• UK ISP Ordered to block Pirate links
    26 replies, posted
[quote]A High Court judge has ruled that BT must block access to a website which provides links to pirated movies. Newzbin 2 is a members-only site which aggregates a large amount of the illegally copied material found on Usenet discussion forums. The landmark case is the first time that an ISP has been ordered to block access to such a site. It paves the way for other sites to be blocked as part of a major crackdown on piracy. In his ruling, Justice Arnold stated: "In my judgment it follows that BT has actual knowledge of other persons using its service to infringe copyright: it knows that the users and operators of Newzbin 2 infringe copyright on a large scale, and in particular infringe the copyrights of the studios in large numbers of their films and television programmes." He continued: "It knows that the users of Newzbin 2 include BT subscribers, and it knows those users use its service to receive infringing copies of copyright works made available to them by Newzbin 2." Finally, it seems we have a way to deal with rogue sites which will benefit the film industry including UK independent distributors and, more broadly, the entire creative sector.” End Quote Lord Puttnam President, Film Distributers Association The MPA which represents a number of movie studios including Warner, Disney and Fox, launched the legal action as a last-ditch attempt to close down Newzbin 2. Chris Marcich, president and managing director of MPA Europe said: "This ruling from Justice Arnold is a victory for millions of people working in the UK creative industries and demonstrates that the law of the land must apply online. "This court action was never an attack on ISPs but we do need their co-operation to deal with the Newzbin site which continually tries to evade the law and judicial sanction. Newzbin is a notorious pirate website which makes hundreds of thousands of copyrighted products available without permission and with no regard for the law." The MPA signalled its intention to pursue other ISPs. BT describes the judgement as "helpful". "It clearly shows that rights holders need to prove their claims and convince a judge to make a court order. BT has consistently said that rights holders need to take this route. We will return to court after the summer to explain what kind of order we believe is appropriate," the firm said in a statement. Link sites such as Newzbin 2 are gaining popularity as those determined to get their hands on free content move away from traditional peer-to-peer downloading methods. A previous court case had ruled that Newzbin 2's predecessor must stop linking to free content but a new version of the site was set up outside of the UK's jurisdiction. Revenge attacks Justice Arnold ruled that BT must use its blocking technology CleanFeed - which is currently used to prevent access to websites featuring child sexual abuse - to block Newzbin 2. In an email interview before the verdict, Newzbin 2 threatened to break BT's filters. "We would be appalled if any group were to try to sabotage this technology as it helps to protect the innocent from highly offensive and illegal content," said a spokesman for BT. The Internet Service Providers' Association has been a fierce critic of web blocking. It said that using blocking technology designed to protect the public from images of child abuse, was inappropriate. "Currently CleanFeed is dealing with a small, rural road in Scotland," ISPA council member James Blessing told BBC Radio 4's PM programme. "Trying to put Newzbin and other sites into the same blocking technology would be a bit like shutting down the M1. It is not designed to do that." Digital rights organisation the Open Rights Group said the result could set a "dangerous" precedent. "Website blocking is pointless and dangerous. These judgements won't work to stop infringement or boost creative industries. "And there are serious risks of legitimate content being blocked and service slowdown. If the goal is boosting creators' ability to make money from their work then we need to abandon these technologically naive measures, focus on genuine market reforms, and satisfy unmet consumer demand," said ORG campaigner Peter Bradwell. He said more scrutiny needed to be paid to the content of such sites. "What will qualify a site to be worthy of blocking? Who makes the decisions about what people people are allowed to see online?" he asked. Disconnection The crackdown on piracy has gained new urgency in recent months. Pressure from rightsholders forced new legislation on the issue. The UK's controversial Digital Economy Act makes provisions for tough action against those who downloading pirated music and films - initially sanctioning a letter-writing campaign asking them to desist. BT and TalkTalk called for a judicial review of the DEA, saying the legislation was rushed through Parliament and was unenforceable but a judge ruled that it could go ahead. Court action could be taken against individuals who ignore written warnings and 'technical measures' including disconnecting someone from the web could also follow. The government is also considering the feasibility of more widespread site blocking, including looking at the possibility of a voluntary scheme between ISPs and rightsholders. The Newzbin case was brought under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act.[/quote] [url]http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-14322957[/url] Thoughts? This is kind of a really big deal. It's one of the first times in the UK that an ISP has been ordered to block links to known piracy websites. Slippery slope? Will this lead to more and more media industries demanding sites be blocked? Where does it end?
Aslong as they only block websites which pretty much sole purpose is to provide pirate downloads, the only people who will have a problem with this are the pirates who are breaking the law anyway. I only think this should block websites that are pretty much indisputably for piracy, though.
That's my point i guess, what is the limit between outright piracy and sort-of piracy? Could facepunch be blocked because someone talked about warez? (obviously an extreme example)
[QUOTE=Benf199105;31385038]That's my point i guess, what is the limit between outright piracy and sort-of piracy? Could facepunch be blocked because someone talked about warez? (obviously an extreme example)[/QUOTE] I'd say only websites that are used pretty much mostly for piracy should be blocked, whereas on facepunch if one or two people mention it that isn't really any cause. To me a website should be blocked if it actually provides illegal download links and the majority of its content is illegal, but I don't actually know how the ISPs are going to go about it.
