Close on the heels of the call for action against pirate websites made by Hollywood and the US Government, it is the turn of the music industry to mount the pressure on domain service providers not to provide its services to websites indulging in piracy.
TorrentFreak argues that as per Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF), companies do not have to take action against any pirate site unless necessitated by a valid court order.
The report points out the fact that there has been a growing trend among different entertainment industry groups to throw their weight behind companies that offer domain name services.
It cites the example of Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) joining the oversight body, Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN). It has been pressing for changes in policy from within.
Recently, Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) talking on behalf of the industry players pressed for stricter measures against companies that provide domain names for pirate sites.
"... we expect all in the internet ecosystem to take responsible measures to deter copyright infringement to help meet this goal," said Victoria Sheckler, senior vice president of RIAA.
It has been their belief that domain registrars are unable to tackle piracy. However, these registrars are not responsible to act on pirate sites.
The demand made by RIAA also has the backing of the US Government, which has made some critique against domain registrars.
Nevertheless, EFF notes that there is no requirement for registrars to disconnect pirate sites. "Domain registrars do not have an obligation to respond to a random third party's complaints about the behavior of a domain name user. Unless ordered by a court, registrars cannot be compelled to take down a website," said Jeremy Malcolm, EFF's Senior Global Policy Analyst.
But entertainment industry groups are likely to take forward this fight against piracy and are hoping that they convince via ICANN to bring domain registrars to take action on pirate sites.
