The Pirate Bay must be blocked in the UK, says judge

File-sharing website The Pirate Bay must be blocked by internet service providers (ISPs) in the UK, the High Court has ruled.



The Swedish website has been a target for the authorities for many years, as it hosts links to download mostly pirated music, videos and other content.

In February, justice Arnold ruled that both users and the operators of The Pirate Bay "infringe the copyrights of the claimants (and those they represent) in the UK".

Today (April 30), the judge has ordered five ISPs - Sky, Virgin Media, Everything Everywhere, TalkTalk and O2 - to block UK users from accessing the site.

BT has asked for "a few more weeks to further consider its position", said a statement from music industry group the British Phonographic Industry (BPI).

The telecoms giant has not yet issued an official statement on the court ruling, or said whether it will agree to block The Pirate Bay.

HINT: you can access any banned website by entering its IP number instead of its URL address, eg: 194.71.107.80

Pirate Bay ban: O2, TalkTalk to comply with court order



Several leading internet service providers (ISPs) have agreed to comply with the High Court's ruling that the Pirate Bay should be banned in the UK.

O2, TalkTalk and Everything Everywhere are the latest companies to add their names to the list of ISPs that will be blocking the filesharing service.

In a statement issued to TechRadar, an O2 spokesperson explained that the firm had no choice but to agree with the court's request.

"The main UK internet providers have been ordered by the High Court to block access to specific IP address and URLs used by The Pirate Bay website. We have no option but to comply with this order," they said.

"We have always said that music rights holders should continue to develop new online business models to give consumers the content they want, how they want it, for a fair price."

TalkTalk told the website that it has already begun taking measures to block the Pirate Bay, explaining that it is not against taking action when a court order is in place.

"We have received a court order requiring us to block access to The Pirate Bay," said the company in a statement. "We will comply with the decision made by the court and are in the process of doing this.

"TalkTalk have always maintained that we are not in principle against blocking provided there is a court order."

Everything Everywhere also stated that it will block the filesharing site and "comply within the timescales provided".

Sky Broadband dropped a strong hint that it will also follow suit, saying that when concrete evidence of copyright infringement is presented, it will "take appropriate action in respect to site blocking, which will include complying with court orders".

Pirate Bay traffic increases following court ban

The Pirate Bay has seen an influx of traffic since the High Court ruled that UK internet service providers (ISPs) must block the website.

A spokesperson for the file-sharing service said that visitor figures rose by 12 million following the media frenzy that the case attracted, TorrentFreak understands.

"Thanks to the High Court and the fact that the news was on the BBC, we had 12 million more visitors yesterday than we had ever had before," said the Pirate Bay in a statement. "We should write a thank-you note to the BPI [British Phonographic Industry]."

The Pirate Bay, the world's largest file-sharing site, stands accused of enabling and encouraging the mass illegal distribution of copyrighted content, including movies, music and TV shows.

Virgin Media this week became the first ISP to block the Pirate Bay, with BT, Sky, TalkTalk, O2 and Everything Everywhere expected to follow suit.

However, the site's organisers have pointed out that it is relatively easy for users to sidestep the ban, posting on its homepage and various mirror sites.

The Pirate Bay has vowed to "fight" the High Court ruling, calling itself the "good guys" because it supports grassroots music.

Virgin Media hacked by opponents of The Pirate Bay block

Virgin Media has said it was forced to take its website offline for an hour during a hack attack.

Twitter feeds associated with the Anonymous collective announced: "Virgin Media - Tango Down #OpTPB".

The messages suggest that the attack was organised to protest against efforts to block access to The Pirate Bay's (TPB) file-sharing pages.

Virgin Media began preventing access to TPB last Wednesday following a High Court order.

Tweets issued by accounts linked to Anonymous also claimed TalkTalk was targeted over the weekend, although the network could not confirm the details.

A statement by Virgin Media said that the distributed denial of service (DDoS) attack lasted one hour, beginning at 5pm BST.

It added that it was only blocking TPB because it had been forced to do so.

"As a responsible ISP, Virgin Media complies with court orders but we strongly believe that tackling the issue of copyright infringement needs compelling legal alternatives, giving consumers access to great content at the right price, to help change consumer behaviour," it said.