Newzbin2 Threatens to Nuke BT's Filters if Blocked
A judge in London ruled that BT must block its subscribers from Usenet search engine Newzbin2. Meanwhile, the site's administrators are threatening to break the ISP's filters if blocked.
Friday major movie studios won a small victory in the fight against online piracy, as a High Court judge in London ruled (pdf) that, based on the 1988 Copyright, Design and Patents Act, Internet service provider British Telecom (BT) must block access to Newzbin2. Unfortunately, this may spark a war between the site, the carrier and Hollywood itself.
"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 programs," Justice Arnold stated.
Newsbin2 is a site that connects users to “stolen movies, television programs, games, music and books” loaded on Usenet newsgroups. The original Newsbin site was closed down in May 2010 after a High Court ruling that forced the site to remove Usenet links. The site then re-opened as Newzbin2 a month later using the same code and database, but moved its operations offshore to the Seychelles.
According to the MPAA, an estimated 700,000 members use the Newzbin2 service, generating the operators in excess of $1.6 million USD profit off stolen content a year. Around 70-percent of the content available on Newzbin2 is movies and ripped/recorded television programming. And while cutting access to Newzbin2 from BT customers doesn't shut down the site completely, it's definitely seems like a step in the right direction for copyright owners.
"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," said Chris Marcich, President and Managing Director of the MPAA's European arm. "This court action was never an attack on ISPs but we do need their cooperation 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."
But prior to the ruling, Newsbin2 said on Wednesday that if BT makes any attempts to block subscribers from the website, it will "ensure continuity of service to our UK readers" by breaking BT's Cleanfeed filter. This filter is typically used to block access to sites playing host to child pornography – now it will also filter out Newzbin2.
"Our users don't wish Cleanfeed to work and based on a preliminary technical assessment we think it will be trivially breakable. We have the sand, and if needed we will pour it in Cleanfeed's engine oil," said one of Newzbin2's administrators. Friday in a response to the UK ruling, the administrators made the threat again, stating that "we know how it works. Security through obscurity doesn’t work. And after October neither will Cleanfeed."
BT wasn't happy with the threat. "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," the company stated. BT said it has no plans to appeal the ruling, and will return to court with the MPA in October to work on how the blocking will actually be carried out.
"Website blocking is pointless and dangerous," said Peter Bradwell of the Open Rights Group ."These judgments 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."
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So being blocked for nefarious deeds they will commit to more nefarious deeds of more extremity, breaking the computers misuse act by damaging a system held by someone else.
nice going.
still do not like the way the movie and music industries treat individuals and their ways of extorting people, even when they have not pirated.
So being blocked for nefarious deeds they will commit to more nefarious deeds of more extremity, breaking the computers misuse act by damaging a system held by someone else.nice going.still do not like the way the movie and music industries treat individuals and their ways of extorting people, even when they have not pirated.
im all for breaking this thing.
it was used to filter out REAL crimes, not big business is muscling its way to get barely crime crime filtered the same way as REAL crimes?
let 100 guilty go than to imprison 1 innocent.
in this case its like the prison only holds people who killed 10 people or more and they will be put to death for it. and this judge decides that this person who defended himself in a bar fight (by beating the ever loving s*** out of the other person) gets sent there too.
im all for the jail break. this is tech ment to keep the worst of the WORST off the internet, not some copyright bulls***
filters were created for real crime not for downloading things that may or may not be legal.i say go for it and break the filters.
and to the MPAA you can come over and lick my welsh corgi's butt.he needs a good cleaning and i know the MPAA can clean up poop good.
that is all they are good for.
can't wait till your organization implodes.
You know what really angers me about this, something that really grinds my god damn gears?
The attention it gets. The god damn attention it gets. Piracy.... the news articles, the anti-piracy agencies, law enforcement is getting involved, the courts, hell even the governments of the world. You would think that piracy is the worst crime one could commit on the internet.
While something much more severe gets little to no attention. Just look as child endangerment and child pornography. For god damn sakes people children are being exploited and raped, the rape recorded and shared over the internet. Piracy has gotten the attention of the news media, anti piracy groups have formed, armies of lawyers, millions of dollars being spent,
law enforcement gets diverted now to get involves, courts have endless cases they handle,
the governments around the globe now pass laws involving it. All this god damn attention on piracy. Do you see any real issues like those involving the very lives of children getting nearly this much attention?
