A Dutch
court in The Hague has ordered internet providers Ziggo and XS4ALL to block
access to The Pirate Bay (TPB), a Swedish website which facilitates illegal
downloading of music, films and software.
The case
against TPB was brought by the Brein Foundation, a group committed to the
protection of the intellectual property of writers, artists and members of the
entertainment industry. An attempt last year to block access to the downloading
website was rejected by a Dutch court.
Formed in
1998, Brein develops anti-piracy policies and coordinates the fight against
piracy, both in the production and distribution sectors.
The court
said it was satisfied there was sufficient evident proving that 30 percent of
Ziggo’s customers and 4.5 percent of XS4ALL’s have recently used TPB for
illegal downloads. As this constituted a breach of copyright, a ruling ordering
the website to be blocked was justified.
The two
Dutch internet providers have ten days to block access to the site. After that,
if the torrent site is available through other addresses, Ziggo and XS4ALL will
have to block those addresses if requested to do so by Brein. If the providers
don't comply they face a daily fine of 10,000 euros up to a maximum of 250,000.
Brein says
it intends ordering other internet providers to disallow their customers access
to TBP.
Difficult
in practice
The
internet providers say it is extremely difficult in practice to carry out these
measures.
Internet
watchdog Bits of Freedom agrees that blocking access to a website isn’t an
effective solution. “Bits of Freedom is
in favour of a fair fee for artists and entertainers, but you don’t achieve
that by blocking websites. We regard this as a rear guard reaction that puts
internet freedom further under pressure,” says spokesperson Tim Toornvliet.
Bits of
Freedom also points out the general lack of public support for such actions.
MPs regard the blocking of websites as
“undesirable”, adds Toornvliet. “They feel such a measure contravenes both the
constitutional right to freedom of expression and privacy rights.”
Finland
clamps down on piracy
The
Netherlands is just one of several European countries that have attempted to
block access to the site. Following a ruling by the Helsinki District Court
last October ordering major internet provider Elisa to block access to Pirate
Bay or face a 100,000-euro fine, the service provider announced Monday it would
temporarily block access to the site.
In
retaliation, cyber activist attacked the websites of the Finnish anti-piracy
groups.
BREIN is an
acronym for "Protection Rights Entertainment Industry Netherlands" in
Dutch and is also the Dutch word for "brain".
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