The Congressional International Anti-Piracy Caucus has released their newest international piracy watch list for 2012. The watch list highlights nations that aren’t taking adequate action to prevent internet piracy, compared to the U.S. standard. In other words, it’s the government’s way of telling the world; “Go do your F*$king job.” Unlike past findings, the new list seems to spend more time talking down to other countries than emphasizing specific problem sites. That may have something to do with the fact that a few of the internet’s most recognizable pirating sites, like The Pirate Bay and Demonoid, have been taken down in the last year.
The three countries harboring the most internet pirates in 2012, it seems, are Russia, China, and the Ukraine, all of whom are consistently at the top of lists like these, according to Torrent Freak. Though the report commends China for tightened anti-piracy measures on the country’s premiere search engine, Baidu, the country is still seen as unable to route out copyright infringing users. on the other hand, the report had nothing good to say about Russia or the Ukraine, whom have apparently done little to stop the flow of illegal materials online.
In addition to pointing obvious offenders, the new watch list goes after Italy and Switzerland for their lenient legal tendencies toward internet pirates. The report essentially calls Switzerland a hotbed for internet piracy, suggesting that the country’s anti-piracy laws are tantamount to promoting illegal activity. Meanwhile, the report asserts that Italy doesn’t really have an organization capable of targeting internet pirates.
Meanwhile, Canada and Spain, two countries that have been on past watch lists, were described as states “in transition”, since both governments taken steps to get a tighter grip on their internet piracy problems. Of course, they aren’t up to America’s standards yet, so they still get a dishonorable mention.
(via Torrent Freak, image credit; Julie Falk)
- Nobody has time to read all of these DMCA takedown notices.
- Google takes measures against online piracy.
- Did these guys even watch the Kim Dotcom raid footage?
