BT was forced to block access to the newsgroup/file sharing service Newzbin2 only six weeks ago, making the corporation extend the filter previously only used to block child porn. Many, including me, were concerned not that BT were forced to block the site after a court ruling, but that BT were forced to use the same filters currently only used to block something so criminally illegal and disturbing as child pornography, and now more people would focus their attention on beating it.
And lo and behold after only six weeks the coders at Newzbin2 have managed to do just that – circumvent BT’s filters and allowing those on BT to use their service once again to download (mostly) copyrighted material. Just as the technological game of cat and mouse has gone on since the days of Napster with digital file sharing, it continues apace. The problem with this round is, however, that the entertainment industry forced an escalation by getting the courts to push for BT these child porn filters, as now the technological precedent has been set – and the filter that has previously been so successful has suddenly gained a gaping hole.
The fallout from digital file sharing has now expanded into affecting the security of much more important areas of actual criminality, and the entertainment industry are to blame as much as the hackers at Newzbin2.
[via TorrentFreak]