Pirate Party not allowed to offer bypass for TPB blockade
The Dutch Pirate Party is not allowed to offer a service that allows Internet users to bypass the blockade of The Pirate Bay that was ordered by Dutch courts recently.
In a controversial set of lawsuits, initiated by the BREIN foundation, Dutch judges issued court orders that force Dutch Internet service providers to cut off their subscribers’ access to The Pirate Bay (TPB). BREIN, a group of anti piracy activists that often collaborates with the entertainment industry, is relentlessly chasing the famous file sharing platform and sees TPB as an important facilitator of illegal distribution of creative content.
The Dutch Pirate Party, however, believes blocking orders are not the way forward as they regard this approach as being detrimental to a free and open Internet. Furthermore, they are of the opinion that free distribution of digital content should be the norm. As soon as the ISPs started blocking access to TPB, the political party offered links to proxy servers and alternative URLs to allow users to easily circumvent the ban.
BREIN demanded an ex parte interim measure from the court in The Hague to stop this practice immediately. In return, the Pirate Party filed a request to cancel this interim measure. Yesterday, the court of The Hague dismissed the complaint of the Pirate Party, and confirmed that they are not allowed to help people bypass a blockade that is prescribed by a court. If the Pirate Party will continue to offer alternative access to TPB, they risk being fined up to €250.000,-
Sources: BREIN, Pirate Party of the Netherlands, PCMweb
Comments(5)
phulshof
If I understand the order correctly, they've also been ordered to filter TPB from their generic proxy server now. Does that mean that BREIN can now get orders for all generic proxy servers in the Netherlands to be forced to filter TPB?
Peter
@phulshof: No, this court order does not mean Brein has a blank cheque to address other ISPs and demand general blocking of TPB or filtering generic proxy routes, without a proper legal procedure. In the case of the Pirate Party, there was a specific intent to allow users access to TPB in circumvention of a court order. With respect to the more general access route, PP provided a manual on how to reach TPB. Legally relevant circumstances may vary per case and no ISP can be forced to block content unless an individual court order to do so is directed to them. As we speak, Brein is doing this: They are starting procedures to obtain blocking orders from the court. For example, they have now also sued ISP Zeelandnet to make them block access to TPB.
phulshof
@Peter: I understand that it doesn't, and I didn't mean to imply that it did. I was just wondering: considering that this judge was willing to order TPP to block TPB from their generic proxy, how hard will it be to convince this judge to do the same for other proxy servers in the Netherlands? Each on an individual basis of course, but still.
Peter
that is a difficult question, but considering the circumstances that led to the court order in this case,I doubt this will be easy. PP is an organsiation with the specfic aim to engage in this type of actions. In general, I assume judges will be quite hesitant to allow blocking and filtering, considering the weight of such measures and the legal precedents this may create. The plaintiff will have to show there is a specific intent to lead users to TPB via alternative routes.
phulshof
I still find it hard to accept that a person/group's personality should matter when applying the law. If it's illegal for TPP to keep a generic proxy that gives access to TPB, it should be illegal for all to do so IMHO. I know that's not how the law works, but that is how many people think it should work or even believe it works.
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