The music industry wants to kill off piracy everywhere

Mar 24, 2014 08:49 GMT  ·  By

The music industry is hunting down pirates everywhere and despite everything that’s been done in countless countries so far, it wants to expand the pirate site blockades in more states.

TorrentFreak reports that pirate websites have been blocked off in Europe and elsewhere in recent years, but more needs to be done.

In the UK, for instance, over 30 websites are currently blocked by major ISPs per court order. Many oppose such measures, calling this a violation of the right of free speech. Music industry group IFPI couldn’t care less, however, saying that the rights of creators trump such concerns.

“Despite misrepresentation by some anti-copyright campaigners, courts have consistently found that the blocking of sites providing illegal content achieves an appropriate balance of fundamental rights,” a report from IFPI reads.

Moreover, by using data from comScore and Nielsen, the group backs its opinion, saying that BitTorrent usage has decreased by 11 percent in countries where pirate sites are censored.

“Between January 2012 and July 2013, European countries where blocking orders are in place saw BitTorrent use decline by 11 per cent, while European countries without such orders say BitTorrent use increase by 15 per cent,” the report states.

The effect is particularly obvious in Italy and the UK, where a lot of sites have been blocked so far. In Italy, for instance, BitTorrent traffic dropped 13 percent, while in the UK 20 percent.

The statements coming from IFPI about the success rate and of the site blockades comes into direct contradiction with a decision taken earlier this year by a Dutch court. Then, the Pirate Bay blockade was found to be largely ineffective and ISPs were allowed to lift the restrictions.

It is unclear from the document provided by IFPI exactly how the measurements were done and whether they only take into consideration page views, or actual BitTorrent traffic was measured.

Whatever the case, IFPI intends to continue its work to bring down as many torrent sites as possible and to lower the amount of piracy that is done by users everywhere. If it follows through on its statement, IFPI could soon start demanding more countries to block access to the likes of Pirate Bay and other similar torrent sites.

Other music industry groups are demanding similar measures, despite the fact that it could put all the money used for anti-piracy efforts to better use, such as bringing in affordable ways in which users could get access to their products.