List of websites blocked in the United Kingdom
This is a list of websites blocked in the United Kingdom.
Blocked by mobile operators and ISP network filters
Resolved and erroneous blocks
Site name (s) | Domain (s) or URL (s) | Type of site (s) | Reason (s) | Blocked by | Start date | Resolution date |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Wikipedia[1][2] | Virgin Killer record album article on en.wikipedia.org | Online encyclopedia | Potentially indecent image of underage child | Internet Watch Foundation | 5 December 2008 | 9 December 2008 (Unblocked by IWF) |
Wayback Machine | archive.org | Web archive | Site incompatibility with Cleanfeed | Internet Watch Foundation[3] | 14 January 2009 | 16 January 2009[4] |
FileServe | fileserve.com | File hosting | Mistake | Internet Watch Foundation[5] | 16 November 2011[6] | 18 November 2011 |
NewzBin2[7] | newzbin.com later newzbin.es | Usenet file search | Copyright | Motion Picture Association court order | 1 November 2011 | November 2012 (Site closed) |
WordPress.com | Several servers of wordpress.com | Blog hosting | Mistake | ISP(s)[8] | 17 July 2013 | 29 July 2013 |
TorrentFreak[9] | torrentfreak.com | News site | Technical implementation | Premier League court order — Sky Broadband | 7 August 2013 | 9 August 2013 |
Radio Times and hundreds more[10][11] | radiotimes.com plus many more | DNS provider and its customers | Technical implementation | Premier League court order | 13 August 2013 | 14 August 2013 |
Imgur[12] | Specific address range(s) used by imgur.com | Image hosting | Technical issue with content lock system | EE | October 2013 | 22 November 2013 (Technical problem resolved) |
WordPress.com | Several servers of wordpress.com | Blog hosting | Mistake | ISP(s)[13] | 26 November 2013 | 5 December 2013 |
Imgur | imgur.com | Image hosting | Technical implementation[14] | Sky Broadband | 14 December 2013 | 16 December 2013 |
WordPress.com | Several servers of wordpress.com | Blog hosting | Mistake | ISP(s)[15] | 12 March 2014 | 16 March 2014 |
Imgur[16] | imgur.com | Image hosting | Technical fault[17] | Virgin Media | 20 May 2016 | 20 May 2016 |
Imgur | imgur.com | Image hosting | Technical fault[18] | Virgin Media | 15 July 2019 | 15 July 2019 |
Sanctioned websites
As part of UK sanctions against Russia, ISPs are required to take "reasonable steps to prevent" users accessing "an internet service provided by" a person or organisation sanctioned by the UK government. This effectively means blocking websites operated by such organisations. Organisations sanctioned are currently TV Novosti and Rossiya Segodnya.[19][20] The websites currently listed by the UK government are:
Court ordered implementations targeting copyright and trademark infringement
Sites are blocked using various methods across the "Big 5" UK ISPs, in accordance with Section 97A of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988, making it difficult to ascertain the extent to which a site is 'blocked' or not. In December 2014, the affected ISPs decided to publish more information about the blocking orders they received.[23]
If a user visits a blocked site within the United Kingdom, the user will be forwarded to www.ukispcourtorders.co.uk which includes the list of blocked domains and court orders.
