📰 New article from TorrentFreak
EU Pirate Site-Blocking Is Broken: Report Calls for IP Blocking Ban and Rightsholder Liability
### The EU’s War on Piracy is Hitting Too Many Innocent Bystanders
If you thought your internet connection was safe from accidental “collateral damage,” think again. A new report from the Centre for European Policy Studies (CEPS) suggests that Europe’s aggressive push to block pirate sites is essentially a digital sledgehammer being used for a surgical task.
The findings are pretty blunt: current site-blocking methods—especially those targeting IP addresses—are notoriously broken. Because one IP address can host thousands of legitimate websites, the “block” often catches innocent bystanders in the crossfire. We’ve already seen this play out in Spain and Italy, where court orders intended to stop illegal streams ended up breaking access to thousands of lawful services.
The report highlights a major “incentive problem”:
- No accountability: Rightsholders push for strict blocks but don’t pay for the implementation or the mistakes.
- High stakes for providers: Companies like Cloudflare have faced massive fines for resisting overreaching orders.
- Questionable results: While piracy is down, the report credits cheap, legal streaming services rather than these heavy-handed blocks.
The fix? The report calls for an outright ban on IP-based blocking in favor of more precise URL or DNS-level methods. It also suggests that if rightsholders want to play “internet police,” they should be held liable for any damages caused by overblocking.