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EU Court Rules Social Networks Cannot Be Forced To Police Downloads
arnodf writes "According to EU Observer, 'The European Court of Justice (ECJ) has struck the latest blow in the debate over internet policing, ruling on Thursday (16 February) that online social network sites cannot be forced to construct measures to prevent users from downloading songs illegally. The court, which is the highest judicial authority in the EU, stated that installing general filters would infringe on the freedom to conduct business and on data privacy. ... The case was brought before the ECJ by Sabam, the Belgian national music royalty collecting society, against social network site Netlog. In 2009, Sabam went to the Belgian Court of First Instance to demand that Netlog take action to prevent site-users from illegally downloading songs from its portfolio. It also insisted that Netlog pay a €1,000 fine for every day of delaying in compliance. Netlog legal submission argued that granting Sabam's injunction would be imposing a general obligation to monitor on Netlog, which is prohibited by the e-commerce directive.' In related news, Sabam is going to be prosecuted (Google translation of Dutch original) for 'forging accounts, abuse of trust, bribery, money laundering and forgery,' which took place from the early 90's till 2007"
Man, the MAFIAA is sure gonna be pissed about this!
With every passing day, they become more and more irrelevant, and that's just fine with me...
1. Repeal DMCA.
1a - codify the right to backup to secure one's purchase against accident as a fundamental, protected consumer RIGHT.
2. Constitutionally amend to remove corporate personhood.
3. Return copyright to sane bounds, possibly bounds based on the life of the medium it is published in (it is absurd that computer programs, coded for hardware that was obsolete and almost impossible to find 5 years after the writing of the software, are copyrighted till doomsday).
Anyone else have items to add?
4. All buyers of electronic goods have the right to reverse engineer, bypass, overwrite and do what they bloody well please with their property.
You are reading it wrong. The US has zero balance in its laws.
The US is 100% for the rich powerful interests and 0% for the citizens. This is what the US is trying to export.
The EU just proved that it has a more balanced approach. They probably have actual democracy there too, instead of the auction to the highest bidder we call democracy.
It's not about having or not having IP laws. Clearly IP laws are needed and useful. It's about the corporations abusing those laws and going as far as screwing basic liberties that we should all enjoy. And nobody can deny that probably the biggest entertainment industry is in U.S.
Sounds to me like 20 some years of dubious business practices anything the courts had to hear from these guys should never have made it that far. Sounds like they have no credibility.
I am Bennett Haselton! I am Bennett Haselton!
The U.S. (and possibly the U.K.) is the only country that will utterly destroy a person's life (financially that is) for a non-commercial download. Of the Western nations are concerned about copyright and imaginary property laws, lord knows we've ceased being competitive at much else. What we want/need is a modicum of perspective when enforcing the laws. Downloading something illegally should be seen as a speeding ticket, not a lifetime as a pauper.
"Never let your sense of morals prevent you from doing what is right" - Salvor Hardin
I have to give it to them, criminal and greedy as they are, they really know how to die slowly.
As by now it is quite clear that negative effects of filesharing on people that write books or music and make movies is at worst minimally negative and at best significantly positive, this is definitely going in the right direction.
Most ACs are not even worth the keystrokes to insult them. Be generically insulted by this and ignored otherwise.
This is just as ludicrous as what the parent poster wrote. We wouldn't have elections if that was the case.
Yes, just look at all that 'Hope and Change' America has seen since Obama replaced Bush in the White House.
Elections don't matter in the slightest when all candidates are controlled by the same vested interests.
Right now ACTA cannot pass in the EU, as long as (specific) political parties/bodies don't suddenly turn 180.
Both the European Parliament as well as all the different countries have to sign/accept the treaty. Right now Poland said it wouldn't ratify ACTA. Others bodies/countries said that they wouldn't accept ACTA if it conflicts with existing European law.
As long as those standpoints don't change, ACTA will not happen in the EU and it won't change the law. Of course the law could change first and then ACTA could pass. Or as usual hell will freeze over yet again.
Search Engines and Youtube are- not really considered part of a social network. As it is, EU appears to have a real hard-on about going after Google or other American businesses. So, will EU extend this new ruling to You Tube/Search engines?
I don't think the EU go after American businesses in particular. You will likely find that the reason you hear about so many American businesses getting into trouble in Europe is that a lot of Americans are very anti-Europe and thus kick up a lot of fuss when they see them challenging anything remotely American. Just look at the amount of anti-Europe rhetoric (ZOMG he speaks French?!?!) in the Republican primaries, or the anger levelled at Britain after the BP oil spill (BP operates in over 80 countries and has its largest division in the US).