This week an Italian court ordered all Internet providers to block access to the domain names and IP-addresses of both TorrentReactor.net and Torrents.net
The verdict follows a police investigation that was initiated after complaints by the local music industry. Previously, courts had already ordered similar blockades against The Pirate Bay and KickassTorrents.
The TorrentReactor team are not amused by the blockade and have quickly taken action to allow their Italian users to regain access to the site.
“It is really sad to see authorities intervene with the free and open internet. Pressure from media conglomerates is not doing any good and people should definitely defend their rights and freedoms,” the TorrentReactor team tells TorrentFreak.
Over the past 24 hours the site’s operators have worked hard to get a proxy service operational and it eventually went live a few hours ago. The proxy site “Come.in” allows people to access TorrentReactor when it’s blocked, and it also works with the three other BitTorrent sites that are currently censored in Italy.
TorrentReactor is one of the most popular torrent sites in the country. According to the Italian prosecution 600,000 locals visit TorrentReactor each month, generating 4 millions page views. In total 14% of the site’s users come from Italy.
For the time being these users can still reach the site through Come.in and other proxies, but the TorrentReactor crew is encouraging the public to speak out against such censorship efforts.
“When a ruling like this is made the public should oppose it and have their voice heard. We hope those in Italy and other countries can stand up and change the situation for the better,” they say.
The music industry won’t be very happy with TorrentReactor’s move, and they are likely to ask for an injunction against Come.in as well. The same happened last year when the authorities shut down the general purpose proxy site proxyitalia.com, because it allowed Italians to access The Pirate Bay
And so the whack-a-mole continues…
