MPA shuts down NZBsRus usenet index site

Hot off a legal victory this summer against usenet index site Newzbin2, the Motion Picture Association has named its next target: another usenet site called NZBsRus. The trade organization has fired the first shot, hitting the site with a cease-and-desist. However, the group doesn’t plan on staying offline for long.

The Federation Against Copyright Theft (FACT) sent the legal notice to NZBsRus’ operators last week on behalf of the MPA, reported TorrentFreak.

Following a rare Twitter update that claimed the site was down due to a benign hosting problem, the newsgroup finally admitted it was a little more complicated than that.

“NZBsRus is offline due to a cease and decease from FACT (federation against copyright fact), they are unclear what will happen from here,” said the operator. “We are currently considering our options, however we have to take into consideration how any decision will impact the site and us personally.”

The group defended itself as a legitimate site and tried to shift the blame. “It’s the usenet hosting providers that this pressure should be applied to as we are just a search engine,” it said. MPA lawyers clearly disagreed.

MyCE has contacted FACT to get more information. This post will be updated should we receive a statement from the organization.

Despite framing NZBsRus as an innocent search engine that’s done nothing wrong, the group is ruminating a relaunch sans downloads “to at least keep a place for the community to touch base.” Comparing past legal battles between rights holders and download sites to a “cat and mouse game,” the site is loathe to start a protracted war of its own.

On Monday, NZBsRus announced it had secured new hosting. “Expect the site to be up within 48 hours,” said the group. (via TorrentFreak)