ISP’s now resposible for illegal file-sharing
According to a recent court ruling, ISPs in Belgium are now being held responsible for any illegal file-sharing on their network.
The Brussels-based court of First Instance is demanding that Internet Service Providers in Belgium setup filtering technologies to prevent file sharing.
This ruling is currently only for USPs in Belgium but will shortly be enforced in other countries throughout the EU.
IFPI President John Kenedy said, “This is a decision that we hope will set the mold for government policy and for courts in other countries in Europe and around the world,” according to the Digital Music News on July 9th 2007.
If the filtering technology is not in place within six months (the rumored prescribed window), the court will charge a €2,500 ($3,404) daily fee against the internet service provider.
Is this the first step to the end of internet file-sharing? Or will this just be another useless step that internet users (music listeners and DJs) will find their way around?