What the hell have we become?
let 100 guilty go than to imprison 1 innocent.
Well, actually, copyright violation is a 'REAL' crime... But aside from that argument, this is the planet Earth where the above statement is a hopeful one at best. US, UK, Etc. all would much rather screw over thousands of innocents for the acts of very few guilty. Doesn't matter.
And it's not just things like this; In the US, the fight for gun rights are in the same boat. Millions of legal and safe practicing hunters and sportsmen are constantly threatened by the acts of a very few. Same thing here, a few jerks trade illegal crap and they block the entire public... IMHO, real mature way to handle it... (rolling eyes)
I love how this group of super rich people that run hollywood can shape laws halfway around the world - simply because they don't want to keep up with the times.
Here's an idea, dumbasses :
Stream everything you have across the internet in HD. People will pay you for it. Wow that was hard!
I think they are going about this the wrong way. They should be suing any and all advertisers on these pirate sites. These companies are the ones paying to keep that content up there, giving profits to thieves. Break the business model by stopping the advertising money.
Why don't any of these muppets learn? Look into the reason why people pirate. You will most likely find responses as "DVD/BluRay's are too expensive" (you can lower the price by ditching the 'extras' and just put the god damn movie on it, thats all many people really want), "I want to play it on any of my devices without messing about with DRM" (sell without DRM! People are getting around it anyway), "I can't get it in XYZ country as it isn't sold there", as someone else stated just sell it online at a reasonable cost and let people download it (SD/HD whatever the users chooses) and get rid of these artificial boundaries that say you can only play this DVD in XYZ country, common its not called the "Global Village" for nothing!!
All Newzbin2 does is organize the content of usenet in an easily searchable format. Even the ISPs give access to usenet. If you are going to block Newzbin2, you will need to filter out every other site that provides the same type service, not just block the one. Piracy might be a real crime, but violent crime rates are around the world are off the charts; Apple has used the Ipod, Ipad and Itunes to make a huge dent in Piracy by offering customers a better service and reasonable prices. MPAA and RIAA should have gotten the message. I would bet they are both involved in illegal activities in their own piracy prevention measures.
I would bet they are both involved in illegal activities in their own piracy prevention measures.
No need to bet on that one. They have broken many laws, both copyright and others. One interesting case was where they sent out 'Network monitoring' software to a number of universities (because obviously suing university students is a smart/ethical business practice), and in doing do violated the license agreement of the software they were distributing.
After the whole napster debacle I voted the only way that truly matters. I stopped purchasing media/going to movies/ect... from anyone/anything affiliated with the MPAA or RIAA.
What a waste of everyone's time and money.
I wanted to see cpt. america last night. Two options. 3dbullshit @ 8:30pm & "1dbullshit @ 10:30pm. This was how they staggered all the major releases. If you want to enjoy the movie at a decent time, You are forced to pay the extra 5 (16 usd) and see it in 3d. The movie is **** in 3d. Not worth it at all.
The over-all greed is appalling.
Additionally, if they streamed movies in HD (great idea), people will capture, pirate & resell for profit. This is likely the main reason they don't do it.
These blocks do not work all they do is make paedophiles and pirates become more technical savvy in learning about DNS servers proxy servers and dark nets.
What a "surprised" from London (England).
There they are at least 60,000 cameras who spy people.
They are Drones in sky too who do the same shit.
People there are forced to give fingerprints, bloodsample, DNA, etc.
And all are so happy to treated as criminals.
Sure cause they have 6 billions of Terrorist.
Government don't do that to control at 100% the People of course...
Of Course...
So block people from Internet is just a small pee in this toilet !
Internet was the only media free.
But sure rich people who control this Planet will control Internet too.
When a man control at least 200 magazines/paper, he can control at least 20% of Internet.
And it's just a billionaire man.
So imagine many and more imagine trillionaire men.
