Since shutting down most pirate sites is impossible, Germany’s ISPs are given a secret list of pirate domains to block, which in theory hides the existence of the pirate sites from internet users. After it emerged that a local ISP had accidentally exposed the list to the public for the last 10 months, the unintended transparency was quietly yet swiftly reversed. This response provides another point for debate as site-blocking proposals heat up in the United States.
cuiiliste.de is an effort (of one person) to make the list and its effects transparent, and inform about how you can switch DNS.
Sweet, a list of sites to check out…
Nice list.
WTF, Germany?
That’s like the least noteworthy aspect of German anti-piracy action out there tbh.
There’s an entire industry around identifying people who torrent and fining them 4 digit amounts as well as forcing them to sign a declaration never to pirate again in their lifetime (which, when broken, results in contractual fines a magnitude larger). Don’t want to sign? Tough luck, have fun losing a lawsuit forcing you to sign it.
Not only is it voluntary (can confirm that 1&1 doesn’t block the subset of sites I just now tried out which are on the list) but Germany’s approach seems to be pretty tame in comparison, still. Doesn’t make it good, but a lot less bad than it seems by just reading the highlighted section.
While the CUII website lists 24 platforms for blocking, at last count the exposed list contained well over ten times more domains/subdomains, over 300 in total. For perspective, Germany’s site-blocking program is very modest when compared to schemes in the UK, France, Italy, and Spain, for example, where thousands of sites are blocked with information on domains mostly restricted.
ISPs on a voluntary basis, not the nation
Germany is quickly changing.
It is but censoring the internet in the name of copyright is almost traditional.
Is it, really? Did they ever really stopped being like in the 1940s?
Holy cow that’s a horrible take. Please, if you can spare the time and money, come visit our country and don’t just look at the few high-criminality places or the corruption of key politicians. Yes, they exist and should be criticized, but if your conclusion from that is to think that Germany is still just like during one of the most horrific regimes, then you’ve been grossly misinformed and need to experience the daily reality instead.
At least it got leaked at all. Hopefully we’ll get another leak in the future.
nobody who speaks german could be an evil man
