Government drops website blocking

[tartist]

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Yay!

Plans to block websites that host copyright infringing material are to be dumped by the government.

Business secretary Vince Cable announced the change following a review of the policy by telecoms regulator Ofcom.

Website blocking was one of the key provision contained in the Digital Economy Act.

Internet Service Providers had objected to the idea that copyright owners could compel them to cut-off some sites.

In the past week, the Motion Picture Association - a group representing film studios - successfully applied for a court injunctions requiring BT to block access to an infringing website called Newzbin2.

The action was taken without using the Digital Economy Act, prompting some observers to question the need for the legislation.

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[TVC_H4U]

Interesting, but kind of irrelevant no? concerning newzbin2 with the courts order - BT forced to block file-sharing website.

[Jonathan]

Blocking one site does nothing it will just pop up somewhere else, blocking a whole category of sites makes it much harder for them to pop up elsewhere.

I'm glad they've dropped the plans, nice to know there is hardly any chance of sites being blocked because the government doesn't like it.