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All major Dutch Internet providers have signed a historic site blocking agreement with the anti-piracy group BREIN. After a decade-long legal battle over blocking Pirate Bay, ISPs now agree that if a court orders one provider to block a site, the others will do the same. BREIN is wasting no time and has already submitted the legal documentation to target six additional sites.
Over the years, copyright holders have tried a multitude of measures to curb copyright infringement, with varying degrees of success.
Site blocking has become one of the preferred solutions. While blocking measures are not foolproof, the general idea is that they represent a big enough hurdle for casual hackers to choose legal options instead.
The Dutch anti-piracy group BREIN was one of the first organizations to request an ISP block. In 2010, went to court demanding that local ISP Ziggo block The Pirate Bay. This marked the beginning of a legal campaign that lasted a full decade.
BRAIN eventually succeeded and today The Pirate Bay is blocked, not only by Ziggo, but also by other ISPs that were challenged in a separate lawsuit. The final ruling opened the door to follow-up locks. We expected them to continue earlier, but, in public, BREIN remained silent on the blockade front.
Iconic site blocking offer
Today it is clear that this delay was due to a good reason. Behind the scenes, BREIN worked on an agreement with all major Dutch ISPs to streamline the blocking process in the future.
The result is a "Website blocking pactโWhere Ziggo, KPN, DFN, T-Mobile, Canal + and members of the industry organization NLConnect promise to block pirated sites when rights holders obtain a blocking order against one of the other ISPs.
BREIN and the ISPs agreed on a rotation scheme that will focus legal efforts on different ISPs each time. In addition, all parties will cover their own legal fees.
Other costs will also be split. For example, Internet providers will pay for the technical implementation of the locks. BREIN, for its part, will bear the responsibility and cost of keeping the block lists accurate and up-to-date.
No net neutrality issues
The historic agreement was reached with the help of the Dutch government, which participated in the negotiation process. This also involved the advice of the Authority of Consumers and Markets (ACM) to ensure that the plan would not violate the local regulation of net neutrality.
"This is an important step to combat online piracy," says Sander Dekker, the Dutch Minister for Legal Protection, adding that copyrighted content must be "rewarded fairly and not illegally distributed."
ISPs prefer not to block
NLconnect, which represents a variety of Internet providers, describes the agreement in a more practical way. Managing Director Mathieu Andriessen notes that ISPs still believe there are better ways to combat piracy.
"Illegality must be fought at the source, so we have fundamental objections to website blocking," says Andriessen.
โHowever, we are pleased with the clear agreements of the pact; When an independent judge orders in a carefully conducted process that an Internet provider must block a certain website, it is efficient for us as providers to follow up on this together. "
BREIN director Tim Kuik is happy with the deal. He says it will help limit traffic to sites that continually evade law enforcement efforts.
โThis is an important step in the fight against large-scale piracy. We see sites that persist in their illegal offerings and are anonymously hosted with companies that do not comply with the calls or offer the sites a wide opportunity to continue without problems in other places. "
Six new targets identified
Speaking to TorrentFreak, Kuik says that BREIN already has an action in the mail to target six additional hacker sites, including their proxies and mirrors. BREIN hopes to have completed this legal procedure before the end of the year.
It's worth noting that the agreement doesn't prohibit ISPs from fighting blocking requests on their merits. And if one ISP decides not to defend, others can take its place.
That said, with all the legal precedents in favor of site blocking, both in the Dutch Supreme Court and the Court of Justice of the EU, challenging a lock request will not be easy.
