The Pirate Bay and other torrenting sites are likely to disappear soon and become inaccessible from Australian users as an imminent court decision could force internet service providers (ISPs) in the country to block the King of Torrents. Yet again, rumors of an imminent TPB shutdown have started circulating.
Australia's ABC News reported this week that a Federal Court is set to hand down a decision that is expected to favor the suit filed by copyright holders Foxtel and Village Roadshow against five identified torrenting sites namely The Pirate Bay, Torrentz, TorrentHound, IsoHunt and Solar Movies. Of note, two of the targeted sites - Torrentz and TorrentHound - have already closed shop in the aftermath of the high-profile Kickass Torrents shutdown and the arrest of its alleged owner, Artem Vaulin.
The same report indicated that all Aussie ISPs are unlikely to contest a court order that will require them to actively block the five torrent operations and up to 61 identified domains. However, the actual implementation could be delayed by two key issues - how the ISP blockade will be carried out and who will pay the cost.
Per the ISPs' filing to the court, it could cost up to $12,500 (in Australian currency) to implement and sustain the blockade and the parties concerned are in conflict on who should shoulder the heavy cost. The rights holders insist that ISPs are the ones to carry the financial burden of the blockade but the latter disagree.
As the case of The Pirate Bay's pending ISP blockade battles in France and Sweden, service providers take the position that they are not the guilty party in the suit accusing TPB and similar sites of copyright infringements. The cost of the blockade has to be on the side of the rights holders since they will directly benefit with the ruling.
So even after the court ruling is handed down, The Pirate Bay and other torrenting operations are not seen to immediately disappear as far as Aussie torrent fans are concerned thanks to the expected delays in the implementation of the ISP blockade.
The report also noted that in response to the ISP blockade, TPB and other so-called Kickass Torrents alternatives will simply switch to different web addresses or resort to domain hopping. The rights holders plan to stop the sites from appearing with a rolling injunction, which ABC News said "would allow rights holders to extend blocks if they discover a new pathway to a file-sharing website without having to go back to court."