Pirate Bay Banned from Docking in UK
Pirate Bay – you will probably be aware of the file-sharing community and its trips to court. Well, it looks like that ship may have set sail for the last time as its crew is being keelhauled.
A High Court ruling could see The Pirate Bay banned from the UK by internet service providers (ISPs) after Mr Justice Arnold declared that the website’s owners ‘actively encouraged’ copyright infringement
The Pirate Bay (TPB as it’s sometimes known) has regularly argued that, as it doesn’t host pirated material but merely provides an index of links to BitTorrents, that it shouldn’t have to appear in court.
Mr Justice Arnold doesn’t agree and has decided that the Bay’s operators “actively encourage” copyright infringement and stating in his ruling: “In my judgment, the operators of [The Pirate Bay] do authorise its users’ infringing acts of copying and communication to the public. They go far beyond merely enabling or assisting.”
He goes on to say “Despite their ability to do so and despite the judicial findings that have been made against them, the operators of TPB take no steps to prevent infringement,”
Adding that “On the contrary, as already explained, they actively encourage it and treat any attempts to prevent it (judicial or otherwise) with contempt.”
Justice Arnold went on to state that “I conclude that both users and the operators of [The Pirate Bay] infringe the copyrights of the Claimants (and those they represent) in the UK,”
The Sweden-based Pirate Bay was not represented in court.
Music industry association the BPI took this opportunity to rejoice “The High Court today ruled that The Pirate Bay is illegal,” said Geoff Taylor, the organisation’s chief executive. “The site defrauds musicians and causes huge damage to the music industry and wider creative industries.”
“The ruling helps clarify the law on website blocking and we will now proceed with our application to have the site blocked to protect the UK’s creative industries from further harm,” he added.
This comes just a few weeks after the Serious Organised Crime Agency shut down website RnBXclusive which had been allegedly sharing music which had been illegaly obtained.
The site was shut down and replaced with a message from SOCA which not only shows your own IP address and browser that you’re using but comes with a warning .
“SOCA has the capability to monitor and investigate you, and can inform your internet service provider of these infringements.”
“You may be liable for prosecution and the fact that you have received this message does not preclude you from prosecution.”
According to the Telegraph SOCA has not yet confirmed whether it is investigating the users of the site, or indeed anyone who visits the site.
I think it’s a real shame as I was looking forward to downloading physical objects from torrent sites 🙁
