Ukraine Cracks Down on Internet Piracy · Global Voices
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EX.UA, Ukraine's most popular file-sharing service, announced on Wednesday that it will shut down its operations, citing the passage of new national anti-piracy legislation.
The announcement, which administrators posted on the website's homepage, comes amidst a broader government effort to strengthen Ukraine's intellectual property laws and crack down on internet piracy: the country's parliament recently passed a law entitled “On State Support for Cinematography” that will allow copyright holders to block sites that violate copyright laws without needing a court warrant. On Tuesday, Ukraine's cyber police seized servers belonging to FS.TO, another popular file-sharing service.
EX.UA, which was founded in 2009, allows users to upload and download content to its servers for free, and is a popular destination for Ukrainians (who account for nearly two-thirds of the sites’ users) looking to pirate movies, music, and other digital material. According to Alexa, a company that tracks internet traffic, EX.UA is the 11th most popular website in Ukraine and the 1,636th most popular in the world.
<PERSON>, the deputy head of the Presidential Administration for administrative, social, and economic reforms, told journalists on Thursday he was happy EX.UA had come over to the “light side,” and that its closure represented an important success in Ukraine's fight against internet piracy.
У них (EX.UA) есть бизнес модель, которая давала им возможность зарабатывать средства, распространяя нелегальный видеоконтент, вставляя в него украинскую рекламу. 534
Украинские рекламодатели платили деньги за размещение рекламы, а правообладатели контента не получали никакой бенефиции от этого.
They (EX.UA) have a business model that has allowed them the opportunity to earn money by spreading illegal video content with Ukrainian advertisements. Ukrainian advertisers paid money for ads, but the rights-holders of the content never received any compensation from them.
Shymkiv said EX.UA's proprietors made more than $1 million per year from the website.
After the seizure of FS.TO's servers, the writing was on the wall for EX.UA. <PERSON>, a lawyer at Justucum, a law firm that represents ex.ua, told tech website AIN.ua that broad changes to intellectual property law in Ukraine had motivated the decision to shut down the file-sharing service. He expressed concern over the security of personal files and information, which site administrators have asked users to remove by November 30.
Ресурс понимает, что в условиях нынешней напряженности в обществе его силовое закрытие может привести к увеличению протестов, как это было в 2012 году. 704