Dutch court orders companies to block Pirate Bay
Legal World
A Dutch court on Wednesday ordered two major Internet service providers in the Netherlands to block their customers from accessing The Pirate Bay website or face large fines.
The Swedish-born website has been a thorn in the side of the entertainment industry for years by helping millions of people download copyrighted music, movies and computer games. In 2010, a Swedish appeals court upheld the copyright infringement convictions of three men behind the site, but it remains in operation.
The Dutch ISPs Ziggo and XS4ALL had resisted demands by a copyright holders’ organization to block their subscribers’ access to the site, arguing they should not have to act as censors.
But the Hague District Court said in its written ruling they must do so within 10 working days or face fines of euro10,000 ($12,750) per day.
Another option, individually pursuing “many thousands of subscribers in the Netherlands who trade files via The Pirate Bay would be, in the court’s judgment, no less a far-reaching measure,” the court said.
Past attempts by the copyright organization Stichting Brein had either failed or proved ineffective: Dutch courts have repeatedly found that downloading copyrighted files is not illegal. Uploading them is illegal, since it is considered publishing without permission _ but it can be difficult to prove a person has uploaded a file without using spying techniques that are themselves illegal.
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