ISPs with over 400,000 subscribers subject to blocking orders include:
Site name (s) | Domain (s) or URL (s) | Type of site (s) | Reason (s) | Was blocked by | Implementation date |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
The Pirate Bay[27] |
|
File sharing | Copyright | BPI court order | May 2012 |
|
|
File sharing | Copyright | BPI court order[28] | March 2013 |
Movie2k | movie2k.to | File sharing | Copyright | BBFC court order | May 2013 |
Download For All | dl4all.com | File sharing | Copyright | MPAA court order | May 2013 |
EZTV[28] | eztv.it | File sharing | Copyright | MPAA court order | July 2013 |
First Row Sports[29][30] | firstrow1.eu | Streaming | Copyright | Premier League court order | July 2013 |
|
File sharing | Copyright | BPI court order[32][33] | October 2013 | |
|
|
|
Copyright | MPAA court order | November 2013 |
|
|
Streaming | Copyright | MPAA court order[34] | November 2013 |
|
|
Streaming | Copyright | MPAA court order | March 2014 |
Various |
|
Luxury goods | Counterfeit goods |
|
October 2014 |
|
|
File sharing | Copyright | BPI court order | October 2014 |
|
|
File sharing | Copyright | MPAA court order[36] | November 2014 |
|
File sharing | Copyright | BPI court order[37] | March 2015 | |
|
Ebook file sharing | Copyright | The Publishers Association court order[38] | May 2015 | |
|
Members of the MPAA (Motion Picture Association of America) | May 2016 | |||
|
Streaming | Copyright | Members of the MPA (Motion Picture Association of America Inc) | October 2016 | |
Various target servers | The Football Association Premier League Limited ("FAPL") | March 2017 (expired May 2017) | |||
Various target servers | The Football Association Premier League Limited ("FAPL") | July 2017 | |||
|
Streaming and File Sharing | Copyright | November 2017 | ||
Team Xecutor
Team Xecutor SX SX Cart: stargate3ds
|
stargate3ds.org
xecuteros.com sxflashcart.com |
Nintendo Switch sites | Copyright | 2019 | |
Sci-Hub | sci-hub.se | Scientific Journal and Article Sharing | Copyright |
|
February 2021[39] |
NitroFlare | nitroflare.com | File Sharing | Copyright | BPI court order | February 2021 |
TinyZone
Watch Series Levidia EUROPIX HD |
tinyzonetv.to
watchserieshd.stream watchserieshd.ru watchserieshd.org levidia.ch europixhd.pro europixhd.net |
Streaming | Copyright | MPAA court order | October 2021 |
TvShows88
Soap2day Sflix Onionplay Hurawatch Gototub FmoviesFlixhq Cmovies BFLIX |
tvshows88.live
tv88.to soap2day.video onionplay.se gototub.net Hurawatch.ru Onionplay.se Sflix.to fmovies.co Flixhq.ru cmovies.so bflix.to |
Streaming | Copyright | MPAA court order | 2022-01-27 |
NSWROM
NSW2U |
nswrom.com
nsw2u.net nsw2u.org nsw2u.com nsw2u.xyz |
Streaming | Copyright | Nintendo court order | 2021 |
SolarMovie
Gmovies |
solarmovie.pe
solarmovies.win solarmovies.ms solarmovies.cyou solarmovies.space solarmovies.cloud solarmovies.quest solarmovieshd.org solarmovie123.net solarmovie.zone solarmovie.id solarmovie.fun solarmovie-online.cam real-solarmovie.com solarmovies.video solarmovie-free.com solarmovie.vip best-solarmovie.pro gmovies.cc |
Streaming | Copyright | MPAA court order | 2023 |
Gfxtra
1hd.to |
gfxtra31.com
1hd.to |
File Sharing | Copyright | MPAA court order | July 2023 |
Get Into PC
Filecr Gfx Mountain Ymovies 123 Movies |
getintopc.com
filecr.com gfxmountain.com ymovies.vip 123movies.info |
Streaming and File Sharing | Copyright | MPAA court order | August 2023 |
SoftProber
4Download SoftCamel FullVersionDL Heaven32 Taiwebs SoffBuff Getpczone AudioSEX Pesktop MaGeSY Putlocker |
softprober.com
4download.net softcamel.com fullversiondl.com heaven32.com taiwebs.com softbuff.com getpczone.com audiosex.pro pesktop.com magesy.blog putlocker.boo |
File Sharing | Copyright | MPAA court order | August 2023 |
|
Streaming | Copyright | MPAA court order | September 2023 |
- Site with no public file listings.[36]
Indirect blocking
In furtherance of the above-mentioned goal of restricting access to The Pirate Bay and similar sites, the BPI believes that "ISPs are required to block the illegal sites themselves, and proxies and proxy aggregators whose sole or predominant purpose is to give access to the illegal sites." As such, sites linking to sites which acted as proxies to The Pirate Bay were themselves added to the list of banned sites, including piratebayproxy.co.uk, piratebayproxylist.com and ukbay.org. This led to the indirect blocking (or hiding) of sites at the following domains, among others:[40][41]
