According to reports the BPI has sent a letter to the UK Pirate Party asking them to shut down their Pirate Bay proxy service. Speaking with TorrentFreak, Party Leader Loz Kaye says he is yet to receive anything other than an email and was only aware a letter had been sent when he received requests for comment. Kaye says issues such as censorship are at the core of why the Pirate Party exists and they will stand up and fight for Internet users.

As soon as the High Court ordered several UK ISPs to block subscriber access to The Pirate Bay earlier this year, many users of the site flocked to the proxy service of the UK Pirate Party.

For millions of UK Internet users the service provided a much-needed lifeline for them to quickly and easily regain access to The Pirate Bay. As a result the Pirate Party’s website became one of the most popular sites in the whole of the UK.

During May, Google received more than 99,000 takedown notices against the proxy but as time passed the UK recording industry, led by the BPI, looked for a more comprehensive and sweeping solution.

Yesterday, TorrentFreak received a tip that the BPI would issue the Pirate Party with a demand to shut down their Pirate Bay proxy service.

Sure enough, an hour later a report appeared in MusicWeek and then a little later on the BBC, quoting from a letter apparently sent by the BPI’s Geoff Taylor to Pirate Party leader Loz Kaye.

Referencing the Party’s pro-freedom stance, Taylor apparently told Kaye, “Freedom of expression is not an absolute right. It comes with a duty to respect the rights of others, including those whose talent, hard work and investment help to create music and other entertainment.”

Speaking with TorrentFreak, Kaye says that while he has received an email from the BPI, he is yet to receive any letter.

“The first I was aware that such a letter had been sent was when I received requests for comment from journalists. The BPI have laid out their position and asked for our response, we intend to respond by the 6th of December,” Kaye explained.

However, Kaye did confirm that the BPI has indeed requested that the Pirate Party take down their Pirate Bay proxy service which has been in place since April.

“As we said in May 2012, we provided the proxy (tpb.pirateparty.org.uk) as a tool for users on networks where the Pirate Bay is blocked through filtering, and in support of our sister party in the Netherlands,” Kaye explains.

Kaye says the proxy service continues to be a “legitimate route” to The Pirate Bay for those affected by court orders issued to some, but not all, ISPs in the UK.

“While some providers continue to allow access to the web in an unfiltered manner, others are limiting access to specific parts of the internet,” Kaye explained.

The fight for free access to information clearly goes to the very heart of the Pirate movement, so just how important is the anti-censorship battle in the UK?

“The battle against censorship and indeed the use of site blocking to deal with issues like copyright infringement is disproportionate and not productive. Issues like these are at the core of why we exist and why we want to change the current system and stand up for internet users,” Kaye told TorrentFreak.

“Equally, last year the British government said it was not planning to implement the parts of the Digital Economy Act to do with site blocking. This was widely interpreted as that the Conservative-Liberal Democrat coalition was against site blocking. But we have still ended up with sites being taken down. It’s time once and for all that the UK government makes its view clear on this issue.”

But when it comes down to the basics, just how far are the UK Pirate Party prepared to go? We asked Kaye, presuming the currently polite request from the BPI has a legal threat behind it, whether the Party would go all the way to the High Court if necessary.

“At this point, all I have is an email from the BPI with a request. We are not aware of any legal action being taken by anyone against us. We will of course stick to our principles,” Kaye concludes.