In 2011 the war against BitTorrent and other file-sharing sites will reach a new level. Since sites such as The Pirate Bay have proven that no amount of litigation or criminal sanctions against their operators can take them down, the focus will switch to undermining their infrastructure. Companies and organizations providing file-sharing sites with essential services are set to face the glare of the spotlight and attempts to hold them accountable for the actions of their customers’ users.
After nearly a half decade of criminal and civil action against The Pirate Bay and untold millions spent trying to take the site down, one might have just a little cold sympathy for the position of the international music and movie industries.
The combined might of the MPAA and IFPI, with almost limitless funding and the ears of politicians worldwide, has failed miserably to take The Pirate Bay offline. Their lawyers couldn’t do it and their friends in government assisted by their friends in the Swedish police department couldn’t do it either.
Nevertheless, the entertainment industries will have learned a lot on the way. In 2011 they will continue their pressure on BitTorrent and other file-sharing sites with a bungling multi-pronged strategy that will see them pile pressure not just on the sites themselves, but on those providing them with critical services and infrastructure. Here are five predictions for 2011.
Domain Seizures
As Operation in Our Sites 1 and 2 showed, the U.S. Government – having been intensively lobbied by the MPAA and RIAA – is prepared to act against sites by seizing their domains.
The next phase of these domain seizures will certainly come in 2011 and they are expected to be bolder than those in 2010. Whether or not they include any of The Pirate Bay’s domains remains to be seen (both TPB and MegaUpload escaped this fate in 2010) but it seems almost inevitable that more torrent sites will make an appearance.
...MORE HERE...
No comments:
Post a Comment