UK Gets In On Movie Industry Forcing ISPs

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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-13927335

Basically; fuck off and die.
The Beeb wrote:Film-makers are going to court in a bid to block access to a site that links to pirated versions of popular movies.

In a UK legal first, the Motion Picture Association (MPA) has applied for an injunction that would force BT to cut off customers' access to Newzbin.

The MPA, the industry body for a number of movie studios, said it was targeting BT first as the largest internet service provider in the UK.

BT confirmed it would be in court later but did not make any further comment.

The MPA wants BT to block Newzbin with the same system that stops access to sites hosting child sex abuse images.

The members-only website aggregates a large amount of the illegally copied material found on Usenet discussion forums.

The MPA is the international arm of the Motion Picture Association of America - the industry body representing movie studios such as Warner, Sony, Fox, Disney and Paramount.

It brought its action against BT because, as well as being the largest ISP in the UK with more than 5.6 million customers, BT supplies the site-blocking system known as Cleanfeed to many other big UK ISPs.

Success in the courts may mean the blocking spreads to those other operators.

The MPA began its legal action against UK-operated Newzbin in 2010, which resulted in the High Court telling the site to remove material it hosted that infringed copyright.

Newzbin went into administration soon after but its assets, including web domains, were sold to new owners and a fresh version of the site has popped up operating out of the Seychelles.

"Newzbin has no regard for UK law and it is unacceptable that it continues to infringe copyright on a massive and commercial scale when it has been ordered to stop by the High Court," said Chris Marcich, European president of the MPA, in a statement.

"We have explored every route to get Newzbin to take down the infringing material and are left with no option but to challenge this in the courts."

Court-imposed blocks have been used widely throughout Europe but a success for the MPA would mark the first time the tactic has worked in the UK.

The UK's Digital Economy Act does require ISPs to help rights holders identify users who may have downloaded music, software and videos illegally. However, it stops short of giving rights holders legal powers to pursue alleged pirates.

In a statement BT would confirm only that it would be appearing in court on Tuesday "following an application for an injunction by members of the MPA".

The Internet Service Providers Association said it would not comment until the court had made its decision.

Re: UK Gets In On Movie Industry Forcing ISPs

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i don't know what to say. i disagree that access to the internet is somehow a right - it's a privilege, but it's one for which people pay, which brings into consideration a whole other set of rules.

all of that being said, i would consider it like the library - an "information house" that should not be censored. you want to designate sites, send them to their own neighborhood like the .xxx domain? that makes perfect sense to me. when you go to the library, you don't see juggs magazine next to war & peace. but censoring content? no f'n way.

Re: UK Gets In On Movie Industry Forcing ISPs

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Really only posted that article for Eric Schmidt's contribution on the matter. I like the idea of fighting to make internet access a right, simply because it might mean we actually end up with a middle-ground on the matter rather than either extreme. To be honest, I don't really want it to end up as a basic right, because it just just doesn't fit in with other things in the same "class" as the internet - as you allude to, accessing a library isn't a basic human right. I believe that there are certain crimes that should result in internet access being revoked; however, those are only in the rare extremes, where actual harm or damage has occurred and the person's continued access would pose a high risk of further harm or damage. You don't lock someone up for jaywalking, so we really shouldn't be revoking access for listening to a few songs.

I like the idea of segregating things on the internet, like porn on .xxx. However, enforcing that would be absolutely impossible. Say that a small porn site opens up on .com; the only way that the authorities would find that infringement would be completely by accident.

What makes me laugh in this particular situation, is that the MPA have gone after newzbin. It's only a frontend site to Usenet for the sake of convenience. Shutting it down, unlike closing a P2P network or a torrent tracker, wont even put a dent in the flow of data. They've managed to get themselves stuck in the middle of a civil rights issue for the sake of a completely worthless bust. This illustrates exceptionally well how out of touch with technology these entities really are.

Re: UK Gets In On Movie Industry Forcing ISPs

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Ah, fuck off you ignorant twats...

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-14322957
The Beeb wrote:A High Court judge has ruled that BT must block access to a website which provides links to pirated movies.

Newzbin 2 is a members-only site which aggregates a large amount of the illegally copied material found on Usenet discussion forums.

The landmark case is the first time that an ISP has been ordered to block access to such a site.

It paves the way for other sites to be blocked as part of a major crackdown on piracy.

In his ruling, Justice Arnold stated: "In my judgment it follows that BT has actual knowledge of other persons using its service to infringe copyright: it knows that the users and operators of Newzbin 2 infringe copyright on a large scale, and in particular infringe the copyrights of the studios in large numbers of their films and television programmes."

He continued: "It knows that the users of Newzbin 2 include BT subscribers, and it knows those users use its service to receive infringing copies of copyright works made available to them by Newzbin 2."

BT and the Motion Picture Association (MPA), which brought the case, will be back in court in October to work out how the blocking will work. BT said it will not appeal the ruling.

