ONLINE PIRACY
court in the Netherlands demanded that two ISPs block access to the site, and by April the UK’s High Court ruled that six major ISPs must follow suit. Only days later, five more Dutch ISPs were told to implement blocking systems. Tey have since appealed against the decision.
Putting all this legal wrangling aside, the blocking process is simple. Consumer ISPs such as BT and TalkTalk—both subject to the UK’s High Court order—already have systems in place to filter child pornography. In a process overseen by the Internet Watch Foundation, the ISPs are given a list of sites believed to be hosting malicious or illegal content. “Tese systems can automatically spot URLs that are on the list and block the traffic; they do it in different ways but the concept is the same,” says Davies.
“Te same goes for sites such as Te Pirate Bay. Tere may be some other hurdles that ISPs have to jump through to add things to the list, but that’s basically it. Tey don’t take long to implement, but they are hugely expensive systems: for companies such as BT and TalkTalk, with millions of customers, the systems cost millions of pounds,” he says.
Around the block
Given that you don’t need to be a genius to circumvent the blocking systems, it is understandable that ISPs are aggrieved about both spending millions and interfering with their customers. One of the easiest ways around a block is to use a proxy service that allows you to surf the Internet undetected. It is also completely free. “Te blocking system doesn’t see the URL; it sees the URL of the proxy server. Tere are millions of these proxy servers,” says Davies, who has written extensively on the subject.
Armed with a keyboard and a search engine, any Internet user can circumvent the block in this way; it requires no specialist or technical knowledge. While in theory it is possible to block these proxy servers, a Google search for ‘free proxy server’ brings up 34 million results. Tis is the reality: there are too many to track down.
Another common method, which Davies describes as the most innovative, is to use Google Translate. “Your ISP thinks you’re on Google but, actually, when you type in Te Pirate Bay site, translating it from Swedish to English for example, you can access all Te Pirate Bay stuff.” Again, it is shockingly straightforward.
Both these methods—simple in nature and free to use—reveal the scale of the challenge facing rights owners. While the technology is available, blocking seems like an obviously flawed approach. Davies believes it is “just not doable”
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“GIVEN THAT YOU DON’T NEED TO BE A GENIUS TO CIRCUMVENT THE BLOCKING SYSTEMS, IT IS UNDERSTANDABLE THAT ISPS ARE AGGRIEVED ABOUT BOTH SPENDING MILLIONS AND INTERFERING WITH THEIR CUSTOMERS.”
because people will continue to innovate and find new ways of circumventing the systems in a “never-ending war of attrition”.
“Nobody is under any illusions—except maybe the music industry—that Te Pirate Bay is not being accessed by anyone who wants to get at it.”
Traffic levels
Davies’ assertions are supported by statistics. “Data reported in the UK and overseas—particularly the Netherlands—show that while it dipped immediately aſter the injunctions were imposed, traffic to Te Pirate Bay and other BitTorrent sites returned to pre-blocking levels shortly aſter,” says Adam Rendle, an associate at Taylor Wessing LLP in London who specialises in copyright protection.
Indeed, data released by one of the Netherlands’ largest ISPs, XS4AII, and research published by the University of Amsterdam, speak volumes. XS4AII’s statistics, which start in February 2012, show that BitTorrent (the protocol for downloading music and films) traffic levels had actually increased in the months following the block on Te Pirate Bay.
In July this year, an anonymous British ISP leaked details to the national media about peer- to-peer (P2P) activity on its network. It said P2P activity had peaked during the Pirate Bay court case, had immediately dipped by 11 percent aſter the ruling compared to normal levels, but had returned to normal only a week later.
Analysing the figures, Loz Kaye, leader of Pirate Party UK, a political party contesting its first by-election later this year, says blocking file-sharing sites is destined to fail. Kaye leads from the front in lobbying for a “more up-to- date” IP system that “reflects the need of the wider digital economy”. He says that blocking is
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“purely symbolic” and that the music, film and publishing industries are caught in a “piracy narrative”. “Tey’ve gone so far down a particular route that it’s difficult to come back,” he says. “It is clear that blocking is entirely ineffective.”
Te trends may seem clear, but it is less clear whether traffic specifically relates to Te Pirate Bay or to other BitTorrent sites. Essentially, as with the data in the Netherlands, it is hard to prove whether users are circumventing the block or taking their business elsewhere. “Te general perception, though, is that the blocking systems haven’t worked, or haven’t worked as well as they might have done,” admits Rendle.
However, the story is not the same around the world. “We have seen that these measures can be highly effective,” says Jo Oliver, general counsel at the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI), which is at the front line of the war against global piracy.
Following the block against Te Pirate Bay in Italy, she says data published by the IFPI show use of the site has since declined by 85 per cent. “Te Pirate Bay used to be the biggest BitTorrent site in Italy.” Not any more, it seems.
Oliver adds that aſter Italian ISPs were required to block access to BTjunkie in April 2011, the IFPI’s figures show use of the service in the country subsequently fell by 78 per cent. “Tese, and similar results from other countries, demonstrate that blocking implemented by ISPs can be highly effective in significantly reducing access to infringing services.
“No system is perfect, but we believe ISPs the
website-blocking measures can be effective. Te unlicensed experience becomes less convenient and less simple.
can block unlicensed
websites by their domain name, or by their Internet protocol (IP) address. Our experience suggests that blocking the IP address is the more effective measure, while using both methods delivers the best results of all.
“Some data have suggested that website blocking is of limited effectiveness, but we do not believe that is reliable, as our data show a significant impact on usage of sites blocked.”
Here is part of the problem when deciphering how effective blocking is: it is hard to know who to believe. Rendle says that despite the mixed data, there at least three good reasons for rights owners to carry on pushing for blocking. “First, it does stop people—it does make it more difficult for people to download. Second, it’s an important political message, or an educational message, that these sites infringe copyright or
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