The Pirate Bay is arguably the most-censored website on the Internet, but that’s no longer the case in the Netherlands.
In 2010 Dutch anti-piracy group BREIN went to court to try and force Ziggo, the Netherlands’ largest ISP, to block The Pirate Bay.
Ziggo were later joined in the case by rival ISP XS4ALL, fighting the action together in the hope of avoiding a damaging precedent.
Initially the court decided that blocking all subscribers went too far but BREIN wasn’t satisfied and took the case to a full trial, which they won. Both Ziggo and XS4ALL filed subsequent appeals, arguing that the blockade was ineffective and denied subscribers’ free access to information.
Today the Court of The Hague released its verdict which sides with the Internet providers.
In its ruling the Court states that the Pirate Bay blockade is disproportionate and ineffective, citing TNO research and the Baywatch report of the University of Amsterdam. As a result, the blockade was found to hinder the Internet providers’ entrepreneurial freedoms.
The court based its decision on the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union, which both includes “freedom to conduct a business” and “right to property.” In this case the entrepreneurial freedom outweighs property rights, because the blockades are disproportionate and ineffective.
Based on the above, the appeal court overturned the blocking order and ordered the Hollywood-funded anti-piracy group to pay 326,000 euros ($445,000) in legal fees.
Commenting on the ruling, XS4ALL says that the verdict allows them to keep the Internet free from censorship. The ISP will disable the blockade effective immediately.
“We are very pleased the court’s verdict. This guarantees freedom of access to information. That is good for Dutch citizens, good for the Internet and good for ISPs who can continue to fulfill their important role neutrally,” the company states.
Ziggo is also happy with the outcome of the case and says the court found the right balance. “We’re not a police officer,” spokesman Erik van Doeselaar told Tweakers.
BREIN is disappointed in the court’s decision but noted that it agreed with the anti-piracy group on several issues. The anti-piracy group notes, however, that the court agreed that traffic to The Pirate Bay had reduced, even though BitTorrent usage in The Netherlands didn’t.
“The court’s ruling is detrimental to the development of the legal online market which requires protection against illegal competition,” BREIN director Tim Kuik says in a response.
“The purpose of blocking The Pirate Bay is obviously to reduce copyright infringement via The Pirate Bay. It is paradoxical that although the court finds that this goal is indeed achieved, it rejects the blockade because users are going to other sites,” Kuik adds.
Besides Ziggo and XS4ALL, several other Internet providers were ordered to block The Pirate Bay based on the original ruling. The appeals of these ISPs are still pending, and will be decided on later this year.
Needless to say the verdict is a major win for the Internet providers. Unlike their counterparts in the UK and elsewhere they decided to appeal the case to the bitter end – and won.
Update: added response from BREIN as well as some context.
