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According to a study published by WIPO and MUSO, blocking pirated websites sometimes leads to an increase in their popularity. In particular, this is observed in the Lithuanian Internet space. In addition, analysts noted the highest level of effectiveness of blocking in Russia and South Korea.
WIPO and MUSO research
Blocking a website used to distribute pirated content, in some cases, not only does not reduce the popularity of the resource, but also vice versa – it has a positive effect on its attendance, writes TorrentFreak. This is evidenced by the data of the “Unlicensed Demand Report” study, conducted by MUSO on behalf of the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) and dedicated to the effectiveness of blockchains.
WIPO has its own constantly updated database that records blocked domains in various countries around the world, including Russia, Spain, Greece, Italy, South Korea, Peru and Lithuania.
The database is available to everyone and can be useful for both regulators and private companies to compile their own black lists of distributors of pirated content. For example, advertising market participants, thanks to information from the database, have the opportunity to make an informed decision about the feasibility of placing customer materials on "problematic" sites.
To assess the effectiveness of anti-piracy measures, MUSO compared traffic indicators for resources with illegal content before and after the domain name was blocked. The study was funded by the South Korean authorities.
Unexpected result
It is noteworthy that the researchers did not compare indicators for all domain names listed in the WIPO registry: out of 6573 Internet addresses, data is available for only 432 of them. The volume of traffic was taken into account in the periods 90 days before the domain was blocked and 90 days after.
According to the study, 73% of the 432 sites studied experienced traffic drawdowns after being blocked, which, as TorrentFreak notes, proves the effectiveness of such measures to combat piracy at the level of the Internet provider.
At the same time, more than 15.7% of web resources completely lost their audience after being blocked. 41.4% of sites either recorded a reduction in traffic to 90% of the original value, or remained without visitors at all.
It is noteworthy that the study does not pay attention to a curious phenomenon that TorrentFreak drew attention to: in some cases, blocking a site, despite the circumstances, contributed to traffic growth. In other words, the fight against piracy sometimes gives the opposite result and makes the resource more popular. For example, 56 sites out of a sample of 432 were "resurrected" only when they were blocked.
Regional features
The effectiveness of measures to block pirated sites varies significantly from country to country. For example, in Italy, all web resources banned from viewing by the provider have lost the number of visitors. However, the sample size in this particular case does not allow us to draw any far-reaching conclusions.
If we analyze the effectiveness of measures to combat Internet piracy in countries, the sample is: In Russia and South Korea, about 73% of blocked sites lose their audience to one degree or another. This indicator, as noted by TorrentFreak, generally corresponds to the global average. However, MUSO explained to the publication that in reality these data indicate a high efficiency of blocking access to pirated sites. Russia and Korea are the best in this indicator among all other study participants.
Experts recorded abnormal results when analyzing changes in website traffic among Lithuanian residents. In this Baltic republic, the fact of blocking either does not affect traffic at all, or contributes to its growth. The latter is fined in the case of approximately 50% of web resources banned for piracy.
The company's report does not contain any unambiguous conclusions. MUSO says that they themselves are still busy studying the data obtained.
Did external factors influence the final result?
TorrentFreak experts note that external factors that were not taken into account by MUSO could have a certain impact on the final results of the study.
So, the company assumed that the blocking of a pirated resource occurs immediately after the appearance of the relevant decision of the regulator, court or other instance. However, in reality, the time interval between the entry into force of the decision and the actual blocking can be very significant and differ, depending on the country in which the blocking is carried out.
In this case, it is quite realistic to assume that the domain name of the pirated site has already been included in the WIPO database, but the corresponding site is still available, and traffic remains at the same level or even increases, for example, against the background of news about the upcoming blocking.
In April 2023, CNews wrote about a study on the effectiveness of mass blocking of pirated Internet sites, conducted by a group of scientists, which was formed from representatives of Carnegie Mellon University (USA) and the business school of the Catholic University of Portugal. According to the researchers conclusions, blocking does reduce the audience of resources with free movies, TV shows, and music, but it does not contribute to the growth of the user base of legal streaming services.
