Newzbin 2 gets blocked by BT: the first step

They closed the first Newzbin site and now the movie industry is out to close the second generation of the site, all to stop users from getting access to free movies, games and tv shows.

A High Court judge has ruled in the favour of the movie industry and has ordered BT, the UK's largest ISP to block users from accessing the site.

The movie and entertainment industry claim to lose millions of pounds every year from illegal downloads.

BT have been forced to block their customers from accessing the site – one of several large newsgroups sites which allows users to download NZB files, which can automatically parse files into a download client. This move however has met with criticism in many quarters.

BT however are asking questions about the ruling, such as the costs of forcing their network into rejecting the requests.

Simon Milner, the head of group policy at BT said “If someone sues then who will pay? We need clarification.”

To make matters more complex, the MPA are forcing censorship via CleanFeed, the blocking technology that currently prevents access to websites featuring explicit images of child abuse.

Apparently BT are the first ISP to be targeted as Simon Baggs, a lawyer for the MPA told the BBC “We will be asking other ISPs to comply with the order”.

Kitguru says : This could very well be the first step in a global ‘block' of newsgroups and other sites which allow people to get access to copyright software and media files.

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