Russia to Permanently Ban Top Torrent Sites to Combat Piracy

Published: December 28, 2015 10:31 PM /

By:


kremlin

In an effort to crack down on the proliferation of pirated content on major torrent sites, the Russian media watchdog Roscomnadzor has promised that the 15 most popular torrent sites will be permanently blocked in Russia in 2o16.

Russia had attempted to crack down on piracy with a tough law in 2013, which gave rights holders the legal mechanism to have sites blocked if they do not respond to takedown requests. It was revealed earlier in the year that since law was passed, about 280 sites believed to be connected to piracy had been blocked or otherwise restricted in Russia. Many sites had their restrictions lifted by cooperating and removing the pirated content. However, infringing content often reappeared on the sites after being initially taken down. Under this new plan, sites that are considered persistent offenders will lose their opportunity to have the block lifted, and will be stuck under a permanent ban.

While it might be expected that users will turn to VPNs or other workarounds to bypass the site blocking, Roscomnadzor believes the block will be very successful in cutting down the traffic these sites receive. The agency made the astonishing claim that, "according to statistics 95% of people do not use tools to bypass locks."

In a poll conducted on Twitter, which had 4506 respondents, the watchdog found that 37% stated they use torrents because they do not want to pay, while 36% selected a generic answer for "other reasons." Many of those who selected "other reasons" stated they were looking for content unavailable through other channels. The third place answer, at 17%, were those who stated they use torrents because they do not know where to legally purchase the content they are looking for. 10% of respondents state they do not use torrents.

The results from this poll are not scientific and should not be considered indicative of the general population. We have no idea exactly who took part in it, however the fact that it was conducted on Twitter will likely bias towards certain demographics. It is even possible that trolls seeking to deliberately screw with the results may have participated, as is sometimes the case in online polls. Roscomnadzor has taken the results seriously and its takeaway from the poll is that for content providers, "it is necessary to find a balance in which the content will be available, and the price will match the quality," but added, "However, many simply do not want to pay."

Will permanently blocking these sites significantly reduce piracy in Russia? Leave your comments below.

 

Have a tip, or want to point out something we missed? Leave a Comment or e-mail us at tips@techraptor.net


No author image supplied
| Senior Writer

I’m a technology reporter located near the Innovation District of Kitchener-Waterloo, Ontario.