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	<title>TorrentFreak &#187; usenet</title>
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		<title>BREIN Demands $70,000 Per Day Penalty For Usenet Community</title>
		<link>http://torrentfreak.com/brein-demands-70000-per-day-penalty-for-usenet-community-090702/</link>
		<comments>http://torrentfreak.com/brein-demands-70000-per-day-penalty-for-usenet-community-090702/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Thu, 02 Jul 2009 17:53:27 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>enigmax</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Bittorrent Clients]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Copyright Issues]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Legal Issues]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[brein]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[FTD]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[usenet]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://torrentfreak.com/?p=14769</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Earlier this year, anti-piracy outfit BREIN demanded the closure of Usenet community FTD. After negotiations between the pair came to nothing, BREIN declared FTD a criminal operation prompting FTD to take legal action against BREIN to clear their name. Now BREIN is counter-claiming against FTD, demanding $70,000 a day in penalties.]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>Founded in 2001, FTD is the largest Usenet community in The Netherlands with around 450,000 members. FTD and its software allows members to report material they find on Usenet along with its location. This material could include movies, music and TV shows and this made it a target for notorious anti-piracy outfit BREIN.</p>
<p>BREIN says that FTD operates illegally but the Usenet community and its specialist IT lawyer, Arnoud Engelfriet of <a href="http://ictrecht.nl/">Ictrecht law firm</a> vigorously deny this and are now taking legal action the Dutch anti-piracy outfit. The background to the case can be found in our <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/usenet-community-takes-anti-piracy-group-to-court-090515/">earlier article</a>, and a more detailed report on the action against BREIN <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/why-usenet-community-ftd-went-after-brein-090520/">here</a>.</p>
<p>Yesterday, while BREIN&#8217;s site was still supposedly out of action following an alleged (or <a href="http://www.geenstijl.nl/mt/archieven/2009/07/brein_liegt_over_aanval.html">Hoaxed</a>) DDoS attack from Pirate Bay fans, it published a further report about FTD, which was hidden on its site away from easy public viewing. Strangely the <a href="http://www.anti-piracy.nl/nieuws/bericht.asp?nieuwsberichtid=99">same page</a> at the time of writing is password protected and the report unavailable, but we have a copy and translation.</p>
<p>Entitled &#8216;BREIN Demands Closure of FTD&#8217;, the anti-piracy outfit went on to say that if FTD does not close it will require a penalty of 50,000 euros ($70,000) per day against the service, in addition to compensation and full reimbursement of costs. BREIN said that FTD &#8220;organizes and promotes&#8221; Usenet content, most of which is illegal.</p>
<p>BREIN then refers to earlier discussions it had with FTD, noting that it asked FTD to cease its &#8220;structural use of illegal content&#8221; in early 2009. The two sides had entered discussions to see if they could iron out their difficulties. Following on, FTD pro-actively modified how they operate to ensure that there could be no doubt as to their legality.</p>
<p>“After we made the changes, we got complete radio silence from BREIN. No confirmation, no rejection, nothing,” Arnoud explained. “Only after several days we found out what BREIN thought &#8211; but only by reading the online news. That was a huge disappointment.”</p>
<p>The news saw BREIN declare that FTD was a criminal operation in an article titled &#8220;You do not pay for it, it’s unlawful” and this led to FTD taking legal action against BREIN to try to clear their name by having their operation declared legal by a court. Now BREIN is counter-claiming against FTD.</p>
<p>Tim Kuik from BREIN now says that it is clear that FTD &#8220;continued their abuses unabated&#8221; and that the modifications they made were only made to hide the &#8220;true nature&#8221; of the site.</p>
<p>&#8220;It is a wolf in sheep&#8217;s clothing,&#8221; said Kuik. &#8220;FTD earn money with a system that exists by virtue of the huge supply of illegal content to Usenet.&#8221; Mirroring the disappointment felt at FTD, Kuik added: &#8220;It is disappointing but illustrates that BREIN&#8217;s outstretched hand has been cut off.&#8221;</p>
<p>So what exactly does this claim for 50,000 euros per day mean for FTD? Lawyer Arnoud Engelfriet told TorrentFreak that BREIN did not ask the court for damages. Legally they are barred from asking for damages &#8211; article 3:305a of the Dutch Civil Code says that an organization that represents the interests of a certain group can never ask for damages. They asked instead for a penal sum of 50k euros if FTD were ordered by the court to shut down but it refused.</p>
<p>&#8220;The idea is that a court can order you to shut down but you can ignore the court,&#8221; said Arnoud. &#8220;With the penal sum, you risk that the court will then sell your house or seize other assets. In principle that&#8217;s legal, but the amount is of course ridiculous.&#8221;</p>
<p>&#8220;Ridiculous also sums up my view of the BREIN counterclaim. Instead of addressing any of the points we raised, they simply repeat their standard rhetoric. Nowhere is the distinction made between uploading works and telling people that someone has uploaded a work for (legal) download. And downloading illegal uploads is legal in the Netherlands,&#8221; notes Arnoud.</p>
<p>&#8220;BREIN is not known for its careful handling of the truth,&#8221; he added. &#8220;They are a propaganda organization after all.&#8221;</p>
<p>Article from: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com">TorrentFreak</a>, check out our new blog at <a href="http://freakbits.com">FreakBits</a>.</p>
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		<title>Why Usenet Community FTD Went After BREIN</title>
		<link>http://torrentfreak.com/why-usenet-community-ftd-went-after-brein-090520/</link>
		<comments>http://torrentfreak.com/why-usenet-community-ftd-went-after-brein-090520/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Wed, 20 May 2009 15:31:56 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>enigmax</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Anti-Piracy Gangs]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Copyright Issues]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Legal Issues]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[brein]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[FTD]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[usenet]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://torrentfreak.com/?p=13335</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[It is very common indeed for anti-piracy groups to go after sites linked to file-sharing. However, in The Netherlands the tables have recently been turned as the FTD Usenet community is taking legal action against anti-piracy group BREIN. TorrentFreak spoke with FTD's lawyer to discover exactly why this worm has turned.]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>Founded in 2001, FTD is The Netherlands largest Usenet community with around 450,000 members. FTD and its associated software allows its members to report the location of material they find on Usenet, which could include the usual movies, music and TV shows. This caused it to be a target for notorious anti-piracy outfit BREIN.</p>
