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<div class="story-body"> <span class="story-date"> <span
class="date">[Compliance with the law is no defence? If the
sites claims are true...]<br>
<br>
29 November 2012</span>
<span class="time-text">Last updated at </span><span
class="time">14:17 GMT</span></span><br>
Piracy site Newzbin2 gives up and closes 15 months after block
<div class="caption body-narrow-width"> <img
src="cid:part1.03030706.03050507@gmail.com" alt="Screengrab of
Newzbin 2, BBC" height="171" width="304"> <span
style="width:304px;">Newzbin originally claimed it was
unaffected by the block as it offered workarounds</span> </div>
<div class="story-feature related narrow"> <a class="hidden"
href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-20540853#story_continues_1">Continue
reading the main story</a>
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</div>
<p class="introduction" id="story_continues_1">Newzbin2, once one
of the web's most popular sites offering links to pirated
content, has decided to close.</p>
<p>It comes 15 months after a UK court ordered internet service
providers to block the site, and amid global pressure from
copyright holders.</p>
<p>Internet rights groups said the move was "pointless" in
stopping piracy.</p>
<p>In a statement, Newzbin2's owners said it had struggled to
cover costs because payment providers had "understandably lost
their nerve".</p>
<p>"Newzbin2 was always hoped to be a viable underground
commercial venture," the site said.</p>
<p>"The figures just don't stack up."</p>
<p>The Creative Coalition Campaign, which represents groups such
as the Motion Picture Association (MPA) and record industry body
the BPI, welcomed the announcement.</p>
<p>"This is great news," chairwoman Christine Payne said.</p>
<p>"Pirate websites should not be allowed to trade as this
undermines the ability of legitimate businesses to recoup their
considerable investment and threatens jobs in the creative
sector."</p>
<span class="cross-head">Heavily sued</span>
<p>Newzbin2 was the follow-up site to the original Newzbin1, which
was sued by the MPA, leaving it with massive debts.</p>
<p>The site was taken over by a group of hackers known as Team R
Dogs who resurrected the site as Newzbin2.</p>
<p>In July 2011, a court ruling meant the site had to be blocked
to users in the UK.</p>
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<h2 class="quote">“<span>Start Quote</span></h2>
<blockquote>
<p class="first-child">All our payment providers dropped out
or started running scared”</p>
</blockquote>
<span class="quote-credit">Newzbin2 statement</span> </div>
<p id="story_continues_2">It attempted various techniques to
circumvent the ban, but users began to head elsewhere.</p>
<p>"Newzbin1 was said to have had 700,000 registered users," the
site's statement said. </p>
<p>"In fact that was the total number of people who ever signed up
in the history of Newzbin from 2000 onwards.</p>
<p>"Only a fraction were active, loads of people dropped out and
went to other sites."</p>
<span class="cross-head">'Running scared'</span>
<p>The administrators defended their record on tackling piracy,
saying they had been willing to comply with requests to remove
pirated content - but that copyright holders had never sent them
a "single complaint".</p>
<p>"The tragedy is this: unlike Newzbin1 we are 100% DMCA [Digital
Millennium Copyright Act] compliant," the statement said. </p>
<div class="story-feature wide "> <a class="hidden"
href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-20540853#story_continues_3">Continue
reading the main story</a>
<h2>Block parties</h2>
<div class="caption body-narrow-width"> <img
src="cid:part8.05080704.04050400@gmail.com" alt="The Pirate
Bay screenshot" height="171" width="304"> </div>
<p>Efforts to stem online piracy have in recent times focused on
cutting off the public's access to websites offering links to
download content.</p>
<p>Groups like the BPI - which represents the UK music industry
- have used the courts to make internet service providers
(ISPs), who typically resist such moves, block websites.</p>
<p>Aside from Newzbin2, this year has seen The Pirate Bay
blocked by all of the UK's major ISPs, a controversial move
among campaigners who believe that such censorship is
ineffective.</p>
<p>Following the block, The Pirate Bay's traffic plummeted.
However, other data has suggested the overall level of piracy
has not dropped.</p>
<p>Beyond blocking sites, copyright holders have also called for
measures to make the likes of Google give preferential
treatment to search results containing legal downloads.</p>
</div>
<p id="story_continues_3">"We have acted on every DMCA notice we
received without stalling or playing games: if there was a DMCA
complaint the report was gone. Period."</p>
<p>As well as providing a free service listing download links, the
site also offered a premium subscription option with various
perks.</p>
<p>However, the site said not enough members had been paying, and
that for those that had, the services the site had used to
receive the money had been backing out.</p>
<p>"All our payment providers dropped out or started running
scared," the site said.</p>
<p>It added that accepting Bitcoin - an electronic, hard-to-track
currency - had not been an option because it was "just too hard
for 90% of people".</p>
<p>The Open Rights Group, which campaigns for an open internet,
said Newzbin's closure should not be taken as a sign that
blocking sites was effective.</p>
<p>"Newzbin were rightly pursued through the courts and found to
be encouraging infringement," said Jim Killock, the group's
executive director. </p>
<p>"That is the right approach. However, censorship and block
orders are disturbing and we think unnecessary given the success
in tackling the businesses and payment mechanisms involved. </p>
<p>"Web blocking is a blunt instrument and is a dangerous
practice. We wish copyright owners the best in enforcing their
rights and building their businesses, but urge them not to
resort to further requests for censorship." </p>
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