📰 New article from TorrentFreak
A German Court Drew the Piracy Line at 81.5%, KinoGO Was Blocked with (at least) 82.4%
Ever wonder exactly how much “illegal” a website has to be before the internet police come knocking? In Germany, it turns out there might be a specific math equation for that.
A recent court ruling has revealed a fascinating (and slightly nerdy) threshold for website blocking. According to recent paperwork, German authorities have been using an “81.5% rule.” Essentially, if more than 81.5% of a site’s content is pirated, it’s officially deemed “structurally infringing” and ripe for a block.
This isn’t just theoretical—it’s currently being put to the test. The pirate site KinoGO was recently blocked after investigators found that anywhere from 82.4% to 94.6% of its content was infringing. It barely cleared the bar, but it cleared it nonetheless.
While this provides some much-needed clarity, it also opens a hilarious loophole for clever developers. If you wanted to keep your pirate library intact while dodging the law, you could technically just flood your site with thousands of public domain movies or AI-generated filler to “pad” your legal content percentage.
In the battle of math vs. copyright, the lawyers are winning—for now.