Taiwan Bans Torrent Sites, Brings in 3 Strikes for File-Sharers
Written by enigmax on April 27, 2009The island of Taiwan has just approved new legislation which effectively bans the use of P2P technology to facilitate the distribution of copyrighted works online. The legislation also requires ISPs to start a ‘3 strikes’ regime for file-sharers.
Yesterday Taiwan passed revisions to its copyright laws which hit file-sharing pretty hard. The amendment makes it a crime to use P2P technology to facilitate the distribution of copyrighted works online, which sounds like pretty bad news for Taiwanese torrent sites who previously operated in a legal gray area.
For ISPs, the legislation provides a double-edged sword. The plus side is that in future ISPs will be exempt from taking responsibility for the copyright infringing actions of their customers, under a DMCA-style ’safe harbor’ provision, coupled with a ‘takedown’ system for alleged infringing content.
The downside is ISPs will have to introduce a ‘3 strikes’ regime for subscribers accused of infringement by copyright holders. After the third ’strike’, the ISP can take a range of measures against the user including throttling or disconnection.
The ‘3 strikes’ regime in no way protects file-sharers from the copyright holders taking legal action against them, so they could face disconnection and a claim for damages. The change in the law is aimed squarely at heavy uploaders, not casual file-sharers.
According to another report, ISPs will not be permitted to hand over the personal details of alleged file-sharers to copyright holders. However, should the individual submit a counter claim to restore previously removed content (read: protest innocence), his or her details can be made available to the rights holders.
Several countries are currently considering to implement ‘3 strikes’ legislation, most notably France. The UK was thought to be heading in a similar direction, but Minister David Lammy ruled out this possibility. “We do not believe that would be the right road to go down,” he said recently.
Taiwan sides with France and believes that the new legislation will be effective in reducing copyright infringement on file-sharing networks. In addition, Taiwan’s Intellectual Property Office will also launch an anti-piracy publicity drive to help the public understand the new legislation and the ‘problem’ of piracy.
Previously: Game Developer Flirts With Pirates on BitTorrent Sites
Next: Swedish ISPs Obstruct New Anti-Piracy Legislation
56 Responses
And the dominoes start to fall….. :(
Just who voted this in? the people? I think not
That’s like banning highways, because they might be used as a get-away road for bank robberies. Blocking P2P in general is a very shortsighted response, and the ISPs will be the dupe of it (extra hardware to filter, extra people to manage it, continuous rising costs, …).
Is this the beginning of the end?
until they can not stop the rain from falling,we will be here!
So what now – skype is prohibited in Taiwan ? As far I know it still uses P2P
seems like the pirate bay trial outcome encouraged them to do something stupid
A child steals a bar of chocolate from a store, he does it twice more in later months, does this mean we should disconnect him from the world permanently?
@8
no they ban the store
@8 no just ban him from the store you moron.
I feel sad for those poor bastards …
It seems it will be good year for VPN and seedboxes business.
Another sad day…how much more can we take? :(
This is starting to get pathetic… Seems like the “people” and the “people” who pay what ever there taxes are, are actually the big companies…
@4
No! It’s the end of the beginning! The war has just begun.
They will never stop us!
> Just who voted this in? the people? I think not
This is China we are talking about, “the people” dont really have a voice.
> Is this the beginning of the end?
LOL! Far from it, this is the beginning of the invention and implementation of next generation p2p technology.
>I feel sad for those poor bastards
Me too, but this will be for show for a little while, and it will be business as usual again.
ha ha have you ever been to a night market? This will not change a thing.
It’s time for us to start encrypting information transfer I guess; in a way that a middle man cannot gain conclusion of the acts and information shared between two parties, and the receiving party has no substantial evidence against the sharing party. Right, anybody has any suggestions on how to do this on a large scale? :-o
Well a lot of companies are now using P2P technology in their software for downloading updates and the like.
@18 Anon
Since these updates are copyright protected they are now illegal in Taiwan?
“Taiwan sides with France and believes that the new legislation will be effective in reducing copyright infringement on file-sharing networks”
Failed in France so wtf?!
OMGWTF stoneage returns.
