The Australian federal government targets search engines as it expands a crackdown on internet piracy, making it tougher for Aussies to download free movies and music illegally.

In a move that has been welcomed by the Australian film industry, the government introduced legislation to parliament that would effectively increase the list of websites that firms could seek to have blocked.

Under the existing laws that were introduced in 2015, copyright holders are able to ask for an order from the federal court that requires internet service providers to block admission to invading websites. More than one-third of music customers still pirate music instead of legally buying it.

Australia targets Google and Yahoo in New Internet Piracy Laws

The new laws suggest expanding this so plaintiffs could seek an order requiring search engines such as Yahoo and Google to remove or devalue search results for piracy sites.

Those sites would be considered to have “the primary purpose or primary effect” of trespassing on copyright, according to the legislation. The new laws also allow copyright holders to easily have mirror sites for piracy sites blocked.

The announcement came after a campaign from Australia’s film and television industry, most conspicuously Foxtel and Village Roadshow. The latter has argued that pirates were “eased by Google and other search engines” to avoid Australian laws

A senior research fellow at RMIT’s, school of media and communication, Ramon Lobato, said the projected changes would “meaningfully expand the scope of the current site-blocking regime”.

Overview

The government is proposing blocking of extra platforms, this includes cloud storage sites used for piracy. This could be one of the most complicated matter to implement. Stay on our blog to keep updated the latest gambling news and on more developments on this story.