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The precise number of websites blocked in Belgium is unknown. Blocking may vary from one Internet Service Provider (ISP) to another with some sites blocked by some ISPs and not by others.
Site blocks in Belgium are at this moment based on DNS Hijacking which has the possibilities of circumventing using proxies or DNS over HTTPS. Blocked websites are redirected to a multilinguial StopPage
There is no official complete register of blocked sites. Blocked content includes:
These are the sites explicitly listed and blocked by court cases in Belgium.
Site name | Domain or URL | Type of site | Reason | ISPs in Court Case | Blocked By [2] | Start date | Resolution date |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
The Pirate Bay |
| Torrent Indexer | Copyright [3] | November 2011 [3] [5] [6] [7] | |||
Vitae |
| Crypto currency | Potential scam |
| June 2021 |
These are the sites blocked by some ISPs in Belgium without any known related court-order. It is believed that these blockings are the result of pressure by the Belgian Anti-piracy Federation (BAF) who threatened ISPs with heavy legal fees should they not comply with their request. [8] [9] [10] [11] The list of ISPs below is probably incomplete as each ISP can decide individually on the matter.
Case name | Domain or URL | Type of site | Reason | Blocked by [2] | Start date | Resolution date |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
The Pirate Bay |
| Torrent Indexer | Copyright |
| December 2011 [12] | |
IsoHunt |
| Torrent Indexer | Copyright |
| unknown[ citation needed ] | Site moved to new domain in October 2013 [13] |
KickAssTorrents |
| Torrent Indexer | Copyright |
| August 2013 [4] | |
BitSnoop |
| Torrent Indexer | Copyright |
| August 2013 [4] | |
ExtraTorrent |
| Torrent Indexer | Copyright |
| August 2013 [4] | |
h33t |
| Torrent Indexer | Copyright |
| August 2013 [4] | Site moved to new domain in December 2013 [14] |
monova |
| Torrent Indexer | Copyright |
| unknown[ citation needed ] | |
TorrentReactor |
| Torrent Indexer | Copyright |
| unknown[ citation needed ] | |
TorrentHound |
| Torrent Indexer | Copyright |
| unknown[ citation needed ] | |
Yify Subtitles |
| Movie Subtitles | Copyright |
| February 2016 |
These are the sites blocked because of EU mandates.
Site name | Domain or URL | Type of site | Reason | Blocked By [2] | Start date | Resolution date |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Sputnik |
| News agency | Political [15] | 2022-08-03 | ||
RT |
| News agency | Political [15] | 2022-08-03 |
The list of blocked gambling websites is the only official publicly available and maintained blocklist in Belgium. The list is available on the official Belgian Gaming Commission website. [16]
The stichting BREIN translates roughly as association for the Protection of the Rights of the Entertainment Industry of the Netherlands. BREIN is an association in which the Dutch recording industry and movie studios participate.
The Pirate Bay is an online index of digital content of entertainment media and software. Founded in 2003 by Swedish think tank Piratbyrån, The Pirate Bay allows visitors to search, download, and contribute magnet links and torrent files, which facilitate peer-to-peer, file sharing among users of the BitTorrent protocol.
The use of the BitTorrent protocol for the unauthorized sharing of copyrighted content generated a variety of novel legal issues. While the technology and related platforms are legal in many jurisdictions, law enforcement and prosecutorial agencies are attempting to address this avenue of copyright infringement. Notably, the use of BitTorrent in connection with copyrighted material may make the issuers of the BitTorrent file, link or metadata liable as an infringing party under some copyright laws. Similarly, the use of BitTorrent to procure illegal materials could potentially create liability for end users as an accomplice.
Censorship in Denmark has been prohibited since 1849 by the Constitution:
§ 77: Any person shall be at liberty to publish his ideas in print, in writing, and in speech, subject to his being held responsible in a court of law. Censorship and other preventive measures shall never again be introduced.
TorrentFreak (TF) is a blog dedicated to reporting the latest news and trends on the BitTorrent protocol and file sharing, as well as on copyright infringement and digital rights.
