European court forbids obliging providers to filter traffic

The ruling of the European Court of November 24 put an end to the process that lasted 7 years between the Belgian association of copywriting authors, composers and publishers SABAM and the Internet provider Scarlet. But at the same time the decision applies to the whole of Europe.

Now it is impossible to oblige the provider to install a traffic filtering system - at least for all users, in a preventive manner, for an indefinite time and at their own expense.

In 2004, SABAM got worried because of the growing popularity of p2p networks and tried, through a Belgian court, to oblige ISP Scarlet to prohibit p2p traffic. Then the provider turned to the highest European authority, where he won the case.

The lawyer of the provider stated that filtering would be illegal in terms of ensuring privacy of communications, freedom of information and rights to protect personal data.
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The court agreed, and added that the filtration system would not always work correctly, as a result of which it prevented the dissemination of legal information.

The Association of European Providers joyfully supported this decision, directed against "disproportionate technical coercion" to respect copyright. The president of the association said that this is a decision of extreme importance, and that it would be wrong to limit the development of the Internet, which can seriously help the economic recovery.

Although the decision does not prohibit blocking unwanted sites, it will not help against some services. For example, The Pirate Bay has so many different mirrors and trackers that the only way to stop this service would be filtering, and it is now prohibited.

PS: The translation of the article is not literal, in particular, the fight between the EU and the UK is lowered; I tried to just convey the essence.