Web-blocking in the UK expanded a little further before this week with sites recording net-block circumventing proxies the latest goal.
As much formerly reported, net-blocking is now an anti-piracy strategy of selection for the content industries in those states where such measures are accessible, whether through government agency or court injunction. Internet-blocks drive internet providers to block access to particular sites which exist mainly to enable copyright infringement, like The Pirate Bay.
However, the moment the ISPs start blocking the URLs of such websites, so that users see anti-piracy messages instead called proxies seem that keep getting unlicensed music and films and empower users to get round the blocks. So the content industries needed to begin getting net-block orders for the proxies also.
Every time one proxy is blocked another immediately springs up, and web pages providing links to all the most recent proxies, so getting around the blocks do not need to take more than a few clicks can be checked in on by users eager for a freebie content fix.
So, somewhat unsurprisingly, the content industries are currently targeting those web pages also, presumably mentioning legal precedent set when the courts ruled against those websites that helped users locate the most recent prohibited streams of films and telly demonstrates once the content owners began issuing take down notices against YouTube.
The operator of the latter is not quite impressed with the development, telling Torrentfreak: “The new blocks are amazing and completely excessive. To block a website that only links to a different website just shows the degree of censorship we’re letting ISPs to get away with”.
Though, obviously, all this internet-blocking while good old Google makes it very simple to discover the most recent proxies is greatly limited. And that is the fight that is still brewing.