Six UK Internet service providers - Sky, Virgin Media, BT, Everything Everywhere, TalkTalk, O2 - have been ordered by Britain's high court to block access to three movie file-sharing and music websites as content owners fight to stem online piracy. The ISPs have been given 15 working days to block access to the sites.

The sites - Kickass Torrents (Kat), H33T and Fenopy - allow customers to download the latest movies and music tracks for free through bit torrents. Oscar-winner Argo is one of the most popular downloads when the film was not yet available on DVD and Blu-ray.

The high court was told that efforts by record companies to get the sites to remove material breaching their copyright had largely failed. The action was backed by the Motion Picture Association and PACT, the UK TV and film producers' trade body.

Quoted in The Guardian, David Price, director of piracy analysis at online security and anti-piracy consultancy NetNames, said the latest ruling was significant because the judge not only concluded that the sites' policy of taking down pirate material was not effective, but said it was not fair to expect a rights holder to continually monitor the sites for breaches of the law.

Story filed 17.03.13