Well, actually, copyright violation is a 'REAL' crime... But aside from that argument, this is the planet Earth where the above statement is a hopeful one at best. US, UK, Etc. all would much rather screw over thousands of innocents for the acts of very few guilty. Doesn't matter.And it's not just things like this; In the US, the fight for gun rights are in the same boat. Millions of legal and safe practicing hunters and sportsmen are constantly threatened by the acts of a very few. Same thing here, a few jerks trade illegal crap and they block the entire public... IMHO, real mature way to handle it... (rolling eyes)
in america we done have guns just to hunt.
our nation was founded on a violent uprising of an oppressive government, and they knew the day would come again for a violent uprising.
coppyright violations are civil crimes, with jail time only if you cant pay.
no one but the people who make the movies b**** about piracy, or about music not selling
child porn (real cp, not the bulls*** that kids do with digital cameras, i mean child abduction kind) on the other hand, is a real crime, involving for the most part rape, and more or less damaging the child.
normal people world wide want to kill the people who do this (and mistakingly take out anger on any pedophile, regardless if they committed any crime)
there is a MAJOR difference.
Copyright Infringement = civil lawsuit brought by an injured person or corporation. A guilty party causes financial harm (pennies in the digital age).
Child porn/rape = criminal lawsuit brought by the state. A guilty party causes irreparable harm to innocents, their families and society as a whole, basically the worst kind of human there is.
And this judge thinks the two are equal in terms of enforcement? That's like sending the Marines, the SEALs, and the Rangers on a shoot to kill mission every time someone jaywalks.
I am surprised that the media companies have not resorted to hiring ninjas to assassinate offenders.
why is this article written as if this is a positive thing?!?
peter bradwell had it right though.
Hey lulsec, wanna do something useful? stop targeting random security holes and start hitting the people trying to control the internet.
"filters were created for real crime not for downloading things that may or may not be legal" lol there's no question. It's being blocked for illegal content. Also don't go thinking they are doing just to stick it to the man. They are doing it to make money from others work. Hey lulsec, wanna do something useful? Take down Newzbin2 for giving reasonable users a bad name.
BT seems, for once, quite innocent in this. Hopefully the members of Newzbin2 will actually be more annoyed by the threatened breaking of BT's filter than by its application - Newzbin2 would be doing something to help sex offenders in the name of its members, not the best piece of marketing around.
From the way the article is written it sounds like the members pay for membership - if that's right then they're not the brightest sparks about it seems. If not then as smt1185 said, go for the advertisers.
If some hacking group wanted to look like the good guys, Newzbin2 seems to be an excellent bad guy target. Stripping ill-gotten cash from them and giving it to charities that help those affected by the illegal things that BT's filter is meant to inhibit; who wouldn't like that?
The older I get, the less I'm prepared to put up with Hollywood's contemporary media. It's just plain crap. American's, who can you stand this garbage? It's mind-numbing mush..films, situation comedies, crime drama (which there is a lot), and news. It's like the same mind-set is behind every film regardless of the script, and you can see straight through the propaganda just as we can in the UK.
This all leads up to the question: where is Hollywood going to be in a few years? I don't think piracy will kill it - I think it's killing itself. The corporations control the show, just as they control whole economies, whole governments. It makes me piss my pants laughing when I read about corporations calling OTHER people the bad guys, too. They control to an incredibly large extent, what we see, what we hear. They aim to influence our way of thinking even if it means changing our 'laws of the land'.
Some of these people should look in the mirror when they talk about criminals. These are some of the worst elements of capitalism and free market manipulation you can find on the face of the planet. And if they think British people are going to get even more deeper in debt just to pay over the odds in order to watch west coast crap, they thought wrong. They're already drowning in debt just like their American cousins over the pond..funny isn't it; do you see outrage over the way the Federal Reserve system is being run? Do you see these corporations outraged at soaring immigration problem coming up from Mexico? Of course not - you see them profiting from it, like they always have. Time to point the finger at someone else again..those big bad meanie terrorists who speak out against governments, the one's downloading child porn off the Internet using torrents blah bloody blah. Pot and kettle if you ask me.