<p>Not wanting to be bullied for what it considers to be a completely legal operation, FTD took the unusual step of taking BREIN to court, after Tim Kuik, the head of the outfit, said that FTD and its operators were committing a crime. FTD&#8217;s owners and lawyers vigorously deny this claim, the details of which can be found in our <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/usenet-community-takes-anti-piracy-group-to-court-090515/">earlier report</a>.</p>
<p>So what led up to this legal showdown? TorrentFreak spoke with FTD&#8217;s specialist IT lawyer, Arnoud Engelfriet, of <a href="http://ictrecht.nl/">Ictrecht law firm</a>.</p>
<p>&#8220;In January of this year, BREIN announced they were &#8216;going after Usenet&#8217; and<br />
specifically singled out FTD as their first target,&#8221;  Arnoud told TorrentFreak.</p>
<p>Naturally this position was of concern to FTD, but instead of burying their heads in the sand they actually contacted BREIN with a view to discovering where their differences lay and sorting them out amicably.</p>
<p>&#8220;Shortly after that, FTD engaged in negotiations with BREIN to find out what their objections were and how we could overcome them,&#8221; Arnoud told us. The discussions led FTD to pro-actively modify how they operate to ensure that there could be no doubt as to their legality.</p>
<p>&#8220;We even voluntarily made some changes to the FTD platform to ensure there could be no doubt we were in the clear,&#8221; Arnoud explained. But their attempts to engage and negotiate with BREIN came to nothing.</p>
<p>&#8220;After we made the changes, we got complete radio silence from BREIN. No confirmation, no rejection, nothing,&#8221; Arnoud explained. &#8220;Only after several days we found out what BREIN thought &#8211; but only by reading the online news. That was a huge disappointment.&#8221;</p>
<p>Indeed, ignoring the outstretched hand and making their intentions against FTD public, BREIN chief Tim Kuik spoke with Dutch publication Volkskrant and the resulting article titled &#8220;You do not pay for it, it’s unlawful” labeled FTD&#8217;s operations criminal. “Although they [FTD] are not carrying illegal content on their servers, what FTD does is simply criminal,” said Kuik.</p>
<p>Usually at this point a site being bullied by BREIN would either dig in its heels and wait for the lawsuit and injunction against them, or capitulate in fear of being destroyed.</p>
<p>&#8220;We could have waited for preliminary injunction proceedings, which is BREIN&#8217;s weapon of choice,&#8221; Arnoud told us. But that would have taken too much time, and since preliminary injunctions leave little room for a thorough investigation of all relevant facts, the risk was that FTD could be forced to close down for all the wrong reasons. </p>
<p>So FTD did something quite unusual in these cases &#8211; it went on the offensive against BREIN instead.</p>
<p>&#8220;At that stage, we felt that doing nothing would leave the sword of Damocles over our heads,&#8221; Arnoud told TorrentFreak. &#8220;BREIN is very fond of making continuous ominous statements in the press, and that could create a FUD environment for FTD. Therefore we decided to go to court and ask for an official declaration that downloading is legal, that it&#8217;s also legal to inform people about materials to download and to offer a platform to let people inform each other,&#8221; he added.</p>
<p>FTD also wants a public statement from BREIN correcting its assertion that its operations are criminal, and a declaration from the court that FTD&#8217;s operations are fully legal.</p>
<p>&#8220;We fully expect to win our case. BREIN is big on statements but often short on facts and legal arguments to back them up,&#8221; Arnoud told TorrentFreak.</p>
<p>&#8220;We have the law and the facts on our side.&#8221;</p>
<p>Article from: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com">TorrentFreak</a>, check out our new blog at <a href="http://freakbits.com">FreakBits</a>.</p>
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		<slash:comments>55</slash:comments>
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		<title>Anti-Piracy Group Takes Out Usenet Indexer</title>
		<link>http://torrentfreak.com/anti-piracy-group-takes-out-usenet-indexer-090517/</link>
		<comments>http://torrentfreak.com/anti-piracy-group-takes-out-usenet-indexer-090517/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Sun, 17 May 2009 17:36:47 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Ernesto</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Anti-Piracy Gangs]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[P2P and Filesharing]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[BNI]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[brein]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[nzb]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[usenet]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://torrentfreak.com/?p=13295</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Anti-piracy group BREIN is well known in the BitTorrent community, having already managed to shut down hundreds of small sites. The Dutch outfit is currently being sued by a group of Usenet enthusiasts after it called their site illegal. Undeterred, it's now flexing its muscles to get NZB sites closed down too.]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p><img src="http://torrentfreak.com/images/bni.jpg" align="right" alt="bni-online" />Funded by the movie, music and gaming industries, BREIN has been a thorn in the side of BitTorrent sites for years. More recently the outfit extended their activities to target sites frequented by Usenet users. They labeled the Usenet community FTD as criminals, and are currently <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/usenet-community-takes-anti-piracy-group-to-court-090515/">being sued</a> for doing so.</p>
<p>On TorrentFreak we&#8217;ve also had  issues with BREIN after they labeled us a &#8216;pirate weblog&#8217; and then used material from our site without proper attribution. Our <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/open-letter-from-torrentfreak-to-brein-071125/">legal counsel</a> had to jump in, in an attempt to stop their libelous writing and harassment of smaller website operators.</p>
<p>As expected, this didn&#8217;t have much effect, and BREIN continued their operations claiming a <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/anti-piracy-outfit-shuts-down-75-torrent-sites-081212/">few dozen</a> victories by shutting down smaller torrent communities. They usually operate by sending emails to the site&#8217;s admins or hosting providers claiming that their activities are illegal, ordering them to shut down or face legal action.</p>
