The United Kingdom's High Court ruled Monday that The Pirate Bay must be blocked by all local Internet services providers, thereby cutting it off from a potential user base of over 50 million people.

The ruling comes after a February decision that the site was infringing copyright in the United Kingdom. The UK entertainment industry has applauded the outcome.

"Sites like The Pirate Bay destroy jobs in the UK and undermine investment in new British artists," the British Phonographic Industry (BPI) said in a statement.

Digital and civil rights groups decried the decision.

"Blocking the Pirate Bay is pointless and dangerous," said Jim Killock, executive director of the Open Rights Group said in a statement on the organization’s website. "It will fuel calls for further, wider and even more drastic calls for Internet censorship of many kinds, from pornography to extremism. Internet censorship is growing in scope and becoming easier. Yet it never has the effect desired. It simply turns criminals into heroes."