BPI calls for more torrent site blocks

Despite the fact that we've heard from ISPs, the Pirate Party and the websites themselves, that blocking torrent search sites doesn't effect the number of illegal downloads, the British Phonographic Industry (BPI) has called for three more sites to be blocked by UK ISPs.

The three on the digital chopping block this time are Fenopy, H33t and Kickass Torrents, all of which the BPI claims, distribute music illegally.

Even if this is the case, it ignores the fact that we now know the biggest pirates, also buy the most music.

“Like The Pirate Bay, these websites are profiting illegally from distributing music that isn't theirs, without permission and without paying a penny to the musicians, writers and producers who created it,” a spokesman for the BPI told the BBC.

Of course that statement makes it sound like the BPI represents all musicians, despite many, many artists like Dan Bull, telling us and the world that it doesn't. In fact, a large number of musicians want nothing to do with the BPI.

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Leader of the Pirate Party UK, Loz Kaye, brought up another side to this news, calling this a form of censorship: “Not only does site blocking fail to achieve its stated aim (as our own proxy has shown), it is setting a highly damaging precedent for those who would restrict freedom of expression on the Internet,” Kaye said. “Earlier this month Foreign Secretary William Hague stated that ‘efforts to suppress the Internet are wrong and are bound to fail over time', yet this government is happy to allow British courts to censor the Internet at the behest of unaccountable corporate interests.”

So far the top ISPs in the country, including: O2, Virgin, Sky, TalkTalk and BT have said they will only comply if a court order is issued. However that is exactly what happened last time in the case of The Pirate Bay, so it seems unlikely that anything different will happen this time. This is despite the fact that TPB even claimed that its traffic saw a massive surge after the last round of blocking thanks to the publicity.

KitGuru Says: What do you guys think about these blocks? Artists claim not to be represented by the BPI since they aren't signed to the organisations member labels, so is it right for the lobbyist group to target sites like these in the name of music itself?

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