[Chapter-delegates] Notice-and-Take-Down Code of Conduct: a good idea.

[Michiel Leenaars]

Dear all,

earlier this month (on October 9, 2008 to be exact) the first version of
a national Notice-and-Take-Down Code of Conduct was presented to the
Netherlands minister of Foreign Trade Frank Heemskerk at NICC (National
Infrastructure against cybercrime). We think it is a good practice,
which is why we pass it along to this list. Internet Society
Netherlands was not directly involved in the initial creation of the
code of conduct, but will join the effort working on future versions.

The Code of Conduct is a *voluntary* agreement between law enforcement
agencies and Internet service providers ("intermediaries") on how to go
about in case of complaints about 'unlawful' content on specific
websites. The short version: if the service provider and the
complainant both agree that there is clear infringement of legal
rights, then the provider may decide to selectively remove content.
Only after a court order the content provider has to remove the
content. 

So basically it is the same as in most places in the world, and what
most of us would consider normal. Evidently, on the Internet the same
rules and laws apply as in the rest of life, and ISPs nor the police
should seek to take the position of a judge - that is simply not their
task. The benefits of complying with the code lie in the achievement of
clean, well-described an uniform procedures and in the reduction of
liability risks. The Code of Conduct is an affirmation that there is
enough legal ground and no legal penalty for ISP's to fiercely protect
their customers privacy until there is a court order to the contrary.
That is a clear win for the end user and the ISP, we think. 

An international (English language) version has been made available.
This may serve as an example in other countries - we hope. The document
can be downloaded from:

http://isoc.nl/info/nieuws/2008-noticeandtakedown.htm

Best,
Michiel Leenaars
Director ISOC.nl