The number of “pirate” websites being blocked in the UK is growing at a rapid pace.
The major UK Internet providers have stopped defending themselves against entertainment industry requests, making it a mere formality for copyright holders to have a torrent or similar site blocked by order of the High Court.
The popular TV-torrent site EZTV is one of the latest casualties of the blocking spree. Last month the Motion Picture Association, together with FACT, asked the site’s owner to cease operating or face legal action.
“The Motion Picture Association (MPA) and FACT wrote to EZTV last month asking it to stop infringing creative content. This site provides access to copyrighted material on a large-scale with no permission from the copyright owners,” a FACT spokesman told TorrentFreak.
“No response was received, so further action has been taken against EZTV through the courts,” the movie industry group added.
Legal action initiated by FACT then took place behind the scenes and late last month the High Court ordered the UK’s major Internet providers to block EZTV. FACT confirms that in addition to the popular TV-torrent site, movie torrent site YIFY-Torrents is also covered.
The court order hasn’t been made public, but it is expected to be similar to previous ones against sites such as The Pirate Bay and KickassTorrents. This means that EZTV and YIFY-Torrents will be rendered inaccessible by the Internet providers, possibly during the course of this week.
Although the effectiveness of the blockades remains unclear, the movie studios are determined to keep adding new sites to the ban list during the months to come.
“We have made it clear that we will seek action against sites that continue to provide unremitting mass access to infringing content following due legal process,” FACT tells TorrentFreak.
At the same time the music industry is also preparing another major round of blocks. The BPI recently made a “hit list” including the popular torrent sites isoHunt, Extratorrent and Torrentz, as well as several cyberlockers and the music streaming service Grooveshark.
And so it continues.
