100M : The Pirate Bay is blocked

Let's calm down and stick to the topic..

[carlwaring]

Originally Posted by qasdfdsaq

Clearly some of us don't know what common sense is or don't have it.

1) All newsgroup providers are in complete control of the content of their servers, what categories they choose to provide, and for how long
2) An internet service provider with no control over the content of their own servers has some major issues.

Yes. They can switch them on and off. I was clearly (in the context of this thread) talking about the content of any given newsgroup.

Of course they could 'censor' them but I (and I'm sure many others) are glad - whether we agree with the content or not - that they do not

You just said they didn't.

I explicitly stated that they have control over their own newsgroups; which they did. You know, the "virginmedia.general.discussion" etc. They do not have control over any other groups.

Now who's hard of understanding?

You, it seems

[qasdfdsaq]

Originally Posted by carlwaring

I explicitly stated that they have control over their own newsgroups;

You explicitly stated the exact opposite:

Originally Posted by mcmanic

they provide the same files and warez/apps/music on their own binary newsgroup servers?

Originally Posted by carlwaring

The difference being that the former is blocked due to a court order and the latter VM have no control over the content of.

Maybe a screenshot will jog your memory?

[General Maximus]

Originally Posted by carlwaring

I don't remember that far back but of course they had control over their own newgroups, but not the wider Usenet in general. Again, common sense.

they do to a certain degree because. Although the servers are 3rd party VM can choose not to allow access to porn groups or binaries as a whole if they wanted, not just VM groups.

[Fawkes]

/sigh

Give it a rest you two.

Back on topic, where were we:

Pirate Bay blocked ................................. Check.
Easily circumvented ............................... Check.
More court orders to block sites ............... Coming soon
Draconian laws to prevent circumvention ... TBD.

[qasdfdsaq]

DEA FTW.

[carlwaring]

Originally Posted by qasdfdsaq

You explicitly stated the exact opposite:

Wrong, again.

VM have no control over the content of any newsgroup which they do not run.

Unless you're telling me they can explicitly stop people from posting to, say, an MP3 newsgroup; which of course they can't.

They can censor or not carry that newsgroup but that's not the same thing. If there was a court order to block binary newsgroups they would have to comply with that too.

Originally Posted by General Maximus

they do to a certain degree because. Although the servers are 3rd party VM can choose not to allow access to porn groups or binaries as a whole if they wanted, not just VM groups.

Yes. That's true. They could block access to them but they don't because that would be censorship and they would, quite rightly IMO, attract a lot of "bad press" for it.

[qasdfdsaq]

You continue to contradict yourself.

How can Virgin Media have complete control over the content of their newsgroups, while simultaneously having no control over the content of their newsgroup servers at the same time?

And stop making up completely unrelated and nonsensical babble. We were specifically talking about the content VM choose to host on their own servers, which includes pirated material. Yet despite everyone disagreeing with you, you still try to claim VM have no control over the content of their own servers and that everyone else lacks common sense and reading comprehension.

Purleease....

[General Maximus]

Originally Posted by carlwaring

but that's not the same thing.

of course it is, that is exactly what VM have done. By preventing access to TPB they have denied access to an entire resource which includes perfectly legal material. In turn, they can also choose not to host certain newsgroups if some of the content being posted is illegal/questionable/whatever else. It is easier for them to block the whole thing rather than get caught in the middle of an arguement over whether should provide access to something to which they have no control over the content.

Play nicely everyone..Use the ignore function if you cannot.

[Horace]

Originally Posted by mcmanic

eh?, wasn't that many years back when NTL as it was back then stopped the newsgroups carrying the main warez and pirated materials. Of course they have control!, just seems abit of let's bash a popular site because it's set's an example but don't tell them if your with VM you have free access to what you want via their newsgroup anyway.

They used to host the Usenet servers themselves and they did remove access to some of the larger binary orientated groups, that didn't mean much because the newest and therefore most popular releases were posted on more obscure groups, such is the nature of Usenet. They farmed out Usenet services to Highwinds and now probably don't have control over the grouplist. All completely irrelevant to TPB block and there are good reasons why Usenet servers themelves haven't been dragged into the filesharing court battle even though sites which facilitate access to pirate Usenet content have.

p.s. Usenet really shouldn't be openly discussed at all (the first rule of Usenet).

[Dush]

Can anyone on a 100mbit recommend a nice fast VPN?

[AdamD]

Originally Posted by Maggy J

Play nicely everyone..Use the ignore function if you cannot.

Only problem with that, I find, is if people are going back and forth in a thread like the above two, the thread turns into tons of "This message is hidden because xxxx is on your ignore list." messages.

[Sirius]

Originally Posted by Fawkes

/sigh

Give it a rest you two.

Indeed its like play time at the kindergarten

[kwikbreaks]

Plus people persist in quoting the person you are ignoring

At least the facility exists and is easy to control though - over on TBB you have to email Seb to ignore somebody who you find irritating.

It was always on the cards that this thread would degenerate into arguments as the subject is contentious. As soon as one particular individual joined (who is not yet on my ignore list but may soon qualify) degeneration was a certainty as every thread he joins goes that way. An expert troll imo.