Though you may know Europe as a bastion of universal health care and the location of the legendary destination known as Amsterdam, the old world is getting a reputation for something entirely different and perhaps unexpected: fighting piracy.
Big name U.S. outfits like Disney, Fox-Paramount, Sony Music, Universal Pictures, and Warner Bros. pursued legal action against and were successful in their efforts to get movie streaming sites Swefilmer, Dreamfilm, Movie4K and PrimeWire blocked by internet service providers in Denmark. This comes after the U.K. put the kibosh on movie streaming sites SolarMovie and TubePlus. The moves were made by an anti-piracy group called Rights Alliance, which represents and works to defend those who hold copyrights.
“The four sites are the most popular among users, and the sites each offer thousands of movies without paying money back to the people who have invested in the films. Prime Wire for example offers around 55,000 movies,” anti-piracy group Rights Alliance said in a statement.
Another anti-piracy group is planning to make similar moves soon, with Pirate Bay at the top of its agenda, along with other sites. However, getting any site blocked in Norway won’t exactly be a walk in the park according to Olav Torvund, an attorney.
“First, you have to prove that there are violations of copyright on a large-scale, then the court must weigh up whether to shut down access to freedom and freedom of information,” Torvund.