lobbying and not piracy is the one thing putting their ledgers into the red.
Imagine if Village ran banks… sorry this freeway is no longer available because it was used to facilitate a robbery…
How long before we see the statistics on how much it has (not) curbed piracy, and decide whether it has been a worthwhile endeavour for anyone? Of course, now that it’s on, nobody will want to be the one to switch it off again.
I think it will always be a success, mostly because it will just push even the less dedicated pirates to use things like proxy and vpns (which is easy as heck to setup)
While, yes, it is hilarious how inefficient and petty this is, I’m starting to get worried about the precedent it is setting. Once a big corporation has bought its way into this kind of Internet censorship, it seems that it gains the power to keep banning any sites that it deems appropriate? What is next? Legit forums that discuss torrent software or file types? Search engines? Where does it end?
Last lego movie went learnt our lesson we hold back the release blah blah blah oh look lego batman they are doing it again
Thank you Village for showing me how to access your content in a fast, cost effective and easy to access service. Now if only you offered the same…