New Zealand unlikely to ban torrent sites

New Zealand is unlikely to follow Australia's lead in banning illegal streaming and torrenting websites, Internet NZ says.

The Australian Federal Court has ordered internet companies to block five copyright-infringing websites, including The Pirate Bay.

The companies have 15 business days to implement the blocks.

Once the sites were blocked, Australians who continued to visit the blocked sites would see a warning page informing them the site could not be accessed.

Internet NZ chief executive Jordan Carter said there was little chance of a similar ban on this side of the Tasman.

"And our legal framework doesn't provide for that. I think the New Zealand government and parliament have been a lot more tech-savvy in the way they have done the law. They haven't tried to achieve the impossible through blocking like this."

Mr Carter said he did not think the moves in Australia would work, because people would find ways around it.

Source: RadioNZ.co.nz