When Does Website Blocking Actually Work?

Aaron Herps, Paul A. Watters (), Daniela Simone and Jeffrey L. Foster
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Aaron Herps: School of International Studies, Macquarie University, Ryde 2109, Australia
Paul A. Watters: School of International Studies, Macquarie University, Ryde 2109, Australia
Daniela Simone: Macquarie Law School, Macquarie University, Ryde 2109, Australia
Jeffrey L. Foster: School of International Studies, Macquarie University, Ryde 2109, Australia

Laws, 2025, vol. 14, issue 6, 1-18

Abstract: This study systematically evaluates website blocking as both an anti-piracy enforcement mechanism and a cybersecurity control, analyzing its effectiveness in reducing piracy across four Southeast Asian jurisdictions with distinct legal frameworks, assessing blocking speed, procedural barriers, and circumvention tactics, providing new empirical insights for policymakers and cybersecurity practitioners. Using a quasi-experimental design during the COVID-19 pandemic, this research examines the impact of website blocking measures in Indonesia, Vietnam, Malaysia, and Singapore. For the first time, the findings reveal that swift, systematic website blocking—exemplified by Indonesia—serves as an effective cybersecurity control, significantly reducing access to infringing content while redirecting traffic toward legitimate platforms. Jurisdictions with procedural delays and inconsistent enforcement, however, demonstrate limited efficacy, highlighting the need for dynamic responses to evolving threats such as domain hopping and proxy servers. The findings inform broader cybersecurity applications like network segmentation, access control, and threat intelligence. This work links traditional copyright enforcement to proactive incident detection and response strategies, providing insights into broader applications for cybersecurity, such as network segmentation, access control, and threat intelligence.

Keywords: piracy; website blocking; cybersecurity; threat intelligence; quasi-experimental methods (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: D78 E61 E62 F13 F42 F68 K0 K1 K2 K3 K4 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2025
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