The file-sharers all appeared in court this week. Among them is a 39-year old bus driver who pirated several Disney movies such as Bambi, Sleeping Beauty, 101 Dalmatians and The Lion King. The man reportedly shared the films to entertain his three kids, and wasn’t aware of any wrongdoing.

“I did not think I did anything wrong, because many of these children’s films are available in full on YouTube,” he said in a comment.

The man’s actions weren’t limited to Disney classics alone though. According to the anti-piracy watchdog he was one of the most prolific sharers on the “Belgium-scene” forum.

In total, the father is accused of sharing 253 films, 64 computer games and 22,000 music files, for which BAF demands 37,714 euros ($52,550) in damages. The amount is based on the number of files that were shared, with a music track costing 1 euro and a movie 15 euros.

Another member of the same file-sharing forum shared even more files than the dad and he risks damages totaling 60,000 euros ($83,600). “I did it because it was cheaper than buying a CD or DVD,” the man said in a comment.

In addition to the damages demanded by BAF, the prosecutor has also requested an additional 4,500 euro fine for each of the six members.

Belgium-scene was a private forum where users could share links to a wide variety of pirated content. The site was closed last year and nine homes of people connected to the site and another forum were raided at the time.

Several of the founders avoided prosecution by paying settlements of between 10,000 and 25,000 euros. The pirating dad, however, lacked the funds to pay a settlement. His case and those of the five others will be decided by the court later this year.

Source: TorrentFreak, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing and anonymous VPN services.

The action was the result of a lawsuit between the Belgian Anti-Piracy Foundation (BAF) and ISPs Belgacom and Telenet. Through the lawsuit BAF hoped to force the Internet providers to block subscriber access to the famous torrent site.

Initially the Antwerp Commercial Court ruled in favor of the ISPs, describing the notion of wholesale site blocking as “disproportionate”. However, this decision was later overturned by the Court of Appeal and access to The Pirate Bay has been blocked ever since.

As in other countries, however, Pirate Bay users soon found other ways to access their favorite torrent site. With hundreds of proxies to choose from they simply changed their bookmarks and continued to download and share as usual.

To address this issue a new verdict was issued last year, requiring all Belgian Internet Providers to block “current and future domains” that provide access to The Pirate Bay.

Several ISPs decided to challenge this broad order, but without result. This week the Supreme Court upheld the ruling of the lower court.

This effectively means that all providers have to actively police the Internet for domains that provide access to The Pirate Bay, report these sites to the authorities, and add these domains to their blocklist.

The verdict, which has yet to be published, is permanent and there are no further options to appeal in Belgium. At this point it is unclear whether the order is limited to The Pirate Bay, or if other sites such as ExtraTorrent and Kickass.to are also covered.

The Internet providers are not happy with their new duties as Internet police, with Belgacom spokesman Jan Margot describing the verdict as “disproportionate”.

“Internet providers are obliged to continue to block The Pirate Bay, even if the site moves to another domain. That is a very broad definition which obliges providers to police the entire Internet. This is something we can not accept,” Margot says.

The Pirate Bay is not the only torrent site that’s currently blocked in Belgium. A few months ago several ISPs quietly expanded their blocklists with Kat.ph, BitSnoop, ExtraTorrent other domains.

With the new Supreme Court ruling, this lists is expected to grow indefinitely.

Source: TorrentFreak, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing and anonymous VPN services.

The action was the result of a lawsuit between the Belgian Anti-Piracy Foundation (BAF) and the ISPs Belgacom and Telenet. Through the lawsuit BAF hoped to force the Internet providers to block subscriber access to the famous torrent site.

Initially the Antwerp Commercial Court ruled in favor of the ISPs, describing the notion of wholesale site blocking as “disproportionate”. However, this decision was later overturned by the Court of Appeal and access to The Pirate Bay has been blocked ever since.

As a result of the ruling many regular Pirate Bay users switched to using proxies instead, while others moved on to other torrent sites such as KAT, ExtraTorrent and BitSnoop. These circumvention attempts didn’t go unnoticed by the local anti-piracy group though, as many of these alternatives have now also been blocked.

Starting this past weekend, millions of Belgian Internet users lost access to most popular torrent sites. TorrentFreak was able to confirm that Kat.ph, BitSnoop, ExtraTorrent and H33T are no longer accessible.

Interestingly, KAT’s new domain Kickass.to still works. This is quite an oversight as this is by far the most popular torrent site and the domain is ranked as the 55th most-visited in Belgium. The latest Pirate Bay domain is accessible as well.

Those who try to access the blocked domains through Belgacom and Telenet get a page filled with police logos containing the following message.

“You have been redirected to this stop page because the website you are trying to visit offers content that is considered illegal according to Belgian legislation. If you are the owner or administrator of this website and you consider to be wrongly redirected, you can report this by fax at +32(0)2/733.56.16.”

