NewzBin

Newzbin

Newzbin logo
Screenshot of main page
Available in	English
Slogan(s)	nzb search done right
Website	(formerly newzbin.com)
Alexa rank	19,834 (August 2012[update])
Current status	Inactive, closed down on 28 November 2012

Newzbin was a British Usenet indexing website, intended to facilitate access to content on Usenet. The site caused controversy over its stance on copyrighted material. Access to the Newzbin.com website was blocked by BT and Sky in late 2011, following legal action in the UK by Hollywood film studios.

The site announced that it had closed down on 28 November 2012.

Newzbin indexed binary files that have been posted on Usenet, and offered the results through a search engine, with categories that included "Movies", "Music", "Apps" and "Books". The site created NZB files, which allowed the files to be downloaded with a suitable newsreader. NZB files are similar to torrent files, as they do not contain the file itself, but information about the location of the file to be downloaded. The search results could be browsed free of charge after creating a user account, but access to the NZB files was restricted to premium members who paid a subscription.

In February and March 2010, Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation, Universal City Studios Productions LLLP, Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc., Paramount Pictures Corporation, Disney Enterprises, Inc. and Columbia Pictures Industries, Inc. took joint legal action against Newzbin in the High Court in London, arguing that the site was encouraging widespread copyright infringement by indexing unofficial copies of films on Usenet.