- 030421678943105436 08954317678950.com
- argentinabay.info
- bayproxy.pw
- belgiumbay.info
- denmarkbay.info
- fattorrents.ws
- finlandbay.info
- germanybay.info
- greecebay.info
- hizliresim.com
- indiabay.info
- indonesiabay.info
- iranbay.info
- irelandbay.info
- italybay.info
- magnetsearch.net
- magnetsearch.org
- mctorrents.se
- netherlandsbay.info
- norwaybay.info
- pbproxy.com
- piratehole.com
- pirateproxies.info
- pirateproxies.net
- pirateproxies.org
- pirateproxy.wiki
- pirateproxybay.com
- piratetavern.net
- piratetavern.org
- piratewiki.info
- proxypirate.pw
- saudiarabiabay.info
- singaporebay.info
- swedenbay.info
- themeatbay.com
- thenewbay.org
- thepirateproxy.co
- theproxy.pw
- tpbay.co
- tpblite.com
- tpbproxy.cc
- tpbproxy.pw
- turkeybay.info
- ukbay.info
- unblockbay.com
- unblockthepiratebay.net
- unblockthepiratebay.org
See also
- Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA)
- Censorship in the United Kingdom
- Computer and network surveillance
- Copyright infringement
- Copyright in the United Kingdom
- Child abuse image content list
- Digital Economy Act 2010
- Digital Economy Act 2017
- EU Copyright Directive
- File sharing in the United Kingdom
- Internet censorship in the United Kingdom
- Internet Watch Foundation and Wikipedia
- Legal aspects of file sharing
- Web blocking in the United Kingdom
References
- Johnson, Bobbie (7 December 2008). "Wikipedia falls foul of British censors". The Guardian. Archived from the original on 5 September 2013. Retrieved 4 November 2013.
- Doctorow, Cory (16 December 2008). "How to make child-porn blocks safe for the internet". The Guardian. Archived from the original on 4 March 2016. Retrieved 29 November 2013.
- Metz, Cade (14 January 2009). "IWF confirms Wayback Machine porn blacklisting". The Register. Archived from the original on 10 August 2017. Retrieved 25 November 2013.
- Widdas, Brian (14 January 2009). "Accessing archive.org". Google Groups discussion. Archived from the original on 15 February 2018. Retrieved 1 December 2013.
- Jowitt, Tom (21 November 2011). "IWF Blacklist Snafu blocks access to FileServe". TechWeek Europe. Archived from the original on 3 December 2013. Retrieved 25 November 2013.
- Meyer, David (21 November 2011). "Blacklist hitch causes Virgin Media FileServe block". ZDNet (CBS Interactive). Archived from the original on 2 December 2013. Retrieved 1 December 2013.
- Sweney, Mark (26 October 2011). "BT ordered to block Newzbin2 filesharing site within 14 days". The Guardian. Archived from the original on 10 August 2017. Retrieved 4 November 2013.
- "Recent problems accessing WordPress.com sites". WordPress Forums, Support. 22 July 2013. Archived from the original on 1 December 2013. Retrieved 25 November 2013.
- Shubber, Kadhim (9 August 2013). "News site TorrentFreak 'blocked' by Sky's piracy filter". Wired UK (Condé Nast UK). Archived from the original on 10 April 2016. Retrieved 23 November 2013.
- Kelion, Leo (14 August 2013). "Radio Times caught up in Premier League's piracy fight". BBC News. Archived from the original on 8 March 2018.
- Fiveash, Kelly (15 August 2013). "OWN GOAL! 100s of websites blocked after UK Premier League drops ball". The Register. Archived from the original on 10 August 2017. Retrieved 23 November 2013.
- Page, Carly (19 November 2013). "EE irks 4G customers with unexplained Imgur block". The Inquirer. Archived from the original on 22 November 2013. Retrieved 1 December 2013.
- "Dashboard errors related to TalkTalk ISP issue". WordPress.com Support Forum. 26 November 2013. Archived from the original on 5 December 2013. Retrieved 5 December 2013.
- Andy. "Imgur wiped out by Sky Broadband torrent site blocking". Torrentfreak. Archived from the original on 17 December 2013. Retrieved 17 December 2013.
- "Dashboard errors - TalkTalk, Sky, and BT care users". WordPress.com Support Forum. 12 March 2014. Archived from the original on 16 March 2014. Retrieved 15 March 2014.
- "Site report — imgur.com". 20 May 2016. Archived from the original on 13 February 2017. Retrieved 20 May 2016.
- "Imgur on Twitter". Twitter. Archived from the original on 21 May 2016. Retrieved 21 May 2016.
