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takyon [soylentnews.org] writes:

TorrentFreak reports [torrentfreak.com] that the UK is beginning to block sites that merely link to Pirate Bay proxies [bbc.com]. Under a series of High Court orders, copyright holders are able to update a list of "infringing domains," including torrent sites and proxies, that must be blocked by UK ISPs. Now "proxy aggregators" are being targeted:

Among the blocked sites are piratebayproxy.co.uk [piratebayproxy.co.uk], piratebayproxylist.com [piratebayproxylist.com] and ukbay.org [ukbay.org]. Both sites are currently inaccessible on Virgin Media and TalkTalk, and other providers are expected to follow suit.

TF spoke with Dan, the operator of UKBay.org, who’s baffled by the newly implemented blockade. He moved his site to a new domain [ukbay.co] to make the site accessible again, for the time being at least. “The new blocks are unbelievable and totally unreasonable. To block a site that simply links to another site just shows the level of censorship we are allowing ISP’s to get away with,” Dan says. “UKBay is not even a PirateBay proxy. It simply provides links to proxies. If they continue blocking sites, that link to sites, that link to sites.. there’l be nothing left,” he adds.

One of the other blocked sites, piratebayproxy.co.uk, doesn’t have any direct links to infringing material. Instead, it provides an overview of short Pirate Bay news articles while listing the URLs of various proxies on the side.

Music group BPI, who are responsible for obtaining the original blocking order against The Pirate Bay, tells [TorrentFreak] that proxy aggregators are also covered by the court’s decision. “Under BPI’s existing blocking Orders relating to 63 illegal websites, ISPs are required to block the illegal sites themselves, and proxies and proxy aggregators whose sole or predominant purpose is to give access to the illegal sites,” a BPI spokesperson says.

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Original Submission