Australia’s internet pirates are already a step ahead of a Federal Court decision to order broadband companies to block five major copyright-infringing websites.

In a groundbreaking victory for copyright holders, Thursday’s ruling gives internet service providers (ISPs) 15 business days to block torrent downloading websites such as The Pirate Bay, Torrentz, TorrentHound, IsoHunt and streaming service SolarMovie from being accessed in Australia.

It is the first time site-blocking laws have successfully been applied in Australia.

But according to experts, Australians already have ways around blocking methods and the government and rights holders are “playing catch-up”.

“I don’t think it will be terribly effective for people who are actually tech geeks and use things like virtual private networks (VPN),” Swinburne University of Technology digital media expert Dr Belinda Barnet told The New Daily.

VPNs are widely available and are used to hide a user’s identity and country of origin

“I think it will be effective in the way it will change the way domestic users like mum and dad use the web, they are not going to be able to immediately access Pirate Bay,” Dr Barnet said.

“But the people who use these technologies, frequently in a knowledgable way, are already behind a VPN.

“When ISPs try to block certain content it’s going to be a bit more difficult because many Australians are already prepared.”

The applicants, Foxtel and Village Roadshow, first filed their case in the Federal Court in February.

Foxtel applied to have The Pirate Bay, Torrentz, TorrentHound and IsoHunt blocked, while Village Roadshow wanted SolarMovie to be made inaccessible in Australia.

Under the ruling, copyright holders will have to pay $50 to internet companies for every domain blocked.

Telstra, Optus, TPG and M2 were the major ISP respondents.

The Federal Court ruled that ISPs could block the websites through a number of methods, including DNS blocking, blocking IP addresses, URL blocking or any other technical method that is mutually agreed to by ISPs and rights holders.

Mirror websites a headache for rights holders

While Foxtel and Village Roadshow won the right to block the main piracy offenders, they were denied an order to implement a rolling injunction.

This would have allowed any new websites to be added without court approval or oversight.

“The courts said that would be too broad. If there’s another Pirate Bay that’s not on this list you have to come back to court,” University of Technology Sydney copyright law specialist Associate Professor Isabella Alexander said.

Assoc Prof Alexander said this could be a significant downfall in the success of the verdict.

“If Pirate Bay pops up another 60 sites tomorrow then maybe it won’t be effective,” she told The New Daily.

“There are many other sites where you can do this other than these five that were involved in litigation.

“In a sense this is the most the government can do at this stage, but how effective it is in actually reducing piracy remains to be seen.”

According to Dr Barnet, websites such as The Pirate Bay are able to create mirror sites and change servers constantly – and The Pirate Bay already has.

“These sites on purpose don’t stay in one place for long and Pirate Bay has already moved, and there’s already many mirror sites and other ways of accessing it [piracy websites],” she said.

A step in the right direction

Despite questions around the Federal Court’s ruling and its success, Foxtel welcomed the changes to reduce piracy.

“Piracy does great damage to Australia’s content creating industries and we were delighted that the government and parliament recognised this by passing these new legislative provisions last year,” Foxtel chief executive Peter Tonagh said.

“This judgment is a major step in both directly combating piracy and educating the public that accessing content through these sites is not OK, in fact it is theft.

“We are playing our part to reduce the attractiveness of piracy by making content available in a timely manner, at different price points, and on multiple devices.

“We have already seen successful implementation of similar site blocking efforts overseas and are looking forward to a reduction in online piracy here.”