<p>Besides torrent sites, BREIN is also targeting Usenet indexers, claiming that they assist in copyright infringement. The NZB files found on many of these sites can be considered as Usenet’s answer to .torrent files as they point to content hosted elsewhere. They also make the otherwise-complicated Usenet downloading process relatively easy to master. BREIN does not like the fact that NZBs bring Usenet to the mainstream and considers sites hosting those files to have the same function as torrent sites and is targeting them in much the same way.</p>
<p>One of the NZB sites threatened by BREIN is <a href="http://bni-online.nl/">BNI-online</a>. The site received <a href="http://disweb.nl/nieuws/477-brein-neemt-actie-tegen-nzb-sites.html">an ultimatum</a>, with BREIN ordering them to stop their &#8216;illegal&#8217; activities within 48 hours or be taken to court. The site has responded to this request and ceased its operations.</p>
<p>Splendid, the site&#8217;s founder explains that BREIN&#8217;s threats are one of the reasons for closing down the site. At this point we can not confirm that any other sites have closed after similar threats, but it wouldn&#8217;t be a surprise. Every torrent or NZB site hosted in The Netherlands will be approached by the anti-piracy outfit sooner or later.</p>
<p>This week, BREIN will be <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/mininova-trial-due-in-two-months-090316/">in court</a> with another Dutch based site, Mininova, and TorrentFreak will of course keep you updated on the outcome and progress in this trial.</p>
<p>Article from: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com">TorrentFreak</a>, check out our new blog at <a href="http://freakbits.com">FreakBits</a>.</p>
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		<slash:comments>57</slash:comments>
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		<title>Usenet Community Takes Anti-Piracy Group to Court</title>
		<link>http://torrentfreak.com/usenet-community-takes-anti-piracy-group-to-court-090515/</link>
		<comments>http://torrentfreak.com/usenet-community-takes-anti-piracy-group-to-court-090515/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Fri, 15 May 2009 10:40:44 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>enigmax</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Anti-Piracy Gangs]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Copyright Issues]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Hot Off The Press]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Legal Issues]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[brein]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[FTD]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[usenet]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://torrentfreak.com/?p=13205</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[A Usenet discussion community is taking notorious anti-piracy outfit BREIN to court. BREIN, which has taken action against many Usenet and BitTorrent sites including Demonoid and Mininova, has declared the activities of FTD illegal. Angered by these claims, FTD is now taking BREIN to court to force it to eat its words.]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>Back in January 2009, Dutch publication Volkskrant published an article about Usenet titled &#8220;You do not pay for it, it&#8217;s unlawful&#8221;. In it, Tim Kuik, head of anti-piracy outfit BREIN made some aggressive comments about Netherlands-based discussion site, FTD. &#8220;Although they [FTD] are not carrying illegal content on their servers, what FTD does is simply criminal,&#8221; he said.</p>
<p>Founded in 2001, <a href="http://www.ftd.nu/">FTD</a> is the largest Usenet community in The Netherlands with a massive 450,000 members. The site and its software allows FTD&#8217;s users to report the location of material they find on Usenet, which could include the usual movies, music and TV shows. Of course, once other members know where to find the material, the downloading can begin. Since much of the material downloaded is copyrighted, BREIN went on to claim the site is illegal, but the picture in The Netherlands is not necessarily how BREIN paints it.</p>
<p>Downloading movies, TV shows and music from the Internet for your own personal use is completely legal in Holland. Making copies of original material you own for your own use is also completely legal. Even making copies of <em>pirated material you don&#8217;t own</em> is legal, provided it is exclusively for your own use. Although certain torrent sites can exist in a murky semi-gray area, FTD doesn&#8217;t even link to copyright works hosted by someone else &#8211; there is no so-called &#8220;structural infringement&#8221; which BREIN claims some BitTorrent sites demonstrate.</p>
<p>Considering the above, FTD are pretty annoyed that Tim Kuik of BREIN called them criminals, since his claims have no basis in law. Unlike many sites threatened by copyright groups, FTD aren&#8217;t sitting back and taking this, they are <a href="http://www.fighttodefeat.nl/">fighting back</a>.</p>
<p>&#8220;FTD is a perfectly legal activity,&#8221; said FTD director Ronald Sievers, a point on which his legal team agrees.</p>
<p>&#8220;BREIN&#8217;s claims are built on legal quicksand,&#8221; says FTD lawyer Arnoud Engelfriet. &#8220;They speak of &#8216;facilitation&#8217; and the structural use of the availability of unauthorized downloads, as if it were a foregone conclusion that this is prohibited. Nothing could be further from the truth. Furthermore, FTD only facilitates communication between people who quite legally download from Usenet. FTD does not facilitate or carry out any upload and therefore can not be held liable.&#8221;</p>
<p>So, supported by two Dutch copyright lawyers and IT experts, FTD have filed a lawsuit against BREIN in which they request the court clarifies these <a href="http://blog.iusmentis.com/2009/05/15/usenet-gemeenschap-sleept-stichting-brein-voor-de-rechter/">points</a>;</p>
<p>1. That downloading is legal in the Netherlands, even if the uploader committed copyright infringement when he uploaded the material.<br />
2. That directing users to content on Usenet via FTD is legal, even if the material was put there without permission of the copyright holders.<br />
3. That FTD is acting within the law, considering the above.<br />
4. That there is no need for FTD to filter any of the reports its users create which refer to the location of content on the Internet<br />
5. That FTD does not have to remove any of these reports, unless BREIN makes a correct and formal complaint.</p>
<p>Of course, FTD also want a retraction of BREIN&#8217;s statement that FTD is illegal. &#8220;FTD require a public statement correcting this and wants a declaration from the court that they were simply acting legally,&#8221; it said in a statement.</p>
<p>Additionally, Kuik also quipped that &#8220;what FTD do clearly constitutes a crime,&#8221; to which Arnoud Engelfriet, one of FTD&#8217;s lawyers responded, &#8220;A correction of this should be published on BREIN&#8217;s homepage too.&#8221;</p>
<p>A copy of the subpoena can be found here. (<a href="http://74.125.79.132/translate_c?hl=en&#038;ie=UTF-8&#038;sl=nl&#038;tl=en&#038;u=http://www.fighttodefeat.nl/assets/FTDvsBREIN.pdf&#038;rurl=translate.google.com&#038;usg=ALkJrhi5oFLoOh9_h6eGdAkrP7Ca8nW6vw">pdf</a>)</p>
<p>Article from: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com">TorrentFreak</a>, check out our new blog at <a href="http://freakbits.com">FreakBits</a>.</p>
]]></content:encoded>
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		<slash:comments>86</slash:comments>
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		<title>MPA Set to Challenge Newzbin Usenet Indexer in Court</title>
