Russia’s Ministry Of Communications is preparing amendments to copyright legislation that could block sites if the courts rule their main function is piracy and copyright infringement. TorrentFreak reports that copyright owners feel loopholes in the law are being exploited by certain sites – namely that they will only be blocked at an ISP level if they refuse to respond to takedown notifications. By responding to takedowns, they avoid punitive measures and this is the issue a working group at the Ministry Of Communications intends to tackle. Ultimately they want rogue sites to be blocked even if they do respond to takedowns, potentially being deemed as “malicious sites” and dealt with accordingly. “Unscrupulous illegal sites should be blocked entirely,” Alexei Volin from the Ministry Of Communications is quoted as saying. The legislative amendments are being presented to the government today (Friday). This comes as vKontakte, the biggest social network in Russia, is being sued for mass copyright infringement by the major labels in a suit worth $1.8m that was filed last month.
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