File-sharing websites shut down

• Source: Global Times
• [03:27 December 08 2009]
• Comments

China's Ordinance on the Protection of the Right to Network Dissemination of Information, which was put into effect in 2006, states that providing works, performance, or audio-visual products through an information network, so as to acquire economic benefits, is illegal.

The Administrative Department of Copyright shall give a warning, confiscate illegal proceeds and issue a fine of less than 100,000 yuan for violations, the ordinance says.

Such shutdowns are widely unpopular among many Web users. More than 95 percent of 15,693 people polled on 163.com opposed the closure of file-sharing sites.

In another poll on 163.com, more than 64 percent of 5,424 Web users said they will watch movies and TV shows on other sites.

Ongoing campaign

The latest crackdown started in September and really started gaining steam last month. By the end of November, 414 websites that allegedly offered unauthorized video content were shut down.

The move prompted industrial insiders to speculate on whether the campaign would be expanded to affect other larger online video-download websites such as Thunder 5 and Verycd.

Unlike bit torrent websites, Verycd, a personal website, has long been planning to transform itself into a formal commercial site. Last year, Verycd was urged by the administration to add copyright information on its homepage.

Thunder's situation is even worse. As China's largest online-download software company, the website has been sued many times over the years.

One such suit featured six American film companies suing Thunder for infringing on their copyrights.

Liu Qiqi, spokeswoman for Youku.com, a leading online video-sharing website in China that is ranked 56th in global Internet traffic, said the administration's move is beneficial to regulating China's online video sites.

"I'm not worried about our operations," she said. "Only small online video websites, especially those incapable of doing a better job on copyrights, will be the worst hit by the move," she said.

However, Youku itself has struggled with copyright legal troubles.

Two weeks ago, a district court in Beijing ruled Youku should pay 450,000 yuan in compensation for illegally broadcasting 47 movies whose copyrights in China are held by Voole.com, a member of the China Online Video Anti-Piracy Alliance.

"Alliance members have found Youku illegally broadcasting 289 shows. Another court session will soon follow over other copyright violations," an anonymous alliance member told CBN.