This is completely stupid, it is going to do nothing to prevent piracy. No website should ever be blocked regardless of whatever illegal material is on it, it is a waste of time since filters are very easy to get by.
[QUOTE=Chryseus;31385140]This is completely stupid, it is going to do nothing to prevent piracy. No website should ever be blocked regardless of whatever illegal material is on it, it is a waste of time since filters are very easy to get by.[/QUOTE] What about child porn?
Most likely they'll just block it through DNS which isn't too hard to get by.
[QUOTE=Chryseus;31385140]This is completely stupid, it is going to do nothing to prevent piracy. No website should ever be blocked regardless of whatever illegal material is on it, it is a waste of time since filters are very easy to get by.[/QUOTE] Illegal websites should be blocked because they are illegal.
[QUOTE=Glent;31385202]Illegal websites should be blocked because they are illegal.[/QUOTE] I thought you were cool Glent :colbert:
[QUOTE=Coffee;31385161]What about child porn?[/QUOTE] I don't give a shit, if people want to look a children then let them. As far as I'm aware most CP is not distributed over normal websites anyways rather they use encrypted P2P networks like Tor or I2P. What I don't like about this is the fact it wastes the courts time which could be spent doing more important things rather than forcing a single ISP to block a single website with a very ineffective filter.
[QUOTE=Chryseus;31385218]I don't give a shit, if people want to look a children then let them. As far as I'm aware most CP is not distributed over normal websites anyways rather they use encrypted P2P networks like Tor or I2P. What I don't like about this is the fact it wastes the courts time which could be spent doing more important things rather than forcing a single ISP to block a single website with a very ineffective filter.[/QUOTE] What seems more likely is that you don't like your countries laws trying to be enforced on you. The only people who can really be against these are people who break those laws anyway.
Fucking glad I switched to Virgin Media, BT is a shit ISP with slow ass speeds and they lie about everything.
[QUOTE=Coffee;31385161]What about child porn?[/QUOTE] What about moral subjectivity?
[QUOTE=MasterFen007;31385237]Fucking glad I switched to Virgin Media, BT is a shit ISP with slow ass speeds and they lie about everything.[/QUOTE] This is very true, I'm on BT, shit speeds, we apparently have "unlimited" broadband, yet we have a 100gb limit, fuck BT.
[QUOTE=lukepker;31385260]This is very true, I'm on BT, shit speeds, we apparently have "unlimited" broadband, yet we have a 100gb limit, fuck BT.[/QUOTE] Be* 24mb Broadband is where it's at, litrerally the best ISP i've ever used. [QUOTE=Glent;31385236]What seems more likely is that you don't like your countries laws trying to be enforced on you. The only people who can really be against these are people who break those laws anyway.[/QUOTE] Not neccessarily true, I don't pirate but I can still be against the forced blocking of websites on what is one of the last free bastions of free speech and expression, the Internet.
[QUOTE=lukepker;31385260]This is very true, I'm on BT, shit speeds, we apparently have "unlimited" broadband, yet we have a 100gb limit, fuck BT.[/QUOTE] They told me I would be able to get fibre optic broadband (BT Infinity) by last December, I asked them about it in June and they denied everything about it.
[QUOTE=Benf199105;31385285]Be* 24mb Broadband is where it's at, litrerally the best ISP i've ever used[/QUOTE] Be says I'm too far away from an exchange to use their service, but every other ISP is fine with it.
[QUOTE=Glent;31385202]Illegal websites should be blocked because they are illegal.[/QUOTE] Walking becomes illegal. It's wrong to walk because the Government says so.
Thank fuck Im on sky
[QUOTE=MasterFen007;31385237]Fucking glad I switched to Virgin Media, BT is a shit ISP with slow ass speeds and they lie about everything.[/QUOTE] virgin media are really fucking unreliable with their speeds. I've seen my download speed go from 2mb/s to a solid 100kb/s max for a month or two till they finally fixed it
[QUOTE=Glent;31385236]What seems more likely is that you don't like your countries laws trying to be enforced on you. [B]The only people who can really be against these are people who break those laws anyway.[/B][/QUOTE] This is a ridiculously dumb and ignorant statement.
[QUOTE=Zenpod;31387078]Thank fuck Im on sky[/QUOTE] I'd rather have the blocked sites over sky's terrible service
[QUOTE=Glent;31385202]Illegal websites should be blocked because they are illegal.[/QUOTE][QUOTE=Glent;31385236]What seems more likely is that you don't like your countries laws trying to be enforced on you. The only people who can really be against these are people who break those laws anyway.[/QUOTE]Illegal things are inherently bad and only criminals need to worry about the law, also, be sure to have your papers on you at all times.
[QUOTE=Xenoyia v2;31387220]I'd rather have the blocked sites over sky's terrible service[/QUOTE] We never really dealt with them, I would have Virgin Fibre but its not available. Plus, I'm not capped so Its alright
VPN sales are going to increase, so this isn't going to stop piracy
Justice Arnold ruled that BT must use its blocking technology CleanFeed - which is currently used to prevent access to websites featuring child sexual abuse - to block Newzbin 2. Cleanfeed is used by every ISP in the country so you can stop smugfacing about your Virgin Media
Ah shit
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