China shuts illegal video sharing sites

China shuts the door on Internet downloads that violate copyright laws, reports Beijing Review.com.cn.

China's millions of netizens were recently astonished to find that the government shut down 530 websites that allowed the illegal sharing of audio and video content among users. Authorities said the sites, like peer-to-peer (P2P) sharing giant BitTorrentChina (BTChina), which offers free downloads of music, movies, games and TV shows, did not have the authorized licenses they needed to operate.

... The illegal websites have been ordered to shut down or to delete all links to downloadable films or TV shows. Authorities said their campaign would last until they rectified the problem.

Read full article. Image from Cristy Li.

There is no mention of video sharing sites that offer TV series in streaming, so perhaps they are not affected. The WSJ reports today that Youku.com, one of China's largest video Web sites, raised $40 million in new funding. Its a prime destination for the latest US TV series.

emily | 8:46 AM | Copypright Issues |
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