MPAA wants hosting companies to block referral traffic from piracy sites

The US film industry’s advocacy group, the MPAA, has sent a list of recommendations to the US Intellectual Property Enforcement Coordinator, including a proposal that hosting companies block referral links from piracy sites.

The MPAA asks IPEC to encourage internet intermediaries to work together to contain copyright infringement. According to Hollywood, 542 million movies and TV episodes were downloaded over P2P networks in the US last year, and streaming today accounts for 37 percent of visits to illegal content sites, versus 27 percent for P2P sites and 36 percent for sites with illegal content. access hosted files, such as link sites and cyberlockers. Torrentfreak writes about the letter from the MPAA.

It is against the latter category in particular that some of the MPAA’s recommendations to the hosting industry are directed. Hosting companies should not only block referral traffic from piracy sites, but also install a filter to recognize copyrighted content. They should also prevent infringers from using their services over and over again and set limits on traffic to certain files they host.

In addition, reverse proxy servers, such as Cloudflare, should disclose the actual hosting location of piracy sites on referrals. The MPAA also writes that social media services must remove advertisements, links and pages that promote piracy. In addition, the MPAA wants whois databases to remain public, in order to be able to confiscate domain names and reveal the names and addresses of operators of piracy sites. There are privacy objections to that publicly available information.

The fight against piracy is not at odds with freedom of expression, the film industry further states: “In fact, tackling illegal activities promotes free speech by providing a safer environment where individuals feel comfortable to communicate, trade and create and access content legally.”