Virgin Media Completes The Circle: Newzbin2 Is Now Blocked Throughout UK

August 16, 2012 by
Filed under: Announcements & Events, Digital Media, Mobile Phones, P2P technology, Entertainment Industry, Legal P2P News & Issues, Movies, MP3, Digital Audio & Games 

After BT, Sky, and TalkTalk blocked access to Newzbin2 – a popular file-sharing portal in the Usenet networks, it’s time for Virgin Media to do the same.

The move follows the victory of six movie studios over a copyright infringement case. The court handling the case ruled that all of the aforementioned ISPs must block access to Newzbin2.

The filter was started Tuesday afternoon and prevents all ISP’s customers to access the site due to concerns over its pirated content. Also of interest is that the movie studios (20th Century Fox, Universal, Warner Bros, Disney and Columbia Pictures) are all members of the Motion Picture Association of America – commonly known as the MPAA.

According to ZDNet, Virgin Media received the order just a week after it was issued (July the 27), but postponed the blockage until the London 2012 Olympic Games were over.

As for the other UK-based internet providers, BT and Sky started their filters in October and December, while TalkTalk was forced to block access in February; all of these major internet providers followed the court order issued on July 2011. Newzbin2, as many may know, is the successor of Newzbin, and seems to share the same faith as the former was shut down in 2010 due to the legal actions taken against it.

“As a responsible ISP, Virgin Media complies with court orders addressed to us, but we strongly believe that changing consumer behaviour to tackle copyright infringement also needs compelling legal alternatives to give consumers access to great content at the right price,” Mark Wilkin, a forum manager for the ISP, said in a community forum post on Monday.

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