		<link>http://torrentfreak.com/mpa-set-to-challenge-newzbin-usenet-indexer-in-court-090407/</link>
		<comments>http://torrentfreak.com/mpa-set-to-challenge-newzbin-usenet-indexer-in-court-090407/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Tue, 07 Apr 2009 08:17:54 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>enigmax</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Anti-Piracy Gangs]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Copyright Issues]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Legal Issues]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[newsgroups]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[newzbin]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[usenet]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://torrentfreak.com/?p=11817</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[The big brother of the MPAA has Newzbin, the world's most prominent newsgroup indexer, firmly in its sights. Newzbin, which indexes Usenet and offers its members NZB files, is being sued by the MPA, the global lobby group for the movie industry. The pair are set to fight it out in court, possibly before the end of the year.]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>While most media attention is focused on the mighty BitTorrent, availability of just about every type of copyrighted digital media continues unabated on Usenet, otherwise known as &#8216;the newsgroups&#8217;. Downloads from Usenet are fast &#8211; very fast &#8211; with most transfers maxing out the user&#8217;s Internet connection. Add to this the excellent security offered by Usenet (people don&#8217;t get infringement notices when downloading) and Usenet can prove very attractive, even to the hardened BitTorrent user.</p>
<p>Like most things, however, Usenet has its drawbacks. The main problem lies with its complexity &#8211; the learning curve can be a little steep &#8211; but with amazing little things called .NZB files, downloading is made almost as easy as BitTorrent. NZB files contain meta-data and without splitting too many hairs, they function in a very similar way to .torrent files. Download an NZB, load it into a news client such as <a href="http://www.shemes.com/">Grabit</a> and very quickly the download is complete.</p>
<p><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Newzbin">Newzbin</a> is one of the original Usenet indexing sites and the creator of the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NZB">.NZB</a> format, which opened Usenet downloading to the masses. In May 2008 it received a <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/mpaa-threatens-worlds-premier-usenet-indexer-080528/">threatening letter</a> from the Motion Picture Association (MPA). In the letter, the MPA claimed that some of Newzbin&#8217;s <a href="http://docs.newzbin.com/index.php/Editor:Basics">editors</a> were listing NZBs which linked to movies on Usenet which infringed their member&#8217;s  copyright. </p>
<p>In October 2008, ‘Caesium’, the owner of Newzbin made an announcement. &#8220;Newzbin has recently received two serious complaints regarding the indexing we perform, and raising doubts as to its legality. It is likely that we will in the coming weeks be presented with a court case and have to defend our rights.&#8221;</p>
<p>Noting that Newzbin would defend itself vigorously against the complainants, Caesium said he believed that linking to content on Usenet is entirely legal and that the site&#8217;s procedures for dealing with unlawful content is appropriate. &#8220;We believe that, or we wouldn&#8217;t still be here,&#8221; he added.</p>
<p>At the start of December 2008, Newzbin confirmed that it had indeed been removing NZB files that link to infringing movies on Usenet. However, this wasn&#8217;t enough for the MPA, who filed an injunction against Newzbin. </p>
<p>Now, four months later, the site is still operating as normal but has received more details about its upcoming battle with the movie companies.</p>
<p>&#8220;The latest we&#8217;ve heard is that there will be an interim hearing (to hash out administrative details) sometime in the next couple of months, and the case itself will be heard in court sometime between November 2009 and January 2010,&#8221; said Caesium in an announcement.</p>
<p>It is far from clear how the legal system will view the operations at Newzbin &#8211; no other site of its type has ever appeared in court in the UK, or elsewhere in the world. Newzbin has already been considering that in order to be completely sure of staying within the law it may have to automate its operations and remove human intervention in the creation of its NZB files.</p>
<p>While Newzbin has never, ever hosted any copyright infringing material, previously another newsgroup-related company Usenet.com was <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/the-riaa-attacks-usenet-071016">sued by the RIAA</a> for actually hosting illicit content. Usenet.com was also criticized over its advertising, which is alleged to encourage piracy.</p>
<p>Article from: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com">TorrentFreak</a>, check out our new blog at <a href="http://freakbits.com">FreakBits</a>.</p>
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		<title>Download Torrents Instantly with Instant-Torrents</title>
		<link>http://torrentfreak.com/download-torrents-instantly-with-instant-torrents-080905/</link>
		<comments>http://torrentfreak.com/download-torrents-instantly-with-instant-torrents-080905/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Fri, 05 Sep 2008 06:55:12 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Ernesto</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Hot Off The Press]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[bittorrent]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[instant torrents]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[instanttorrents]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[torrents]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[usenet]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://torrentfreak.com/?p=4394</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Instant-Torrents is a new service that allows people to download, find, and share torrents on a private network. Users can download torrents via the site, and direct downloads are available when others have downloaded the torrent before.]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p><img src="http://torrentfreak.com/images/it-logo.jpg" align="right" alt="instant torrents" />Lately we&#8217;ve seen quite a few new sites that let you download torrents to their servers. Not just the traditional <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/10-reasons-why-you-need-a-seedbox-080715/">seedbox providers</a>, but also services such as those from <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/imageshack-bitorrent-080405/">Imageshack</a> and <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/torrentrelay-bittorrent-service-upgraded-080831/">Torrent-Relay</a>. Instant-Torrents is another &#8216;torrent download&#8217; service, but with some distinctive features that set it apart from the rest. </p>
