Greek Internet Service Providers to Block 263 Pirate Domains

• Greek ISPs will now block 263 pirate sites and their various proxies, following an order from the IT protection agency.
• There are torrent indexers, subtitle sites, and Greek series streaming platforms in the mix.
• These blocks will be pretty easy to bypass by merely using a VPN tool, so this action doesn’t achieve much.

The members of the “Committee of Intellectual Property Protection on the Internet” in Greece have met in secrecy last week and decided to issue a domain ban that is being handed over to the ISPs (Internet Service Providers). The Committee had to review several reports coming from the Greek Audiovisual Works Protection agency, who have reported numerous websites on repeated copyright infringement activities.

The list with the domains and their proxies that are now to be blocked by the Greek ISPs is pretty extensive and includes the following popular pirate destinations:

• The Pirate Bay
• Pirate Proxy
• Bay Proxy
• YTS
• YTS Unblocked
• 1337x
• 1337x Unblocked
• Subztv
• Subs4free
• Magico
• Liomenoi
• Tainio-Mania
• Oipeirates
• Tenies-Online Club
• Gamato TV
• Xrysoi

So, there’s a mix of international and local pirating platforms in the order, as all of the above are generally popular among the Greek audience. The only one of the reported websites that wasn’t blocked after all is “subs4series.com,” which was found not to redirect to the “subs4free.info,” which is the reported and infringing domain.

The ISPs are expected to comply with the blocking order for the next three years, while the Committee will meet again to decide if they’ll need to extend the order or not. Internet providers now have 48 hours to impose the blocks on all 263 domains - otherwise, they will pay 850 Euros for each day they fail to do it.

Greece isn’t a pirate-friendly country at all, and they have declared war against copyright infringement at the beginning of the year. However, these blocks aren’t doing much in terms of stopping those who want to access the pirating platforms. Simply using a VPN tool would unlock access, and the recorded IP wouldn’t yield anything useful if the law enforcement authorities were to take action based on this info.

As for the operators of the local websites, they were given a deadline of five days to object to the blocking order. Of course, we do not expect the authorities to hear anything from them.

Read More:

• Filmmakers in North America Get Serious About Targeting Casual Pirates
• Italian Police Take Down 58 IPTV Pirate Sites and Identify Subscribers
• Torrent Platform “1337x.to” Is the Target of New DMCA Subpoena