China Copyright Watchdog Targets Piracy in Cloud Storage

China's copyright regulator has strengthened its law enforcement against piracy in cloud-storage services, which, despite a previous crackdown, had long provided Internet users a covert channel to download movies and TV series.


Cloud-storage services have been ordered to prevent users from uploading, storing or sharing files that may infringe copyright, according to a regulation from the National Copyright Administration (NCA) that was dated Oct. 14 but was only published after a meeting Tuesday attended by leading online data hosting services such as Baidu, Qihoo360, Tencent and Huawei.


The new rules demand that cloud service providers must punisher those copyright offenders by putting them on blacklist, or suspending or terminating their services.


Service providers should also notify copyright holders how to lodge complaints, and commit to handling complaints in a timely manner.


The crackdown on cloud storage piracy is part of "Sword Net 2015," a multi-ministry anti-piracy campaign that aims to improve online copyright management.


Ci Ke, an official with NCA, said the new rules aim to encourage all parties to explore new commercial models that meet the needs of Internet users without compromising copyright laws.