CANADA INTRODUCES A GROUNDBREAKING MECHANISM TO BLOCK PIRACY WEBSITES – EVEN THOSE THAT DO NOT YET EXIST
The fight against the illegal distribution of audiovisual content on the internet has reached unprecedented levels in Canada. The country’s Federal Court has issued an injunction that goes significantly beyond previous practice: in addition to currently active piracy platforms, it also targets websites that had not even been launched at the time of the ruling.
The order follows a joint lawsuit brought by Netflix, Disney and Warner Bros., in collaboration with the Canadian telecoms operators Rogers and TVA.
According to information from the TorrentFreak website, Canadian internet service providers – specifically Bell, Telus and TekSavvy – are required to immediately block access to an initial list of 18 domains and subdomains. This list includes, in particular, popular streaming sites such as 123Movies and FMovies, as well as a number of paid IPTV services.
This sets a precedent illustrating how quickly regulatory requirements for ISPs can change and what demands may be placed on European operators in future as part of copyright enforcement.
How the ‘Expanded Scope’ mechanism works
A key element of the decision is a simplified procedure for the ongoing updating of the blocking list, known as ‘Expanded Scope’. The previous model was a lengthy process for copyright holders: every time they identified a new alternative domain or a clone of a pirate site, they had to go through the entire court proceedings and obtain a new court order.
The new approach significantly shortens this process. Film studios and television companies can now add new piracy platforms to the blocking list virtually independently. All they need to do is submit a statutory declaration confirming that the specific website meets the court’s criteria – namely, that its primary purpose is the unauthorised distribution of protected content.\n\nIf none of the internet service providers concerned raises a formal objection within five working days, the new domain is automatically included in the block. The entire process requires no further court proceedings or a judge’s signature.
From the perspective of the studios involved, this represents a dramatic acceleration in the fight against digital piracy, which naturally adapts to the speed with which the operators of pirate websites themselves respond to blocking measures – usually by immediately launching new domains.
Net neutrality under pressure: operators’ concerns
Representatives of the entertainment industry describe the new mechanism as a key tool in the fight against the rapid proliferation of mirror sites. However, digital rights advocates and some operators are significantly more sceptical.
The Canadian ISP TekSavvy, which was one of the few to have actively challenged the country’s first blocking orders in the past, did not file a formal legal objection this time, though it did publicly distance itself from the order. On its page dedicated to regulatory compliance, the company emphasised that blocking orders of this type constitute a serious infringement of the principles of net neutrality and alter the very fundamental mission of internet service providers – whose historical role has been to transmit data traffic without any discrimination based on content.
The question of where the line lies between the enforcement of rights and operator neutrality remains open. The court order itself is valid for a period of two years. Its actual impact will depend on how many new domains Hollywood studios manage to add to the blocking list without direct judicial oversight before this period expires.
Source: procomputing.cz
