Another battle has been won by copyright owners in the war against online piracy, as the British Phonographic Industry (BPI) has succeeded in blocking access to numerous sites accused of being linked to illegal downloads of copyrighted content.
The BPI, the trade association which represents the interests of the music business in the United Kingdom, has obtained a court order instructing internet service providers (ISPs) in the U.K. to block access to 21 such websites with immediate effect. The list includes some of the most popular torrent sites, including Monova, Torrentz and BitSnoop.
The full list of sites that must be blocked is:
- Abmp3
- BeeMP3
- Bomb-MP3
- eMP3world
- FileCrop
- FilesTube
- MP3Juices
- MP3lemon
- MP3Raid
- MP3skull
- NewAlbumReleases
- RapidLibrary
- 1337x
- BitSnoop
- ExtraTorrent
- Monova
- TorrentCrazy
- TorrentDownloads
- TorrentHound
- TorrentReactor
- Torrentz
As BBC News reports, ISPs have until tomorrow, October 30, to comply with the order. Two of the U.K.’s largest ISPs, Virgin Media and BT, have already confirmed that they will do so.
Earlier this year, a report indicated that piracy in the U.K. was on the rise, with a 16% increase in illegal downloads and streaming over the previous quarter.
Source: BBC News