<p>Like the other sites we mentioned, <a href="http://instant-torrents.com/">Instant-Torrents</a> downloads the torrents to their servers. When the download is finished, users can download it to their computer. What&#8217;s different is that once a torrent is downloaded to Instant-Torrent, it will stay hosted on the server, and other users can find the files via the site&#8217;s search, and download them <em>instantly</em>.</p>
<p>Instant-Torrents is still low on content, but with enough users it will become unnecessary to add torrents by yourself, since most popular files will be hosted on the server anyway. The downside for the owners is of course that the MPAA, IFPI and RIAA will be keeping an eye on it as well.</p>
<p>Instant-Torrents shares all torrents till they have uploaded what they have downloaded, which makes it &#8217;share friendly&#8217;. Users are allowed to have 5 torrents running at the same time, and there is no limit in size or numbers for completed torrents. &#8220;As long as there&#8217;s enough disk space, people can download as much as they want,&#8221; &#8216;Zero Endorphine&#8217;, one of the Instant-Torrents co-founders told us.</p>
<div align="center">
<h5>Instant-Torrents</h5>
</div>
<p><img src="http://torrentfreak.com/images/instant-torrents.jpg" alt="instant torrents" /></p>
<p>The service also has an option to make a watch list, to downloads torrents based on specific keywords, as soon as they are available. In addition, the site has lists of the last added, most downloaded and most recommended torrents, and it allows users to recommend torrents to their friends.</p>
<p>Instant-Torrents is itself a free service, but in order to download you&#8217;ll have to get a VPN account at Ivacy. This is because the files can only be downloaded to your PC if you&#8217;re connected to the (private) Ivacy network. There is a free 1GB trial available, so potential users can play around with it for free. A paid account costs 0.50 Euro ($0.70) per GB, or 10 Euro ($14.20) a month for unlimited bandwidth.</p>
<p>&#8216;Zero Endorphine&#8217;, one of the Instant-Torrents co-founders told us that they get a revenue share from Ivacy, to cover the expenses they incur, such as bandwidth and server costs. The site has only been up and running for a few weeks, and &#8216;Zero Endorphine&#8217; ensured us that they will add more innovative features in the near future.</p>
<p>&#8220;We already added Usenet support, in a few days we will support Rapidshare downloads as well, and we&#8217;re also working on integrated BitTorrent tracker search,&#8221; &#8216;Zero Endorphine&#8217; said. Instant-Torrents offers an interesting addition to the most basic BitTorrent download services. Although we prefer BitTorrent to be free, the private nature of the site, and the instant downloads might make it worthwhile for some.</p>
<p>Article from: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com">TorrentFreak</a>, check out our new blog at <a href="http://freakbits.com">FreakBits</a>.</p>
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		<title>MPAA Threatens World&#8217;s Premier Usenet Indexer</title>
		<link>http://torrentfreak.com/mpaa-threatens-worlds-premier-usenet-indexer-080528/</link>
		<comments>http://torrentfreak.com/mpaa-threatens-worlds-premier-usenet-indexer-080528/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Wed, 28 May 2008 14:26:16 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>enigmax</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Anti-Piracy Gangs]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Copyright Issues]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Hot Off The Press]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Legal Issues]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[mpaa]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[newzbin]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[nzb]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[usenet]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://torrentfreak.com/?p=2830</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Newzbin, considered by many to be the internet's premier indexer and .nzb provider, is under legal threat from the MPAA. The site, which was the creator of Usenet's answer to the .torrent file, will likely have to undergo significant changes in order to appease the movie studios. ]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Newzbin">Newzbin</a> is one of the original Usenet indexing sites and creators of the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NZB">.NZB</a> format. In a very general way, .NZB files might be considered Usenet&#8217;s equivalent of .torrent files. They make the otherwise-complicated Usenet a breeze to use. Downloading from Usenet with Newzbin is easy, and together with a good <a href="http://www.newshosting.com/en/index.php">news provider</a>, very quick.</p>
<p>The increased popularity of services such as Newzbin didn&#8217;t go unnoticed with the MPAA. On 22nd May 2008, administrator &#8216;Caesium&#8217; made an announcement:</p>
<blockquote><p>Newzbin has today received a letter from the Motion Picture Association (MPA). In the letter, they claim that some <a href="http://docs.newzbin.com/index.php/Editor:Basics">editors</a> may be reporting material from Usenet that is infringing the copyright of their members.</p>
<p>While these claims have not been substantiated, it should be noted that Newzbin does not condone the distribution or indexing of such materials. We will immediately act to remove any items that are found to be infringing copyright.</p>
<p>Please take a moment to refer to our <a href="http://docs.newzbin.com/index.php/Newzbin:Legal_Disclaimer">Terms and Conditions</a>, in particular sections 4 and 4.2.</p>
<p>Please note that we may revoke privileges, or ban accounts, of users found to be violating these Terms and Conditions.</p></blockquote>
<p>Since this announcement, worried Newzbin users have contacted TorrentFreak to see if we could find out exactly what had been going on. Understandably, Newzbin didn&#8217;t want to tell us much.</p>
<p>However, if one looks closely at the announcement, it doesn&#8217;t tell us anything that we didn&#8217;t already know. The terms and conditions have been in place since 2007, there doesn&#8217;t appear to be anything new in those.</p>
<p><em>Of course</em> Newzbin doesn&#8217;t condone the indexing of copyright works. How can it? It is a proper company that charges users for access, not an underground operation hiding in the shadows. It appears to comply fully with the laws in the UK, where the service is based. Newzbin also say they will remove anything that infringes copyright. NZB files do not, so at that point they probably believed they would have little work to do.</p>
<p>But the MPAA isn&#8217;t known for letting the law stand in the way of a good threat, threats which have closed several US-based NZB sites in the past such as NZB-Zone and forced <a href="http://www.binnews.com/">others</a> to adjust the way they operate. Newzbin has not been sued, we can confirm that, but it will have to change the way it operates too, if it is to comply with the movie industry demands.</p>
<p>Caesium is hinting at possible changes to the site in the future. It&#8217;s a possibility that all .NZB related reports will have to be removed. An alternative to appease the MPAA would be to remove only the posts related to movies and TV shows, an arrangement favored by BinNews.com when faced with the same legal threats.</p>