Peter Sunde Kolmisoppi, alias brokep, is a Swedish entrepreneur and politician. Sunde is of Norwegian and Finnish ancestry. He is best known for being a co-founder and ex-spokesperson of The Pirate Bay, a BitTorrent search engine. He is an equality advocate and has expressed concerns over issues of centralization of power to the European Union in his blog. Sunde also participates in the Pirate Party of Finland and describes himself as a socialist. As of April 2017, Sunde has been working on a new venture called Njalla, a privacy oriented domain name registrar.
File sharing in the United Kingdom relates to the distribution of digital media in that country. In 2010, there were over 18.3 million households connected to the Internet in the United Kingdom, with 63% of these having a broadband connection. There are also many public Internet access points such as public libraries and Internet cafes.
There were different but similar copyright bills in the 112th United States Congress: The Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) in the House of Representatives and the PROTECT IP Act (PIPA) in the Senate. A typical route for legislation like this is to pass some version in both houses, then refer the two bills to a conference committee, which would produce a single bill likely to pass both houses.
Movie4k.to, formerly Movie2k.to, is a user-contributed video directory for television programs and films. It is an aggregation-website acting as a search index for online videos. In May 2013, Movie2k.to was shut down by the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) due to copyright infringement concerns, but shortly after reopened as Movie4k.to. It primarily serves English and German-speaking areas. However, the site is also no longer accessible in the UK, Denmark, and customers of some ISPs in Austria due to ISPs blocking the site.
PirateBrowser is an Internet browser by The Pirate Bay used to circumvent Internet censorship.
This is a list of countries where at least one internet service provider (ISP) formerly or currently censors the popular file sharing website The Pirate Bay (TPB).
Popcorn Time is a multi-platform, free software BitTorrent client that includes an integrated media player. The application provides a piracy-based alternative to subscription-based video streaming services such as Netflix. Popcorn Time uses sequential downloading to stream video listed by several torrent websites, and third-party trackers can also be added manually. The legality of the software depends on the jurisdiction.
The precise number of websites blocked in the United Kingdom is unknown. Blocking techniques vary from one Internet service provider (ISP) to another with some sites or specific URLs blocked by some ISPs and not others. Websites and services are blocked using a combination of data feeds from private content-control technology companies, government agencies, NGOs, court orders in conjunction with the service administrators who may or may not have the power to unblock, additionally block, appeal or recategorise blocked content.
RARBG is a website that provides torrent files and magnet links to facilitate peer-to-peer file sharing using the BitTorrent protocol. From 2014 onward, RARBG has repeatedly appeared in TorrentFreak's yearly list of most visited torrent websites. It was ranked 5th as of June 2021. The website does not allow users to upload their own torrents.
Library Genesis (Libgen) is a file-sharing based shadow library website for scholarly journal articles, academic and general-interest books, images, comics, audiobooks, and magazines. The site enables free access to content that is otherwise paywalled or not digitized elsewhere. Libgen describes itself as a "links aggregator", providing a searchable database of items "collected from publicly available public Internet resources" as well as files uploaded "from users".
Putlocker is any of various online file hosting index websites used for streaming entertainment media, particularly films and television series, for free. The initial website originated in the United Kingdom as early as 2011, and grew to receive millions of daily visitors after the shutdown of Megaupload. In May 2016, the website was blocked in the UK by a High Court order, and at its peak prior to a temporary closure in late 2016, Alexa Internet listed Putlocker as ranking among the top 250 most-visited websites worldwide. Putlocker has been reported by the Motion Picture Association (MPA) as a major piracy threat.
Tamil Rockers is a torrent website based in India which facilitates the illegal distribution of copyrighted material, including television shows, movies, music and videos. The site allows visitors to search for and download copyrighted material with the help of magnet links and torrent files, which facilitate peer-to-peer file sharing. It also operates multiple Telegram channels and groups with thousands of subscribers. Tamil Rockers is the tenth most popular torrent site in TorrentFreak's Top 10 Most Popular Torrent Sites of 2020 list.
FMovies is a series of copyright infringement websites that host links and embedded videos, allowing users to stream or download movies for free.
This list of Internet censorship and surveillance in Europe provides information on the types and levels of Internet censorship and surveillance that is occurring in countries in Europe.