Külföldi torrent oldalak E-book Pirate Party Ends In Uk As Australia Mulls Own Site-blocking Legislation!

Australia's Copyright Agency has welcomed a decision by the British High Court requiring internet service providers (ISPs) to block access to websites hosting millions of pirated e-book titles.

The decision comes as a Senate Committee is due to submit its final report next week on site-blocking legislation in Australia, which would allow copyright holders to force Australian ISPs via the courts to block copyright infringing websites such as these.

The decision means Britain's five major ISPs – BT, Virgin Media, Sky, TalkTalk and EE – will be asked to block seven offshore-hosted websites within 10 working days.

The sites – AvaxHome, Bookfi, Bookre, Ebookee, Freebookspot, Freshwap and LibGen – are currently accessible in Australia and host download links to full copies of e-books, including from best-selling Australian authors such as Tim Winton and Fiona McIntosh.

If passed, the federal government's Copyright Amendment (Online Infringement) Bill 2015, currently before the House of Representatives, would allow Australian publishers to apply through the courts to block "online locations" which facilitate piracy of content such as films, TV series, e-books and news articles.

Labor is expected to support the bill, pending some minor amendments.

In submissions to a Senate committee scrutinising the legislation, and due to hand down its final report on June 9, rights holders have highlighted the success of site-blocking measures in Britain in reducing piracy.

Other parties, such as consumer rights group CHOICE, have called site-blocking "demonstrably ineffective", arguing that determined pirates can circumvent blocked sites with the aid of tools such as virtual private networks (VPNs). They also argue the costs of administering site-blocking will ultimately be passed on to consumers.

Copyright Agency chief executive Murray St Leger said the Copyright Agency supported the Abbott government's ongoing efforts to address piracy, including a voluntary "three strikes" code formulated by the Communications Alliance on behalf of Australian ISPs, which is currently being considered by the Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA). That code would require ISPs to forward infringement notices to customers and after three warnings potentially hand over (via the courts) the identity of customers alleged to have breached copyright.

Mr St Leger said the agency would "continue to campaign for copyright and stand up for creators' rights".

Film, TV and music rights holders, representing larger industries, have generally led the anti-piracy debate in Australia and elsewhere.

The Australian Publishers Association president of professional publishing Paul Petrulis said the APA welcomed the British High Court Decision in highlighting the issue of piracy for e-Book publishers.

While high-profile Hollywood cases like Dallas Buyers Club vs iiNet were front and centre in the piracy debate, online piracy was having a devastating impact on less "sexy" industries such as textbook publishing, which produced higher revenue per unit than film, he said.

The British High Court case marks the first time e-book publishers have sought an order forcing ISPs to block access to infringing sites.

The British Publishers Association said about 80 per cent of the 10 million or so titles hosted on the websites named in the case – and in some cases as much as 90 per cent – were found to be infringing copyright.

Publishers had already issued 1 million take-down notices relating to infringing material on the sites, the association said.

The named sites were making "substantial sums of money from referral fees and advertising, with none of that income returning to publishers or authors", it said.

The association's chief executive, Richard Mollet, noted that e-Book piracy remained a significant problem for publishers, with a third of their revenues now coming from digital sales.

"Unfortunately this rise in the digital market has brought with it a growth in online infringement," Mr Mollet said.

"Our members need to be able to protect their authors' works from such illegal activity; writers need to be paid and publishers need to be able to continue to innovate and invest in new talent and material."