What happens when movie and TV show companies have sites blocked at the ISP level in the UK? A leaked report commission by the studios shows that on the one hand direct traffic to pirate sites seriously reduced. But on the other, usage of unblocked linking-only sites increased by more than 230%.

During 2014, several key strategies emerged to lead the mainstream entertainment industries’ anti-piracy efforts. At the consumer end, so-called “strikes” programs saw errant Internet subscribers receive warning notices in an effort to correct their behaviors.

Then, on top of sending millions of DMCA-style takedown notices to sites and search engines, entertainment companies went to court in several regions to have domains blocked at the ISP level. The UK was hit particularly hard and now dozens of sites are inaccessible via regular means.

But the big question remains – is this an effective way to reduce piracy? Earlier this year the movie studios decided to find out by hiring a company called Incopro to conduct a study. The report has never been made public but TorrentFreak has now obtained a copy.

The report, titled ‘Site Blocking Efficacy Study United Kingdom’ is dated September 30, 2014 and focuses on the top 250 “open access” websites involved in the unauthorized distribution of film and television content. Dedicated music sites were not included.

Overall the 26 page report, which relies heavily on Alexa data, found that blocking had resulted in targeted sites losing an average 73.2% of their direct traffic. And, when compared to the global control, usage of pirate sites had declined over time.

The report breaks sites down into three categories – linking only sites (the majority of sites in the top 250), public P2P portals and hosting.

Three sites were identified as the most popular among UK users in August 2014 – watchseries.lt (link), putlocker.is (link) and nowvideo.sx (host), with the former maintaining the number one position for the previous six months. And despite being blocked in March 2013 and taking a large hit in direct traffic, KickassTorrents maintained its place in the top 10.

In all cases, direct traffic to ‘pirate’ sites plummeted when ISPs implemented court-ordered blockades. The chart below shows the effect of a 2013 blocking order against BitSnoop, TorrentReactor, TorrentHound, Torrent Downloads, Monova, Filestube, Filecrop, 1337x, Torrentz, TorrentCrazy and ExtraTorrent.

However, while direct traffic to ‘pirate’ sites diminishes following blocking actions, Incopro found that a particular kind of site in the top 250 actually does better over time.

So-called “linking only” sites (i.e not a P2P portal or hosting site) enjoy significant boosts, as shown in the chart below.

“Linking Only sites have shown a growth in usage over time, indicating that these sites increase in usage and can take the place of those that are blocked if they are allowed to grow over time,” the company warns.

“In summary, where there are sustained periods of blocking, usage levels are driven downwards across all site categories. Linking Only sites are the fastest growing category and should be considered as blocking targets over a sustained period to curtail their growth.”

Circumvention techniques

While the Alexa data relied on by Incopro relates to direct traffic to sites, the big unknown is how many people continue to visit blocked sites using circumvention tools such as VPNs and proxy services. In its report, Incopro highlights three different types

1. Dedicated sites offering access or a mirror of a blocked site

2. Sites offering access to more than one blocked site (i.e come.in)

3. VPNs or proxy services offering access to any site

Immediately there is a problem for anyone looking to measure traffic to sites when the above methods are used. While option 1 is relatively easy to measure, options 2 and 3 present significant technical issues. For these reasons, Incopro measured only option 1. Nevertheless, as the chart below shows, use of dedicated proxies accounts for more than half of blocked “pirate” site traffic.

Conclusion

In summing up, Incopro found that when a website and all of its domains and dedicated proxies are blocked by court order (and updated quickly), “there is a significant impact in reducing infringement by the sites themselves and a reduction in the overall infringement undertaken by the most popular websites in the UK.”

But to really get to the heart of the problem requires a much deeper analysis and the answer to a question that sits way outside the scope of the report.

Does site blocking really put more money into the pockets of the entertainment industries?

