Belgians are free to share files over frites and beers.
On October 24th, Belgium-based Scarlet ISP avoided paying a €750,000 fine after the Brussels Court of First Instance agreed that it was unrealistic to expect it to monitor or control how its members share copyrighted content through Peer to Peer networks.
Last year, in response to a complaint brougt by the Society of Authors, Composers and Publishers (SABAM), the Court ordered Scarlet ISP to pay €2,500 for each day that it did not block illegal file-sharing on its servers and required Scarlet ISP deploy Audible Magic, a content monitoring program on its servers. However, Scarlet ISP argued that the technology does not work and violated Belgian wiretapping laws; the Court agreed. Scarlet ISP plans to appeal to get the entire ruling overturned by the full Belgian Court of Appeal next year.
This approach, based in both the impracticality of stopping illegal file-sharing and the concern for the privacy of consumers, is starkly different from the French Government’s proposed new enforcement body to oversee the collection and monitoring of information collected by ISPs on high-volume users to detect those taking part in illegal file-sharing. The Belgian court’s response was much in line with the European Parliament’s recent report which warned against over-zealous measures to protect copyright over the internet at the possible expense of civil liberties. Monsieur Sarkozy, écoutez-vous?
RSS
