Italian ISPs Ordered To Block BTJunkie

The international recording industry has welcomed the decision of a public prosecutor in Italy to issue an injunction requiring all ISPs to block users' access to the unlicensed BTJunkie service.

The public prosecutor of Cagliari was responding to a complaint from the city's Fiscal Police (GdF), supported by local anti-piracy body FPM.

The injunction follows a similar legal requirement to block access to The Pirate Bay, a decision that was upheld by the Italian Supreme Court. The injunction is based on Italian copyright law.

BTJunkie is an unlicensed BitTorrent search engine that enables users to access more than four million active torrent files.

Jeremy Banks, director, anti-piracy at IFPI, which represents the recording industry worldwide, says: "BTJunkie directs users to millions of files containing unlicensed music, films, television programmes and other content. It makes money from selling advertising on a site that only attracts users because it offers free access to infringing content. It is great news that the Italian authorities are taking steps against this illegal business, building on the success they enjoyed when ordering ISPs to block access to The Pirate Bay, an action that saw use of the illegal site in Italy plummet dramatically."