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Top 250 leading “pirate” movie/TV sites (dedicated music sites excluded)

watchseries.lt

putlocker.is

nowvideo.sx

uploaded.net

kickass.to

videoweed.es

sockshare.com

firedrive.com

movshare.net

alluc.to

vodlocker.com

isohunt.to

thepiratebay.se

4shared.com

novamov.com

rapidgator.net

torrentz.eu

gorillavid.in

free-tv-video-online.me

cucirca.eu

rarbg.com

torlock.com

warez-bb.org

mega.co.nz

yify-torrent.org

g2g.fm

watchtvseries.to

rlslog.net

zzstream.li

allmyvideos.net

thevideo.me

dfiles.eu

played.to

sendspace.com

letitbit.net

icefilms.info

vidbull.com

daclips.in

couchtuner.eu

billionuploads.com

thefile.me

watchseries-online.ch

thedarewall.com

filenuke.com

promptfile.com

primewire.ag

extratorrent.cc

stream-tv.me

cokeandpopcorn.ch

letmewatchthis.ae

tv-series.me

eztv.it

turbobit.net

videomega.tv

vidto.me

zalukaj.tv

torrentbutler.eu

watchserieshd.eu

filmai.in

watchtvseries.ch

watch32.com

iwatchonline.to

uploadboy.com

movreel.com

ch131.so

movie4k.to

movpod.in

tubeplus.me

p30download.com

rapidshare.com

viooz.co

avaxsearch.net

bitshare.com

sceper.ws

torrents.to

nosvideo.com

sharesix.com

torrentfunk.com

expressleech.com

rapidmoviez.com

heroturko.me

vidspot.net

seedpeer.me

www2.zmovie.tw

downloadha.com

uploadc.com

torrentbit.net

180upload.com

vidbux.com

tehparadox.com

bestreams.net

clicktoview.org

divxstage.to

2shared.com

sharebeast.com

ffilms.org

watchmovies.to

terafile.co

rlsbb.com

torrentus.si

mightyupload.com

filefactory.com

vidxden.com

freakshare.com

losmovies.com

flashx.tv

youtubeonfire.com

uppit.com

desitorrents.com

movie25.cm

Filmix.net

torrents.net

uploadable.ch

watchseries7.eu

fsplay.net

sharerepo.com

watch-tvseries.net

watchonlineseries.eu

videobull.to

tusfiles.net

seriespepito.com

seventorrents.re

zalaa.com

wareztuga.tv

uploadbaz.com

filepost.com

afdah.com

990.ro

tv-release.net

vidshark.ws

kinogo.net

torrenthound.com

moovyshoovy.com

vodu.ch

rutor.org

peliculaspepito.com

boerse.bz

lostfilm.tv

allyoulike.com

kinox.to

bigcinema.tv

kino-v-online.tv

kinozal.tv

rodfile.com

putlockertvshows.me

watchfreemovies.ch

filehoot.com

nowdownload.ch

solarmovie.ag

2baksa.net

filecore.co.nz

shaanig.com

luckyshare.net

d-addicts.com

sumotorrent.sx

1337x.to

exsite.pl

yourbittorrent.com

awesomedl.ru

thetorrent.org

filecloud.io

kinoman.tv

cloudyvideos.com

vidics.ch

300mbfilms.co

zone-telechargement.com

cuevana2.tv

video.tt

uptobox.com

linksfu.com

depfile.com

h33t.to

megafilmeshd.net

onfillm.ru

vitorrent.org

movzap.com

dpstream.net

videobam.com

greek-movies.com

softarchive.net

filmifullizle.com

torrentroom.com

v1vn.com

1fichier.com

youwatch.org

tnttorrent.info

apnadesiforums.com

divxplanet.com

movie8k.to

1channelmovie.com

watchonlinefree.tv

online.stepashka.com

fileom.com

tormovies.org

movierulz.com

oneclickwatch.org

stream.cz

torrent.cd

mobi-live.ru

myvideolinks.eu

rajtamil.com

netload.in

dubbedepisodes.org

monova.org

torrentreactor.net

channelcut.tv

rslinks.org

torrenty.org

fileserve.com

keep2s.cc

divxstream.net

zi-m.com

torrentz.to

kingfiles.net

uloz.to

tvshow7.eu

megashares.com

darkwarez.pl

vodly.to

scrapetorrent.com

ryushare.com

cinemaxx.ro

watchmoviespro.pw

hdvnbits.org

torrents.fm

datafile.com

secureupload.eu

phim3s.net

vidhog.com

peb.pl

solarmovie.me

share-online.biz

watchopolis.net

mega-search.me

fileswap.com

chameleons-download.com

zmovie.in

vertor.eu

kinoprosmotr.net

rusfolder.com

divxcentral.com

popcorntime.io

ourrelease.org

keep2share.cc

uploadrocket.net

motionempire.me

crocko.com

filenuke.net

fulldls.com

filestube.to