T-Mobile is one of the biggest telecommunications brands in the US and has unfortunate deep connections in Europe. The company recently decided to update its policies in regards to sites that allow users to access copyrighted content. T-Mobile blocked 22 domains leading to pirate websites.
Europe has been waging war against pirates for over a decade. In November 2017, the Supreme Court of Justice in Austria ruled in favor of blocking notorious The Pirate Bay. Several cases before that set up a precedent.
T-Mobile received demands to block several more sites associated with The Pirate Bay as well as their mirrors. Net Neutrality rules allowed T-Mobile to leave those sites up since blocking them could go against the principles of free internet. The story did not end after that. T-Mobile was asked to ban movie4K.org, .am, .pe, and kinox.sg.
Reportedly, the company is asked to raise the ban hammer once more. 22 additional domains were blocked due to copyright infringement. Popular services bs.to and s.to were amongst sites accused of copyright infringement. Vodafone already banned these platforms after a court order issued by the German court after complaints from GEMA.
Here are the latest 22 domains that T-Mobile has been asked to block:
- bs.to
- burning-series.net
- s.to
- serienstream.be
- streamkiste. tv
- serienjunkies.org
- cinemas.to
- kinox.si
- kinox.io
- kinox.sx
- kinox.sh
- kinox.gratis
- kinox.mobi
- kinox.cloud
- kinox.lol
- kinox.wtf
- kinox.fun
- kinox.fyi
- movie4k.sg
- movie4k.lol
- movie2k.nu
- movie4k.sh
T-Mobile finds itself in a pickle. The company does not want to go against a court decision, but blocking these websites may break net neutrality. T-Mobile decided to block sites that were in the court order but also sent a letter to the regulatory body to find out whether these blocks comply with the TSM Regulation.
Internet service providers in Austria are agitated and argue that they need an independent judicial organization to evaluate the legality of requests to block sites regardless of reasons. With recent decisions made by the European Union in regards to online copyright, we should expect even more block requests.
ISP providers, media hosting services, and social media platforms need to take a stance. The whole process should be transparent and compatible with both international and national regulations and guidelines. So far, several ISPs decided to report themselves to regulatory bodies to be inspected for potential net neutrality breaches forcing Telecomm Control Commission to step in and investigate the issue.
