EU: Content filtering on Internet illegal

[MatParker116]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-15871961

The European Court of Justice has ruled that content owners cannot ask ISPs to filter out illegal content.

The ruling could have implications for the creative industries as they attempt to crack down on piracy.

The court said that while content providers can ask ISPs to block specific sites, wider filtering was in breach of the E-Commerce Directive.

A Belgian court had previously ruled that a local rights holder could force an ISP to filter content.

The case stems back to 2004 when SABAM, a Belgian company responsible for authorising music rights, discovered that customers of local ISP Scarlet were downloading music illegally via peer-to-peer networks.

The Brussels Court of First Instance ordered Scarlet to make it impossible for its customers to send or receive files containing music from SABAM's catalogue on such networks.

Scarlet appealed to the Brussels Court of Appeal, claiming that the injunction failed to comply with EU law.

It said that the obligation to monitor communications on its network was in breach of the E-Commerce Directive.

Seven years on, the European Court of Justice agreed.

It said that the move could affect Scarlet's ability to do business because it would have to "install a complicated, costly, permanent computer system at its own expense".

The court ruled that the filtering could infringe the rights of customers and their right to protect their own data.

It could also mean that legal content was blocked.

"Such an injunction could potentially undermine freedom of information since that system might not distinguish adequately between unlawful content and lawful content with the result that its introduction could lead to the blocking of lawful communications," the court said in a statement.
Victory

TalkTalk and BT are currently embroiled in legal action against the UK's Digital Economy Act. They claim the law - which lays out rules for combating piracy - is also in breach of the E-Commerce Directive.

While the European ruling has "some relevance" to its case, it is not directly linked, said Andrew Heaney, TalkTalks' head of regulatory affairs.

"The idea of filtering was talked about in the UK but it came off the table some time ago. This judgement is effectively about an old issue," he said.

Internet freedom organisations welcomed the news.

Peter Bradwell of the Open Rights Group said: "This judgement is a victory for freedom of expression online. It draws a thick line in the sand that future copyright enforcement measures in the UK cannot cross.

"Invasive and general surveillance of users is unacceptable. This helps to nail down the limits of powers to curtail people's freedom to communicate online."

I have nothing more to add except Yay europe!!!

 

[GiglameshSoulEater]

Freedom can be little but good in this case.

Go EU, you finally did something right.

 

[Crazy_Dude]

Atleast some people still have common sense in this world.

 

[Baneat]

Awwww yeah bitches. Thats Europe for you. Our ISPs are total bros.

They really are - BT has always held the policy that they will never block content, and their "Fair use" for unlimited internet is extremely generous.

 

[])rStrangelove]

Way to go. That shut them up (RIAA, and all the rest of the )

 

[MrTub]

Awwww yeah bitches. Thats Europe for you. Our ISPs are total bros.

They really are - BT has always held the policy that they will never block content, and their "Fair use" for unlimited internet is extremely generous.

My ISP announced that if they were forced to share all information they had on their customers with outside customers, they would simply stop storing information altogether.

I think they know these kinda bills and laws would put them out of business in the long run.

Yeah that what happend in Sweden. Our ISP stopped storing information since otherwise they would be forced to hand it out. Which have made it very difficult for our police to catch people that watches kid porn and such.

http://torrentfreak.com/police-say-anti-piracy-law-makes-catching-criminals-harder-100517/

http://www.computerworld.com/s/article/9132324/Antipiracy_law_fallout_Swedish_ISP_won_t_store_IP_addresses_of_users


"The head of Sweden?s National IT Crime Unit says that following the introduction of IPRED anti-piracy legislation it has become more difficult to track down serious criminals. This unfortunate eventuality is a side-effect of ISPs throwing away logging data to protect the privacy of their customers. While this protects casual file-sharers, it unfortunately protects serious criminals too."

?It is a major concern, for example, when minors are exploited for sexual purposes via the Internet but we can not trace the perpetrators because logging information is missing,? says Ahlqvist.


The best part is that ipred havent had any effect on piracy. So yay for anti piracy laws.


http://torrentfreak.com/happy-birthday-ipred-the-best-anti-piracy-law-ever-100401/

"Sure, a few book publishers got a bit uppity and tried to force ISP Ephone to hand over some customer information (that case is off to the Supreme Court) but so far, not one individual has been convicted of an IPRED-related offense."

"Research by the Cyber Norms sociological research project showed that just before IPRED was introduced, 22% of respondents didn?t download illegally. By September 2009 that had jumped to 39%."

Since its from a pro torrent site I would not trust this completely, but I've never heard of anybody being convicted by help of Ipred.

 

[SpaceBat]

My ISP announced that if they were forced to share all information they had on their customers with outside customers, they would simply stop storing information altogether.

Now that's just cool. My ISP is simply indifferent on the matter, so I can't say that I'm not jealous.

Anyway, Good job guys. It's nice to read positive stuff like this every once in a while.

 

[Something Amyss]

)rStrangelove]Way to go. That shut them up (RIAA, and all the rest of the )

RIAA still has the US to sue.

 

[Nickolai77]

Nice to see the EU getting some positive PR for once

I should note however that the ECHR is a separate institution to the EU- but both related because they were both founded for similar reasons- i.e- keep peace in Europe.

 

[TheIronRuler]

A Pyrrhic victory since The EU will have ceased to exist by this time next year.

.
Well said, though I do imagine they'll try to gobble up croatia and the rest of the baltic states. Maybe that'll stop the impending DOOM.

 

[BlackStar42]

A Pyrrhic victory since The EU will have ceased to exist by this time next year.

Bureaucracy never goes away, it just calls itself something different and carries on as normal.

Go Europe, I guess. We're totally broke, but with bitching internet laws. Needs some work in the PR department.

 

[Soviet Steve]

A Pyrrhic victory since The EU will have ceased to exist by this time next year.

Along with the rest of Planet Earth.

http://2012-apocalypse.blogspot.com/

 

[Nimbus]

7 Years?

The law is goddamned SLOW!

 

[ramboondiea]

haha, i have just been reading a journal article about this, for life of me i cant think of the writers names, but basically everything they predicted about the outcome happened, well i couldnt see them actually allowing this ckind of filtering, goes against a few provisions and general principles......£20 says ukip still find a way to ***** about this

 

[Wintermoot]

I think this is the first time I,m happy to be a European.

 

[Muspelheim]

Wasnt there a similar case in sweden? Where they refused to give away the names of people who ran a site that shared supposedly illegal stuff and got right? even though they got something similar to the "SOPA" there? to many question marks??

Basically, yes. But many of the large companies behind the SOPA-act hold much weight in the Swedish government, which says alot about the power of good lobby-work. It's beginning to feel like something out of a cyberpunk-setting...

But, go EU, I guess. Finally did something right, they did!

 

[WarDialler]

I know it's hip to bad-mouth the EU, especially if you're British like many of us, but they did..oh what was it? Ensure that for the past 66 years on a whole we've managed to stay fed and alive whislt rebuilding a continent destroyed by a World War.

Think about how we let a Conservative Government get in before you bad mouth the people who make sure the Tories can't just start another poll-tax and help themselves to all your money.