TorrentFreak

A UK High Court ruling has just handed Hollywood a defeat in a battle against a now-defunct file-sharing site. The MPA argued that when Usenet indexing site Newzbin2 generated profits from piracy, that money should be handed over to the studios. The MPA argued that copyright infringement is theft but the Court said it was more like trespass, noting that any award would have a “chilling effect on innovation and creativity.”

Newzbin2, the site chosen by Hollywood to be their UK web-blocking guinea-pig, has revealed some of their forward plans. Within weeks the Usenet indexing site will not only dump its .COM domain, but also look towards the creation of both VPN and cyberlocker services.

This week the MPA’s lawyers were in the High Court claiming that Usenet indexing site Newzbin2 costs them millions of pounds due to illegal movie downloads. To this end they want BT to block the site but the ISP is refusing. BT says that by complying it would open the floodgates for hundreds of other site-blocking requests. Now, for the first time this week, Newzbin2′s owners speak out.

Last year Hollywood’s Motion Picture Association (MPA) went to court seeking an injunction against UK ISP BT in order to force them to block Newzbin2, the resurrected version of the original Newzbin Usenet indexer. This week the MPA are back at the High Court again as they attempt to force BT to use their child abuse filter to block Newzbin2.

Last year the MPAA took legal action against UK ISP BT in an attempt to force it to block the domain of Usenet indexing site Newzbin2. While the government and its communications watchdog run around trying to find out if effective site blocking is feasible, Newzbin2 have just taken steps to neutralize it before it even happens.

Usenet indexer Newzbin has endured its fair share of ups and downs over the last few years, mainly as a result of its intense legal battle with the major Hollywood studios. Remarkably the site morphed and fought back and now finds itself in the unusual situation of never being asked to remove links to infringing content. Calm before the storm? If so, Newzbin are prepared.

Three months ago, TorrentFreak discovered that the Motion Picture Association were about to make an unprecedented move against file-sharing in the UK. Their targets were ISP BT and Usenet indexing site Newzbin.com. In discussions the MPA refused to confirm our suspicions. Yesterday, however, the MPA went to court to obtain an injunction to have BT block Newzbin in the UK.