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Good. The more the noobs move toward legal services the better it is for us who like pirate sites to be hard to find.
Is blocking pirate sites even really possible or are they referring to the whack-a-mole game states play?
I mean the Great Firewall works fairly well so it’s a matter of political will not technical capability.
Fairly well being the key phrase—it's not difficult for a determined individual to bypass.
Most customers aren't determined individuals
I wouldn't be surprised if many pirates are, though.

Look at all the software that exists to help pirate stuff, the dozens of seedbox companies, the hundreds of trackers.

I'm doubtful it would have a big impact. The knowledgeable would slap a VPN on their PC or buy a seedbox. The less technical would wait for Deluge or Transmission to add a VPN panel to their settings screen.

I'm fairly certain things would go back to normal pretty quickly.

I mean, I don’t mind paying for well crafted media. I know how much work goes into it. I used to pirate films a lot back before streaming services became mainstream, and I remember how fiercely the big cable and media companies resisted streaming video until Netflix did an end run around them. People will pay for good storytelling, if you don’t make the terms absurd or predatory- which im sure the big studios would, given the opportunity. In that sense, I think piracy serves a function as it provides an alternative should they get too greedy.
[ MPA Funding

Finally, it should be noted that this new India/Brazil study, like previous ones, is carried out as part of Carnegie Mellon University’s Initiative for Digital Entertainment Analytics (IDEA). The initiative is partly funded by the Motion Picture Association (MPA) which is the driving force behind many global site blocking efforts.

The MPA has sent unrestricted gifts to IDEA center since 2012, totaling several million dollars. In recent years, the gift amounted to $1 million annually ]