A recently published and adopted report from the EU Parliament throws a long-awaited crumb of comfort to the beleaguered European ISP community, braced for legal assault over issues of electronic content copyright.
So what? you may ask.
Well, according to an expert an the specialised area that is European politics, this amendment could be significant and might spike the guns of the pro-copyright “flog ‘em and hang ‘em’ brigade (now led by French President, Nicholas Sarkozy).
Under the French proposals, for instance, ISPs would be forced to adopt an active policing policy on behalf of the content industries. This would include network filtering, cutting off P2P traffic flows that contained ‘pirated’ material, in addition to taking down material flagged up by copyright owners. It would also mandate ISPs to disconnect customers who offended one times too many (’three strikes and you’re out’).
The Bono Report amendment goes the other way and sets out the parliament’s attitude to the Internet and its little ways: it confirms what a great thing the Internet is in its role of connecting people, promoting innovation etc.
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