Pirate Bay blocked by TalkTalk. TalkTalk closed off access to file-sharing website The Pirate Bay on Monday, after being told to do so by a High Court in April.
"TalkTalk can confirm that it is blocking access to The Pirate Bay (TPB) following a court order to do so," the company said in a statement on Tuesday. The move makes TalkTalk the penultimate company from April's court order to block the file-sharing website. BT will be the last company to put the block in place, expected imminently. Sky, Everything Everywhere, O2, Be broadband and Virgin Media have already put blocks in place to prevent customers from accessing the website. Network-level blocking of The Pirate Bay's website has been criticised as a futile measure that is easy to circumvent using methods such as virtual private networks (VPNs), proxy servers or third-party DNS servers, among others.
O2 and Be Broadband are latest to block The Pirate Bay. 7 June 2012Last updated at 12:07 ET The Pirate Bay is campaigning against proposed EU anti-piracy treaty O2 is set to block its customers from accessing file-sharing site The Pirate Bay from 0001 BST on Friday, the internet service provider has said.
The move means customers of Be Broadband, a subsidiary of O2, will also be blocked from the site. Net neutrality becomes law in The Netherlands. The Netherlands has become the first country in Europe to enshrine the concept of net neutrality in national law.
Bits of Freedom, a Dutch digital rights movement has been campaigning for this law, and considers it “a historical moment for internet freedom in The Netherlands and calls on other countries to follow the Dutch example.” The issue came to a head last year when major telecomms providers said they would charge extra for customers who used VoIP for their telephony. The public objected and the Dutch parliament reacted – with three proposals that are now law. Firstly, the net neutrality content prohibits providers from interfering with customers’ traffic. US FCC fumbles ball on net neutrality: yes for fixed, not really for mobile. FCC commissioners Mignon Clyburn, left, Michael Copps, Chairman Julius Genachowski, Robert McDowell and Meredith Attwell Baker voted 3-2 to adopted controversial net neutrality rules.
Photograph: Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images The US Federal Communications Commission (FCC) which has the power to set the rules for use and, more importantly, charging for internet use in the US, has passed "limited" net neutrality rules by a 3-2 vote which split along Democratic (yes) and Republican (no) party lines. It seems to have done the right thing - defending neutrality - for fixed-line broadband, but fumbled it on mobile, and the reason it gives for the latter is astonishing: it's because Android is open. Mull on that as we go along.
The FCC portrays the decision on its own website as "FCC Acts to Preserve Internet Freedom and Openness" - and just to prove how free and open it is, then has the press release in two formats: Microsoft Word and Adobe PDF. Political reaction was, frankly, befuddling. Terry: Net Neutrality Supporters Hypocritical on International Net Regulation.
A top lawmaker on the House Energy and Commerce Committee Wednesday said while he is glad to see U.S. policy makers joining forces to oppose international efforts to regulate the Internet, the Federal Communications Commission's net neutrality rules undermine U.S. credibility on the issue.
"I think there is certain level of hypocrisy" among those who favor net neutrality rules while opposing efforts to regulate the Internet internationally, Rep. Lee Terry, R-Neb., vice chairman of the Communications and Technology Subcommittee, said during a roundtable discussion Wednesday evening sponsored by the Phoenix Center. Google warned to change search results or face court over antitrust issues. Europe's antitrust chief has given Google until 2 July to offer changes in its search results and advertising rules or face the threat of being taken to court and potentially huge fines.
Joaquin Almunia, the head of competition policy, has set out in a private letter the European commission's concerns on how Google's dominance – where in Europe it has about 90% of searches – could be harming competition. Almunia's letter is only one of many battles the US company is fighting against the threat of government regulation. The US and South Korea are also investigating whether it is abusing its near-monopoly in search, while in Europe, accusations that it is invading people's privacy and even snooping on online conversations are coming under scrutiny from French and German regulators.
The Ayn Rand Center for Individual Rights: "Net Neutrality": Destroyer of Internet Freedom. US ISP Comcast Silently Begins Blocking ThePirateBay - TNW US. What the Google/Verizon deal means for net neutrality – and you. Critics fear the Google/Verizon deal could herald the end of net neutrality.
Photograph: David Paul Morris/Getty Images During the last decade, a battle has been brewing here in the United States. Google sued in France for $421m over anti-competitive claims. 1plusV sues Google over search results Google's legal woes have accelerated Tuesday as French search site network 1plusV has sued Google in Paris' Commercial court for the equivalent of $421 million.
The lawsuit, billed as the largest of its kind in Europe, accuses Google of anti-competitive behavior. Google allegedly 'buried' 1plusV sites for four years in its search engine results and denied them a major source of revenue. The French firm had also developed a hybrid search engine that wasn't allowed to co-exist with Google's if 1plusV wanted to collect ad revenue. Google snubs Net Neutrality debate. High performance access to file storage The first significant Net Neutrality debate to take place in the UK was held today at Westminster.
Chaired by former trade minister Alun Michael and the Conservative shadow trade minister Charles Hendry, the event attracted the chief Telecoms regulator and ministry policy chief, a clutch of industry representatives, and a sprinkling of members of both houses. Craig Aaron: Google-Verizon Pact: It Gets Worse. So Google and Verizon went public today with their "policy framework" -- better known as the pact to end the Internet as we know it.
News of this deal broke this week, sparking a public outcry that's seen hundreds of thousands of Internet users calling on Google to live up to its "Don't Be Evil" pledge. But cut through the platitudes the two companies (Googizon, anyone?) Offered on today's press call, and you'll find this deal is even worse than advertised. The proposal is one massive loophole that sets the stage for the corporate takeover of the Internet. Real Net Neutrality means that Internet service providers can't discriminate between different kinds of online content and applications. What Google and Verizon are proposing is fake Net Neutrality. 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. Google and Verizon Share the Android Love.
The first Android phone was launched nearly a year ago and although new phones and partnerships are being announced all the time, few carriers actually sell Android phones now. That looks like it will be changing. Google and Verizon Wireless announced a partnership to bring Android devices to the Verizon network. Details on the partnership are relatively scarce right now, but the two companies are holding a joint press-conference at 10 am EDT, which should give us some more details on the plans. What we do know is that the two companies are planning on co-developing several devices using the Android platform to take advantage of both Android and Verizon's infrastructure. The first Verizon Android handsets should be released in a few weeks. This is a big win for Android, which is often discussed in terms of potential and not actual results. We want to know what you think. Rivals sceptical of Google's net neutrality plans.
Protesters denounce Google plan for 'two-tier internet' 14 August 2010Last updated at 05:57 By Maggie Shiels Technology reporter, BBC News, Silicon Valley.