Külföldi torrent oldalak Australian Vpns Could Be Blocked: Another Warning

According to the local consumer advocacy group, despite the fact the copyright bill is designed to target BitTorrent, virtual private networks (VPNs) could also be blocked under new legislation.

It is known that VPNs are used by hundreds of thousands people in the country to access overseas content on the Internet, but now their activity is under the threat, because VPNs could be blocked by the Copyright Amendment Bill 2015.

If passed, the bill will enable the rights holders to apply for a federal court order and require ISPs to block overseas websites infringing or facilitating the infringement of their rights. This legislation is designed to target file-sharing websites, like The Pirate Bay, but there are concerns that other online services could fall victim.

According to statistics, at least 684,000 Australian households use VPNs in order to bypass geoblocks and access overseas material. WikiLeaks recently revealed that Sony Pictures has been lobbying Netflix to prevent users from navigating to its international websites to access content. At the time, the Australian users that have signed up to American or British Netflix services were specifically mentioned. The critics also questioned the effectiveness of the bill when BitTorrent portals can close down and operate from a different Internet location.

At the moment, the Australian legislation is unclear regarding the legality of using Virtual Private Networks to access legitimate services that are blocked in Australia, but such activity may be considered copyright infringement.

If passed, the bill should ensure the use of VPNs to access legitimate material doesn’t constitute a copyright infringement. Of course, a more effective method of dealing with illegal file-sharing is to introduce legitimate services in Australia, which can offer content in a timely and affordable matter.

In the meantime, the representatives of the music industry note that new legitimate services should not be made to compete with illegal ones. Despite the fact that Australia has 30 legitimate digital musical distribution services, the problem of piracy still persists. Apparently, the industry has to make it easier for people to invest in legal services, educate them on such services, and make it harder to access illegal services.