The notice above suggests that the blockade was implemented following a court order but this is not yet available in the public record. However, the Belgian Anti-Piracy Foundation did confirm to TorrentFreak that they have recently filed a complaint at court which targets several torrent sites.

BAF couldn’t provide more details at the moment but said it would most likely release more information in the near future.

None of the affected Internet providers has released a statement on the new blockades. It’s also unknown how many sites are included.

Whether the blocks will be effective remains to be seen. Last week a report from the University of Amsterdam showed that the court-ordered Pirate Bay block in the Netherlands had no impact on local piracy rates.

Source: TorrentFreak, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing and anonymous VPN services.

The local anti-piracy movement applauded the landmark verdict which opened the doors for further censorship attempts. However, this cheerful mood was short-lived.

Countering the court decision The Pirate Bay team registered a new domain name that was not covered by the ruling. This domain, depiraatbaai.be, quickly became one of the most-visited websites in Belgium.

But not anymore.

As of yesterday depiraatbaai.be is blocked as well, presumably added to the already existing court order.

TorrentFreak asked The Pirate Bay team whether they plan to strike back by adding a new domain but we have yet to hear back. But even without a new domain Belgians affected by the blockade have plenty of alternatives available.

Source: TorrentFreak, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing and anonymous VPN services.

The local anti-piracy movement applauded the landmark verdict which opened the doors for further censorship attempts. However, this cheerful mood was short-lived.

Countering the court decision The Pirate Bay team registered a new domain name that was not covered by the ruling. This domain, depiraatbaai.be, quickly became one of the most-visited websites in Belgium. And that was not the only effort to circumvent the blockade, several Pirate Bay users also started their own proxy sites.

These sites are a thorn in the side of local anti-piracy group BAF, who this week took action against the newly launched thepiratebay.at. The group is demanding that the owner takes the site offline within five days or face legal action.

By threatening the proxy site owner with legal action BAF follows in the footsteps of Dutch anti-piracy group BREIN. This Hollywood funded group has already managed to shut down several proxy sites in the Netherlands, where a similar court ruling compels two ISPs to block subscriber access to The Pirate Bay.

According to BAF’s director it was BREIN who prompted them to take action.

“This is the first time we have taken action against a proxy site”, BAF director Van Mechelen told Tweakers. “BREIN discovered the proxy and informed us after they found out that the site is owned by someone from Belgium.”

Whether BAF’s threats will be very effective remains to be seen as thepiratebay.at is still up and running.

And in the Netherlands BREIN is meeting some resistance as well.

Earlier this week the Dutch Pirate Party informed BREIN that they are not going to shut down their proxy site. The Pirate Party is especially irked by the fact that the anti-piracy group is using an ex parte decision against another proxy site, to force others to close shop as well.

“Unless someone calls them on their tactics, they will be allowed to continue those tactics indefinitely. Yielding does not make the problem go away. We would preferred to tackle this issue in parliament, where it belongs. However, if we have a chance to stop this ex-parte from being reused again and again, we ought to grab it,” Pirate Party chairman Dirk Poot told TorrentFreak.

So instead of caving in the Pirate Party says it will meet BREIN in court. This case will define how far the proxy war against the Pirate Bay, and website censorship in general, can be stretched. The line has to be drawn somewhere.

Or are VPN providers next?

Source: TorrentFreak, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing and anonymous VPN services.

The court ordered the 48-year old to pay the local music rights group SABAM 65,651 euro ($87.500) in damages. The man was further fined 5,500.

In addition to the Kaiser Chiefs tracks, police found a total of 1127 infringing files on the man’s home computer.

He was found not guilty of distributing movies and music for profit.

Source: TorrentFreak, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing and anonymous VPN services.

The Belgian Anti-Piracy Federation (BAF) applauded the verdict, which they see as a landmark decision opening the door to further censorship attempts. And indeed, without hesitation the group is putting the verdict to work in their favor.

NURPA, a Belgian advocacy group which promotes and protects the digital rights of citizens, has learned that BAF has sent a threatening letter to various Belgian ISPs. The group has managed to obtain a copy which they published on their site today.

In the letter, BAF mentions the recent verdict against the two Belgian Internet providers, which they say confirms The Pirate Bay is responsible for copyright infringement on a massive scale. To extend the ruling, the anti-piracy group is demanding that other ISPs also begin banning the site’s domains.

“To ensure an optimal effect, this measure should be implemented by all Internet service providers, not just by Belgacom and Telenet,” the anti-piracy group writes.

The ISPs have ten days to comply, BAF adds, or else the group will take them to court.

“Failing a satisfactory response from you within the time limit, the BAF will begin legal proceedings against you,” BAF threatens.

