European Court says no ISP needs to filter internet

Plans by various governments to turn Internet Service Providers into unpaid copyright cops working on behalf of Big Content have been given a thumbs down by the European Court of Justice.

All those ISPs who are currently filtering out The Pirate Bay and AllOfMP3 are actually breaking the law, rather than enforcing it.  France's three strikes law, Spain's proposed court action against pirates, and the UK's forthcoming laws are all a breach of European Rights laws.

There are ways around the ruling. Laws can be written requiring an ISP filter or block parts of the internet, but they have to conform to very strict rules that are applied to laws limiting fundamental rights, such as those preventing terrorism. But ISPs can't choose to limit what they present as "The Internet".

The very first time I've seen the ECJ defending ordinary people's rights!

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