Yea, take a society and keep fragging the people with the actual technological skills out of it and while you’re at it, cut off a society’s primary means of free information exchange.
There ya go, that’ll ensure progress, a well mannered populace and uncensored freedom of opinion and press.
Cutting off people from the internet in these times is like sowing their eyes shut.
Seriously.
I thunk this will allow new ISP companies to come into the frey. No doubt that an ISP will say this is to much effort to keep track of and then ban smeone costing them even more money. This news doesn’t have me worried in the slightest bit.
what if a company is using P2P technology for video streaming to reduce their own costs? they are transmitting copyrighted work online…
hmm, I still have my dvd and cd burner and burning software here in case anyone wants to ahve anything. I also have IPV and several proxies I can access. I would even buy service from a different ISP outside the island. Burning cds and dvds will never seace though. I mean, for instance, if you live in the united States and look at the craigslist.org classified service people are selling dvds and cds. Some of them are selling proffessional audio software and other software for as little as 30 dollars and the like. SO, where or how is this a major revolutionary and godsend kind of procedure to stop “piracy?” we won’t stop JACK until the screwed up record and movie industries get their act together and stop exploiting the people, artists and consumers alike.
This is the most stupid and ridiculous legislation. It shows how really corrupted the government systems in France and in Taiwan. This is an illustration abuse of power by the stupid politicians who have been bribed under the table. This is absolutely unacceptable and I hope the citizens in these countries should take a stand and remove the morally corrupted/bankrupt politicians from their office.
i think we all saw things like this coming as soon as they said “guilty” in Sweden…
sad really. but a force we will always be up against. big business will never die and thus the file sharing war will not either. it may get easier in the future, but that will only be a battle that is won. never the whole war.
Well, there goes all the anime torrent sites that I’m using. :(
I’m going to go out on a limb and say this: Most internet users use the internet to download some sort of illegal content at least once per day.
And people aren’t just donwloading through torrents. Don’t forget about file hosting sites like rapidshare, megaupload, etc.
Downloading copyrighted (and thus illegal to download) content has become internet culture. It is a staple of how people now use the internet all over the world.
going after ‘heavy uploaders’ mean they’re trying to promote the proliferation of leeches and prevent the sharing of new torrents.
the copyright shits are attacking BTs most basic rule; sharing.
and before you copyright whores start yapping, know that copyrights originally lasted only for 10 years give or take. now the copyright holder have extended them to near 100 or in some countries even over a century because they’ve become reliable cash cows.
Its too bad the Pirate Bay lawyers never checked the money trail of the alleged copyright infringing material to prove that the people who sweat and toil over the music/software/movie/game get a piece of the sales pie.
oops. i meant; never get a piece of the sales pie.
OH NO! WE’RE DOOMED! DOOOOOOMED!
Haha, no.
The only thing this legislation means is that Taiwan will be the birthplace for the next advances in filesharing.
It’s almost depressing how little Napster taught these dimwits.
I love the whimpering “OMG, it’s the end, it’s the end!!!!”
Suure. Just keep believing that, become good, docile little “consumers”, stop disobeying your Corporate Overlords, and you’ll be fine. :)
How big is Taiwan?
How hard would it be for some so-called “heavy uploaders” to go wardriving around, using open wifi networks etc. all the while?
What needs to happen is totally anonymous uploading — no accounts, no verification of any kind. Thus, no “information” for the copyfascists to backtrail because there’s no specific ID related to any particular torrent upload.
THat’s what the “comments” feature is supposed to be for on torrent sites, right? So people can tell each other whether the torrent is actually worth downloading or not?
So come on — one of you 3l33t Haxxor D00dz whip up a next-gen p2p design incorporating really heavy encryption and anonymous uploading capability. (Getting away from dependence on trackers would be a good step, even if it did increase the overall level of crappy files.)
I live in Taiwan. So far people just ignore this law. P2P is still alive and well in Taiwan. We will see if government will really enforce it.
The biggest electronic store chain are still selling Bit-torrent download machine and player so I don’t think people anticipate big changes.
By the way, Taiwan is not China. We are democracy. I think it is time that we organize Pirate Party in Taiwan :)
By the way, its not an Island. Its a country.
