The Electronic Communications Authority in Italy has approved some new measures to combat pirated content sites and their owners.
The new system will come into effect on March 31, 2014, and will allow for the expedited removal of copyrighted content by hosts and the blocking of file-sharing sites at the ISP level. Those uploading illegal content, as well as internet service providers that fail to comply, could face fines of up to €250,000 ($343,566).
Hollywood studios have been accusing Italy of not doing enough to combat piracy, but now the country's authorities appear to be looking for new measures to make up for lost time, TorrentFreak reports.
Many torrent sites, such as The Pirate Bay and KickassTorrents, have already been blocked by the country's service providers, following court orders.
Now, thanks to new regulations, the courts will no longer have to deal with such cases. The new regulations allow the Electronic Communications Authority to order a domain seizure or a website’s blocking by an ISP if it fails to comply with copyright laws. Websites have 72 hours to comply with the rules.
The system is quite similar to the one implemented in Russia earlier this year.
