German Courts Bucking the Trend on Illegal Websites
If we learned anything this week, it was that European courts are coming down increasingly hard on websites that facilitate the sharing of illegal ‘pirated’ content. But for those that believe in an open, uncensored Internet, news that a German court has ruled against ordering Internet service providers (ISPs) to block such websites will be welcomed.
Earlier this week, we reported that Finnish ISP Elisa had been told to block access to Swedish website The Pirate Bay, as well as other sites known for illegal file-sharing, constituting part of an ongoing court case initiated by the Copyright Information and Anti-Piracy Centre (CIAPC) and Finland’s branch of music industry group IFPI.
This was swiftly followed by news that two Dutch ISPs had also been ordered to block access to The Pirate Bay, with both cases echoing similar action in the UK, with BT and Sky both recently ordered to block access to Newzbin 2, a site used to disseminate links to copyright-infringing content.
