Web site blocking won’t stop 'piracy'

WEB SITE BLOCKING is not an effective method of stopping internet 'piracy', according to a panel on the issue at a Westminster Eforum today.

Dr Bingchun Meng, a lecturer at the London School of Economics and Political Science said that blocking copyright infringing web sites is not effective, as users can simply get a VPN and route traffic through that instead. This is happening in China where people are purchasing VPNs via the Chinese version of Ebay, she said.

Meng added that censorship in China "demonstrates that web site blocking is crude".

"The solutions that [Culture Minister] Ed Vaizey is pushing for [such as voluntary blocking] could be problematic and should be debated," she said. "We need to understand consumer behaviour and demand, and we need a new model that fits with the current technological environment."

Saskia Walzel, senior policy advocate at Consumer Focus agreed and said web site blocking would increase broadband prices for customers. She said, "Web site blocking is a crude technology and web sites can be inadvertently blocked. Web site blocking is also expensive. The cost of that will add to broadband price for all consumers. Blocking can also result in degraded services so slower connections."

Walzel said that a lack of alternatives stops consumers from seeking legitimate web sites when copyright infringing web sites are closed down.

Mita Mitra head of internet policy at BT Group said that effective web blocking "isn't easy". She said, "There is a difference in designing a block and those determined to overcome those. At the end of the day we have the legal system.

"Copyright infringement is wrong but if you are not the copyright holder it is painful. It's not a clean cut issue for government and ISPs as it is for the rights holders, it's not that simple."

Mitra also hinted that ISPs could help consumers try to get around copyright infringement laws. She said, "It's often assumed that you have to be a 'geek' to get through the blocking mechanisms but a lot of people will find solutions are offered by ISPs [such as VPNs] when they don't even realise they have been packaged in for them."

Cambell Cowie, director of the internet policy consumer group at Ofocm said the regulator is looking into the relationship between downloading a film and "its result on consumer behaviour".

Ofcom expects ISPs to start building systems in Spring and Summer 2012 and then in Spring 2013 warning letters will start going out.

Cowie said that although the DEA is targeting unlawful peer-to-peer (P2P) file sharing, the Act might also indirectly effect streaming user nets and cyber lockers. µ