ISPs Can't Be Forced to Filter Web Content, EU Court Finds,

[Alex Gakuru]

   - *By Chloe Albanesius <http://www.pcmag.com/author-bio/chloe-albanesius>
   *
   - November 25, 2011 03:20pm EST

A European court has found that content holders cannot require Internet
service providers to filter out pirated material.

Copyright holders can ask ISPs to block specific Web sites that include
links to illegal content, but those ISPs cannot be required to troll the
Web and sniff out pirated files themselves, according to a Thursday ruling
from the Court of Justice of the European Union.

At issue is a case that dates back to 2004, when SABAM—a Belgian trade
group for authors, composers, and publishers—found that subscribers of ISP
Scarlet Extended were trading illegal files on peer-to-peer networks.

SABAM sued and the Brussels Court of First Instance ordered Scarlet to
filter its network and prevent its users from sending or receiving any
files that contained copyrighted material from SABAM's repertoire. Scarlet
appealed, claiming that would essentially require it to monitor activity on
its network in violation of European law. The appeals court then asked the
Court of Justice if EU member state courts had the right to order an ISP to
filter its network in order to identify illegal file downloads. Yesterday,
the Court of Justice found that they did not.

In its ruling, the Court of Justice pointed out that the EU's E-Commerce
Directive bans court orders that would require ISPs to monitor the
information transmitted on their networks.

"The Court finds that the injunction in question would require Scarlet to
actively monitor all the data relating to each of its customers in order to
prevent any infringement of intellectual-property rights," the court said
in a statement<http://curia.europa.eu/jcms/upload/docs/application/pdf/2011-11/cp110126en.pdf>.
"Such an injunction would thus result in a serious infringement of
Scarlet's freedom to conduct its business as it would require Scarlet to
install a complicated, costly, permanent computer system at its own
expense."

It would also violate the customers' rights "to protection of their
personal data and their right to receive or impart information," the court
said.

Ultimately, Internet filtering 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," according to the
court.

....

http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2396877,00.asp
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