530 China BitTorrent sites shut down
p2pnet news view P2P | Politics:- Chinese downloaders have flooded and, in some cases, crashed major P2P and torrent sites “after rumors that the government would be effectively disabling all media downloads in the country,” said ReadWriteWeb recently.
But it was more than rumours.
“Statistics show that currently more than 530 BitTorrent (BT) websites have been closed, including the major download search engine BTChina.net,” says China Daily.
“The State Administration of Radio, Film and Television (SARFT) has closed hundreds of file-sharing sites since last week as part of an ongoing effort to fight piracy and porn,it ” says going on >>>
However, many users say these sources are one of few ways to access films, books, and music banned in China, whether the media is lewd or merely politically dissident. What will media-seeking Chinese citizens do when their links to the wider world are finally severed?
After hundreds of websites offering free movie and music downloads were shut down, China’s State Administration of Radio, Film and Television (SARFT) said over the weekend that the sites will have to solve the “copyright problem” if they want to reopen.
An unidentified official is quoted by state news agency Xinhua as saying “regulating online audio and video services is a ‘long-term task’, and as long as these websites do not solve the problem of copyright, they will not be allowed to reopen.”
But, “The shutdown of BT websites, however, has prompted an increasing number of people to buy pirated DVDs,” says the story.
Meanwhile, “As our loyal readers may recall, China’s ongoing censorship of content and restriction of free speech earned it a spot on our Top 10 Failures of 2009 lis6t,” says ReadWriteWeb, noting:
“Although it is hardly the in the domain of a humble blogger to dictate national policies on media, we feel a great deal of empathy for those who download content not only because it’s free online but because they have no other way to access it.”
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ReadWriteWeb – Downloading Frenzy in China: Gov’t Blocking All Torrent Sites Soon?, December 10, 2009
China Daily – More downloading websites going down, December 15, 2009
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