The letter from BAF was supposedly sent last week, and already appears to have had some effect. The Belgian ISP BASE – which ironically has a “freedom of speech” banner prominently listed on its site – has quietly started blocking subscriber access to The Pirate Bay.

BAF’s letter and BASE’s response are criticized by NURPA, who fear that BAF will continue to push for more censorship measures based on false claims.

“These practices of censorship, which are justified by imaginary losses and imposed by blackmail, show the urgent need for legislation on Net Neutrality in order to establish a legal framework for fair protection of fundamental rights on the Internet,” NURPA spokesman André Loconte told TorrentFreak.

Even if BAF manages to convince all Belgian ISPs to block the 11 Pirate Bay domains, it is doubtful that it will have much of an effect. Previously, a Pirate Bay spokesperson told TorrentFreak that these measures only yield the opposite results.

“This will just give us more traffic, as always. Thanks for the free advertising,” we were told.

And he appears to be right.

A few days after the verdict was announced The Pirate Bay registered depiraatbaai.be, a new domain not covered by the court order. Today, just a few weeks later, this domain is already the 124th most-visited in Belgium, on its way to enter the top 100.

Indeed, the years of legal procedures and subsequent blackmailing are easily circumvented by registering a $15 domain.

Source: TorrentFreak, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing and anonymous VPN services.

Today the 14 days expired and people who are trying to visit The Pirate Bay now see the following message.

“You have been redirected to this stop page because the website you are trying to visit offers content that is considered illegal according to Belgian legislation. If you are the owner or administrator of this website and you consider to be wrongly redirected, you can report this by fax at +32(0)2/733.56.16.”

The local anti-piracy movement applauded the verdict, which they see as a landmark case that will open the doors for further censorship attempts.

However, it is questionable that it will have much of an effect.

A few days after the court order was announced The Pirate Bay registered depiraatbaai.be, a new domain which is not (yet) blocked.

Source: TorrentFreak, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing and anonymous VPN services.

The local anti-piracy movement applauded the verdict, which they see as a landmark case that will open the doors for further censorship attempts. However, it is questionable that it will have much of an effect.

Earlier today we already reported how the usenet indexing site Newzbin2 updated its anti-censorship client to allow Belgians to keep their access to The Pirate Bay. And a few hours later The Pirate Bay team delivered an even easier solution.

“The Judge obviously has no idea what he’s dealing with, because the verdict of this expensive court battle can be easily undone,” The Pirate Bay team told TorrentFreak.

“Just a few minutes ago we registered a new domain that’s not listed in the order. We have already started pointing users from Belgium to the new address, so they know where to go when their ISPs implement the DNS blockade.”

The new domain name is “depiraatbaai.be,” the literal translation of The Pirate Bay in Dutch. The new domain is already pointing to The Pirate Bay’s servers and people accessing the standard domain from a Belgian IP-address will be redirected to the new home.

“We have to admit that Belgian domain names are not cheap, but we have to make a stand here,” The Pirate Bay team told us.

The above is a clear example that the people judging on these issues don’t have the slightest idea what they’re dealing with. This is supported by the fact that the actual court order only lists the www domains of The Pirate Bay and not the bare addresses (www.thepiratebay.org vs. thepiratebay.org).

The ‘error’ above was pointed out by Maarten Schenk and soon picked up by the mainstream media in Belgium. They point out that if the verdict is taken literally, the ISPs don’t have to block the domains without the www. A massive failure.

“Let’s hope the ISPs are brave enough to put this theory to the test,” The Pirate Bay team notes.

The take home message is, as always, that there are plenty of options for users and site admins to bypass these and other censorship attempts. Or as John Gilmore once said: “The Net interprets censorship as damage and routes around it.”

For the time being the number of Belgian visitors to The Pirate Bay is only going up.

Source: TorrentFreak, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing and anonymous VPN services.

The judge thought otherwise (pdf) and, based on claims from a P2P expert, said that ISPs do have the technical means at their disposal to block or filter pirated content on P2P networks. The ISP in question was given six months to implement such measures.

In a response to this news Rick Falkvinge, the leader and founder of the Swedish Pirate Party, told TorrentFreak:

“this confirms what we’ve been saying all along: the record industry wants to abolish postal secrets and freedom of the press in order to maintain their crumbling monopolies. They are actually celebrating the fact that a third unaccountable party gets to inspect everything sent between any and all private individuals, and gets to destroy any undesired communication.”

The ruling by the Belgian court implements EU legislation, and iaccording to the IFPI, it sets an important precedent in the fight against piracy internationally. In a response to the decision IFPI Chairman and CEO John Kennedy said: “This is a decision that we hope will set the mould for government policy and for courts in other countries in Europe and around the world.”

Let’s hope not. And, can anyone explain to me how ISPs are supposed to filter copyright infringing content?

Source: TorrentFreak, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing and anonymous VPN services.