Europe is massively blocking “pirate” websites, as new countries are cracking down on torrenting sites now more than ever. Just recently, this trend reached two more countries in the European Union.
After Romanian Internet Service Providers received a court order to block three pirate sites including The Pirate Bay, Greece was next on the list.
Namely, Greek ISPs were ordered to block 38 domains, after a request from the Society for the Protection of Audiovisual Works (EPOE) was approved.
This anti-piracy group is said to represent Greek copyright holders and was the most significant factor behind the block of The Pirate Bay in this country. Other pirate websites, as well as some subtitle pages, were banned.
Why are countries banning The Pirate Bay?
Torrenting is not illegal, as long as you try and keep it that way. In other words, it depends on the content you download. The Pirate Bay is one of those websites that has a listing of torrents available for you to download.
As with torrenting, the Pirate Bay is not illegal by itself. That means if you open the website and skim through the content, you don’t run the risk of getting fined. However, it’s what you do on the site that can certainly put you in danger.
TPB hosts a database of many links that you are free to download. These links are connected to hosts that own a copy of the content you are searching to download.
As soon as the torrents start downloading, it means that you are accessing copyrighted material, thus committing copyright infringement. This, in many countries, is punishable.
Websites such as the Pirate Bay are heaven for users that want to find an alternative way of accessing content, for example, a movie, song or an album, without having to pay for it.
Needless to say, this is a tremendous thorn in the side of organizations, companies or artists.
Countries around the world block The Pirate Bay and similar websites in order to prevent this from happening. The enforcement of the countries’ copyright laws is getting extremely strict on a global scale.
In the past, you could not face severe consequences if you torrented illegally, even though there was a law against this practice. However, nowadays some countries are so strict about this, that you can receive a hefty fine even with a single downloaded file.
Nevertheless, there are ways to bypass these restrictions and enjoy, at your own risk, the limitless collection of content.
What is happening in Greece?
As previously mentioned, the Greek Society for the Protection of Audiovisual Works (EPOE) filed a request to block piracy websites earlier this year. After their request was accepted, a Government-affiliated commission under the Greek Ministry of Culture and Sports, ordered every Greek Internet Service Provider to block exactly 38 domains.
Besides The Pirate Bay, torrenting websites such as 1337x or YTS, as well as some Greek subtitle pages were included in the blacklist.
Greek ISPs needed to comply with the commission’s order, in not more than 48 hours. This meant that if the company did not respect the new rule and had not blocked these domains within two days, it would face certain fines. As a matter of fact, ISPs will have to pay 850 euros a day, until they finally comply with this.
What can you do?
When governments or organizations block domains and they decide who can or cannot visit these websites, internet users turn to a different solution, one that is perfectly legal and very helpful.
Usually, these blocks are based on IP address restrictions. That means if The Pirate Bay is banned in Greece, as long as you have a Greek IP address you won’t be able to access it.
However, what if you try with a different one, for example, a Hungarian IP address?
In this case, you will be able to successfully open the website and use its content. That is because Hungary has not yet blocked the Pirate Bay website. As a matter of fact, you have many options when it comes to this because for now, only 20 to 30 countries have limited the use of this torrenting page.
Another question arises now. How to get a foreign IP address without having to visit that specific country?
This is where IP masking software really comes in handy. This list usually includes Proxies, VPNs, or even the Tor browser. However, in your case, the best alternative would be to use Virtual Private Networks (VPNs).
They will quickly mask your IP address and change it accordingly to the server you are connected to. The more server location a VPN has, the higher your chances are of accessing blocked content. What makes VPNs a better choice is that besides hiding your IP address, they will also encrypt everything.
Basically, not only will you be able to access the website, but nobody would see that you’ve done it.
There is a small catch though. When you are choosing a VPN, you need to be extremely careful as not all of them are entirely trustworthy.
How to choose a VPN?
The answer to this question varies, as it often depends on you and your preferences. Do you want your focus on security or perhaps speed is more relevant to you? Do you need servers all around the world, or you need the VPN for one specific country?
Keep in mind that the cost of your VPN also depends on how you answer these questions. A VPN with a large server count and advanced features will be more expensive than a basic one.
And yes, you can also find VPNs for free, but they always come with a catch. It’s either a limited bandwidth, very small server number, and sometimes they don’t encrypt your connection at all. If you want to protect yourself and avoid a hefty fine, think whether this is indeed what you want for you.
If you are living in one of the countries where The Pirate Bay is banned, including Greece, you can try one of the following options:
ExpressVPN
With ExpressVPN you won’t have to worry about masking your IP address, considering it has 148 server locations all over the world. Nevertheless, as a more advanced solution, it is also pricier.
If you are not certain whether this VPN is for you, ExpressVPN offers a great 30-day money return policy. That way if you are not satisfied, your money will be returned and you can try another alternative.
NordVPN
NordVPN is another one of the leading providers on the market. Same as ExpressVPN, you will get many servers all around the world, as well as thousands of possible IP addresses at your disposal.
NordVPN is easy to use even for beginners. If you want to see it for yourself, you can try their 3-day free trial.
CyberGhost
With CyberGhost you will get access to more than 3,000 servers worldwide, great speed, excellent security features, as well as an amazing 45-day money return policy.
What’s even better is that you can use CyberGhost on seven devices simultaneously. This makes it a perfect solution for the whole family. Besides, it has subscriptions that can be quite affordable.
Overall, the bad news is that it is possible for other countries to follow Greece’s steps and block such websites. The good news is that as long as there are internet content restrictions, solutions to the problem will also exist.
If you have questions on the topic or other VPN suggestions, feel free to share them with us in the comment section below.