<p>At this point it is far from clear what measures Newzbin will be finally forced to take to stop the threat of legal action turning into an actual lawsuit. Newzbin appear to be being as upfront as they can at this point and are suggesting that if users only use the site for .NZB files, then they should consider not renewing their subscription. For those who aren&#8217;t scared of making their own .NZBs &#8216;BinSearch&#8217;-style, the site will still be of great use, even if the most draconian measures are taken. </p>
<p><a href="http://www.binsearch.info/">BinSearch</a> provides Usenet indexing with a do-it-yourself .NZB creator. Anyone who knows the full scene release name of the material they seek will adjust to it in a few minutes, but it&#8217;s no Newzbin. For the uninformed, the learning curve is steep.</p>
<p>Newzbin has a secret weapon which has made it so attractive. &#8216;<a href="http://docs.newzbin.com/index.php/Editor:Basics">Editors</a>&#8216; are essentially human beings who make reports which link to specific content on Usenet. Newzbin can then generate a .NZB file, based on the report. Anyone with an NZB capable news reader, like <a href="http://www.shemes.com/">Grabit</a>, can use them. It seems that it&#8217;s this human intervention with the creation of reports which poses the legal headache.</p>
<p>Newzbin is considering that it may have to fully automate its operations in order to be totally sure of staying the friendly side of the law &#8211; no more human intervention, no more &#8216;editor&#8217; named reports. No more easily browsable pre-determined categories. A simple Usenet search engine would likely attract little attention and would be entirely legal, as confirmed by Caesium: &#8220;&#8230;we&#8217;re pretty sure nobody is going to tell us that having an automated searchable index of the entire contents of Usenet is going to cause any problems.&#8221;</p>
<p>But why would anyone bother using a degraded Newzbin over, say, the very useful (but limited) &#8216;BinSearch&#8217;? After all, there would be presumably little to separate them, feature-wise.</p>
<p>The plan is to introduce a feature where Newzbin <em>users</em> can tag. This way the site can provide an entirely legal automated index &#8211; no Newzbin staff involved &#8211; with only the users adding the tags. It sounds like a great solution and may even prove just as workable longer term.</p>
<p>They say every cloud has a silver lining and for Newzbin, that might come in the form of a greatly increased userbase. Newzbin is currently a subscription service but the changes may well turn it into a free site, which effectively opens it up to everyone rather than just its current paying userbase. That&#8217;s a hell of a lot of tags. Thankfully there will likely be a ratings system, to ensure quality tagging.</p>
<p>Article from: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com">TorrentFreak</a>, check out our new blog at <a href="http://freakbits.com">FreakBits</a>.</p>
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		<title>The RIAA Attacks Usenet</title>
		<link>http://torrentfreak.com/the-riaa-attacks-usenet-071016/</link>
		<comments>http://torrentfreak.com/the-riaa-attacks-usenet-071016/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Tue, 16 Oct 2007 12:08:44 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>enigmax</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Anti-Piracy Gangs]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Copyright Issues]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Legal Issues]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[RIAA]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[usenet]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://torrentfreak.com/the-riaa-attacks-usenet/</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Basking in glory after orchestrating a record punishment for a petty file-sharer in the US, the RIAA takes its legal campaign to the next level. Many may want newsgroups to stay under the radar but it's too late - major labels have filed a copyright infringement lawsuit against Usenet.com and it won't be going away.]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>In an ideal world, people would not talk about Usenet. In an ideal world there would be no such things as copyright infringement lawsuits. Sadly, we do not live in an ideal world. </p>
<p>Today we simply have to talk about Usenet and we have to talk about lawsuits.</p>
<p>Major record labels &#8211; Arista, Atlantic, BMG, Capitol, Caroline, Elektra, Interscope, LaFace, Maverick, Sony BMG, UMG, Virgin, Warner Bros. and Zomba have filed a copyright infringement lawsuit against <a href="http://www.usenet.com/">Usenet.com</a>.</p>
<p>According to <a href="http://www.billboard.biz/bbbiz/content_display/industry/e3i66abf6954df1d43fbdf1692e0860d269">Billboard</a>, the complaint filed in the District Court in New York states that Usenet.com provides access to millions of copyright infringing files and, with a nod towards the <a href="http://w2.eff.org/IP/P2P/MGM_v_Grokster/">Grokster Decision</a>, apparently &#8220;touts its service as a haven for those seeking pirated content.&#8221; </p>
<p>During the Grokster court case, it was ruled that even if a service or tool has substantial non-infringing uses, its owners would be liable for the infringing activities of its customers, should it be deemed that they encouraged their customers to commit copyright infringement. The complaint says that Usenet.com encourages its customers to commit copyright infringement and furthermore, facilitates such actions with its infrastructure.</p>
<p>Therefore it&#8217;s no surprise that the lawsuit seems to hang on statements allegedly made by Usenet.com to their customers, claiming that they told them their service is &#8220;the best way to get &#8216;free&#8217; music now that &#8216;file sharing websites are getting shut down.&#8221;</p>
<p>Usenet.com does <a href="http://www.usenet.com/secure_tunnel.htm">state</a> that it&#8217;s possible to get increased levels of privacy by using their extra &#8216;anonymous&#8217; service: &#8220;Shh&#8230; Quiet! We believe it&#8217;s no one&#8217;s business but your own what you do on the Internet or in Usenet! We don&#8217;t log your activity. We don&#8217;t track your downloads, and neither can your ISP when you use Secure-Tunnel.com privacy package.&#8221; However, helping to ensure the privacy of your customers does not equal encouragement to commit copyright infringement and right at this moment, there doesn&#8217;t appear to be any other text on the site that would make Usenet.com fall foul of the Grokster Decision. More details should follow in due course.</p>
<p>The lawsuit states that despite repeated requests by the labels for Usenet.com to remove infringing content, Usenet.com continued to fill its servers with infringing material from the Usenet network and then charges its users for access. It&#8217;s claimed that many of the groups offered by Usenet.com have no other use other than to disseminate copyright works and are &#8220;explicitly dedicated to copyright infringement.&#8221;</p>
<p>The labels want Usenet.com to admit they are committing copyright infringement with a view to obtaining an injunction and damages. To date, Usenet.com has refused to remove content or discontinue offering certain newsgroups. </p>
<p>It will be interesting to see if other Usenet providers come out in support of Usenet.com.</p>
<p>Further updates to follow.</p>
