The Demonoid is no longer accessible to Italy after the Italian Regulator has ordered local ISPs to block access to the site following a complaint from Sony, Warner and Universal.
TorrentFreak says, Italy gave the regulator increased power, thus allowing the decision to block the site without any legal review.
As you may know, after nearly two years of inactivity, the Demonoid tracker has reverted back to the beginning of this year. Once again online, he has managed to rebuild a community and re-collect millions of visitors who had the glorious days of each month. The event drew the attention of several copyright owners.
FIMI, an anti-piracy group representing Sony, Warner and Universal, complained to AGCOM last month, and managed to take action against Demonoid after it was deemed to be infringing. As always, instead of asking ISPs to block access to various contravention projects, such as those of Italian artists represented by the aforementioned companies, the regulator has committed to the whole site. This is an attitude that we have seen from many copyright owners and their representatives, such as when Google was requested remove pages from the site and not links to content that infringes copyright.
AGCOM's competencies are challenged by consumer groups.
TorrentFreak spoke with Fulvio Sarzana, a lawyer specializing in Internet and copyright issues. He believes the new mandate to block Demonoid is very broad because the judgment of the Court of Rome refers to illegal content only, and not to the entire site.
"Demonoid will do well to challenge what appears to be illegal," Sarzana encouraged the site's administrators, adding that AGCOM's actions could well be unconstitutional.
In fact, there have been very few consumer groups that have asked the court to reconsider the legality of AGCOM decisions. The Court of Rome has forwarded these complaints to the Constitutional Court, which will examine and decide whether AGCOM's proceedings violate the right to freedom of expression and freedom of speech.
Until then, however, AGCOM will continue to condemn business as usual, and will probably block more websites in the coming months and until a decision is taken by the Constitutional Court.
