Which Countries Block Web Manhwa Ilegal Sites?

Question

With so many official releases, it's crazy that places still crack down. Which governments actually block pirated manhwa readers and Korean webcomics?

mary dejuliis · Answer

While there is varying levels of internet censorship around the world, this list could change as new sites are identified as being illegal to aggregate, and laws are updated to permit censoring of sites currently not blocked. In addition to the countries listed above (such as South Korea, Japan, China, France, and Germany), some Internet Service Providers (ISPs) in the UK, US, and Australia may block access to particular websites at the request of a court. With that in mind, finding sites with legit access to particular genres can be quite appealing. ‘Forbidden Desires: A collection of sinful hot stories’ is a collection of mature romance stories available via one major reading app. No blocks, no pop-up ads. Simply read the stories you want to read, without hassle.

Felicia Niswonger · Answer

Has anyone else noticed that in all discussions about “illegal sites” the fans are always portrayed as the bad guys? I’m sure there are many cases where there just is no legal way to read a series in a certain region. No official translation is available. Is this still called “piracy” if there are no alternatives? The blocks don’t solve any problems of illegal offers. They only make things harder for fans who are keen on reading a series. The real solution for these kinds of offers is a simultaneous release in all countries. Until then there will be a demand for gray-market offers. The blocks only treat a symptom of the problem and not the disease itself.

Melina · Answer

Just here to read the comments. Interesting to see how people find this stuff.

Oliver · Answer

I try to keep up to date with news about law and technology. As far as I can tell, countries with strong copyright laws and big entertainment industries will block up sites hosting manhwa when asked by rightsholders. In the Europe, sites are blocked by court order. Rights holders have to sue the ISPs, but then the ISPs have to block the sites. The same is true for the UK and Australia, where site blocking by court order is also common. In South Korea, a mix of government action and industry pressure (i.e. police investigations, ISP blocking, criminal charges) is used, since all the content is hosted by domestic sites and thus has economic value.

For other regions (like China, US, Latin America, etc) I’ve tried to outline the typical model of how pirate sites are blocked. China for example seems to block a huge portion of the global Internet space, meaning many pirate sites are already blocked by default. The US model is more a series of takedowns (whether domain seizures, or takedowns of piracy on specific platforms) while in India pirate sites are periodically and en masse blocked following industry petitions to governments. Other countries in Latin America and parts of SE Asia have from time to time blocked specific sites to complaints from local residents or corporations.

If a manhwa site is no longer available, check out news articles, industry press releases, and court documents to find out if it was taken down by a court order, if a domain name was seized by a registrar, or if a site was blocked by an ISP. I personally prefer to go through official sites and platforms to read manhwa in order to support the creators in the best way possible and not have to go on a scavenger hunt for sites.

Edmark Decapia Padilla · Answer

Take a moment to appreciate the fact that this conversation is even possible. There are few comic books in the world that have garnered the sort of interest that Korean manhwa has received from readers around the globe. That interest is to the point where we are discussing ways to protect international copyrights. Yes, the blocks presented here as solutions to problems created by the work’s incredible popularity are in and of themselves a problem – a good one to have, of course. But a problem nonetheless. Ten years ago, it would have taken a Korean resident to download and read the work of manhwa creators. Today, people all over the world are not only downloading manhwa – they’re trying to block access to it.

Piper · Answer

There are many countries where illegal web manhwa (and manga) sites are blocked by governments and companies, but in rather different ways. For example, in South Korea, where manhwa is a big cultural export, many efforts are made to block scanlation sites and other web-based sites that host illegal copies of manhwa, such as by taking down domains, DNS blocking, and by terminating the hosting and ads of big pirate sites.

Outside of Korea, takedowns are often forced by rightsholders taking publishers to court and having websites blocked by order of a court. In the West, this has led to the blockage of piracy portals by ISPs in countries such as the UK and Australia, as well as on a site by site basis across the EU in countries such as France, Germany, Italy and Spain. Recently, large numbers of ‘illegal’ websites have been blocked by the authorities in India, with many of the blockages being implemented by the country’s telecoms authorities.

In other parts of the world, general internet censorship can sometimes inadvertently block access to piracy websites as well. China’s Great Firewall of internet censorship, for example, can on occasion limit access to certain pirate scanlation websites hosted overseas in addition to a host of other censored websites. Similarly, in Russia, Turkey, and other parts of the world with varying degrees of internet censorship, pirate websites have on occasion been blocked. In Southeast Asia, Indonesia, Thailand, and Malaysia have in the past attempted to block large pirate sites as well. So while there are many approaches to dealing with the problem of piracy, each country tends to go with a unique “hybrid” approach that can sometimes be frustrating to both readers and writers of manhwa and manga alike. It’s why I try my best to support the official released versions of the stories I love to read–not only because I feel it’s fair to compensate the writers, but because by supporting them, I’m helping to ensure that they will continue to produce even more amazing stories in the future.

Emily · Answer

There seems to be a global scramble to shut down manhwa hosting sites at the moment. Each country has its own way of dealing with the issue, however. While South Korea is tackling the problem of pirate webtoon aggregators on a priority basis, in Europe (France, Germany, Italy, Spain and others), as well as in the Commonwealth countries (UK, Australia and others), the approach is to court-order blocks by ISPs to stop access to the sites. In India, sometimes individual pirate hubs are blocked by the country. There are occasions when China’s general internet restrictions, as well as occasional blocks in Russia or Turkey, might make the pirate sites unreachable there.

Typically, governments use a variety of tools to enforce their illegal manhwa policies, including domain name seizures, DNS-level blocking, ISP-level blocking, and pressure on advertising networks and other online payment providers. Because of this, a website that has been closed down in one country may still be available in another until the website’s registrar or hosting company decides to close it down as well. It can get a little messy, but in the end, it’s much better for creators to be able to receive compensation for their work in the form of high-quality, legally-sold copies, rather than trying to hunt down mirrors of piracy-spread copies of their work. It’s better to support the creator of the work that you enjoy reading, and to purchase a legal copy instead of chasing after a link to a pirated version of the same work.

Jonessa Ynznlb · Answer

My friend who works in the field of digital rights always points out that in this field, words matter a great deal. "Blocking" a website could mean a number of things: DNS blocking, IP blocking, or even deep packet inspection of all a site's traffic. How sites are blocked differs from country to country, and some are much easier to circumvent than others. Countries with highly developed national internet filters (e.g. China, Iran) will most likely catch sites like these in their broad nets. In other countries, however, blocking of individual sites can only be done on the basis of specific court orders to block specific individual domains. The "how" thus largely determines the "who".

Rena DeShane · Answer

Of course, the biggest player in anti-piracy for manhwa is South Korea, where most of them are created. Korea’s anti-piracy efforts are very aggressive, and they work with internet service providers (ISPs) to block out a ton of scanlation sites as well as aggregator sites. It’s all part of a broader movement to better protect Korea’s cultural products as they are exported worldwide. A few years ago, there were a number of very high profile lawsuits that resulted in many sites being shut down. Today, official publishers as well as platforms like Naver Webtoon and KakaoPage have a huge economic interest in keeping fans on their own sites. While it can be frustrating for fans worldwide, from a business standpoint it makes a lot of sense.

Which Countries Block Web Manhwa Ilegal Sites?

9 Answers

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