Copyright Law

Dutch Anti-Piracy Group Trying to Ban Usenet Discussions

By Jared Moya

BREIN says what Usenet community Fill Threads Database (FTD) does is “simply criminal” even though it doesn’t provide hyperlinks, torrents, NZB-files or any other way to download content.

The Usenet community Fill Threads Database (FTD), the Netherlands’ largest, first sued Dutch anti-piracy group BREIN back in May of this year over inflammatory accusations made by BREIN president Tim Kuik to a Dutch newspaper

?Although they [FTD] are not carrying illegal content on their servers, what FTD does is simply criminal,” he said.

FTD responded by suing for a retraction of the libelous statement by Kuik and demanding that the courts declare their activities legal.

Not be outdone, BREIN countersued, arguing that FTD is a “criminal operation” that “organizes and promotes” (mostly) illegal Usenet content, and that unless it closes it wants a penalty of 50,000 euros ($70,000) per day imposed until it does.

“With terms like ‘Access Key’ and ‘directions’ BREIN tries to cover up what really matters: ordinary Dutch people reporting what they see on Usenet, so that others (legally, for own use) to download,” now says FTD’s attorney Arnoud Engelfriet. “There is no providing hyperlinks, torrents, NZB-files or other technical possibilities to download works. BREIN basically says that it should be forbidden to talk about downloading material.”

FTD is rightly angry that BREIN is going to such great lengths to stifle mere discussions of possibly downloading copyrighted material, and so should us all.

Imagine if simple bulletin boards and discussion sites, or even the forums here at ZP for that matter, were found to be complicit for mentioning where to find copyrighted material as is currently the case when people mention their favorite BitTorrent tracker sites, etc..

It’s scary to say the least.

Stay tuned

For a guide on Usenet check out my guide “How to Download from Newsgroups.“

jared@zeropaid.com

Full post as published by ZeroPaid on December 11, 2009 (boomark / email).