I also live in Taiwan.
You also ignore all traffic laws, and any environmental regulations.
So regulating and running anti-P2P? HA!
I can buy pirated DVD’s in a night market right now, from the back of a moped, that also is a bootleg of Honda.
PWNED Private Interests!
BTW, Taiwan is a BEAUTIFUL place. Just don’t own a Mercedes Sedan here… you will regret it trying to park in Taipei.
And to my American torrentfreaks, learn your freak’n geography before you use 1337 speak, then showing of your failure of an education system by making idiotic statements like “Taiwan is a part of China” etc.
stop whining and run your own sites scrubs.
happytrackit.com
Who cares what the worlds backwater countries are doing. Next there’ll be a story about China and commies.
Hey guys, Taiwan isn’t communist and isn’t the same as China…Yet…
But with this legislation they could join continental China right away. No need to take population interest into concern, just do like your old cousin in China and vote stupide undemocratic law.
“By the way, its not an Island. Its a country.”
Uh, no — Taiwan technically IS an island:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taiwan
“The main island of Taiwan, also known as Formosa (from Portuguese (Ilha) Formosa, meaning “beautiful (island)”), is located in East Asia off the coast of China, southwest of the main islands of Japan but directly west of the end of Japan’s Ryukyu Islands, and north-northwest of the Philippines. It is bound to the east by the Pacific Ocean, to the south by the South China Sea and the Luzon Strait, to the west by the Taiwan Strait and to the north by the East China Sea. The island is 394 kilometers (245 miles) long and 144 kilometers (89 miles) wide and consists of steep mountains covered by tropical and subtropical vegetation.”
—
“And to my American torrentfreaks, learn your freak’n geography before you use 1337 speak, then showing of your failure of an education system by making idiotic statements like “Taiwan is a part of China” etc.”
Agreed, U.S.A “education” is anything BUT “educational” :) But yeah, at least a portion of Taiwan IS technically an island.
You don’t agree? Take it up with Wikipedia :)
Thank god I don’t live there :s
On another note. Taiwan are the least likely to buy Hollywood garbage.
I hope thy don’t start doing this in the U.S. man I need my torrents. It’s my only way to keep up on my tv shows since I don’t have cable.
Okay, Taiwan in a nutshell, correct me Taiwanese peeps if my British education has failed me :)
WW2, China was essentialy in civil war between the Republic of China and Peoples Republic of China. Aid from the allies to RoC was used instead of fighting the invading Japanese to fighting the PRC. After WW2 ended this continued, RoC as one of the victors of WW2 occupied the Japenese territory of Taiwan, much like the Soviets occupied North Korea.
RoC was defeated on the mainland and legged it to Taiwan with all the reserve currency, both claiming to be the only “China” for decades. Presently the Taiwanese are pondering declaring independence as PRC claims it as its territory, but it is defacto independent as PRC never controlled it.
Hope that clears up a few gaps in readers knowlege :)
Possible solutions for our brothers in Taiwan :
1.Use a system wide or a desktop based proxy like Privoxy or Tor
2.Encrypt your connections.
In Utorrent -> Preferences -> Bittorrent -> Protocol Encryption Set outgoing as forced and uncheck allow incoming legacy connections.
You won’t be able to connect to as many peers as before but your connection will be secure
Any other solutions my fellow TorrentFreaks
ISP’s in Taiwan just change their who-is abuse contact form like TPB’s just done?
eg – corporategreedbagleech[AT]MPAA.org
Seriously though, VPN’s are going to make a killing in the future.
And artist’s are going to lose out ultimatly(Unless their canny and buy share’s in iPredator).
The money their making potential customer’s spend on VPN’s could be spent elsewhere, such as, a CD….
Let’s drive them even further underground eh!
Moronic business-model.
I just can’t wait for the day when a moderatly sucessful Artist/Developer decides to cut the middle’MEN’ and puts their SD content on Mininova with a donate button. And a sensibly priced “Buy Now” button for the HD content.
