The High Court of Justice in London has today handed down a written judgment that requires broadband ISP BT to block the Newzbin2 piracy website, including any other IP address or URL that the sites operators may use, within the next 14 days. BT will also have to foot the bill.

Judge Justice Arnold ordered BT to block the site in July 2011, after the MPA filed and successfully won an injunction against the broadband provider (here), although the details have only recently been agreed (here). Newzbin2 is a Usenet (Newsgroup) indexing site that has also been deemed to facilitate "illegal" internet copyright infringement.

Key Points from Today's Judgment

• BT has 14 days to block Newzbin2 and any other IP address or URL that the operators of Newzbin2 may use.

• BT has to pay the implementation costs of the blocking order (BT have estimated the initial cost of implementation at about £5,000 and £100 for each subsequent notification).

• The Judge has ordered BT to pay the costs of the application from 16 December 2010 to 28 July 2011. From 28 July 2011 to date each party will pay their own costs.

• The Judge has rejected BT’s request for the studios to give a cross undertaking in damages.

The operators of Newzbin2 have since released a new software tool that allows visitors to easily circumvent the measures (here), which is why Rights Holders have been given the power to notify additional IP addresses and/or URLs to BT.

This is unlikely to be effective as such tools can easily be adapted, much as Tunisia, Egypt and many other Middle Eastern states have since found out. Others fear that the additional costs involved could lead to customers paying higher prices.





However not everybody agrees that "securing the intervention of the ISPs" (so far it's only BT) is the only way to tackle internet piracy. Indeed many consumer and civil rights groups have warned that blocking is a blunt tool, one which often fails to address the root causes of why people infringe copyright.


BT will now need to adapt its Cleanfeed system, which works alongside the Internet Watch Foundation ( IWF ) to block child sexual abuse content, to include Newzbin2. Many of the big ISPs are also working on a new Voluntary Code of Practice to perform something similar (here).