The news has recently come out that BT has just 2 weeks to block NewzBin2 (a copyright infringement facilitating website). Countdown starts now.
Creative industries have welcomed the decision with open arms while the Open Rights Group for one had a very different opinion.
“Website blocking simply will not work. It’s a dangerous technological intervention when the legal markets are still a mess,” said Peter Bradwell, a campaigner for ORG.
Forums have been flooded with comments of users saying that the whole case was a waste of time and that the “groundbreaking” decision will have no or little impact on the amount of files, be it video or audio, that are currently downloaded illegally.
Let’s be honest here, NewzBin2 is not the mecca of illegal downloads although it surely had a big library of indexes of copyrighted material, but there are thousands, if not millions of other sources, each richer with content than the last.
So should this turn of events be considered as an early warning that the creative industries are prepared to fight for their copyright? Perhaps it will shake things up a bit.
But will it stop people from downloading illegally? No, no, no. An answer so crystal clear, I said it thrice. No. Four times even.