Ziggo and XS4All now block The Pirate Bay

sofien72tu

Super VIP
Messages
25,214
Ziggo and XS4All now block The Pirate Bay

By Robert Briel

Dutch ISPs Ziggo and XS4All are now blocking access to The Pirate Bay after the court in The Hague ordered them to do so within ten days after the ruling.

Ziggo blocked the site on Wednesday, October 4, and XS4All plans to do so on Thursday. The ruling is part of a long-running dispute between Dutch anti-piracy group Stichting Brein and two Dutch ISPs, Ziggo and XS4All, who refuse to block access to sites such as The Pirate Bay.

Ziggo clients who now try to access The Pirate Bay, are redirected to a special page with the title Yarrr – referring to the famous sound cartoon pirates make, and see the message “You’re trying to visit a The Pirate Bay page. On 22 September the Hague Court obliged us to block access to the site.”

This is a temporary blockade, as the case is currently at the Hoge Raad (Dutch Supreme Court), which will make the ultimate decision on whether blocking the site is the right and most effective solution to put an end to copyright infringement by The Pirate Bay and its visitors.

Interestingly, KPN, who wholly owns XS4All, continues to make access to The Pirate Bay available, as the The Hague court ruling only involves Ziggo and XS4All.

In January 2014, Dutch ISPs Ziggo and XS4All won an appeal with the Court of The Hague in a case about access to The Pirate Bay. The court has lifted the obligation of the ISPs to block access to the popular Swedish guide to torrent downloads. Following that decision, Stichting Brein appealed the ruling, after which the The Hague court decided to ask the opinion of the European Court of Justice.

Last June, the ECJ has ruled that websites such as The Pirate Bay are liable for copyright infringement. The case will now be handled by the Dutch Supreme Court. No date has yet been set for the case.

Meanwhile, both Ziggo and XS4All now block the site and most routes to it – however, internet-savy users will easily work around the blockade by using VPNs or by using proxys to circumvent the blockade.
 
Top