<p>Article from: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com">TorrentFreak</a>, check out our new blog at <a href="http://freakbits.com">FreakBits</a>.</p>
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		<slash:comments>137</slash:comments>
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		<title>Porn Industry Gloats Over Hollow Win vs BitTorrent</title>
		<link>http://torrentfreak.com/porn-industry-gloats-over-hollow-win-vs-bittorrent-070915/</link>
		<comments>http://torrentfreak.com/porn-industry-gloats-over-hollow-win-vs-bittorrent-070915/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Sat, 15 Sep 2007 18:33:04 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>enigmax</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Anti-Piracy Gangs]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Copyright Issues]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[adult]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[GFY]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[ijsklontje]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[nzb]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[piracy]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[porn]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[usenet]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://torrentfreak.com/porn-industry-gloats-over-hollow-win-vs-bittorrent-070915/</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Earlier this week we reported on how the porn industry planned to wipe out sharing of its content via BitTorrent. Right now the porn industry is gloating over the shutdown of a major porn NZB site. Coincidence? Probably not.]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>This week we <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/how-the-porn-industry-plans-to-wipe-out-bittorrent-070911/">reported</a> on the porn industry&#8217;s plans to stamp on internet piracy. A posting on the <a href="http://www.gofuckyourself.com/showthread.php?t=761731">GFY</a> forums by &#8216;ServerGenius&#8217; declared the industry&#8217;s initial anti-piracy plans to take down an NZB site (a site which makes downloading from Usenet easy). Not any old NZB site but one indexing the latest Usenet porn releases &#8211; releases which move from there to BitTorrent. </p>
<p>Their theory is that if you take out part of the source, the torrent sites won&#8217;t have any content for others to download.</p>
<p>According to a source, the site ijsklontje.nl was a very important source of latest release porn NZBs: &#8220;It&#8217;s the biggest Usenet pr0n (porn) posting community. It&#8217;s been going for years, everyone into Usenet knows about it.&#8221; Indeed, a quick search on Binsearch.info for &#8216;ijsklontje&#8217; reveals a huge amount of porn.</p>
<p>Yesterday, visitors to the <a href="http://www.ijsklontje.nl/">ijsklontje.nl</a> forum were greeted with a sad message with suspicious timing:</p>
<blockquote><p>Hello fellow members of IJsklontje</p>
<p>After 3 years the staff had to decide to stop all activities on this forum.</p>
<p>The busy life of admins and moderators is the main reason.</p>
<p>This forum has been brought to the top by lots and lots of hours by many staffmembers, posters and spotters. It doesn&#8217;t deserve to melt bit by bit &#8230;&#8230; So we stop at our highest level and get on with our real lifes.</p>
<p>We made an example for many other usenet forums, the groups are now filled by many posts from other places than IJs, so there will be no shortage of erotic binaries.</p>
<p>We would like to say thanks to all who made IJsklontje to the world&#8217;s most famous erotic usenetforum&#8230;.</p>
<p>Sorry for this sad thread, we are mentally broken as well&#8230; we love you all and may you all live to see the dawn.</p>
<p>We salute all our friends&#8230; maybe we will see each other at other places.</p>
<p>Staff IJsklontje</p></blockquote>
<p>At this stage, it has been impossible for us to verify if this shutdown is in fact the result of some legal pressures from the porn industry but judging the amount of gloating on the <a href="http://www.gfy.com/showthread.php?t=768891">GoFuckYourself forums</a>, it&#8217;s difficult to see it any other way:</p>
<p>ServerGenius breaks the news:</p>
<blockquote><p>Hello everybody&#8230;.as I have posted before Usenet Piracy Forum IJSKLONTJE<br />
the site is now shutdown. This will be a HUGE blow to a lot of other piracy sites on the net as many torrent sites used this place as their main source for content. </p></blockquote>
<p>He goes on to acknowledge the non-profit nature of the community:</p>
<blockquote><p>I do know that these guys and their site didn&#8217;t generate them a lot of revenue<br />
unlike a lot of other sites&#8230;&#8230;as big and popular as they were they didn&#8217;t advertise or took advantage of their traffic in any way that would have made them a lot of money&#8230;&#8230;.which probably made their decision to close shop a lot easier for them take&#8230;.</p></blockquote>
<p>and then makes some comments about the BitTorrent sites he believes he&#8217;s starved of content by closing ijsklontje:</p>
<blockquote><p>&#8230;.however a lot of others sites that feeded from their content do/did make money indirectly of them&#8230;..so them closing still hurt quite a few others than them in their income revenue&#8230;&#8230;.and writing this down&#8230;.makes me feel a little warm and happy inside</p></blockquote>
<p>ServerGenius says he has a hit list &#8211; the sites &#8216;youporn&#8217; and &#8216;megarotic&#8217; are on it apparently.</p>
<p>As one of the forum posts quite rightly points out, closure of this site will not stop the digital flow of erotic pirate binaries. Even if this action does turn out to be the first victory for the porn industry, it will prove very quickly to be a short-lived one as the file-sharing <a href="http://torrentfreak.com/bittorrent-survival-the-way-of-the-hydra/">hydra</a> strikes again.</p>
<p>Stay Tuned</p>
<p>Article from: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com">TorrentFreak</a>, check out our new blog at <a href="http://freakbits.com">FreakBits</a>.</p>
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		<slash:comments>40</slash:comments>
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		<title>Usenet: The Next Target in the War on Piracy</title>
		<link>http://torrentfreak.com/usenet-the-next-target-in-the-war-on-piracy/</link>
		<comments>http://torrentfreak.com/usenet-the-next-target-in-the-war-on-piracy/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Sun, 19 Aug 2007 16:55:56 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Ernesto</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[All]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Anti-Piracy Gangs]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Hot Off The Press]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[bittorrent]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[brein]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[newsgroups]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[piracy]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[usenet]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://torrentfreak.com/usenet-the-next-target-in-the-war-on-piracy/</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[The first rule of Usenet is, you don't talk about Usenet. This rule kept Usenet providers and users out of sight from anti-piracy organizations for years, but this is about to change.
