Laws designed to block access to piracy websites have been thrown further into doubt after a senior advisor to EU judges suggested such measures could infringe human rights.
Uk telegraph
He also said such a system would restrict the fundamental right to freedom of information.
Opponents of stronger copyright enforcement online have seized on the opinion. They claim it means laws such as Britain's Digital Economy Act, which grants the government or courts powers to force ISPs to block piracy websites, are illegal.
Ofcom is already investigating the feasibility of the laws, which have never been used.
The Advocate General’s opinion was published as part of an ongoing dispute between Scarlet, a Belgian ISP, and SABAM, a rights holder group.
Scarlet took its case to the European Court of Justice after SABAM won a court order in 2007 which would force it to build a system to identify and block unlawful downloads of copyright material.
Mr Cruz Villalón recommended that the ECJ should overturn the Belgian court order.
“Neither the filtering system, which is intended to be applied on a systematic, universal, permanent and perpetual basis, nor the blocking mechanism, which can be activated without any provision being made for the persons affected to challenge it or object to it, are coupled with adequate safeguards,” he said.
If the court agrees with the Advocate General, it is not clear exactly what impact its ruling would have on the Digital Economy Act’s website blocking provisions.
The Culture Secretary Jeremy Hunt ordered Ofcom to review the laws in February, saying “it is not clear whether the site blocking provisions in the Act could work in practice”.
At the same time the government opened talks between ISPs and the music industry to encourage a voluntary agreement on a list of websites that would be blocked, which would avoid any need to use the Digital Economy Act.
Mr Cruz Villalón recommended that the ECJ should overturn the Belgian court order.
“Neither the filtering system, which is intended to be applied on a systematic, universal, permanent and perpetual basis, nor the blocking mechanism, which can be activated without any provision being made for the persons affected to challenge it or object to it, are coupled with adequate safeguards,” he said.
If the court agrees with the Advocate General, it is not clear exactly what impact its ruling would have on the Digital Economy Act’s website blocking provisions.
The Culture Secretary Jeremy Hunt ordered Ofcom to review the laws in February, saying “it is not clear whether the site blocking provisions in the Act could work in practice”.
At the same time the government opened talks between ISPs and the music industry to encourage a voluntary agreement on a list of websites that would be blocked, which would avoid any need to use the Digital Economy Act.
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