Why don't any of these muppets learn? Look into the reason why people pirate. You will most likely find responses as "DVD/BluRay's are too expensive" (you can lower the price by ditching the 'extras' and just put the god damn movie on it, thats all many people really want), "I want to play it on any of my devices without messing about with DRM" (sell without DRM! People are getting around it anyway), "I can't get it in XYZ country as it isn't sold there", as someone else stated just sell it online at a reasonable cost and let people download it (SD/HD whatever the users chooses) and get rid of these artificial boundaries that say you can only play this DVD in XYZ country, common its not called the "Global Village" for nothing!!
i agree wholeheartedly that movies cost too much, are region specific, might not be available and are locked down with drm. however, pirating is not the solution. if a movie is expensive then don't buy it until the price drops, loss of sales will put up a red flag and the situation may improve. however, by stealing the movies instead companies get defensive and start tacking on more and more draconian drm to try and fix the issue. it all comes down to a simple question: if people dont want to pay for something, what gives people the right to just take it?
being able to buy and download all movies online (for cheaper) is a nice concept but it is almost guaranteed to have drm in some form. why? because the public (in general) is untrustworthy. i wouldnt be suprised to see piracy double or triple within a year if this type of service came to be without some way of locking down the content. the easier you make it for people to steal, the more they will.
You know what really angers me about this, something that really grinds my god damn gears?The attention it gets. The god damn attention it gets. Piracy.... the news articles, the anti-piracy agencies, law enforcement is getting involved, the courts, hell even the governments of the world. You would think that piracy is the worst crime one could commit on the internet.While something much more severe gets little to no attention. Just look as child endangerment and child pornography. For god damn sakes people children are being exploited and raped, the rape recorded and shared over the internet. Piracy has gotten the attention of the news media, anti piracy groups have formed, armies of lawyers, millions of dollars being spent,law enforcement gets diverted now to get involves, courts have endless cases they handle, the governments around the globe now pass laws involving it. All this god damn attention on piracy. Do you see any real issues like those involving the very lives of children getting nearly this much attention?What the hell have we become?
The very sad truth of the matter is that their is no money to be made or reclaimed by preventing child pornography. That is why there is no army of lawyers, public attention(other then when somebody is arrested for it), etc, etc. That is not to say that their are not groups, governments, etc setup to stop the production and distribution of it and for their work I applaud them.
Speaking of copyright infringements, isn't that Patchy the Pirate from "Spongebob Squarepants?"
You know what really angers me about this, something that really grinds my god damn gears?The attention it gets. The god damn attention it gets. Piracy.... the news articles, the anti-piracy agencies, law enforcement is getting involved, the courts, hell even the governments of the world. You would think that piracy is the worst crime one could commit on the internet.While something much more severe gets little to no attention. Just look as child endangerment and child pornography. For god damn sakes people children are being exploited and raped, the rape recorded and shared over the internet. Piracy has gotten the attention of the news media, anti piracy groups have formed, armies of lawyers, millions of dollars being spent,law enforcement gets diverted now to get involves, courts have endless cases they handle, the governments around the globe now pass laws involving it. All this god damn attention on piracy. Do you see any real issues like those involving the very lives of children getting nearly this much attention?What the hell have we become?
Just the news hinting that they care more about that golden fountain in the front lobby and their $100 dollar bill toilet paper over a nine year old getting molested on the streets.
When the Newzbin2 Owners say they will break the filter I love the way anyone who has no technical knowledge immediately jumps to the wrong conclusion and presumes that means they are going to attack BT.. Far from it, if you think about it logically how are they going to stop users from going to the Newzbin2 site? Right they'll block the IP address, how do you then bypass an IP address block out set by your search provider? You use a Proxy.. Clap-Clap-Clap! Clever boy.. So if they intend to stop you from visiting one site, then how do they intend to stop you from accessing any other part of the Internet that you can define a path to and from? BT are idiots for thinking it can be done, just like courts are idiots if they think they can shut down the pirate bay.. They where ordered, ORDERED last year to cease and desist.. But they're still up and going strong for the Lulz.. "Ah yeh scurvy sea-dog yar!"
Americans can't watch BBC iPlayer in the US and the UK can't watch comedy central in the US.. Or can they? I wonder what happens if you proxy through an anonymous proxy server in the US, can you suddenly watch everything comedy central has to offer!? Then what happens if a US citizen anonymously proxies through a proxy based in the UK, can they suddenly watch BBC iPlayer... A perfect example of two television networks flexing there muscle and succeeding in doing nothing but causing a minor inconvenience for the anonymous hackers who run and control the worlds Internet from there couch whilst eating potato chips!