European ISPs fight mandatory filter

[Basil Chupin]

European internet service providers (ISPs) are campaigning against a 
proposal to impose mandatory ISP level filtering across the continent.

Similar to Australia's now deferred filtering scheme 
<http://www.itnews.com.au/News/238841,mandatory-isp-filtering-stalled-until-mid-2013.aspx>, 
the proposal, endorsed by the European Commission last December, has 
been couched in terms of the battle against child pornography 
<http://europa.eu/rapid/pressReleasesAction.do?reference=IP/10/379&format=HTML&aged=0&language=EN&guiLanguage=fr>.

The scheme demands, as a first step, that a web host expunge a page 
deemed to be offensive from the internet.

However, if early attempts fail, ISPs must be prepared to block the URL 
until the page is removed.

The European Internet Services Providers Association (EuroISPA) on 
Tuesday began lobbying members of the European Parliament to only ratify 
the first component of the proposal, claiming that ISP level blocking 
was ineffective.

"In order to make the Directive on child sexual exploitation as strong 
as possible, emphasis must be placed on making swift notice and take 
down of child sexual abuse material focused and effective," said Malcolm 
Hutty, President of EuroISPA [pdf] 
<http://www.euroispa.org/files/110111_euroispa_blocking_press_release.pdf>.

"Blocking, as an inefficient measure, should be avoided. Law enforcement 
authorities' procedures for rapid communication to Internet Hosting 
Providers of such illegal material must be reviewed and bottlenecks 
eliminated."

An attempt to introduce mandatory filtering in the UK was abandoned in 
2009 after ISPs successfully lobbied against it on cost grounds, 
according to reports by /The Register./ 
<http://www.theregister.co.uk/2011/01/12/euroispa_eu/>

Similar to anti-filter campaigners in Australia, EuroISPA argued that 
ISP filtering could be circumvented by criminals, adding that blocking 
merely facilitated the "revictimisation" phenomenon.


http://www.itnews.com.au/News/244535,european-isps-fight-mandatory-filter.aspx

-- 
"I would rather deal with a correct asshole than a polite dipshit ANY AND EVERYDAY"
              Brian K. White

-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <https://lists.ubuntu.com/archives/sounder/attachments/20110113/8dbf7ca6/attachment.html>