UK court orders block on two file-sharing sites Published duration 22 July 2013

image caption The Premier League has also moved to block a football streaming site

British ISPs have been told to block access to two websites accused of aiding piracy on a "mass scale".

The court order to block EZTV and YIFY Torrents was made last week and should take effect soon.

The two are the latest in a growing list of websites to which UK ISPs have been asked to block access.

Action against the sites was started by the Federation Against Copyright Theft (Fact) in conjunction with the Motion Picture Association (MPA).

File-sharing news site TorrentFreak said the High Court decision followed efforts by Fact and the MPA to contact the owners of both sites. The MPA is the international arm of the Motion Picture Association of America.

A spokesman for Fact said it and the MPA had given both sites a chance to avoid legal action by responding to cease and desist orders, by both industry groups, to remove pirated content issued.

Fact said it had resorted to legal action when no action to remove infringing content was forthcoming.

The process to get the UK courts to issue blocking orders was now well established, he said, and the UK's biggest ISPs typically took a fortnight to impose blocks.

The action against the two sites was just one aspect of a broader policy targeting pirate sites, said the Fact spokesman.

Efforts were also being made to cut off funds to infringing websites by targeting ad networks that some sites relied on to generate cash.

In addition, he said, payment providers were looking at ways to stop donations and other payments getting through to pirate sites.

A growing number of sites accused of aiding piracy are now blocked to UK web users.