[Chapter-delegates] EU court rules policing the Internet is illegal

[Rudi Vansnick]

EU court rules policing the Internet is illegal

The European Court of Justice issued yesterday (24 November) a historic ruling establishing that member states cannot impose the filtering of the Internet for the purpose of preventing illegal downloads of copyrighted files.

“EU law precludes the imposition of an injunction by a national court which requires an Internet service provider to install a filtering system with a view to preventing the illegal downloading of files,” the court ruled.

The ruling was issued in the long-standing case opposing a Belgian copyright management company, SABAM, and a Belgian Internet service provider, Scarlet. In 2004, SABAM requested Scarlet to filter the online activities of its users to avoid that illegal downloads, affecting copyright holders, were carried out.

The Belgian judges asked the opinion of the EU Court of Justice before delivering their own ruling on this thorny case.

full article : http://is.gd/bjXnqV


Rudi Vansnick
President - CEO
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