THE Abbott Government has today passed a new law that will make illegally downloading movies and TV shows, such as Game of Thrones, much more difficult.

The law is designed to block Australians from accessing sites that house pirated content, such as KickassTorrents.

The new anti-piracy legislation, which cleared Parliament today with bipartisan support, empowers copyright holders to apply to the Federal Court to block overseas websites that offer content that infringes copyright.

The federal government says Australians need to be reminded that if they take too much from creative industries, such as film or music, without giving back, they will jeopardise content.

The legislation is a win for Hollywood studios and record companies, which will now be able to apply directly to the court for an injunction to disable access to the sites without having to establish whether the carriage service providers, which house the sites, are liable for the offending content.

Torrenting sites, such as The Pirate Bay, and streaming services, such as Project Free TV, are likely to be blocked.

The power to block offending sites would only apply to those operated outside of Australia.

The Bill states that the copyright holders would need to meet and “intentionally high threshold test” so that only sites that “flagrantly disregard the rights of copyright owners” are blocked.

The crackdown is designed to be an efficient way to “disrupt the business models” of infringing sites.

SO, WILL IT ACTUALLY WORK?

The same type of torrent blocking system has been in the UK since 2011 with little success. Some of the most popular torrenting sites in the world, including The Pirate Bay and Kickass Torrents, have all been blocked, but people keep finding ways to download content.

Typically, within hours of a site being put on the block list by an internet provider, hundreds of mirror sites that offer the same content pop up for users to access. Then, by the time those sites are blocked or taken down, there are more to replace them. It’s a never-ending circle.

UK residents have also worked around blocks by using proxy websites, which stop the internet service providers (ISPs) from thinking they are actually visiting those websites.

As a result, proxy sites have also been blocked.

However, The Pirate Bay, the world’s biggest torrenting site, now uses a new service to host the site, which stops most ISPs from being able to block it. The new service effectively hides the information about The Pirate Bay from internet providers, making it harder for them to block access to their main site.

James Brandes from ORGZine, a UK digital rights magazine, says: “Not only is the block policy fundamentally failing, but it raises important censorship.”

‘A SIGNIFICANT NEW CENSORSHIP POWER’

Consumer advocacy group Choice slammed the reforms last week, saying they amounted to an “industry-run internet filter” that would “limit access to international websites that offer consumers a greater range of more affordable products and services”.

“At its heart, this is about protecting uncompetitive local industries who have failed to provide timely and affordable content and services,” Choice campaigns manager Erin Turner said.

Ms Turner said the reform wasn’t about just stopping access to torrenting sites. It was also designed to stop Aussies from using virtual private networks (VPNs), which can allow Australians to circumvent geoblocks in order to access overseas streaming services.

Many Aussies use VPNs to access the US version of Netflix because it offers more content than the recently launched Australian version.

“We know both sides of politics are under a lot of pressure from big rights holders to support this new law and it looks like they have given in,” Ms Turner said.

The Greens submitted a report criticising the Bill, saying that it would give a “significant new censorship power” to the court and copyright holders.

At the same time, the submission questioned the effectiveness of the crackdown.

“There is a substantial weight of evidence showing that it will be relatively easy to evade the Bill’s provisions, that it does not contain appropriate safeguards, and that it may result in legitimate online sources being blocked,” The Greens submission read.

“Most importantly, there is also a significant weight of evidence showing that the Bill will not meet its aims, as it does not address the underlying cause of online copyright infringement: The continual refusal of offshore rights holders to make their content available in a timely, convenient and affordable manner to Australians.”

The law passed the Senate today 37-13. It was opposed by The Greens, David Leyonhjelm, Glenn Lazarus and Ricky Muir.

— With AAP