Belgian Court of Appeal prefers DNS blocking over IP blocking

The Belgian Court of Appeal ruled in a lawsuit between BAF, the Belgian Anti-piracy Federation, and the Belgian ISPs Telenet and Belgacom. The Court decided a blockade of the websites of The Pirate Bay should be effectuated with a DNS blockade and not through an IP blockade.

Facts
The lawsuit started after BAF requested the two ISPs to block The Pirate Bay’s websites. The Pirate Bay’s websites distribute files with copyright protected works without permission and without compensation through peer-to-peer software. Only one of the ISPs responded to BAF’s notice with an arrangement that the ISP would use a DNS block on The Pirate Bay’s websites, but only if the other ISP would also agree with this arrangement. BAF wishes an IP blockade over a DNS blockade and therefore went to court.

BAF’s point of view
In this case, two different methods of site blockades are discussed. BAF believes that the ISPs must block The Pirate Bay’s websites through an IP block, because a DNS block its too easy for the internet users to circumvent the block by changing the settings in the browser. Therefore, using a DNS block is not a sufficient measure for ISPs to protect copryight, according to BAF. By placing a DNS block, the link between the IP address of the website and the domain of the site is changed on DNS level so that internet users can no longer see the wanted website. By placing an IP block, all websites that are behind the IP address are blocked.

ISPs’ point of view
ISPs believe that an IP block will cause a significant strain on their customer service, because subscribers do not know whether the inaccessibility of The Pirate Bay’s websites is caused by a technical defect, or a court order. In addition, there are several websites hiding behind an IP address and therefore also legitimate information can be blocked. Given the positions of both parties, the Court must decide which blockade should be used.

Court’s ruling
The Court concludes that at this moment there is no perfect measure to block websites, since both techniques have disadvantages. Furthermore, the Court held that the DNS block on The Pirate Bay’s websites is the most acceptable solution, because the IP block has an adverse effect on third parties. The risk that the blockade leads to blocking of legitimate information (websites that are on the same IP address) is larger than with a DNS block. Moreover, time and investments are needed to develop IP-blocking systems (page 14).

The ruling of the Court of Appeal states that the blocking of websites by means of a DNS block is sufficient for taking a technical action by ISPs to which they may be forced by a judge (Article 87 Belgian Copyright Act).

The entire ruling can be read here (in Dutch).

Reference: IE-Forum

By: Karen Groen