Microsoft to stop illegal downloads as Kodi, The Pirate Bay, KickassTorrents and others to be blocked in Windows 10

The fight against piracy has been a long one. With people on either side of the fight & debate sticking to their guns on the matter. However, it now looks like the software giant might change the piracy landscape once and for all.

New Patent

This report comes on the basis of a new patent filed by Microsoft that could potentially allow it to block content being shared without the copyright holder’s permission. If true, this action could snip the problem of unauthorized content sharing right at the root.

Microsoft’s patent relies on fingerprint recognition to identify the source of these illegal files and block them. Along with blocking these files, users who frequently share files without authorization could end up being singled out and punished. This system, if implemented could be much more effective in stomping out piracy than the current system of the copyright holder issuing legal notices.

The patent filed by Microsoft reads as :

“Objects in a shared storage system can be marked as including prohibited content. Incidents that result in objects being so marked can be stored in an incident history associated with a user responsible for those objects. The incident history can be processed to identify repeat offenders and modify access privileges of those users.” “However, when objects are shared by one user with another user, prohibited content is blocked from being shared, while the remainder of the shared objects can be accessed by the other user. Functions that allow sharing of content are implemented so as prevent sharing of prohibited content with another user, while allowing other content to be shared. If a group of files or objects is shared, then the presence of prohibited content in one object in the group results in that prohibited content not being shared, but the remaining files or objects are still shared.”

Though this is new news, the fact that Microsoft might eventually join the fight against piracy is not old news. Long before reports of the patent broke, there were reports of a kill switch in Windows 10 that could search and identify pirated content for the purpose of disabling and deleting the files. Although those plans did not roll out with Windows 10, there were appeals made by anti-piracy agencies to Microsoft advocating the need for them to include such a feature in their popular OS.

The fight so far

This patent comes in the wake of increased pressure on resources for sharing pirated content such as The Pirate Bay and Kodi. Readers of this website would be aware of the saga that played out when copyright protection groups across the US and Europe used the legal system to block access to The Pirate Bay. The resistance displayed by Pirate Bay at the time only seemed to have increased its popularity and resulted in multiple points of access to their servers through proxies. Once that filed, the focus has shifted onto individuals responsible for sharing the content in the first place. The International Property Office (IPO) in the UK has increased the prison sentence for unauthorized sharing of copyrighted content to 10 years from 2.

The IPO had previously commissioned a study that suggested online copyright infringement should carry similar sanctions to those used for counterfeiting offences. Minister of State for Digital and Culture at the Department for Culture, Media and Sport Matt Hancock said: “I’m delighted the Digital Economy Act has become law. This legislation will help build a more connected and stronger economy.”

While its unlikely that individual users will be handed out prisons sentences, they could be required by law to get involved in the legal process.

Speaking about the issues of illegal streaming Kieron Sharp, FACT Chief Executive, told Express.co.uk: “Consumers need to be aware that devices that allow you access to premium pay-for TV channels without a legitimate subscription, or access to films that are not yet available to rent or buy, are illegal. “Whilst end users are not a target, they could get swept up in one of our operations and become part of the whole criminal investigation, which could lead to prosecution alongside the suppliers, retailers and importers.”

The fact that most people in the world use Windows on their machines could spell doom for torrent sites and other sharing networks. The ability to accurately identify proponents of piracy might be the biggest deterrent yet for people indulging in the practice irrespective of the reasoning. Or could this just encourage more people to start using Linux ?