- Kelion, Leo (15 July 2019). "Virgin Media probes why it blocked giant Gif site Imgur". BBC News. Archived from the original on 15 July 2019. Retrieved 15 July 2019.
- "Open letter to industry about new restrictions on the provision of certain internet services to, or for the benefit of, "designated persons"" (PDF). Ofcom. 4 May 2022.
- Jackson, Mark (30 April 2022). "Russia Sanctions Add Shock Internet Censorship Twist for UK ISPs". ISPreview UK. Retrieved 12 September 2023.
- "UK sanctions law, A&A, and Domain blocking". Andrews & Arnold. Retrieved 12 September 2023.
- "UK Sanctions List Publication". gov.uk.
- "Big 5 ISPs". Open Rights Group Wiki. 28 July 2013. Archived from the original on 2 December 2013. Retrieved 1 December 2013.
- "New measures to protect online copyright and inform consumers". News Release, Office of Communications (Ofcom). 26 June 2012. Archived from the original on 3 December 2013. Retrieved 1 December 2013.
The code will initially cover ISPs with more than 400,000 broadband-enabled fixed lines – currently BT, Everything Everywhere, O2, Sky, TalkTalk Group and Virgin Media.
- "Websites we've blocked under order of the high court". Sky Broadcasting Group. Archived from the original on 29 November 2014. Retrieved 1 December 2013.
- "Why do we block certain websites?". Broadband and Internet: Internet Security, Virgin Media. Archived from the original on 26 November 2013. Retrieved 1 December 2013.
- "The Pirate Bay must be blocked by UK ISPs, court rules". BBC News Online. 30 April 2012. Archived from the original on 15 February 2014. Retrieved 12 August 2013.
- Edward Smith (23 July 2013). "UK court to block file-sharing sites EZTV and YIFY". International Business Times. Archived from the original on 26 July 2013. Retrieved 3 November 2013.
- Lee, David (17 July 2013). "Premier League wins piracy block of First Row Sports". BBC News. Archived from the original on 3 February 2019. Retrieved 4 November 2013.
- "Football Association Premier League Limited v. British Sky Broadcasting Limited, et al". England and Wales High Court (Chancery Division). 16 July 2013. Archived from the original on 6 May 2021. Retrieved 23 November 2013.
- Ernesto (14 December 2014). "Former 'Pirate' site dropped from UK blocklist". Archived from the original on 16 December 2014. Retrieved 14 December 2014.
- "ISPs told to block 21 pirate sites". BBC News. 29 October 2013. Archived from the original on 25 September 2018. Retrieved 1 December 2013.
- Best, Jo (30 October 2013). "21 new torrent sites added to UK banned list". ZDNet. Archived from the original on 3 December 2013. Retrieved 19 November 2013.
- Orlowski, Andrew (14 November 2013). "Brit ISPs ordered to add more movie-streaming websites to block list". The Register. Archived from the original on 10 August 2017. Retrieved 23 November 2013.
- Little, Trevor. "Landmark judgment handed down in dispute between Richemont and ISPs". Archived from the original on 24 October 2014. Retrieved 17 October 2014.
- Ernesto (27 November 2014). "UK Piracy Blocklist expands with Demonoid, Isohunt, IPTorrents and more". Archived from the original on 15 March 2018. Retrieved 27 November 2014.
- Ernesto (24 March 2015). "UK blocking more than 100 Pirate sites after new court order". Archived from the original on 25 March 2015. Retrieved 24 March 2015.
- Andy (27 May 2015). "High court orders UK ISPs to block eBook Sites". Archived from the original on 7 May 2021. Retrieved 27 May 2015.
- "Sci-Hub: Elsevier and Springer Nature Obtain UK ISP Blocking Order * TorrentFreak". Archived from the original on 27 September 2021. Retrieved 1 October 2021.
- Ernesto (10 March 2015). "UK ISPs quietly block sites that list Pirate Bay proxies". TorrentFreak. Archived from the original on 11 March 2015. Retrieved 11 March 2015.
- "UK ISPs block Pirate Bay proxy sites". BBC News. 11 March 2015. Archived from the original on 11 March 2015. Retrieved 11 March 2015.
External links
- wiki.451unavailable.org.uk – The repository for UK court orders requiring domains, IP addresses and URLs to be blocked by Internet service providers.
- ukispcourtorders.co.uk – another list maintained by British Telecommunications PLC.