Foxtel is continuing it’s crusade against ill-gotten content. This week, it’s been revealed that the pay TV monolith has returned to court eager to pursue new regulations that would push Internet Service Providers to widen the scope of blocked sites to include 32 more streaming, torrent and proxy sites.
Foxtel first brought the issue of piracy and copyright infringement before a sympathetic court last year, who amended Australia’s copyright law, making it easier for copyright holders to go after third party entities illegally hosting their content. It’s now been revealed via TorrentFreak that soon after that hearing, Foxtel returned with a new application
The court documents are yet to be publicly released, however TorrentFreak has been privy to the information contained within.
This time, Foxtel has appealed to a total of 52 different ISPs including Telstra, Optus and Vodafone with a list of 32 further sites they deem to be in breach of their copyright. The list included a series of streaming platforms, torrent and proxy sites. The application seeks to block the domain of all 32.
As per the legalese of the case, streaming platforms have been deemed as a portal “with a browsable and/or searchable index or directory of digital (including audiovisual) content from which they can select content of their choice”. An example would be an aggregator site that hosts hyperlinks to other sites where views can access the content. These include sites such as ShareMovies, SeriesOnline8, Movie4U, SeeHD, StreamDreams and MoviesOnline.
More simply, torrent sites are deemed as any website that allows users to access .torrent files, or link users to other websites where they can access them. In the new application, Foxtel has listed.
What may be of most concern to Australia’s is the crackdown on Proxy sites, given that many have used them to circumvent the 120 piracy sites blocked with Foxtel’s initial application. These are sites that through various means of digital trickery, can grant you access, via proxy, to already band torrent / streaming services. Sites that grant you access to pirate content, or sites that list options for proxy sites are also now on the ban list. This includes Unblocked.lol, Unblocked.win, Unblockall, Unblocker, and MyUnblock.
A case management hearing will take place on July 11, and will provide more information on the application, as well as a verdict.