WIPO and MUSO research
Blocking a website used to distribute pirated content, in some cases, not only does not reduce the popularity of the resource, but also vice versa – it has a positive effect on its attendance, writes TorrentFreak. This is evidenced by the data of the “Unlicensed Demand Report” study, conducted by MUSO on behalf of the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) and dedicated to the effectiveness of blockchains.
WIPO has its own constantly updated database that records blocked domains in various countries around the world, including Russia, Spain, Greece, Italy, South Korea, Peru and Lithuania.
The database is available to everyone and can be useful for both regulators and private companies to compile their own black lists of distributors of pirated content. For example, advertising market participants, thanks to information from the database, have the opportunity to make an informed decision about the feasibility of placing customer materials on "problematic" sites.
To assess the effectiveness of anti-piracy measures, MUSO compared traffic indicators for resources with illegal content before and after the domain name was blocked. The study was funded by the South Korean authorities.
Unexpected result
It is noteworthy that the researchers did not compare indicators for all domain names listed in the WIPO registry: out of 6573 Internet addresses, data is available for only 432 of them. The volume of traffic was taken into account in the periods 90 days before the domain was blocked and 90 days after.
According to the study, 73% of the 432 sites studied experienced traffic drawdowns after being blocked, which, as TorrentFreak notes, proves the effectiveness of such measures to combat piracy at the level of the Internet provider.
At the same time, more than 15.7% of web resources completely lost their audience after being blocked. 41.4% of sites either recorded a reduction in traffic to 90% of the original value, or remained without visitors at all.
It is noteworthy that the study does not pay attention to a curious phenomenon that TorrentFreak drew attention to: in some cases, blocking a site, despite the circumstances, contributed to traffic growth. In other words, the fight against piracy sometimes gives the opposite result and makes the resource more popular. For example, 56 sites out of a sample of 432 were "resurrected" only when they were blocked.
Regional features
The effectiveness of measures to block pirated sites varies significantly from country to country. For example, in Italy, all web resources banned from viewing by the provider have lost the number of visitors. However, the sample size in this particular case does not allow us to draw any far-reaching conclusions.
If we analyze the effectiveness of measures to combat Internet piracy in countries, the sample is: In Russia and South Korea, about 73% of blocked sites lose their audience to one degree or another. This indicator, as noted by TorrentFreak, generally corresponds to the global average. However, MUSO explained to the publication that in reality these data indicate a high efficiency of blocking access to pirated sites. Russia and Korea are the best in this indicator among all other study participants.
Experts recorded abnormal results when analyzing changes in website traffic among Lithuanian residents. In this Baltic republic, the fact of blocking either does not affect traffic at all, or contributes to its growth. The latter is fined in the case of approximately 50% of web resources banned for piracy.
The company's report does not contain any unambiguous conclusions. MUSO says that they themselves are still busy studying the data obtained.
Did external factors influence the final result?
TorrentFreak experts note that external factors that were not taken into account by MUSO could have a certain impact on the final results of the study.
So, the company assumed that the blocking of a pirated resource occurs immediately after the appearance of the relevant decision of the regulator, court or other instance. However, in reality, the time interval between the entry into force of the decision and the actual blocking can be very significant and differ, depending on the country in which the blocking is carried out.
In this case, it is quite realistic to assume that the domain name of the pirated site has already been included in the WIPO database, but the corresponding site is still available, and traffic remains at the same level or even increases, for example, against the background of news about the upcoming blocking.
In April 2023, CNews wrote about a study on the effectiveness of mass blocking of pirated Internet sites, conducted by a group of scientists, which was formed from representatives of Carnegie Mellon University (USA) and the business school of the Catholic University of Portugal. According to the researchers conclusions, blocking does reduce the audience of resources with free movies, TV shows, and music, but it does not contribute to the growth of the user base of legal streaming services.
