the-government

US takes the wind out of pirate sites’ sails

The US federal government has dealt a serious blow to the phenomenon of free, streaming television and film sites as it’s made good on its promise to take a harder line with copyright infringement on the web. Nine streaming websites - including Movies-Links.tv, NinjaVideo.net and FilesPump.com - have had their URLs seized in an initiative by the Feds that also included the freezing of assets from 15 bank accounts, in what they described as the “largest takedown of illegal movie and TV websites in a single action” to date. These sites allow users to view television programmes and films - often just-released or in-the-cinema productions - through their websites, which in turn are funded by advertising revenues. Though the crackdown was easier than some online anti-piracy efforts due to the site-based nature of the services - the government has admitted it lacks the technology to combat the decentralised BitTorrent phenomenon - officials suffer no delusions that they’ve seen the last of streaming sites. The computers and servers for the sites have not been seized, but “if a website reappears, so will we,” said Immigration and Customs Enforcement official John Morton

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US takes the wind out of pirate sites’ sails

the-government

Government withdraws plans to cut off illegal file sharers

The British government has stated it will not cut off internet access from illegal file sharers, following a petition in response to its Digital Britain campaign launched in June. The Guardian reports that a petition on the Number 10 website urged Gordon Brown “to abandon Lord Mandelson’s plans to ban individuals from the internet based on their use of ‘peer to peer’ file sharing.” Although the original petition only attracted 550 signatures - just 50 more than is required for the proposal to be considered - the issue was apparently deemed a significant one for the government’s popularity, particularly as many users pointed out the contradictions to the government’s typical “three strikes” policy and aim to get all of Britain online. The government responded: “We will not terminate the accounts of infringers - it is very hard to see how this could be deemed proportionate except in the most extreme - and therefore probably criminal - cases

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Government withdraws plans to cut off illegal file sharers