Can internet service providers be ordered to block a specific website?
Blocking websites has recently become a popular method for combating legal violations, particularly in the context of copyright protection. It’s enough to glance at the rulings from the last few months. In late May a court in Tel Aviv ordered Israeli ISPs to block access to a service where films and TV shows could be viewed without the consent of the copyright holders using the BitTorrent protocol. This followed in the trail of the English High Court, which less than a month earlier issued a very similar injunction. And shortly thereafter the same court order British ISPs to block access to portals offering e-books without authorisation.
