Digital

Help to debug the European Commissioner

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The Commission often says nice things about ACTA. But as Christian Engström (Pirate MEP) remarked in the European Parliament – “however, when you look at the text …” That is what we want to do, we want to look at the text and check the facts, crowdsource that effort to find “counterfeit legislation” in ACTA. Let’s start with a statement of EU Commissioner Karel de Gucht:
“…EU’s position [in ACTA] is consistent with the provisions of the Copyright in the Information Society Directive(2) including Article 8 thereof, the E-commerce Directive(3), including Articles 12 to 15, on the liability of ISPs), the Enforcement of IPR Directive(4); the Data Protection Directives(5); and with the provisions of the regulatory framework for electronic communications as amended in 2009 with the Telecom Reform package.” Of course you may have noticed the first trick, the term “EU’s position”.

Digital

Filip Kaczmarek asked the Commission about a digital impact

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Parliamentary questions 2 July 2010 P-5214/2010 Question for written answer to the Commission  Rule 117 Filip Kaczmarek (PPE)

Subject: Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement — ACTA

Many people feel that provisions contained in the Anti‑Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA) make telecom operators liable for copyright infringements committed by customers using their networks. In the Commission’s view, does this mean that, in practice, operators will be required to remove Internet access from customers whom they suspect of copyright infringement – without proper judicial review of such actions – in order not to incur penalties? Could this also lead to Internet traffic being filtered in order to put a stop to practices such as P2P file sharing? Does it consider the introduction of ACTA provisions concerning the Internet to be in full accordance with the acquis communautaire, in particular, the Charter of Fundamental Rights? 24 August 2010 P-5214/2010 Answer given by Mr De Gucht on behalf of the Commission

Regarding the responsibility and duties of Internet service providers (ISPs) such as telecommunications operators, the European Union’s position in ACTA is fully in line with the relevant EU acquis as interpreted by the Court of Justice in relation to the liability of telecommunications operators for infringement of intellectual property rights(1).