UK High Court adds 32 websites to piracy blacklist

The number of websites on the United Kingdom’s unofficial piracy blacklist has expanded, reports TorrentFreak.

The country’s High Court has ordered six internet service providers to block access to 32 sites, including public and private torrent sites, warez sites and streaming portals.

The newly blocked sites include Demonoid, Watchseries, IPTorrents, TorrentDay, IceFilms and Rarbg.  It marks the first time that private torrent sites have been blocked in the UK.

The court order comes after the Motion Picture Association filed a complaint that remained uncontested by the internet service providers because they’ve given up on defending their position formally in court.

Chris Marcich, president and managing director of the MPA in Europe, Middle East and Africa, said ISP blockades are an effective and legitimate tool to deter online copyright infringement.

“Securing court orders requiring ISPs to block access to illegal websites is an accepted and legitimate measure to tackle online copyright infringement,” Marcich said.

“It carefully targets sites whose sole purpose is to make money off the back of other people’s content while paying nothing back into the legitimate economy”.

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