For the worldwide audience, Save it It may not be a household name, but in the Czech Republic it's huge.
The file sharing and hosting service is among the most visited websites in the country, while its mobile apps are also frequently used.
Like many other file storage platforms, Uloลพ can be used to share a wide variety of files, but according to copyright holders, many people abuse the platform to share pirated music, movies, and TV shows.
This criticism is not new. Over the years, Uloลพ has been reported to the US Trade Representative as a notorious pirate site repeatedly. Furthermore, the platform was taken to court by the Czech anti-piracy team Dilia, which demanded the implementation of an upload filter.
Uloลพ lost this upload filter battle in the supreme court this year, but that certainly didn't end the controversy. The service still resists using extensive keyword-based upload checks.
Uloz Competitors Begin Leaking
This topic has come to the fore again this month after Hellspy and Hellshare, two other Czech file-sharing platforms, signed a deal with rights holders to filter uploads and search results. The agreement is the result of long discussions with the Association of Commercial Television (AKTV) on how and what should be filtered.
The end result appears to be a rather rudimentary filtering mechanism in which file sharing services use file names, durations, and file types to flag potentially infringing content. This is more basic than the hash matching technologies used by major tech companies like Google and Facebook.
Hellshare's parent company I&Q Group said early leak results are positive. According to CEO Jan Hลebabekรฝ, the measures are simple and effective. And as an added bonus, the filters also ensure that the service meets its obligations under the Updated EU Copyright Directive.
It is open to debate whether these filtering measures are necessary or sufficient. Some rights holders may believe it doesn't go far enough, while others may view basic filters as a threat to the free flow of information. The Uloz.to file sharing service is in the last field.
Overblocking fears
The place answered critical of the Hellshare and Hellspy deals. According to Uloz, the proposed locking mechanisms are not "smart" at all. Conversely, basic keyword filters are likely to overblock.
"It is not about intelligent content filtering, as it appears in some media, but about a simple blocking of keywords, which significantly limits the rights of users," says Uloz.
โIf someone wants to use the word street in a file name, for example, they're now out of luck on these platforms. By applying this principle, soon there will be no words left and commercial entities will gradually divide the old free Internet.โ
Jan Karabina, CEO of Uloz's parent company, says they will continue to reject broad block requests, both in and out of court.
Legal and constitutional issues
Uloz got a victory in a previous filtering case but, as noted above, the file-sharing platform lost a major legal battle against local anti-piracy group Dilia this summer.
Uloz is not happy with the ruling and is challenging the censorship part in the Constitutional Court. According to Uloz, the current verdict restricts people's freedom of expression, which violates the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union.
โWe are also under pressure to introduce overblocking. However, we consider such a step unconstitutional and in violation of the rights of users. In this context, we have already filed a constitutional claim, which specifically refers to the overblocking,โ says Karabina.
Furthermore, Uloz also does not agree that it is required to implement basic upload checks under the EU Copyright Directive. While Article 13 suggests upload filters, the legislation also emphasizes that excessive blocking It should be avoided.
By implementing rudimentary upload checks, which Hellspy and Hellshare seem to use, the Uloz CEO believes that excessive blocking is impossible to avoid and would actually violate EU law.
โAccording to article 17, we consider overblocking unacceptable, as well as giving in to pressure from commercial entities to the detriment of the rights of common users,โ Karabina concludes.
Application problems
The above clearly shows that Uloz puts the rights of its users first. This position is not well received by rights holders, who will no doubt keep up the pressure.
However, defeating the file-sharing service will be easier said than done. Earlier this year Uloz had its official app removed from google play but it was reinstated a few weeks later after a successful appeal.
The app was reportedly taken down by the anti-piracy team Weemazz and will likely end up in court.
โWe are taking legal action against the company Weemazz sro because a deliberate abuse of the platforms' processes cannot be tolerated,โ Uloz said in an earlier statement.
