UK’s Newzbin2 Blacklist In Place: Will It Work?

Last Updated: Nov 05, 2011

Usenet Service Providers, Newsreaders, NZBSites and other Usenet related software and news by usenetreviews.org

Over the last several months we have been keeping you up to date as to the status of the censorship laws, levels, etc. all over the world. And surely you have heard something of the British Magistrates orders to the ISP British Telecom (BT) to remove the Newzbin2 websites listing from their public DNS. In following that story, we soon realized that the guys at Newzbin2, Team-R-Dogs, had beaten the Cleanfeed technology that BT had been ordered to use.

Out, (of Sight,) Not Down

Yes, they not only beat the Cleanfeed system, they did it before their client base had lost a moment’s worth of access. The new client they released soon after the order essentially renders the courts orders, and all the taxpayers money spent on the case, a waste. And what’s probably most tragic thing is that they had to break the best operating pornography filter used in Europe. Who knows what’s next for the UK crowd, but as of today we have heard that there are plans for other indexing sites to be blacklisted, here are a few we suspect, and why.

The Next Targets?

• NzbsRus – It has been reported that action has already been filed.
• UK-Nzbs – May already be down, we have had problems with them in the past though.
• NZB Portal – Very popular, we think they merged with Merlins Portal.
• Merlins Portal – Won’t go down without a fight we suspect, recently remodeled his site.
• NGIndex – Another very popular site. Massive NZB listings…good target.Binsearch – They won’t give up easily either.

More Decisions Will Be Made Using This As A Basis

We realize that there are non-UK based providers on the list…we expect that the UK order will provide precedence for other judges to issue similar orders. One thing is for sure, it’s not a friendly legal crowd in the UK for Usenet. Millions was spent in litigation, laws were changed, and modified to suit the plaintiffs and prosecution, and yet in the end, they broke the best thing they had. We are all wondering what will be used in the near future to censor the pornography that Cleanfeed was supposed to be filtering. Not that the filter is truly broken, but now skirting it is more easily facilitated.

Well, in spite of all efforts, Newzbin2 will go on…albeit a little farther back in the shadows. In the meantime though, there are others that will be joining them, and now we’re wondering how long will this go on before someone in the shadows lights a bonfire to hold the blackness at bay?