British Telecom follows court order, formally blocks Newzbin2 site

British web denizens who frequent infamous usenet indexer Newzbin2 are in for a surprise. Per a court ruling handed down this summer, local Internet service provider British Telecom has blocked the site from customers' computers ahead of schedule.

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A UK court ordered BT to block Newzbin2 in July. Last month, a judge handed the company a deadline to comply: November 9.

Newzbin2 was not pleased. Speaking to TorrentFreak, the site's outspoken leader known only as Mr. White railed against BT, describing the block as "censorship of the free web."

"It's a sad day when a minor European nation decides to kowtow to Hollywood and join China and Iran in blocking citizens from reading the views of others and accessing a search engine," said Mr. White.

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The Newzbin2 boss, who rescued the site from oblivion after it was shut down last year, also boasted that their anti-censorship software client works. Developed in September, the tool circumvents BT's Cleanfeed technology. The ISP tweaked the anti-kiddie porn software and employed it against Newzbin2.

Newzbin2 is not alone. Recent cases in Finland and Belgium have targeted popular torrent site The Pirate Bay for similar ISP blocks. The shared struggles have led to an alliance of sorts between the two. Both have harshly criticized respective court rulings.

Another usenet group, NZBsRus, was shuttered earlier this week following a cease-and-desist letter from anti-piracy organization FACT. The site remains offline, but its operators claim it should be up-and-running again soon.

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"Moving over 100GB is going to take around 10 - 12 hours, however once the backup is on the server, restoring the site should be easy," said NZBsRus on its Twitter feed.

As for Newzbin2's future, Mr. White seems fearless. "Newzbin2 shall go on, it's users shall continue to access the site and its facilities and as the UK lackeys of the MPA roll over other NZB sites like nzbsrus and nzbmatrix they will realize that nothing has changed." (via TorrentFreak)

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