Add to favorites Internet users denied access to hundreds of websites sharing IP address with site accused of copyright infringement.
The Radio Times was blocked along with hundreds of other websites as an unintended consequence of the Premier League’s battle against copyright infringement, it is reported.
The television guide’s site – and many others – shares an IP address with First Row Sports, which offers unauthorised streams of live football games.
ISPs were ordered to block access to First Row Sports, and in doing so inadvertently denied access to the Radio Times and many other web addresses.
The BBC said the Premier League was not aware of the problem until the news organisation contacted it.
The BBC said the problem only occurred when people dropped the ‘www.’ prefix for radiotimes.com.
It quoted the magazine’s editor, Ben Preston, as saying: "It’s outrageous that our website has been suddenly switched off and our users wrongly informed that it’s to protect against copyright infringement."
However, the problem now appears to have been resolved.
The news follows an order to block access to torrenting sites EZTV and YIFY in July 2013.
The Federation Against Copyright Theft (Fact) in conjunction with the Motion Picture Association (MPA) initiated the action, reported file-sharing news site Torrent Freak after voluntary cease and desist notices went ignored.
Pirate Bay was blocked by ISPs in May 2012, and in March 2013 file-sharing sites KickassTorrents, H33T and Fenopy were also blocked by the High Court.
But earlier this month Pirate Bay launched a new web browser that helps users navigate around ISP blocks.
To celebrate its 10th birthday, the ‘Piratebrowser’ was aimed at people in countries including the UK where ISPs have blocked access to file-sharing websites.
The browser, which runs on Firefox, is also championed as an anti-censorship tool, listing Iran and North Korea alongside the UK as countries expected to find PirateBrowser useful.
CBR has approached the Premier League for comment.
