Reformed Pirates: Aussies Are Using Piracy Sites Half As Much As We Did Last Year

But they are still being accessed through other means, savvy?

A report into the efficacy of Australia's anti-piracy measures has found that Australians now access blocked piracy sites 53 per cent less than they did when site blocking was introduced in December 2016.

The report, delivered by Incopro, also found a 25 per cent drop in usage of the top 250 unauthorised sites by Australians.

However, the report also mentioned an increase in traffic by people using proxy sites to gain access to the blocked sites. In fact, there has been a 56 per cent increase since October 2016, which is when the Federal Court ordered the blocking of five major piracy sites.

In May last year, another major piracy site, Kick Ass Torrents, was blocked when major music label representatives successfully argued to the Federal Court that the site was consistently infringing on their copyright.

The hefty crackdown from the big copyright holders won't just affect the sites who offer copyrighted content for free. Earlier last year, film distributor Village Roadshow revealed they will aggressively hunt and sue any pirates who steal their copyrighted content through these sites.

Does this mean the age of mass-pirating is over (for now, anyway)? Or are Australians just pirating through VPNs and Smart DNS other avenues? We'll have to wait and see until the final season of Game of Thrones comes out.

Photo: Walt Disney Pictures