Which UK ISPs block file sharing on The Pirate Bay, Fenopy, H33t, Kickass and more?

Which UK ISPs block file sharing sites?

Latest news for Which UK ISPs Block File Sharing?The UK’s main broadband providers are being compelled by court orders to block popular file-sharing sites. Here’s a quick guide to who’s blocking what.

The BPI, MPA and other copyright owners have targeted the UK’s largest ISPs: BT (including Plusnet), Virgin Media, Sky (now including O2 and Be), and TalkTalk.

The sites affected so far are The Pirate Bay, Newzbin2, Kickass Torrents, Fenopy, H33T, Download4All, Movie2k and EZTV, as well as their proxy sites. TheBox.bz closed in September 2013 to avoid feeling the heat from copyright enforcers.

The file-sharing community has widely publicised routes to circumvent these blockades, such as use of proxy servers, and Ofcom research suggests the blockades do not seem to have reduced file-sharing activity.

Latest news for Which UK ISPs Block File Sharing?

• Pirate Bay hides in darkest Peru as it prepares ‘decentralised’ BitTorrent browser
• BT, Sky, Virgin Media, TalkTalk and EE to block SolarMovie and Tubeplus
• Two per cent of internet users account for most online piracy
• TheBox.bz terminates TV torrents before it’s targeted by enforcers
• EZTV tricks Sky’s pirate site filter into blocking legal website TorrentFreak
• EZTV to be blocked by UK ISPs, YIFY-Torrents could be next
• Torrent site EZTV could be blocked by UK ISPs
• Pirate Bay proxy sites to be blocked by UK ISPs
• Illegal downloads rise in UK despite P2P blockades
• Movie2k and Download For All to be blocked by UK ISPs
• BT, Sky, Virgin Media, TalkTalk, EE and O2 handed order to block Kickass Torrents, Fenopy and H33T
• BPI to ask main UK ISPs to block torrenting sites
• Virgin Media to block Newzbin2
• BT, Sky and Virgin Media could be required to snoop for piracy under draft Ofcom proposals
• BT Pirate Bay block already breached by proxy sites says Pirate Party
• BT blocks the Pirate Bay
• TalkTalk blockades The Pirate Bay, just BT to go
• O2 and Be Broadband blocking The Pirate Bay in the UK
• Sky blocks The Pirate Bay in the UK
• Anonymous DDoS forces Virgin Media offline in revenge for Pirate Bay blockade
• Virgin faces insurrection from Pirate Bay fans for blocking file-sharing site after court order
• The Pirate Bay retaliates to UK ban with barrage of downloading alternatives
• The Pirate Bay: Sky, TalkTalk, Virgin Media, O2, Orange and T-Mobile ordered to block site

BPI to ask main UK ISPs to block torrenting sites

The Pirate Bay may be floundering what with one of the co-founders under arrest and ISPs across the world – including all of the UK’s major ISPs – blocking direct access to the site.

But that hasn’t stopped internet freeloaders from swapping and sharing illegally downloaded booty elsewhere on the dark waters of the web.

It’s been revealed that British Phonographic Industry (BPI) plans to issue a legal broadside against a number of other torrenting sites.

In a leaked letter, it emerges that the BPI wants the same ISPs that it asked to block The Pirate Bay – BT, Virgin Media, Sky, TalkTalk, EE and O2 – to block access to Fenopy, H33t and Kickass Torrents.

According to the BBC, the BPI is seeking faster action this time. It reportedly wants access to the sites blocked by Christmas 2012. Whether or not this will happen is down to how quickly the UK courts can move (as was the case last time) but either way, blocking access to a site won’t totally stop the rot.

Even though figures from Nielsen suggest that the Pirate Bay blocks have been effective in reducing traffic to said side, there’s nothing to stop people accessing pirated content on mirror sites or through other means.

The day after BT banned The Pirate Bay, it was revealed that traffic numbers to Pirate Bay proxy sites jumped as as result of people looking for ways to get round the ban.

October 24, 2012 

Virgin Media to block Newzbin2

Virgin Media will start blocking access to Newzbin2, a popular file sharing site that has previously been blocked by BT and Sky.

Newzbin2, which pitches itself as ‘the Google of Usenet,’ lets you search Usenet groups for various hosted files.

Files can range from anything from ‘Free Tibet’ PDFs suppressed by certain foreign governments or, more commonly, DVD rips of Sons of Anarchy and the like.

A Virgin Media spokesperson said: “Virgin Media has received an order from the Courts requiring it to prevent access to Newzbin in order to help protect against copyright infringement.”

Usenet traffic is also throttled by Virgin Media at peak times as per it’s traffic management policy. Virgin Media was also keen to emphasise that while it will comply with the court order, it will champion legal alternatives to file sharing:

“As a responsible ISP, Virgin Media complies with court orders addressed to the company, but strongly believes that changing consumer behaviour to tackle copyright infringement also needs compelling legal alternatives to give consumers access to great content at the right price.”

Virgin Media of course has a healthy on-demand platform of movies, access to the Sky Movies channels and TiVo customers can stream music Spotify through an app.

Recombu Digital understands that the block has yet to take affect, but will be applied over the coming weeks. This follows on from a previous court ruling which saw Virgin Media among others blocking access to the Pirate Bay.