The MPA which represents a number of movie studios including Warner, Disney and Fox, launched the legal action as a last-ditch attempt to close down Newzbin 2.

Chris Marcich, president and managing director of MPA Europe said: "This ruling from Justice Arnold is a victory for millions of people working in the UK creative industries and demonstrates that the law of the land must apply online.

"This court action was never an attack on ISPs but we do need their co-operation to deal with the Newzbin site which continually tries to evade the law and judicial sanction. Newzbin is a notorious pirate website which makes hundreds of thousands of copyrighted products available without permission and with no regard for the law."

The MPA signalled its intention to pursue other ISPs.

BT describes the judgement as "helpful".

"It clearly shows that rights holders need to prove their claims and convince a judge to make a court order. BT has consistently said that rights holders need to take this route. We will return to court after the summer to explain what kind of order we believe is appropriate," the firm said in a statement.

Link sites such as Newzbin 2 are gaining popularity as those determined to get their hands on free content move away from traditional peer-to-peer downloading methods.

A previous court case had ruled that Newzbin 2's predecessor must stop linking to free content but a new version of the site was set up outside of the UK's jurisdiction.

Justice Arnold ruled that BT must use its blocking technology CleanFeed - which is currently used to prevent access to websites featuring child sexual abuse - to block Newzbin 2.

In an email interview before the verdict, Newzbin 2 threatened to break BT's filters.

"We would be appalled if any group were to try to sabotage this technology as it helps to protect the innocent from highly offensive and illegal content," said a spokesman for BT.

The Internet Service Providers' Association has been a fierce critic of web blocking.

It said that using blocking technology designed to protect the public from images of child abuse, was inappropriate.

"Currently CleanFeed is dealing with a small, rural road in Scotland," ISPA council member James Blessing told BBC Radio 4's PM programme.

"Trying to put Newzbin and other sites into the same blocking technology would be a bit like shutting down the M1. It is not designed to do that."

Digital rights organisation the Open Rights Group said the result could set a "dangerous" precedent.

"Website blocking is pointless and dangerous. These judgements won't work to stop infringement or boost creative industries.

"And there are serious risks of legitimate content being blocked and service slowdown. If the goal is boosting creators' ability to make money from their work then we need to abandon these technologically naive measures, focus on genuine market reforms, and satisfy unmet consumer demand," said ORG campaigner Peter Bradwell.

He said more scrutiny needed to be paid to the content of such sites.

"What will qualify a site to be worthy of blocking? Who makes the decisions about what people people are allowed to see online?" he asked.

The crackdown on piracy has gained new urgency in recent months.

Pressure from rightsholders forced new legislation on the issue.

The UK's controversial Digital Economy Act makes provisions for tough action against those who downloading pirated music and films - initially sanctioning a letter-writing campaign asking them to desist.

BT and TalkTalk called for a judicial review of the DEA, saying the legislation was rushed through Parliament and was unenforceable but a judge ruled that it could go ahead.

Court action could be taken against individuals who ignore written warnings and 'technical measures' including disconnecting someone from the web could also follow.

The government is also considering the feasibility of more widespread site blocking, including looking at the possibility of a voluntary scheme between ISPs and rightsholders.

The Newzbin case was brought under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act.
Unfortunately, my ISP uses BT wholesale lines. I don't actually use Newzbin or Usenet at all, but that's utterly beside the point. The ORG are right on the money, though that's hardly surprising. It's the same as your RIAA crap - large, powerful, monolithic organization tries its best to maintain power, regardless of how much it stifles progress and freedom, government rolls over and does what they want. They're a political mafia.

Re: UK Gets In On Movie Industry Forcing ISPs

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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-14372698
The Beeb wrote:One of the most significant recommendations that the government plans to implement is the legalisation of "format shifting" - where users rip content from CDs or DVDs for their own personal use.

"The review pointed out that if you have a situation where 90% of your population is doing something [that is against a law], then it's not really a very good law," said Simon Levine, head of the intellectual property and technology group at DLA Piper.

Legalising non-commercial copying for private use would bring the UK into line with many other nations and also meet the "reasonable expectations" of consumers, said the government.

Some legal experts believe that the acceptance of format shifting, combined with relaxations on manipulating works for the purpose of parody, paved the way for creative people to use content in different ways.

Susan Hall, a media specialist at law firm Cobbetts LLP, said the changes would give many artists "room to breathe" and remove the nervousness they might feel when using another work as inspiration.

"There are all sorts of things that are genuine artistic works which are nevertheless based on parody, caricature and pastiche," said Ms Hall.

Updated laws on copyright could have a profound effect on the popular culture that can be created, albeit one that was hard to measure, she added.

"Rights holders are often very nervous about things like this but when you come down to it, it's the people that buy everything who also go to the trouble of writing and creating more," she said.
Common sense... in a conservative government? Boom!