Index site Newzbin2 grabs new URL, plans expansions

Following months of legal action and a court-ordered blockade, British usenet site Newzbin2 has waved goodbye to its U.S. country code top-level domain. The new URL, Newzbin.es, operates under Spain’s ccTLR – a necessary switch, said Mr. White, the group’s enigmatic leader.

Speaking to Torrent Freak, the Newzbin2 boss called the move necessary. Last summer, a court order petitioned for by the Motion Picture Association forced British ISP BT to block access to the indexing site. The company began actively blocking the site in November. The .com suffix became more or less a target.

“Newzbin is leaving the American Internet,” said Mr. White. “We regret the need to do this but, thanks to the retards in the U.S .Government and the MPA, a ‘.com’ address is no longer viable.”

Mr. White said that while the MPA’s actions have complicated the site’s existence, they’ve also had a noticeable “Streisand Effect” on its traffic levels. The outspoken leader also confirmed plans to one-up both past and future ISP blockades with a new VPN service.

The site’s management, TeamRDogs, launched a software client in September which allowed BT customers to continue to access the site, negating the company’s content-blocking Cleanfeed tech. The filtering system was previously used to cut off access to child pornography sites.

Considering the closure of Megaupload and arrest of founder Kim Schmitz last week, Mr. White and co. may soon have other things to worry about. With the popular cyberlocker slammed shut and an extradition hearing for Schmitz already scheduled, its no stretch to believe authorities and copyright holders will fix their legal gaze elsewhere. Newzbin2’s litigious history (it was temporarily closed in 2010) and Phoenix-like resurrection just weeks later makes it a prime target.

Newzbin’s old U.S.-based URL remains online for now, but the new Spanish model is live. (via Torrent Freak)