BT has been given just two weeks to block access to illegal download site Newzbin2.
Telecoms company given just 14 days to implement ruling from July
The deadline was issued to the telecoms company by Justice Arnold, who has been presiding over a High Court case started by the Motion Picture Association (MPA) in June this year. Justice Arnold ruled in July that BT must prevent UK web users from accessing the site but did not set a timeframe.
The MPA hoped its legal action would force BT to prevent Brits from accessing Newzbin2, a members-only site that offers links to other locations on the web where music, movies and other content can be illegally downloaded.
The MPA initially started legal action against the original Newzbin in 2010, which resulted in the site being ordered to remove any material that infringed copyrights. However, Newzbin went into administration and was subsequently sold to new owners and launched again as Newzbin2 from the Seychelles. Because of this, and the fact that site's owners have already revealed they have created software that can circumnavigate the block, Justice Arnold said BT must also block "any other IP address or URL whose sole or predominant purpose is to enable or facilitate access to the Newzbin website".
"Furthermore, I do not consider that the studios should be obliged to return to court for an order in respect of every single IP address or URL that the operators of Newzbin2 may use."
Under Justice Arnold's original ruling BT is required to use its own Cleanfeed technology, which is already used to block access to websites containing child sex abuse images, to prevent access to Newzbin2.
The Judge also ruled it is BT's responsibility to cover the costs of implementing the website blocking technology.
"This is a win for the creative sector. Securing the intervention of the ISPs was the only way to put the commercial pirates out of reach for the majority of consumers," said Chris Marcich, president and managing director of the MPA.
"This move means that we can invest more in our own digital offerings, delivering higher quality and more variety of products to the consumer."
Comments
Carrie-ann_skinner said: well spotted
Matt Egan said: No dispute there That bad law is used to do good things doesnt make it good law
Ian Sandeman said: Newzbin is just searching Usenet content just like Google and many others are The problem I have with this ruling is its likely to be used to effectively block things like Google as and when the government feels threatened by whatever they feel threatened by
Matt Egan said: Well exactly Quick disclaimer Im coming at this as the editor of a publication with web and digital products for whom piracy is a threat albeit not a threat to our core business It may be that this colours my viewpoint All publishers have a fairly torturous relationship with Google for instance We need Google to promote our content but Google also sells ads and is therefore a competitor and has in the past taken so much promotional content from websites and digital publications that the perception has been that is eroding the business of content providers Fortunately Google is usually a fairly sensible organisation and it understands that to make money it has to look after web-content providers and a delicate balance is maintained Services such as The old Pirate Bay and Newzbin2 do no such thing they simply facilitate web users taking things for free often illegally Im not sure about the legality of what Newzbin does that is the interesting point here but it is disingenuous to suggest that it is just a search engine The other interesting thing will be to see how things develop as we move toward a more apps-based internet the putative Web 30 That immediately takes bittorrent sites out of the question but how happy publishers are to hand over their profits to Google or Apple remains to be seen
Alexander said: The real problem is that they are promoting piracy- I use thepiratebay for legal downloads because the torrents are faster
Ian Sandeman said: So block all search engines and make people buy the information instead Is that what you mean
Matt Egan said: Indeed And the Pirate Bay is doing exactly what now Only a search engine these sites may be but its a disingenuous argument they actively facilitate and promote the piracy of copyright content Everyone likes things to be free but take it from me publishers like IDG wont be able to make products like PC Advisor available free on the internet if sites like Newzbin proliferate
Alexander said: Its the same as thepiratebay- only a search engine as the files are stored on users computers and on other servers
Matt Egan said: Hi Ian you may be correct I wouldnt claim to know more than you but from my perspective Newzbin is a pest because it consistently republishes without copyright tons of published material I think it just upsets too many people
Ian Sandeman said: Make no mistake this is not about a few films and illegal copies of Win 7 etcits about censorship of things like distributing leaflets about stuff like Occupy Wallstreet etc Sponsored by our police state Newzbin2 is only a search engine and does not contain any downloadable files illegal or otherwise
Jack The Ripper said: preceding over a High Court case Do you mean PRESIDING over
geeby said: you cannot stop it justice arnold is ill informed if he thinks this will make one iota of difference there are way too many websites diong the same thing block one and another 3 will appear waste of time and probably wasting public money to achieve absolutely nothing