In an action that has become known as “A Monster from Rome”, the Italian Public Prosecutor of Rome ordered on 15 April 2013 the blocking of 27 file-sharing related sites at the request of Sunshine Pictures, the Italian distributor of the French animated film “A Monster in Paris”.

The list which has been made public includes mainly storage and streaming sites such as Rapidgator, one of the world’s largest file-hosting sites, Uploaded, BitShare, NowVideo, NowDownload, VideoPremium, QueenShare and ClipsHouse. The prosecutor has already warned that he intends to extend the action internationally to properly seize the respective domains.

“I think that operations like this one could jeopardize freedom of speech, and endanger legitimate web sites, being also a risk for the civil liberties. Copyright cannot be considered as a more essential right than freedom of expression, or a more important matter than a free and open internet,” stated Fulvio Sarzana, a lawyer with the Sarzana and Partners law firm specializing in Internet and copyright disputes, which has been hired by Rapidgator to fight back.

The action also seems extremely disproportionate considering that such a large-scale operation was triggered by the complaint of a small film distributor for just a single cartoon movie which cannot possibly justify the seizure of so many big sites which also contain legal files.

According to Suzana, a number of ISPs have already filed appeals against the current blocking order.

For the time being the list of blocked sites does not include BitTorrent sites and the domains are blocked only on the DNS level which means that the sites can be accessible if users switch to OpenDNS or Google DNS.

Massive BitTorrent and Cyberlocker Domain Crackdown Underway (Updated) (15.04.2013)
http://torrentfreak.com/massive-bittorrent-and-cyberlocker-domain-crac...

Crackdown on File sharing. Rapidgator and ISPs Appeal Domain Name Blockade and Seizure (19.04.2013)
http://www.fulviosarzana.it/en/

Domain names blocking measures of the Italian Authorities (only in Italian)
http://censura.bofh.it/elenchi.html

Italy, maxi-sequester of sharing, in progress (only in Italian, 15.04.2013)
http://punto-informatico.it/3768010/PI/News/italia-maxisequestro-dello...

Rapidgator, appeal against the seizure (18.04.2013)
http://punto-informatico.it/3770121/PI/News/rapidgator-ricorso-contro-...