]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p><img src="http://torrentfreak.com//images/click-mpaa.jpg" align="right" alt="Usenet The Next Target in the War on Piracy" />Usenet is catching up with BitTorrent in terms of popularity, partly because it is considered to be <em>safer</em>. However, this increased popularity also has a dark side to it, as anti-piracy organizations start monitoring newsgroups. </p>
<p>Tim Kuik, managing director of <a href="http://anti-piracy.nl/english/english.asp">BREIN</a> &#8211; the Dutch branch of the MPAA &#8211; told the Dutch news site <a href="http://www.webwereld.nl/articles/47608/usenethosters-nog-niet-bang-voor-brein.html">Webwereld</a> that the increased attention from computer magazines over the past year lowered the nerd-factor of the Usenet. Because of this it&#8217;s now become one of the main targets of anti-piracy outfits.</p>
<p>Kuik further said that BREIN made a blacklist of Usenet providers who structurally infringe copyright. Their plan is to urge these providers to stop their services and compensate the content owners for their losses. Some might argue that Kuik&#8217;s words are yet another loose threat to make it seem like no pirate is safe, but there is some truth in his statements.</p>
<p>TorrentFreak talked to an insider, who works closely with anti-piracy organizations like the MPAA and RIAA, and he also noticed that the Usenet has been getting more attention lately. &#8220;BitTorrent is still enemy number one, but there is a significant growth in Usenet monitoring&#8221;, he said. Some Usenet providers now use BitTorrent sites to advertise their services and according to our source, this is another big reason why it caught the attention of anti-piracy outfits.</p>
<p>The people in charge at most anti-piracy organizations hardly know how to write an e-mail, if it&#8217;s not in the media, it&#8217;s not a target. If only people kept to rule number one this probably would have never happened. </p>
<p>The Usenet providers are not impressed by BREIN&#8217;s strong words though. Remco Habets from Usenet provider <a href="http://www.usenet4u.nl/">Usenet4u</a> said in a response: &#8220;BREIN often makes statement that lead to nothing. One and a half year ago they also said that they were going to take on newsgroups, we&#8217;ll see&#8221;</p>
<p>To be continued&#8230;</p>
<p>Article from: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com">TorrentFreak</a>, check out our new blog at <a href="http://freakbits.com">FreakBits</a>.</p>
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		<title>Major Upgrades at Newzbin to Accommodate Massive Usenet Retention</title>
		<link>http://torrentfreak.com/major-upgrades-at-newzbin-to-accommodate-massive-usenet-retention/</link>
		<comments>http://torrentfreak.com/major-upgrades-at-newzbin-to-accommodate-massive-usenet-retention/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Sun, 15 Jul 2007 15:46:58 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>enigmax</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[P2P and Filesharing]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[giganews]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[newzbin]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[retention]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[usenet]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://torrentfreak.com/major-upgrades-at-newzbin-to-accommodate-massive-usenet-retention/</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[After major Usenet provider Giganews announced that it would increase its data retention to a massive 200 days, the original nzb provider Newzbin invests heavily to maximize its usability.]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>Major Usenet provider Giganews <a href="http://www.giganews.com/news/article/usenet-retention-200days.html">announced</a> this week that it would increase its <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Retention">retention</a> to a mind-boggling 200 days, just 2 months after they announced an upgrade from 120 days and just 4 months after their maximum retention sat at 100 days. No other Usenet provider holds data for longer.</p>
<p>This rapid increase in retention has left many <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NZB">.NZB</a> indexing sites behind, unable to handle holding data for such a long time.</p>
<p>However, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Newzbin">Newzbin</a>, one of the original Usenet indexing sites and creators of the .NZB format, is currently addressing this situation.</p>
<p>According to Caesium, the administrator at Newzbin, their setup was designed years ago to handle 50 to 60 days retention but with various tweaks and modifications, they are able to squeeze just about 100 days from the equipment. Following the Giganews announcement, Caesium explained that Newzbin are working to upgrade their systems to handle the increased retention. &#8220;We are already making substantial monetary investment into new hardware to store the increased amount of data required to mirror this on Newzbin&#8221; he said in a <a href="http://www.newzbin.com/news/view/?nw_id=193">post</a> on the site.</p>
<p>New hardware is being bought and is &#8220;halfway in place&#8221; to not only match the 200 days offered by Giganews, but to better it by 150-200 days to an impressive 350 to 400 days retention.</p>
<p>Caesium continued, &#8220;Unfortunately buying, building, testing, and deploying this sort of hardware does not come quickly or cheaply, and we have no estimate as to when it will be complete.&#8221;</p>
<p>Newzbin is a premium site so those preferring to obtain their .nzb&#8217;s for <a href="http://usenetleech.com">free</a> might consider sites such as <a href="http://www.binsearch.info/">Binsearch</a>, who have an .nzb creator and offer around <a href="http://www.binsearch.info/groupinfo.php">158 days</a> retention. Other free services include those from <a href="http://www.nzbindex.nl/">NZBIndex</a> and <a href="http://www.newzleech.com/">NewzLeech</a>.</p>
<p>Article from: <a href="http://torrentfreak.com">TorrentFreak</a>, check out our new blog at <a href="http://freakbits.com">FreakBits</a>.</p>
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