ISP Duties in Copyright Theft Debated in EU, France

The online content recommendation terms it “appropriate to instigate cooperation procedures” between access/service providers, rights holders and consumers to ensure a “wide online offer of attractive content, consumer friendly online services, adequate copyright protection, awareness-raising on the important of copyright for the availability of content, and close cooperation to fight unauthorized file-swapping and piracy,” a knowledgeable source said. Cultural ministers will meet to debate the proposal May 21 and 22.

The EC is studying whether industries involved might adopt a proposed French solution to online copyright issues and whether filtering stops infringement, European Digital Rights (EDRI) reported. In November, French ISPs agreed to try ways to block infringing content. In return, music labels promised special efforts to promote interoperability (WID Nov 26 p2). The agreement envisions an independent government body to issue infringement warnings to persistent pirates identified by ISPs.

Mandatory ISP filtering is also on the 2008 European Parliament agenda. A Culture and Education Committee vote on a report on promoting European cultural industries (WID Dec 13 p2) was moved from Dec. 17 to Jan. 21 due to friction over amendments on ISP responsibility for infringement, EDRI said. The International Federation for the Phonographic Industry is lobbying European lawmakers to require ISPs to filter content. The Electronic Frontier Foundation termed that “misguided and dangerous.”

The French agreement is very controversial and it’s unclear whether its recommendations will be carried out, Paris lawyer Winston Maxwell said. “If France plays its cards right, it could be the leader in Europe for finding the right compromise between copyright and Internet rights,” he told us. The French model could be the EU model and even the U.S. model, he said. But the recommendations may be too ambitious and nothing may come of them, Maxwell said.

E-Communications Issues

Discussion of the EC proposal for e-communications regulatory framework reform is another of next year’s major tasks. The legislative package touches on net neutrality, requiring end-to-end service, said Nigel Hickson, head of European e-commerce and telecoms regulatory framework for the U.K. Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform.

The issue won’t dominate debate in the U.K. unless operators actually discriminate against customers -- but net neutrality could be a problem as data services launch, he said. European consumers group BEUC fears the EC proposal’s net neutrality provision isn’t strong enough, said Senior Legal Adviser Cornelia Kutterer.

The regulatory package would require ISPs to tell users of breaches, but the BEUC believes it doesn’t cover all the players, urging instead a general breach notification law, Kutterer said.

EU countries have until March 2009 to require storage of data related to Internet access, telephony and e-mail under the data retention directive. Sixteen countries are waiting as others add the directive to their national laws. Ireland challenged the law in the European Court of Justice in 2006, a case that may not be decided in 2008.

Other Issues

EC antitrust authorities are expected to rule April 2 on Google’s proposed takeover of DoubleClick. The EC said it will focus on whether, without the transaction, DoubleClick would have become an effective competitor to Google in the online ad market and whether a leading online ad space provider’s merger with a major advertisement-serving technology could hurt rivals and consumers. In a Dec. 19 letter to Competition Commissioner Neelie Kroes, the BEUC and other consumer groups urged the EC to consider privacy concerns as well.

A December EC plan would work to boost media literacy in online services such as search engines, advertising and audiovisual works. A 2008 study will look at ways to assess media literacy levels, feeding into a report under the new audiovisual media services without frontiers directive, the EC said. Cultural ministers are expected to agree to the plan at their May meeting.

European Internet gambling operators asked the EC to study possible U.S. World Trade Organization rule violations related to claimed discrimination against foreign gambling companies (WID Dec 21 p3).

Questions about the “personal” nature of “personal” data are surfacing in France at least, said Cedric Manara, a law professor at the EDHEC Business School in Nice. EU and national laws protect individuals against others’ use of their personal data. An emerging question is whether data on someone who often trades on Internet intermediation platforms retains its safeguards, he said.

Another hot issue will be determining what applications can use a 50-to-100 Mbps connection now that broadband pipes are widening, said Taylor Reynolds, an economist in the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development information, computer and communications policy division.

ICANN’s 2008 priorities include progress internationalizing top-level domain names, adding new generic names, and transitioning from Internet Protocol version 4 to version 6, Chairman Peter Dengate Thrush said (WID Nov 9 p1).