Virgin Handed Court Order To Block Newzbin

Virgin Media has been told to block access to Newzbin, meaning customers will soon be prevented from using the filesharing site.

In October, the UK’s biggest ISP BT was told to prevent people accessing the site, which became Newzbin2 in 2010 having briefly gone offline. Subsequently, Sky started preventing access, as did TalkTalk when it was handed an order in February.

Virgin believes it is the last major ISP to be handed an order to ban users from visiting Newzbin.

No more Newzbin?

“Virgin Media has received an order from the courts requiring it to prevent access to Newzbin in order to help protect against copyright infringement,” a Virgin spokesperson said.

“As a responsible ISP, Virgin Media complies with court orders addressed to the company, but strongly believes that changing consumer behaviour to tackle copyright infringement also needs compelling legal alternatives to give consumers access to great content at the right price.”

Virgin confirmed in November last year it was asked by the Motion Picture Association (MPA) to block access to Newzbin, which  offers links to film, television, music, and software downloads.

The saga started in late 2010, when the MPA, which represents Hollywood studios such as Warner Brothers, Fox, Disney and Paramount Pictures outside the US, filed an injunction against BT, requiring it to block access to Newzbin.

That injunction failed to stop illegal downloads, as Newzbin put itself into administration and relocated overseas and out of the reach of British courts. The MPA changed tack and went after court orders, which it has now successfully served on major UK ISPs.

Major UK ISPs have also been told to block access to The Pirate Bay. In June, BT became the last of the big players to stop people visiting the site, although a number of proxies have been set up to allow users to go on The Pirate Bay, including one operated by the Pirate Party.

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