First ISP in the world ordered to filter illegal file-sharing of music on its network has announced that it will appeal the ruling.
It’s been over a week now that I first reported how the Court of First Instance of Brussels ordered the ISP Scarlet to begin preventing its customers from illegally downloading copyrighted music content of The Belgian Society of Authors, Composers and Publishers (SABAM) using P2P and file-sharing software.
IFPI Chairman and CEO John Kennedy immediately praised the news, saying that “This is an extremely significant ruling which bears out exactly what we have been saying for the last two years – that the internet’s gatekeepers, the ISPs, have a responsibility to help control copyright-infringing traffic on their networks.” He also announced his hope that it would establish a worldwide standard to which other ISPs would be held accountable to in terms of regulating a network’s P2P and file-sharing activity by its users.
British ISPs were quick to denounce the ruling, with the UK’s Internet Service Providers’ Association (ISPA) making public its opposition to such a move to make ISPs “play judge and jury” whenever customers are suspected of engaging in copyright infringement.
An ISPA representative commented that “What we wouldn’t want is corporate censorship. Any kind of censorship of the Internet has to be at the government level. ISPs are not law enforcement. We understand that ISPs play a part in combating instances of illegal activity on the Internet, which is why we engage with rights holders and work with government authorities on that basis, but we wouldn’t say we’re the gatekeepers of the Internet. The people responsible for unlawful content going up on the Internet are the people who put it there.”
This past Saturday it became quite clear that SABAM intended to seize the Belgian court ruling and would work to force other ISPs to install similar filters to block the use of P2P and file-sharing software to illegally share copyrighted music, and thus compelled the ISP Scarlet to appeal the decision. SABAM wrote a letter to Belgium’s dominant telecoms group Belgacom, and in it urged it to commit to block or filter its music from being shared using illegal P2P and file-sharing programs. The letter was apparently sent last Thursday and give Belgacom "…8 days to react."
In response to the letter, Belgacom said that "…it was responsible for transmitting information, not for its content."
"As access provider our role is simply to transport information," spokesman Haroun Fenaux said. "We are not opposed to technical solutions but under the sine que none condition that they do not hamper our clients’ privacy," he said.
Many ISPs and experts doubt if it’s really possible to distinguish between legal and illegal file-sharing, and some even fear that it will even force ISPs to block P2P and file-sharing programs altogether so as to avoid risking fines or being held liable for copyright infringement occurring on their networks.
“Illegal downloading of music is a worldwide problem,” says Gert Posts, manager of Scarlet Belgium.
“Thus, sealing off small parts of it provides no benefit. Moreover, it is impossible to always block illegal downloads from occurring in an impermeable manner, and can be bypassed by using other protocols and encryptions,” Posts continued.
Being that the ruling will have dramatic consequences for every ISP in Europe, they are very likely to fight it all the way through the legal system, probably all the way up to the European courts.
Stay tuned.
(Special THX to “xmephistox” for the heads up)
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