@3: “That’s like banning highways, because they might be used as a get-away road for bank robberies. Blocking P2P in general locking P2P in general is a very shortsighted response”
Your totally misreading what this new legislation does: it’s aimed only at copyright infringment, not p2p.
@18: “It’s time for us to start encrypting information transfer I guess; in a way that a middle man cannot gain conclusion of the acts and information shared between two parties, and the receiving party has no substantial evidence against the sharing party. Right, anybody has any suggestions on how to do this on a large scale? :-o”
1. Purchase use of a VPN service.
2. Use 1-click hosters such as Rapidshare etc. etc. – start looking around for good forums & blogs to find links: SceneDDL is a good place to start with (A blog that has release write-ups and features automatic uploading of scene files from topsites leading to pre-times comparable to the fastest BT trackers. Also has a great IRC based request system that is also automated).
3. There’s already several “viable” methods of sharing files via P2P that are fully encrypted and anonymous. I say “viable” as there’s many implemenations of P2P on encrypted networks around however many of them are extremely slow – too slow to be useable.
For my money Freenet is the best fully encrypted P2P network as it can achieve very high (relatively) transfer speeds seeing as it was designed from the ground up to be a way of transferring large files anonymously.
Freenet is a “distributed” P2P network, meaning one doesn’t share files perse, but rather each user has a “store” that is made available to the network. Data that is inserted is encrypted and then broken up across many different stores.
Freenet is not without it’s downsides: the main one being unless one is constantly connected (restarting is OK – a few minutes off the network doesn;t hurt) performance drops markedly – something to do with how many other peers your client knows and vice-versa. It also needs many more people to start inserting content into it.
However, from a speed vs. anonymity viewpoint it is easily the fastest anonymous P2P system around. I reguarly download files at 200KB/s (the more popular a file is the faster it is).
@#16 Taiwan isn’t China.
The more they try to stop the progress, the more they fail. Take Japan for example: WinMX (closed by RIAA) inspired Winny; Winny author got arrested – Share took over; police found and fined Share uploaders – Perfect Dark came into service and is perfectly fine ATM (and 2 days ago got official English interface).
If there’s will to share, there’ll always be the way.
somehow i dont support Taiwan anymore…
CHINA u can take that island back!!!
“47 Apr 28, 2009 at 15:02 by danthemanhan
@#16 Taiwan isn’t China.”
and yes Taiwan is China!
there is two Chinas in this planet at the moment if u didnt knew…
@43 – you’re doing a great job. I can’t sum it up as well, and I’m Taiwanese!
@50 – technically yes since there is still the word “China” in the full name, “Republic of China”. However you’ll never see it, say on a drop-down menu on a website asking you to choose the country of origin or country of residence. It always says “Taiwan”.
And, we have separate passports in Taiwan. We need a visa to go to China.
Did that clear things up?
I think I know why this passed with such a stringent ban.
Considering that Taiwan and the Mainland are AWASH IN PIRACY that the officials TOLERATE… WHY would they ban torrents? This would be hypocrisy at its finest (though governments are awash in hypocrisy as a rule). Basically, I think the government has bigger fish to fry…
NO, this is TRIAD-BASED ANGER. Torrents are removing THEIR PIRACY PROFIT. Why buy a $5 shitty DVD when I can torrent the file? It’s pirated ANYWAY.
I make you a bet several officials were threatened with immediate death to their families if they didn’t comply.
No one can stop online piracy.
first they came for the swedes
and we did not speak out.
then they came for the french and we did not speak out
next they went for the Taiwanese and we did not speak out
when they came for me i blew a hole in em with my shotty
Taiwan is not even entangled in the Berne Convention, which is why they reproduce a lot of works from others for profit without permission. The Taiwanese government is absolutely hypocrite going against their own people like this.
Hope it backfires, else they deserve getting under control of main China, so to formalize things…
In the meantime: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anonymous_p2p
Man, I’m not innocent of this, but it seems the newer generations of people especially doesn’t understand “intellectual rights.” If you didn’t want it, and it’s worth nothing, why did you downlo- I mean steal it? If the price was too high, why didn’t you boycott it? You won’t DIE if you don’t see the new WOLVERINE…so I don’t get how we’re accusing the industries of extortion.
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