TorrentFreak

Earlier this week TorrentFreak received information to suggest that the recording industry is planning a fresh trip to the UK High Court to have even more torrent sites blocked at the ISP level. If they’re successful there will only be one torrent site from the current world top ten not censored in the region. However, news travels fast and according to the leading Pirate Bay and KAT proxy operators, preparations are already under way to circumvent the blockades.

Following a request from Dutch anti-piracy group BREIN, a Dutch bailiff has seized the bank account of a Pirate Bay proxy operator. The owner of the popular proxy site Kuiken.co has been involved in a legal battle with BREIN over the past months, who demand that he shuts down his website. The anti-piracy group seized the funds after the proxy owner failed to pay the penalties that were set out in two preliminary injunctions.

This week several of the largest Internet providers in the UK started to block KickassTorrents, Fenopy and H33T, but this doesn’t mean that the sites have become entirely inaccessible. As a direct result of the blockades several proxies for the banned sites are now being overloaded with traffic..

Hollywood’s war against The Pirate Bay website continues in Europe with yet another legal battle. Dutch anti-piracy group BREIN is taking the operator of the popular proxy site Kuiken.co to court, demanding the shutdown of the service as well as a ban on encouraging others to circumvent court-ordered blockades. Tristan, the operator of the proxy, is prepared to fight in court and is running a crowdfunding project to support his legal battle.

After legal threats from the music industry the UK Pirate Party saw no other option than to shut down their Pirate Bay proxy service. However, as is usually the case with censorship, the Internet has found a way to route around it. Responding to the UK situation Pirate parties in Argentina and Luxembourg have decided to start fresh Pirate Bay proxies.

Music industry group the BPI is sending its lawyers after the UK Pirate Party after they refused to take their Pirate Bay proxy offline. Last week the BPI kindly asked the Pirates to shut down the website, but quickly turned to threats when they didn’t get their way. Pirate Party leader Loz Kaye tells TorrentFreak that they are determined to stand behind their principles, even if that means getting involved in an expensive legal battle.

According to reports the BPI has sent a letter to the UK Pirate Party asking them to shut down their Pirate Bay proxy service. Speaking with TorrentFreak, Party Leader Loz Kaye says he is yet to receive anything other than an email and was only aware a letter had been sent when he received requests for comment. Kaye says issues such as censorship are at the core of why the Pirate Party exists and they will stand up and fight for Internet users.